and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. The Monroe County Commissioners met on January 22nd
and discussed the wastewater concentration of viruses in Monroe County. Health Department Director Lori
Kelly said that they have seen a decrease in emergency room visits for COVID-19, but an increase in
the presence of various viruses in the wastewater. We have not seen increases in emergency department
visits for COVID-like illness.
but wastewater concentrations do continue to trend upwards. According to data provided by wastewater
scan, we are seeing high levels of flu, RSV and neurovirus circulating. Kelly went on to discuss where
people are being sent for vaccinations at this time. The health department is still transitioning vaccination
services from IU Health Community Health.
Currently, we are referring individuals to the Morgan County Health Department for vaccinations. During
the meeting, the board awarded community crossing matching grant paving projects to milestone. Commissioner
Julie Thomas said that she was excited for these projects because of how much it could help the community.
Thank you so much. We're really excited about these projects. You listed out the roadways at the last
meeting last week.
And I know that there are people across this community who are very anxious and eager. But again, this
being awarded the full amount from INDOT is impressive. The motion passed three to zero. The Monroe
County Board of Commissioners will meet again on January 29th.
The Monroe County Capital Improvement Board met on January 21st to discuss construction updates on the
Bloomington Convention Center expansion and to hear a new proposal to build the host hotel directly
south of the Convention Center. Andrew Sherry, project manager for Weddle Brothers, gave an update on
the progress of the Convention Center construction, stating that they have completed over 25% of the
work. So project overview,
We continue AI walk safety observations on a daily basis. I put a snippet here that shows how we utilize
our drone deploy. That's how we get our aerial photos, we do time lapse photos, things like that. But
our superintendents on site walk with a camera on a daily, actually it's three times a week, so nearly
a daily basis, and it creates an AI generated report on top of our safety observations that we do.
so that we can track, you know, slips, trips and falls, housekeeping, things like that. It's just a
good way for us to double check and pull everything together. Currently, we have over 150 days working
since we've broke ground. This does not include weekends, and we have worked some weekends, so it's
over 150 days. We have had over 120 employees go through an orientation, which is what we require prior
to coming on site, making sure that we're going over site-specific details,
bringing up hazards as we progress through the project and things to think about before anybody can
start work. To date, this is a great topic that we like to bring up. No recordables and no injuries
on the project. That's a huge milestone. There's a lot of efforts that goes into that, especially on
a project like this with the tight logistics and all that we have going. I mean, as we've talked about
on a monthly basis and for those of you that have seen it,
We've got steel going, we've got excavations open, we've got all these things going, all these people
working around each other, truck access, excavators, all these things. So a lot of effort has paid off
here and a good note. Currently, we're building right around 25%. So 25% complete, a lot of materials
on site. Again, I'll get into the details as we progress through the presentation.
Concerning the hotel, board president John Weickart asked whether Dora Hospitality would seek public
subsidies. Company president Vince Dora told the board that they can build on the city-owned south parcels
and that they will not need to seek public subsidies. Next, founder Russ Lauterbach touched on the timeline
for the project, specifically how long it would take to evaluate the site and build a new hotel.
We'll need about 60 days for the due diligence. We'll need about six months to seven months to complete
and finalize the drawings. And then we'll need about two years to build it. And that's information we've
had all along in terms of how much time the project would take. I know Mr. Baer has a question or wants
to comment. It is a couple of things. Thanks for your work on this. I know it's not easy to pull it
all together.
all the efforts on the Dora team. I was a little confused on a couple of things. One, does this land,
assuming that it's donated to the project, does that need to appraise at a certain level for this to
make sense for you from a financing perspective? Yeah, make some basic assumptions based on information
given to us by the CIB and those high-level assumptions and information I think we can
Industry standard says that's going to appraise for 15 to $20,000 a key, and that's exactly where we
need it to be, and that's where it will appraise, yes. Okay, as long as they don't need some sort of
heroic measures on that front, that makes sense. Board member Jay Baer asked about brand clarity and
convention center booking requirements. Ladderback responded that they should not get, quote,
too hung up, end quote, on the branding and maintained it will be a high-end boutique hotel.
I think in one of the documents you sent over with the LOI this morning, it stipulated a sixth floor.
I just wanted to see if there was some clarification on that, because it does impact the UDO and other
guidelines in Bloomington. If I said sixth, it was a typo. I apologize. But with this product on the
south site, it would be a five-story building, which will help us cut down on overall construction costs.
And the site's wide enough that we're able to get it. Yeah, it goes along this way, yeah. Great. Thanks.
The third one is, there was some discussion of an AC, and I know you're doing an AC, I think it's in
Fishers, but then also some discussion of a Tribute. I wasn't sure what direction you were headed, because
they are in a different class, at least in terms of Bonvoy's system. They are and they are. If you ask
someone from Marriott or Hilton, they're going to tell you all the reasons why there's a different segment.
From an end user standpoint, they're very much similar in the final presentation. So don't get hung
up on the final brand yet.
because we're going to go talk to Hilton too and see what help they can give us as well. But the promise
to you guys, it's going to be a high-end, upscale, full-service boutique hotel product. So we will let
you know once that final brand is chosen. Senior Vice President at J.S. Held, Deb Koontz, reminded the
board of the minimum requirements needed for a host hotel to support the convention center.
And so we really looked at what would be the minimum requirements, and that includes many of the things
that Vince talked about. He talked about 200 keys, parking spaces. It either needs to meet the ODO standard
or a variance, needs to have a full service hotel, a fitness center, a bar lounge.
room block agreements dedicated marketing staff to driving bookings right those are the things that
are that are sort of the minimum that we would need to have for that host hotel and then we also talked
about the sites that have been made available either through the county or the city
through those commitment letters. And those are all the ones that are in the Crimson here on the map.
And so just for a reference, those would be parcels to the south and parcels to the west. So we wanted
to share this with the group because it had been prepared for this meeting before the LOI was received.
And so we just wanted to make sure that everybody knew what the hotel committee's recommendation would
be for the minimum requirements for a hotel.
The CIB will meet again on February 5th for a special session to further review the new proposal by
Dora Hospitality.
The Richland Township and Town of Ellitsville Reorganization Committee met on January 21st and discussed
subcommittee report deadlines. The committee decided report drafts should be completed by February 27th
and finalized by March 6th. Committee member Scott Reynolds says the timeline should allow adequate
time for the Reorganization Committee to finalize the broader plan by its April 1st deadline. I think
that makes sense because
We have to think, I mean, when we say drafts, we're not, I think we have to think that this is final
drafts. This is not rough notes. It's really, this is what we are prepared to submit. That gives us
a chance to reflect questions back and ask for revisions and then get essentially a revised version
with their next submission. Because then we have to then do our work
taking these subcommittee reports and compiling them. And as we established last week, or last two weeks
ago, or last week, we're not bound by every word that is contained in the subcommittee report. So then
we really have to have time to do our work. And then ultimately, from what I understand, that'll be
the legal team that ends up preparing the formal report.
The committee members asked that subcommittees present their updates at the reorganization committee
meetings planned for February 4th and the 18th. Committee member Andrew Henry summarized the discussion
on the timelines. So we have time to both hear public comment, talk to the subcommittee members, discuss
revisions in a public meeting, and then if they need to make any changes, they have several more days
to make those changes.
The committee also decided that they would meet every other Wednesday unless a special meeting is needed
for subcommittees to ask questions and present updates. Parks, Recreation and Cemetery subcommittee
member Jim Perry said that his subcommittee had decided on two meetings set for February 5th and the
12th. He asked for clearer instructions on the responsibilities and the processes for subcommittees.
I think it'd be useful for the subcommittees to have some template
of what the report is. You're all talking about reports, but I don't have a clue and I can imagine having
seen six people report previously that we would get a disparity of the types of reports unless there's
some template. Although we do have the five questions that were posed in the committee's designation
related to the parks, but the question is what detail do you want
Obviously, we don't want to probably provide too much detail, but we want to have detail where citizens
can make decisions about information provided to them. Town attorney Darla Brown said that the best
template is the Sheridan Adams Township reorganization plan. Town manager Mike Farmer said that subcommittees
could call him with questions. He extended the offer to the public as well.
I'm glad to meet anybody or any group of people to try to explain the process, why we're where we're
at, what's currently going on in the town to help people understand why we might want to reorganize.
So I just think that outreach and communications is the most important thing we do here. No matter what
the vote is at the end, I think
information is valuable, we're not going to be able to make a good decision unless we get, as a community,
unless we get the information out there. We're going to ramp up what we do through our public relations
and through the website will be helpful. And I think the, whatever you want to call them, the cards
or the informational cards should be out.
pretty short order. I think there's just white committee member William Ellis said the reorganization
website is live at Ellisville Richland info dot org. The committee also noted that it is working to
include a zoom option for the public at their next meeting. The Richland Township and Town of Ellisville
Reorganization Committee will meet again on February 4th. The Richland Bean Blossom School Board met
on January 20th and discussed
construction progress on school corporation properties. Skillman Corporation construction manager Martin
Shrewsdale stated that the team is now working on what they consider punch list items. Over Christmas
we had to come in and resurface a red part of the track. My understanding is we may have gotten some
footprints in there but that was completed
The main net that divides the basketball courts had to be moved, we did that, and we're working on punch
list items at this point. The next Richland Beanblossom School Board meeting is on February 17th. On
January 21st, the Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees met and voted on the Hoosier Start
Pension Plan. The board voted unanimously to approve adopting the plan for library staff.
Human Resources Director Becky Throckmorton explained some of the details. And then we're able to offer
it for all staff. So part-time staff and full-time staff would be eligible to participate if they did
want to contribute to their own retirement. And then there's a $15 minimum contribution per paycheck.
So it makes it very affordable for staff and attainable for people to participate wherever they're at
in life and be able to save for retirement.
And then there is a $54 annual fee that staff pay if they want to participate. That's just the fee to
manage the accounts. Most other plans have percentages. That's how they set up their fees. And so this
is just a flat $54 admin fee that's part of staff participating in this. So there's no cost to the library.
It's not replacing our current perf plan. It just kind of sets us next to that.
Next, the board discussed the logistics of Adobe Creative Cloud licensing reservations. Library Director
Greer Carson stated that these will allow library card holders to reserve and use digital workspaces
without having to purchase a license themselves. We interject with an update on the question, Jamie,
that you asked about the Adobe Creative Suite.
two licenses up to six hours per day and 18 hours per week reserved through level up location in Communico
and up to seven days in advance for reservation. Thank you, Josh. Director Carson then gave an update
on library membership.
Total library card holders increased in 2025 from month to month, every consecutive month. That's really
exciting to see. And usually by increments of 100 to 200 patrons a month. Our total number of library
card holders at the start of 26 is 58,931. That's about 42% of our county's total population. That's
fantastic statistics for us. So we'll keep working on that and keep pushing for 50% of the county.
As expected, we ended the year with the best overall circulation we've seen since before the pandemic.
Most of this is due to incredibly strong and increasing digital circulation. Thanks once again to our
outstanding collection development department for the selection, cataloging and discovery solutions
they oversee and enhance on a regular basis. And of course, to all of our staff for consistently promoting
and supporting the use of our collections at all service points.
The board meeting concluded with a discussion of the impact that Indiana Senate Bill 1 will have on
the library's financial planning for the next several years. Assuming things may change funding-wise
for libraries in the future, will it make a difference? I mean, will we just update it on a? Yeah, I
expect we'll sort of see this long-term plan get adjusted every year.
And so, yeah, just depending on what happens, we may just be struggling to keep our head above water
for several years. But on the other hand, something may change. We could be in a position where revenue
does go up as fast as it did in the years leading up to when we built the Southwest branch.
The MCPL Board of Trustees will meet again on February 18th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you
for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.
for hurting families in Monroe County. A contribution to children who are vulnerable and in need of
an advocate. A staff that goes above and beyond to support and advocate for children in need of services.
The web of remarkable people who are dealing with difficult situations. So many young people that are
in need of help and trying to find a stable family
stable place to live. Without the CASAs, to make that happen, many of them would be unable to find a
good home. I love being that voice for the child who can't speak for themselves in court. It takes me
out of my comfort zone and it also helps others. CASA means supporting our community. Being a CASA is
making sure that your village is healthy and whole and that the children in your village will someday
be able to help the village as well.
A child who doesn't have a voice maybe in their family situation or school situation now has a voice
that can advocate for them. I really enjoy working with children that are going through difficult times
and letting them know that I care about their future. We are privileged with our charge of representing
the best interest of children. And so therefore we can advocate for exactly what they need
without restriction, focusing on their best interest.
I want to repair the world one child at a time.
What I know about this thing is what it looks like and where I found it. In the spring or early summer
of 83, my brother and me started to take on...