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.