WEBVTT 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:11.475 - Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. Bloomington Mayor Carrie Thompson hosted a traveling 00:00:11.475 --> 00:00:17.993 - town hall in City Council District 4 on Monday, April 6. The mayor was joined at Morgenstern's Bookstore 00:00:17.993 --> 00:00:24.698 - by Planning and Transportation Director David Hittle. During the question and answer session, a Bloomington 00:00:24.698 --> 00:00:31.217 - resident asked the mayor to explain how the administration engaged with security professionals regarding 00:00:31.217 --> 00:00:33.886 - the use of flock cameras in the community. 00:00:34.178 --> 00:00:42.625 - We have a number of different folks that have been consulted and are still being consulted. That's why 00:00:42.625 --> 00:00:51.073 - you don't have a report yet. And I'll just say that I don't, I just wanna be clear that we are getting 00:00:51.073 --> 00:00:58.782 - both kinds of feedback in the mayor's office. So it's not 100% against flock and I would say, 00:00:58.946 --> 00:01:04.830 - may not be even a majority. A citizen then asked about the Seminary Point apartment demolition for the 00:01:04.830 --> 00:01:10.656 - convention center expansion. They asked why alternatives are not being considered. Some of the people 00:01:10.656 --> 00:01:16.425 - who live in those homes have expressed concern, people in the community have expressed concern about 00:01:16.425 --> 00:01:22.195 - just getting rid of 29 units of affordable housing at a time where everyone agrees there's a housing 00:01:22.195 --> 00:01:28.478 - crisis. And there actually seems to be a decent plan that's within the city's power to promote and to act on. 00:01:28.898 --> 00:01:37.026 - to have the CIB, once they receive the land, to then sell it to the city. And the city can spin it off 00:01:37.026 --> 00:01:44.918 - into whatever, what have you, to be a cooperative land trust, you know, details aside. But is there 00:01:44.918 --> 00:01:52.968 - any reason why that plan is unworkable? Thompson said the city had not heard of the plan. We have not 00:01:52.968 --> 00:01:58.334 - looked at it. We simply haven't looked at it. And I'll tell you, we 00:01:58.434 --> 00:02:05.808 - We don't have capacity to take on another project right now. We simply don't. If you're tracking what's 00:02:05.808 --> 00:02:13.041 - happening at the State House, Senate Enrolled Act 1 has significantly cut the income that Bloomington 00:02:13.041 --> 00:02:20.415 - will have. HUD has made cuts, et cetera, et cetera. And so financially, we don't have the means to take 00:02:20.415 --> 00:02:27.506 - on another project at this point. Our TIF is maxed out. I mean, we're just, we're at a point in the 00:02:27.506 --> 00:02:28.286 - city where 00:02:29.186 --> 00:02:36.096 - We really are looking at how do we maintain what we already have and do a really good job with that 00:02:36.096 --> 00:02:43.351 - and try to meet people's expectations with the basic city services that we must provide. Next, the mayor 00:02:43.351 --> 00:02:50.330 - addressed the issue of IU not building dormitories while the city struggles with a housing shortage. 00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.854 - Student housing has been some of the most reliably 00:02:54.114 --> 00:03:02.680 - funded housing, because it's secure. The people who live in that house, by and large, do not source 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:11.161 - the income in the community that they use to pay for that house. And so as David spoke to earlier, 00:03:11.161 --> 00:03:20.670 - our UDO, unfortunately, has made it really easy to build these large student buildings. And those are marketed 00:03:20.898 --> 00:03:29.093 - directly to students. Mayor Thompson also addressed voter turnout. She said that the city is focused 00:03:29.093 --> 00:03:37.370 - on increasing civic engagement in the community. How do we get people to vote? And that's the root of 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:45.646 - a lot of problems that we have. We have very, very low voter turnout. And what that means, and I used 00:03:45.646 --> 00:03:46.782 - to think that 00:03:47.170 --> 00:03:54.747 - that voting was like the minimum engagement in the democratic process, but it's actually, it's sort 00:03:54.747 --> 00:04:02.476 - of up here now. People are so disengaged. And so I think if we got people voting, then no matter what 00:04:02.476 --> 00:04:10.130 - party you were, you would probably be more representative of the people. And so that's where I think 00:04:10.130 --> 00:04:15.358 - we should be working. We need people to get to the polls and we need 00:04:15.458 --> 00:04:22.111 - them to know that it matters. And you know that because you show up at all of these meetings, right? 00:04:22.111 --> 00:04:29.159 - And, and hold electives accountable. To view the full town hall, you can visit catstv.net. The Bloomington 00:04:29.159 --> 00:04:35.943 - Board of Public Works met on April 7th and discussed permitting directional voting signs in the public 00:04:35.943 --> 00:04:42.398 - right of way at the North Showers building. City attorney Audrey Brittingham explained the issue. 00:04:42.626 --> 00:04:49.463 - there were, when we came into work, there were signs placed in the right-of-way, the public right-of-way, 00:04:49.463 --> 00:04:55.978 - largely signs that were just directing people to the voting location, and there was one or two signs 00:04:55.978 --> 00:05:02.815 - regarding rules about electioneering where you can and can't stand. So those were placed on city property 00:05:02.815 --> 00:05:09.394 - by the Monroe County government. This is just a resolution from the Board of Public Works saying that 00:05:09.394 --> 00:05:10.942 - they can, for the 2020, 00:05:11.586 --> 00:05:20.527 - For 2026, the county can place signs like that, signs that are directing people to vote, that are outlining 00:05:20.527 --> 00:05:29.055 - the rules within the polling locations, within the public right-of-way. It also clearly indicates what 00:05:29.055 --> 00:05:35.678 - signs cannot be put in the right-of-way, so signs on political issues, campaign 00:05:35.874 --> 00:05:42.804 - candidate signs, things like that. After explaining the revised rules, Vice President Kyla Cox Deckard 00:05:42.804 --> 00:05:49.801 - asked for clarification on where the signs could be placed. Brittingham clarified where the signs could 00:05:49.801 --> 00:05:56.799 - go. They currently can't or shouldn't be placed in city public right of way anyways. Yeah, so yes, they 00:05:56.799 --> 00:06:03.998 - would need the permission, of course, of the owner of the polling location. The motion passed unanimously. 00:06:04.578 --> 00:06:10.518 - Next, the board discussed a service agreement with Murphy Elevator for full service maintenance. Public 00:06:10.518 --> 00:06:16.286 - Works Director Adam Wason explained the contract. Murphy Elevator, we're looking to bring them on as 00:06:16.286 --> 00:06:22.112 - our full service maintenance contractor for including our monthly preventative maintenance and repair 00:06:22.112 --> 00:06:28.052 - services. This will include City Hall, West Showers, BPD Dispatch, Morton Street Garage, Trades Garage, 00:06:28.052 --> 00:06:30.622 - 4th Street Garage, and Walnut Street Garage. 00:06:31.394 --> 00:06:38.200 - and we request your approval of this contract with Murphy Elevator Company. This motion passed unanimously. 00:06:38.200 --> 00:06:44.628 - The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on April 21st. The Monroe County Election Board 00:06:44.628 --> 00:06:51.308 - met on April 9th. County Clerk Nicole Brown described an issue that occurred early Tuesday with candidate 00:06:51.308 --> 00:06:57.673 - signs being located on city property. The same day, a meeting was held and a resolution was proposed 00:06:57.673 --> 00:07:00.446 - to find an appropriate place for the signs. 00:07:00.578 --> 00:07:07.950 - as we left the meeting, my understanding was that there was going to be a resolution proposed, which 00:07:07.950 --> 00:07:15.321 - ultimately passed at the meeting on Tuesday evening. And so I believe it was described in the online 00:07:15.321 --> 00:07:22.620 - paper as a kerfuffle. I am here to say that the kerfuffle lasted less than 24 hours. I am not aware 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:28.094 - of any significant harm that was done with respect to the candidate signs. 00:07:28.226 --> 00:07:35.621 - But because the resolution was passed, we are able to keep those directional signs outside of the showers 00:07:35.621 --> 00:07:42.876 - building, which actually helps the city as well as the county because it gives the voters the direction 00:07:42.876 --> 00:07:50.341 - where they need to report to vote early. Election supervisor Kylie Farris gave an update on voter numbers. 00:07:50.341 --> 00:07:55.294 - We are currently sitting at 90,180 registered voters in Monroe County. 00:07:56.290 --> 00:08:05.220 - And then for the early voting turnout, we are sitting at 430 check-ins. As of right now, I have a live 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:08.254 - update on that through our vendor. 00:08:09.154 --> 00:08:15.928 - And then absentee by mail. I actually wanted to also include by email in this as well. So for mail, 00:08:15.928 --> 00:08:22.972 - we are sitting at 603 ballots that have gone out with 86 of those being returned. We did have more that 00:08:22.972 --> 00:08:30.017 - came in right before I left for this meeting. And then for email, we have sent out 57 and have received 00:08:30.017 --> 00:08:36.791 - eight of those back. Ferris said the first day of early voting saw 178 check ins, which is the most 00:08:36.791 --> 00:08:38.078 - in county history. 00:08:38.338 --> 00:08:45.674 - Fleet and building director Richard Kreider then updated the board on the election central relocation. 00:08:45.674 --> 00:08:53.010 - We went ahead and moved them downstairs into the new space and unfortunately we had to use their their 00:08:53.010 --> 00:09:00.132 - used furniture to make that happen but we were able to make that happen. We're moving training into 00:09:00.132 --> 00:09:05.118 - suite 203 a little more level floors in that area for them to use and 00:09:05.410 --> 00:09:12.572 - They're set up downstairs and off and running. Monroe County GIS coordinator John Beaton showed the 00:09:12.572 --> 00:09:19.948 - board the new early voting dashboard, which includes updated coverage on election results. If you guys 00:09:19.948 --> 00:09:24.030 - are interested in this, it's a fairly dynamic dashboard. 00:09:24.194 --> 00:09:30.230 - and it's fairly cool we're doing it here in Monroe County. So if you go to the Monroe County homepage, 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:36.267 - you can click on the GIS division, or I believe in voter registration as well. The next meeting of the 00:09:36.267 --> 00:09:41.951 - Monroe County Election Board will be on April 23rd. The Richland Township and Town of Ellisville 00:09:41.951 --> 00:09:47.988 - Reorganization Committee met on April 8th and discussed finalizing the draft reorganization plan. Town 00:09:47.988 --> 00:09:53.438 - attorney Darla Brown summarized the draft progress. The Reorganization Committee has already 00:09:53.698 --> 00:10:01.916 - approved the subcommittee reports with few revisions, so I have included language from the subcommittee 00:10:01.916 --> 00:10:09.818 - reports into the final report, and I changed very, very little. And what I sent an email out to the 00:10:09.818 --> 00:10:15.902 - board earlier with a list of questions that I have about the board's intent. 00:10:16.066 --> 00:10:22.539 - because it wasn't clear to me from the meeting or from the subcommittee report what the recommendation 00:10:22.539 --> 00:10:29.263 - is. Brown requested that the committee revisit the Reorganized Government Board composition. The committee 00:10:29.263 --> 00:10:35.798 - agreed that the board will be composed of seven council members, five from the Ellitsville Town Council 00:10:35.798 --> 00:10:40.574 - and two from the Township Board of Trustees. The language I put in the plan 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:49.192 - with regard to vacancies for town council states that they should be filled by caucus. It's not clear 00:10:49.192 --> 00:10:57.532 - to me how, if there's a vacancy with regard to a former Richland township board member, how that vacancy 00:10:57.532 --> 00:11:06.031 - should be filled. Committee member William Ellis said township board vacancies should be filled by caucus. 00:11:06.031 --> 00:11:10.558 - Since township board is voted on by the entire township, 00:11:11.650 --> 00:11:19.389 - I would say if there's a vacancy, normal caucus procedures would follow for any other, any of the districts, 00:11:19.389 --> 00:11:27.057 - but the at large positions, it would be the same as what the township board currently, the entire township, 00:11:27.057 --> 00:11:32.382 - the precinct commitment of the political party of whichever one's elected. 00:11:32.770 --> 00:11:39.386 - Brown said the normal caucus procedures will still apply for districts and council members are currently 00:11:39.386 --> 00:11:45.686 - required to be residents of the district from which they are elected. Ellis clarified that district 00:11:45.686 --> 00:11:51.987 - lines will not change, but they will expand. I just don't want to confuse people to think that it's 00:11:51.987 --> 00:11:58.540 - a function of the reorganization that would happen because right now the reorganization does not change 00:11:58.540 --> 00:12:01.438 - any of the current. It expands the districts. 00:12:01.762 --> 00:12:08.849 - to include more people, but it doesn't change district lines for a current elected person or those running 00:12:08.849 --> 00:12:15.804 - for election, which would change. The committee also discussed differences in taxes and services between 00:12:15.804 --> 00:12:22.494 - the town and rural areas. Committee member Scott Reynolds said the proposed plan does not define the 00:12:22.494 --> 00:12:29.118 - differences. Those two districts, rural versus town, talk about taxes and they talk about services. 00:12:29.826 --> 00:12:36.006 - One point I should note is that I don't think we actually define in the plan the exact difference in 00:12:36.006 --> 00:12:42.186 - services that we'll find between those two districts. In other words, it leaves open the possibility 00:12:42.186 --> 00:12:48.427 - that the rural district will have less services, but we don't actually say anywhere exactly what that 00:12:48.427 --> 00:12:54.974 - means. The committee said it will provide further material to distinguish between the two at a later date. 00:12:55.138 --> 00:13:01.878 - The committee voted to accept the reorganization proposal. It will now move on to the Town Council and 00:13:01.878 --> 00:13:08.946 - the Township Board of Trustees. The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission met on April 6. Jane Cooper-Smith, 00:13:08.946 --> 00:13:15.882 - Director of the City's Economic and Sustainability Department, discussed a resolution that would transfer 00:13:15.882 --> 00:13:22.426 - several city-owned parking lots to the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board. The resolution 2624 00:13:22.426 --> 00:13:24.062 - pertains to the transfer 00:13:24.226 --> 00:13:31.642 - a real property to the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board from the redevelopment, Bloomington 00:13:31.642 --> 00:13:39.133 - Redevelopment Commission for use relating to the Convention Center. This property that is, would be 00:13:39.133 --> 00:13:47.148 - conveyed tonight if approved is only parking lots that are currently in use. I want to say for the public, 00:13:47.148 --> 00:13:52.542 - this does not pertain to any property that has buildings on it and this 00:13:52.930 --> 00:14:00.903 - represents other than Bunger and Robertson, the bulk of the properties near the Convention Center that 00:14:00.903 --> 00:14:08.798 - the Redevelopment Commission owns. So just for a little detail, these parcels, all three parcels were 00:14:08.798 --> 00:14:12.126 - transferred to the RDC at different times. 00:14:12.322 --> 00:14:18.459 - Cooper Smith said, staff recommends the parking lots be transferred to the Monroe County CIB because 00:14:18.459 --> 00:14:24.961 - they believe the CIB is best positioned to use them for a host hotel at the Bloomington Convention Center. 00:14:24.961 --> 00:14:31.038 - During public comment, local resident Joe Davis said that he would rather see this land be used for 00:14:31.038 --> 00:14:37.296 - other purposes such as a new jail or affordable housing units rather than convention center expansion. 00:14:37.296 --> 00:14:41.246 - I want to point out the fact that this is the people's property. 00:14:41.506 --> 00:14:50.753 - though it is a parking lot and though it was only purchased for $1, there are higher and better uses 00:14:50.753 --> 00:15:00.184 - for the public than providing unnecessary parking or unnecessary use by the CIB because we do not need 00:15:00.184 --> 00:15:09.431 - this expanded convention center. We have many more issues where valuable properties held by both the 00:15:09.431 --> 00:15:11.262 - county and the city 00:15:11.682 --> 00:15:19.523 - which are located downtown and no more land is being created downtown. It's all that there is. We need 00:15:19.523 --> 00:15:27.365 - to reserve this land for a new jail justice center, co-location with the courts. We need this land for 00:15:27.365 --> 00:15:35.358 - housing. We need this land to serve the community. A hotel does not serve the community. It serves those 00:15:35.358 --> 00:15:37.566 - who come into the community. 00:15:38.210 --> 00:15:47.038 - The convention center is designed to be a moneymaker, a loss leader, mind you, a loss leader that is 00:15:47.038 --> 00:15:55.954 - going to benefit only a handful of players. Those are the hoteliers, the restaurateurs, those who are 00:15:55.954 --> 00:16:05.132 - making a dollar. The average Joe, like you and me, are not going to benefit at all. I strongly encourage 00:16:05.132 --> 00:16:07.230 - the RDC to not transfer 00:16:07.906 --> 00:16:14.790 - these parking lot properties to the CIB. The commission passed the resolution by a unanimous vote. The 00:16:14.790 --> 00:16:21.874 - next meeting of the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission will take place on April 20th. The Monroe County 00:16:21.874 --> 00:16:28.824 - Commissioners met on April 9th and received a quarterly update from the Purdue Extension Office. County 00:16:28.824 --> 00:16:33.502 - Extension Director Adi Ekuanwa gave updates on the local 4-H program. 00:16:33.762 --> 00:16:40.686 - We are on track to enroll more than 400 youth in our 4-H program. Right now, more than 4,000 youth are 00:16:40.686 --> 00:16:47.475 - engaged through local learning events. We offer our 4-H youth a wide range of experiences, including 00:16:47.475 --> 00:16:54.802 - participating in clubs, interest meeting, workforce skill workshops, leadership development, camp, livestock 00:16:54.802 --> 00:17:01.054 - education, certification, animal identification events, and camp counselor training as well. 00:17:01.858 --> 00:17:08.342 - 4-H has been partnering with five schools in our county for their spring learning festival and launching 00:17:08.342 --> 00:17:14.516 - initiatives for intracurricular project-based elementary programs and this will help to engage kids 00:17:14.516 --> 00:17:21.000 - before, during, and after school. Equan Wa shared additional details about how the Monroe County program 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:27.236 - has been successful. Our youth are exceeding not only locally but in the state and national level as 00:17:27.236 --> 00:17:28.286 - well. We have 16 00:17:28.386 --> 00:17:34.116 - local youths who have attended the Teen Leadership Weekend. Two youths are representing Monroe County 00:17:34.116 --> 00:17:40.071 - nationally at Washington, D.C. Two youths represent the county nationally at the 4-H Congress in Atlanta. 00:17:40.071 --> 00:17:45.914 - And one youth is representing Monroe County in Washington, D.C. at the National 4-H Conference. There's 00:17:45.914 --> 00:17:51.869 - a lot of engagement at the state and national level just from one county. So our youth are doing a really 00:17:51.869 --> 00:17:57.374 - good job. Next, Monroe County GIS coordinator John Beaton spoke about early voting in the county. 00:17:57.826 --> 00:18:04.452 - We are working in collaboration with the voter registration office, again, to track early voting across 00:18:04.452 --> 00:18:11.142 - Monroe County. To get to our early voting dashboard, you can go to the Monroe County main website, click 00:18:11.142 --> 00:18:17.705 - on the GIS division link here, and this will bring us view to our award-winning GIS division page with 00:18:17.705 --> 00:18:24.140 - all of our exciting applications. And you can click on this, scroll down, and we have a link here to 00:18:24.140 --> 00:18:27.262 - the Monroe County 2026 midterm primary election. 00:18:27.394 --> 00:18:33.977 - We're doing pretty good so far this year for early voting in Monroe County for the primary. So you can 00:18:33.977 --> 00:18:40.689 - see we've had 339 votes cast over a total of two days so far. We have 27 days until the election. 89,755 00:18:40.689 --> 00:18:47.080 - registered voters as of April 7th. County Commissioner Julie Thomas emphasized the accessibility of 00:18:47.080 --> 00:18:53.600 - voting. We have already begun early voting as we saw earlier in the meeting with some strong numbers. 00:18:53.600 --> 00:18:55.134 - Remember this is at the 00:18:55.234 --> 00:19:06.271 - North Showers building, lots of parking available, no meters. Thank you. And most of the hours are 8 a.m. 00:19:06.271 --> 00:19:16.684 - to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. And we have a couple of Saturdays thrown in, the 25th of April and 00:19:16.684 --> 00:19:24.702 - the 2nd of May, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And the last day for early voting is fourth 00:19:24.834 --> 00:19:31.865 - 8 a.m. to noon and of course Election Day, if you prefer to go on Election Day, is May 5th this year. 00:19:31.865 --> 00:19:38.828 - The next Monroe County Commissioner's meeting is on April 23rd. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank 00:19:38.828 --> 00:19:43.102 - you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.