- Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman.
- Bloomington Mayor Carrie Thompson discussed public safety, housing attainability, and the city's contract
- with FLOC at her traveling town hall on January 26th. Director of Utilities Catherine Zager and City
- Council Member Isabel Piedmont-Smith joined Thompson to answer questions from residents in District
- 1. Thompson addressed the city's response to the winter storm. So I just wanna start with a shout out
- to our crews, Public Works and Parks,
- street utilities, sanitation, all these folks and fleet who have been out clearing roads and helping
- to keep people safe. We went down to 20% on our crews overnight last night and then came back at full
- force this morning at 6 a.m. ready to get started again.
- I wanna say an extra special thank you to CBU that brought extra equipment downtown and so that we could
- load up dump trucks with snow and move it off the downtown streets. And of course, police and fire were
- on duty all night and throughout the winter weather. And we were even able to offer some assists to
- the hospital that was needing some transport of their critical personnel.
- during the snow. The mayor said property owners, both residential and commercial, are responsible for
- shoveling snow from their sidewalks. She also reminded residents of the city's Snow Buddies program,
- which pairs volunteers with people who are unable to shovel their own sidewalks. I want to make a special
- comment because
- There seems to be misunderstanding every time it snows. Property owners are responsible for clearing
- their sidewalks. That means businesses and residents. And so the downtown sidewalks, whatever is in
- front of your business, please get that cleared. Homeowners as well, get those cleared, landlords, et cetera.
- We do have a Snow Buddies program where able-bodied volunteers sign up to help their neighbors. If you
- are physically unable to clear that snow, please check out that program. If you are physically able
- to clear snow and you know you have neighbors who are less able, please consider taking time to knock
- on those doors and check on your neighbors and help them clear that snow.
- Thompson gave an update on the Hopewell neighborhood, which she says should promote housing affordability.
- She touched on the city's affordability crisis and how the Hopewell neighborhood could address it. When
- we increase supply, of course, we can help drive the cost of housing down. But really what we need is
- ultimately to prepare for the generation we already have here as well as the generations to come.
- We know we have people who really want to live in Bloomington and they cannot afford to live here. And
- some of them just simply can't find units to live in here. Later, Thompson addressed the city's contract
- with Flock Safety, a company used by ICE for surveillance. She said that the city uses Flock cameras
- for targeted investigations.
- I want to take a minute to address flock cameras. Flock has been in the news recently. I want to give
- credit to Isabel Piedmont-Smith, the council member who's on the call today, who has helped bring this
- to the administration's attention. We use flock cameras to support targeted investigations. We don't
- use them for general patrol. The use is
- limited and governed locally. And we have the very tightest controls on our flock systems now, where
- our flock cameras are only directly accessed by BPD. And you have to have a case number, an active case
- number to query any flock system. And so that means that an outside system could
- if a license plate was used here, but they would have to be a law enforcement system. We are in discussions
- with FLOC to make sure that we are protecting civil liberties here and that we are locking down this
- information to the best of our abilities. I'm taking this very seriously and it is our intention to
- ensure that law enforcement, including ICE,
- cannot access our data under any circumstances. And so we're meeting with FLOC in middle of February
- and plan to keep the public updated on those findings and our process. The next mayoral town hall will
- take place in spring of 2026.
- On January 27th, the Monroe County Council met and discussed various funding requests, including the
- recent snowfall and plowing. Monroe County resident Skip Daly addressed the plowing of private roads
- and the impact on residents. Germanium Lane is the one particularly in question, but our residents don't
- deserve to hand shovel 13 or 14 inches of snow from the road.
- Hearing the simple line that Monroe County cannot plow a private road is kicking the can during an emergency
- situation. After public comment concluded, Highway Director Lisa Ridge explained the county response
- to the weekend snowstorm. She said that Monroe County and surrounding areas received 12 to 16 inches,
- leading to snow removal crews working for 48 hours straight. Ridge said that the materials, equipment
- and labor costs totaled just under $300,000.
- Our crew began at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening and we sent them home on Monday around 5 p.m.
- after 48 hours. We had approximately 45 employees working during this time from management to mechanics,
- equipment operators and truck drivers. We rotated crews consistently so that we could provide rest of
- our crews but had assistance available 24-7 throughout this time. The average snowfall was 12 to 16
- inches across the county.
- The crew will be plowing all week trying to widen the roadways with extreme cold temperatures. The melting
- will be a slow process. We will continue to haul in more materials and be ready for the next storm event.
- Ridge addressed the concerns of residents who live on private roads saying county trucks cannot plow
- those roads. I also wanted to provide a little information about snow removal and private roads. Monroe
- County Highway Department receives their funding from the Motor Vehicle Highway Distribution.
- One of the factors that is part of this calculation is the road mileage of county maintained roads.
- When we officially accept county roads for future maintenance, it is sent to the state who then adds
- this to our funding. Private roads do not bring any funding to the county highway department.
- We are very restricted on what our funds can be used for but most importantly it must be on county maintained
- roads. We have multiple subdivisions in this county that we are working along with the planning department
- that include issues of unfinished subdivisions and we would be happy to share this list with you or
- anyone else explain the issues that are outstanding
- who the developer is, if there's a bond on file, what it would take to bring the subdivision up to county
- standards, which the developer agreed to bring to standards when they started their project. The developers
- have been provided a list of requirements needed to meet the standards, including ADA compliance. Council
- member Marty Hawk supported Ridge's statements. People that have been contacting me and have been over
- the months
- shall I say a few years. And so I wanted to make it clear, this is not through the fault of the highway
- workers. They will plow whatever roads that they are directed to plow. But this does appear to be a
- situation where the developers just have dumped it in the county slab. And I think this is a big situation.
- It's not gonna be fixed overnight.
- I think, however, we might just do as an emergency for those folks that are on that. I think it was
- on Geranium Lane where they have someone there that has hospital issues. But those are things, and I
- tried to make it clear, it's a county commissioner's decision. It's not the council's decision. The
- next Monroe County Council meeting is on February 10th.
- The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on January 27th and discussed the new Hopewell construction
- project. Director of Public Works, Adam Wason, expressed his excitement for the project and what it
- will do for the community.
- We were putting a lot of staff time resources effort into the Hopewell project and everything that holds
- for the future of the community. So this is just another step in that we've gotten the Hopewell East
- kind of started and that's taken off. We've got these road projects going now. This is another phase
- of all of that redevelopment that is all the old Bloomington Hospital site. So exciting to start seeing
- some of this come to fruition when it was all thought about back in
- 2013, 14, 15 whatnot. Then engineering field specialist, Zach Bell, requested an extension of the sidewalk
- and lane closures on West 11th Street on behalf of Duke Energy. A late start inclement weather and other
- complications have slowed work substantially. The new target finish date is March 31st, 2026. An extension
- of 30 working days or six weeks is requested. The board passed the motion unanimously.
- Next, Bell requested closing West First Street for Clark Landscaping to repave sidewalks. Clark Landscaping
- is requesting approval for sidewalk closures at 1004 West First Street. This request is for sidewalk
- replacements on the north and south side of West First Street. A pedestrian detour will be in place
- for the expected duration of one week per side. The motion passed unanimously.
- Next, engineering field specialist Kyle Ball requested lane closures and traffic shifts on 115 East
- Kirkwood on behalf of Odyssey Construction. Odyssey Construction is requesting a pedestrian diversion,
- intermittent closures, traffic lane shifts, intermittent lane closures, alley closures, metered parking
- reservations, all in association with the project at 115 East Kirkwood Avenue.
- The request impacts the northern sidewalk on East Kirkwood, the north-south and east-west alleys surrounding
- 115 East Kirkwood, the east-west travel lanes on East Kirkwood, and the metered parking spaces along
- the north side of East Kirkwood. These proposed closures would be used to accommodate utility relocations
- and the construction of condominiums with ground floor retail at 115 East Kirkwood.
- The temporary traffic control measures would be in place from January 28th through July 28th, 2027 for
- approximately 18 months. The board unanimously approved this action. The next meeting of the Bloomington
- Board of Public Works will be on February 10th.
- The Monroe County Commissioners met on January 29th and ratified an emergency order to acquire funding
- from the state and federal governments for snow response. County Councilmember David Henry spoke during
- public comment in support of the ratification.
- It is the first step required for eligibility, as we know, for state and federal disaster assistance.
- As the public may know, both Governor Braun and President Trump have already declared a state of emergency
- for the state of Indiana. This is our step to get in line for that process, as we learned in county
- council on Tuesday from Director Ridge that
- About 300,000 incurred costs to the county for the removal of snow over the snow emergency means that
- I'm hopeful that we're eligible for funding and reimbursement from either the state or federal government.
- This is, I know, sometimes a lottery we play, but it's one that is important. Then the commissioners
- discussed the county highway department's response to the weekend snowstorm. Highway director Lisa Ridge
- said that the county is only able to plow county roads, not private lanes.
- I have nothing but sympathy for the homeowners that are not aware that they might be living on a private
- road. We are unable to maintain all of these subdivisions with private roadways. If you take over the
- snow plowing, which again, we're not allowed to use our resources on private roads, it only makes the
- matter worse, giving developers more incentive to not finish their improvements. This has been an ongoing
- issue in the 38 years that I have worked in this county. We do have some great developers in Monroe County
- but as always you always have a few of those bad apples. I hope there can be a solution to this moving
- forward and it would make things a lot easier on homeowners and Monroe County staff. Jeff Cockrell said
- that there are 41 private lanes in Monroe County that cannot be plowed by county highway vehicles. He
- said that the county highway department will provide a list of private snow removal contractors to residents
- upon request.
- Commissioner Julie Thomas suggested thinking about prohibiting private lanes in future subdivisions
- to prevent similar problems in the future. I'm hearing it and I feel for you but you know we can't send
- county trucks in to help we just can't do it and that's the unfortunate thing because that would actually
- go against
- state statute and the use of motor vehicle highway funds, which is how we fund our snowplow system.
- Terrible, terrible, terrible. I feel horrible for these folks. My heart goes out to them, especially
- those who didn't know or those who have an HOA that's not doing their job, whatever it might be.
- I am sorry, especially if this is the storm where you found that out for the first time. If this is
- the first time anything went wrong. Terrible.
- What we can do is encourage these developers to get these subdivisions done, to get them done right.
- And again, we need to have that conversation about do we ever do private road developments again? During
- public comment, some residents who live on private lanes raised concerns that their developments have
- been attempting to become county roads for years with little luck. Resident Lynn Coyne said that his
- subdivision did road construction to meet the requirements, but the requirements were then changed.
- You have inspected these streets multiple times and each time you change the rules on us. I don't know
- how anybody can tolerate that situation or comply with it. It baffles me. Plus, is it legal to apply
- post facto these new standards? For example, the sidewalk standards. You have completely different sidewalk
- and crosswalk standards now than you did at the time you approved the subdivision. You are applying
- the new standards
- want all the crosswalks torn out and rebuilt, tell me how that's fair. You can blame developers, you
- can blame anybody, but I think you need to look in the mirror here. County Councilmember Trent Deckard
- said that the county needs to look at its emergency management plans. We need a wider solution to the
- complexities here than I think what they
- are either empowered to give or can give due to the complexities of either federal state or local regulation.
- And if ever there was a call for taking a look at some of those to make sure that all of those make
- sense, this might be a good example. Deckard said county emergency management will respond to flooding
- on private lanes so the county could look into extending that response to snow. The commissioner said
- they do not supervise, manage or control the emergency management department so they cannot direct it.
- The MCC SC School Board met on January 27th. During public comment, Alice Kilbride, a parent and community
- member, raised the concern that the number of teachers resigning exceeds the number of open positions
- as classrooms are becoming overcrowded. As seen in the personnel report this month, many teachers have
- resigned. If you compare that to job postings on the MCC website, only five certified teaching positions
- are listed, and some are listed as temporary positions.
- Will these positions be eliminated this summer? What happens to the students who were in the teacher's
- classes for the positions that are not being filled? The students didn't disappear and still need education
- provided by a teacher. Not replacing a teacher who resigns mid-year is not strategic. It's convenient.
- As seen in the physical report in the board documents from January 6th, the demographic trends of our
- school corporation are showing an increase in the number of high-need students. Percentage of special
- education, English language learners, and free and reduced students is increasing.
- For our teachers to successfully teach these students, class sizes should be lowered. The reduction
- in teachers at schools means that class sizes are getting larger. Janna Perot brought up concerns about
- immigration and customs enforcement raids in local schools. But ICE is all over the country. It is operating.
- It is kidnapping children and parents. And the schools have a responsibility to make sure that there
- is a plan in place. When ICE shows up and the whistles go off,
- that you know what to do, that everybody in the building knows what to do, that the students and parents
- know what to do to avoid being kidnapped and dropped off somewhere in South Texas with nothing,
- no transportation or anything. This is a horrible situation, and it's really terrible, just like shooter,
- active shooter drills. It's just something we have to acknowledge. It happens. It's happening.
- You need to be prepared. We need to be prepared as a community. Jenny Noble Cucera, the president of
- the Monroe County Education Association, opposed the board's resolution, 2026-04, which could potentially
- allow $12.5 million to be moved out of this year's education fund and into the operations fund. Just
- so that our larger community understands, the education fund pays for teachers, teachers who work with students.
- The operations fund pays primarily for buildings, transportation, maintenance, technology, and athletic
- facilities. The board decided to repeal a teacher appreciation grant due to changes in legislation.
- Dr. Henderson presented the non-union support staff and administrator salary schedule. No increase to
- base pay. Stipends awarded to non-union support staff are based on a position's gross yearly wage without overtime.
- stipends awarded to certified support staff and administrators aligned with stipends awarded to teachers,
- and medical, vision, and dental insurance contributions and rates aligned with and are equitable with
- the new MCEA and AFSCME agreements. The motion was approved unanimously. The MCCSC School Board will
- meet again on February 24th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB,
- I'm Annaliese Poorman.