Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. Bloomington Mayor Carrie Thompson hosted a traveling
town hall in City Council District 4 on Monday, April 6. The mayor was joined at Morgenstern's Bookstore
by Planning and Transportation Director David Hittle. During the question and answer session, a Bloomington
resident asked the mayor to explain how the administration engaged with security professionals regarding
the use of flock cameras in the community.
We have a number of different folks that have been consulted and are still being consulted. That's why
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
both kinds of feedback in the mayor's office. So it's not 100% against flock and I would say,
may not be even a majority. A citizen then asked about the Seminary Point apartment demolition for the
convention center expansion. They asked why alternatives are not being considered. Some of the people
who live in those homes have expressed concern, people in the community have expressed concern about
just getting rid of 29 units of affordable housing at a time where everyone agrees there's a housing
crisis. And there actually seems to be a decent plan that's within the city's power to promote and to act on.
to have the CIB, once they receive the land, to then sell it to the city. And the city can spin it off
into whatever, what have you, to be a cooperative land trust, you know, details aside. But is there
any reason why that plan is unworkable? Thompson said the city had not heard of the plan. We have not
looked at it. We simply haven't looked at it. And I'll tell you, we
We don't have capacity to take on another project right now. We simply don't. If you're tracking what's
happening at the State House, Senate Enrolled Act 1 has significantly cut the income that Bloomington
will have. HUD has made cuts, et cetera, et cetera. And so financially, we don't have the means to take
on another project at this point. Our TIF is maxed out. I mean, we're just, we're at a point in the
city where
We really are looking at how do we maintain what we already have and do a really good job with that
and try to meet people's expectations with the basic city services that we must provide. Next, the mayor
addressed the issue of IU not building dormitories while the city struggles with a housing shortage.
Student housing has been some of the most reliably
funded housing, because it's secure. The people who live in that house, by and large, do not source
the income in the community that they use to pay for that house. And so as David spoke to earlier,
our UDO, unfortunately, has made it really easy to build these large student buildings. And those are marketed
directly to students. Mayor Thompson also addressed voter turnout. She said that the city is focused
on increasing civic engagement in the community. How do we get people to vote? And that's the root of
a lot of problems that we have. We have very, very low voter turnout. And what that means, and I used
to think that
that voting was like the minimum engagement in the democratic process, but it's actually, it's sort
of up here now. People are so disengaged. And so I think if we got people voting, then no matter what
party you were, you would probably be more representative of the people. And so that's where I think
we should be working. We need people to get to the polls and we need
them to know that it matters. And you know that because you show up at all of these meetings, right?
And, and hold electives accountable. To view the full town hall, you can visit catstv.net. The Bloomington
Board of Public Works met on April 7th and discussed permitting directional voting signs in the public
right of way at the North Showers building. City attorney Audrey Brittingham explained the issue.
there were, when we came into work, there were signs placed in the right-of-way, the public right-of-way,
largely signs that were just directing people to the voting location, and there was one or two signs
regarding rules about electioneering where you can and can't stand. So those were placed on city property
by the Monroe County government. This is just a resolution from the Board of Public Works saying that
they can, for the 2020,
For 2026, the county can place signs like that, signs that are directing people to vote, that are outlining
the rules within the polling locations, within the public right-of-way. It also clearly indicates what
signs cannot be put in the right-of-way, so signs on political issues, campaign
candidate signs, things like that. After explaining the revised rules, Vice President Kyla Cox Deckard
asked for clarification on where the signs could be placed. Brittingham clarified where the signs could
go. They currently can't or shouldn't be placed in city public right of way anyways. Yeah, so yes, they
would need the permission, of course, of the owner of the polling location. The motion passed unanimously.
Next, the board discussed a service agreement with Murphy Elevator for full service maintenance. Public
Works Director Adam Wason explained the contract. Murphy Elevator, we're looking to bring them on as
our full service maintenance contractor for including our monthly preventative maintenance and repair
services. This will include City Hall, West Showers, BPD Dispatch, Morton Street Garage, Trades Garage,
4th Street Garage, and Walnut Street Garage.
and we request your approval of this contract with Murphy Elevator Company. This motion passed unanimously.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on April 21st. The Monroe County Election Board
met on April 9th. County Clerk Nicole Brown described an issue that occurred early Tuesday with candidate
signs being located on city property. The same day, a meeting was held and a resolution was proposed
to find an appropriate place for the signs.
as we left the meeting, my understanding was that there was going to be a resolution proposed, which
ultimately passed at the meeting on Tuesday evening. And so I believe it was described in the online
paper as a kerfuffle. I am here to say that the kerfuffle lasted less than 24 hours. I am not aware
of any significant harm that was done with respect to the candidate signs.
But because the resolution was passed, we are able to keep those directional signs outside of the showers
building, which actually helps the city as well as the county because it gives the voters the direction
where they need to report to vote early. Election supervisor Kylie Farris gave an update on voter numbers.
We are currently sitting at 90,180 registered voters in Monroe County.
And then for the early voting turnout, we are sitting at 430 check-ins. As of right now, I have a live
update on that through our vendor.
And then absentee by mail. I actually wanted to also include by email in this as well. So for mail,
we are sitting at 603 ballots that have gone out with 86 of those being returned. We did have more that
came in right before I left for this meeting. And then for email, we have sent out 57 and have received
eight of those back. Ferris said the first day of early voting saw 178 check ins, which is the most
in county history.
Fleet and building director Richard Kreider then updated the board on the election central relocation.
We went ahead and moved them downstairs into the new space and unfortunately we had to use their their
used furniture to make that happen but we were able to make that happen. We're moving training into
suite 203 a little more level floors in that area for them to use and
They're set up downstairs and off and running. Monroe County GIS coordinator John Beaton showed the
board the new early voting dashboard, which includes updated coverage on election results. If you guys
are interested in this, it's a fairly dynamic dashboard.
and it's fairly cool we're doing it here in Monroe County. So if you go to the Monroe County homepage,
you can click on the GIS division, or I believe in voter registration as well. The next meeting of the
Monroe County Election Board will be on April 23rd. The Richland Township and Town of Ellisville
Reorganization Committee met on April 8th and discussed finalizing the draft reorganization plan. Town
attorney Darla Brown summarized the draft progress. The Reorganization Committee has already
approved the subcommittee reports with few revisions, so I have included language from the subcommittee
reports into the final report, and I changed very, very little. And what I sent an email out to the
board earlier with a list of questions that I have about the board's intent.
because it wasn't clear to me from the meeting or from the subcommittee report what the recommendation
is. Brown requested that the committee revisit the Reorganized Government Board composition. The committee
agreed that the board will be composed of seven council members, five from the Ellitsville Town Council
and two from the Township Board of Trustees. The language I put in the plan
with regard to vacancies for town council states that they should be filled by caucus. It's not clear
to me how, if there's a vacancy with regard to a former Richland township board member, how that vacancy
should be filled. Committee member William Ellis said township board vacancies should be filled by caucus.
Since township board is voted on by the entire township,
I would say if there's a vacancy, normal caucus procedures would follow for any other, any of the districts,
but the at large positions, it would be the same as what the township board currently, the entire township,
the precinct commitment of the political party of whichever one's elected.
Brown said the normal caucus procedures will still apply for districts and council members are currently
required to be residents of the district from which they are elected. Ellis clarified that district
lines will not change, but they will expand. I just don't want to confuse people to think that it's
a function of the reorganization that would happen because right now the reorganization does not change
any of the current. It expands the districts.
to include more people, but it doesn't change district lines for a current elected person or those running
for election, which would change. The committee also discussed differences in taxes and services between
the town and rural areas. Committee member Scott Reynolds said the proposed plan does not define the
differences. Those two districts, rural versus town, talk about taxes and they talk about services.
One point I should note is that I don't think we actually define in the plan the exact difference in
services that we'll find between those two districts. In other words, it leaves open the possibility
that the rural district will have less services, but we don't actually say anywhere exactly what that
means. The committee said it will provide further material to distinguish between the two at a later date.
The committee voted to accept the reorganization proposal. It will now move on to the Town Council and
the Township Board of Trustees. The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission met on April 6. Jane Cooper-Smith,
Director of the City's Economic and Sustainability Department, discussed a resolution that would transfer
several city-owned parking lots to the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board. The resolution 2624
pertains to the transfer
a real property to the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board from the redevelopment, Bloomington
Redevelopment Commission for use relating to the Convention Center. This property that is, would be
conveyed tonight if approved is only parking lots that are currently in use. I want to say for the public,
this does not pertain to any property that has buildings on it and this
represents other than Bunger and Robertson, the bulk of the properties near the Convention Center that
the Redevelopment Commission owns. So just for a little detail, these parcels, all three parcels were
transferred to the RDC at different times.
Cooper Smith said, staff recommends the parking lots be transferred to the Monroe County CIB because
they believe the CIB is best positioned to use them for a host hotel at the Bloomington Convention Center.
During public comment, local resident Joe Davis said that he would rather see this land be used for
other purposes such as a new jail or affordable housing units rather than convention center expansion.
I want to point out the fact that this is the people's property.
though it is a parking lot and though it was only purchased for $1, there are higher and better uses
for the public than providing unnecessary parking or unnecessary use by the CIB because we do not need
this expanded convention center. We have many more issues where valuable properties held by both the
county and the city
which are located downtown and no more land is being created downtown. It's all that there is. We need
to reserve this land for a new jail justice center, co-location with the courts. We need this land for
housing. We need this land to serve the community. A hotel does not serve the community. It serves those
who come into the community.
The convention center is designed to be a moneymaker, a loss leader, mind you, a loss leader that is
going to benefit only a handful of players. Those are the hoteliers, the restaurateurs, those who are
making a dollar. The average Joe, like you and me, are not going to benefit at all. I strongly encourage
the RDC to not transfer
these parking lot properties to the CIB. The commission passed the resolution by a unanimous vote. The
next meeting of the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission will take place on April 20th. The Monroe County
Commissioners met on April 9th and received a quarterly update from the Purdue Extension Office. County
Extension Director Adi Ekuanwa gave updates on the local 4-H program.
We are on track to enroll more than 400 youth in our 4-H program. Right now, more than 4,000 youth are
engaged through local learning events. We offer our 4-H youth a wide range of experiences, including
participating in clubs, interest meeting, workforce skill workshops, leadership development, camp, livestock
education, certification, animal identification events, and camp counselor training as well.
4-H has been partnering with five schools in our county for their spring learning festival and launching
initiatives for intracurricular project-based elementary programs and this will help to engage kids
before, during, and after school. Equan Wa shared additional details about how the Monroe County program
has been successful. Our youth are exceeding not only locally but in the state and national level as
well. We have 16
local youths who have attended the Teen Leadership Weekend. Two youths are representing Monroe County
nationally at Washington, D.C. Two youths represent the county nationally at the 4-H Congress in Atlanta.
And one youth is representing Monroe County in Washington, D.C. at the National 4-H Conference. There's
a lot of engagement at the state and national level just from one county. So our youth are doing a really
good job. Next, Monroe County GIS coordinator John Beaton spoke about early voting in the county.
We are working in collaboration with the voter registration office, again, to track early voting across
Monroe County. To get to our early voting dashboard, you can go to the Monroe County main website, click
on the GIS division link here, and this will bring us view to our award-winning GIS division page with
all of our exciting applications. And you can click on this, scroll down, and we have a link here to
the Monroe County 2026 midterm primary election.
We're doing pretty good so far this year for early voting in Monroe County for the primary. So you can
see we've had 339 votes cast over a total of two days so far. We have 27 days until the election. 89,755
registered voters as of April 7th. County Commissioner Julie Thomas emphasized the accessibility of
voting. We have already begun early voting as we saw earlier in the meeting with some strong numbers.
Remember this is at the
North Showers building, lots of parking available, no meters. Thank you. And most of the hours are 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. And we have a couple of Saturdays thrown in, the 25th of April and
the 2nd of May, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And the last day for early voting is fourth
8 a.m. to noon and of course Election Day, if you prefer to go on Election Day, is May 5th this year.
The next Monroe County Commissioner's meeting is on April 23rd. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank
you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.