WEBVTT 00:00:07.426 --> 00:00:13.446 - Hello, and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Monroe County Council met on May 12th, and 00:00:13.446 --> 00:00:19.467 - most of the meeting focused on the debate over the proposed new county jail and justice center at the 00:00:19.467 --> 00:00:25.369 - North Park site. County commissioners brought the North Park proposal back before the council for a 00:00:25.369 --> 00:00:31.389 - first reading, with the final vote delayed until the next council meeting. During discussion, Sheriff 00:00:31.389 --> 00:00:35.934 - Ruben Marte stressed the urgency of moving forward. But I can tell you this. 00:00:43.202 --> 00:00:50.887 - Every day, every hour, there are people in that facility. But not everybody in this room sees except 00:00:50.887 --> 00:00:58.495 - for me and my staff. And I'm telling you, it's very difficult. I'm telling you, it's getting worse. 00:00:58.495 --> 00:01:06.256 - It is getting worse. I can't tell you anymore about the elevator breaking down. I just can't. I don't 00:01:06.256 --> 00:01:11.582 - know what else to say about that. Down because of the mold. The mold. 00:01:12.770 --> 00:01:20.609 - me to clean the windows, the bag that I showed some of you three years ago with the filth in there that 00:01:20.609 --> 00:01:28.298 - some of you didn't want to touch. Those windows now have to be cleaned professionally, which is going 00:01:28.298 --> 00:01:35.987 - to cost $30,000. I can't save money now doing it myself because of the moment. So when people say you 00:01:35.987 --> 00:01:39.454 - could go ahead and remodel that place and no, 00:01:40.610 --> 00:01:47.202 - During discussion, councilmembers questioned commissioners about long-term planning, public transparency, 00:01:47.202 --> 00:01:52.861 - and whether the county is moving too quickly because of pressure tied to the ACLU lawsuit. 00:01:52.861 --> 00:01:59.266 - County Commissioner Julie Thomas argued county leaders are balancing both financial concerns and legal 00:01:59.266 --> 00:02:05.734 - deadlines. I've consistently heard that it's too much money. And it is a lot of money. It makes my eyes 00:02:05.734 --> 00:02:10.398 - water to think about how much money this is. And that's a huge commitment. 00:02:11.010 --> 00:02:18.557 - This is a big decision, probably the biggest you'll make as a council member. It's huge. I respect the 00:02:18.557 --> 00:02:26.250 - gravity of that decision. But we right now are thinking about time. Near the end of the meeting, council 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:33.578 - members debated whether to vote that night or wait until all council members could be present for a 00:02:33.578 --> 00:02:34.750 - final decision. 00:02:34.946 --> 00:02:42.298 - A motion to approve the North Park purchase failed in a one-to-five vote with council member Pete Iverson 00:02:42.298 --> 00:02:49.304 - casting the lone vote in favor. The Monroe County Council will cast its final vote on the North Park 00:02:49.304 --> 00:02:56.656 - proposal at its next meeting on May 26th. The Ellisville Town Council met on May 11th and heard estimates 00:02:56.656 --> 00:03:04.286 - for resurfacing town streets. Town attorney Darla Brown presented the bids. The first bid is from Lent's page 00:03:08.674 --> 00:03:20.409 - And the bid is, the total bid for South Deer Run, East Benjamin Street, South Lantern Lane, East Appomattox 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:26.494 - Court and North Daisy Drive is $142,515.56. 142-519-56. 00:03:46.210 --> 00:04:05.881 - The next bid is from Milestone Contractors. Total bid for all five streets is $139,775.03. Final bid 00:04:05.881 --> 00:04:10.750 - is from E&B Paving, LLC. 00:04:11.170 --> 00:04:18.375 - Total bid for all five streets is $141,952.25. Councilmembers approved tabling the bids for further 00:04:18.375 --> 00:04:25.940 - legal review. Next up was discussion on the town's purchases of a street sweeper, dump truck, and pickup 00:04:25.940 --> 00:04:33.217 - truck for town needs. So the purpose of resolution 07-2026 is simply to state that you're purchasing 00:04:33.217 --> 00:04:40.350 - the equipment from Sourcewell because doing so offers a substantial savings to the town instead of 00:04:40.482 --> 00:04:47.134 - soliciting three quotes for each particular piece of equipment. And then resolution 08-2026 is a resolution 00:04:47.134 --> 00:04:53.354 - to amend the master lease agreement with the People's State Bank to approve the financing of the DPW 00:04:53.354 --> 00:04:59.513 - equipment. So the town has already entered into the master lease agreement with People's State Bank 00:04:59.513 --> 00:05:05.671 - on at least a couple of occasions for different equipment. This would simply be an amendment of the 00:05:05.671 --> 00:05:09.182 - master lease agreement to purchase the equipment and the 00:05:09.666 --> 00:05:18.117 - Global M4 street sweeper is $382,072. The Kenworth single axle dump truck is $213,272. And the Ford 00:05:18.117 --> 00:05:26.907 - F-550 cab and chassis is $87,480. The purchase prices of the vehicles was discussed with council member 00:05:26.907 --> 00:05:35.358 - Scott Oldham, clarifying that the city is taking out loans to purchase the equipment, not lease it. 00:05:35.358 --> 00:05:38.654 - The council approved both resolutions. 00:05:39.458 --> 00:05:47.117 - that the global sweeper will be purchased solely out of stormwater utility. And then the two trucks 00:05:47.117 --> 00:05:54.622 - will be within the DPW split up with the utilities as well. And the money is in the budget lines. 00:05:55.298 --> 00:06:01.840 - Next, the council discussed repairs to an aerial fire truck, which will cost slightly under $300,000. 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:08.575 - Fire Chief Kevin Patton said that the repairs are relatively inexpensive since replacing the truck would 00:06:08.575 --> 00:06:14.989 - cost around $3 million. He said the repair will take the truck out of service for about six months. 00:06:14.989 --> 00:06:21.595 - The council approved a loan agreement to pay for the repair. The next Ellitsville Town Council meeting 00:06:21.595 --> 00:06:22.942 - will be on May 25th. 00:06:24.162 --> 00:06:30.202 - The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability met on May 12th. During public comment, former commission 00:06:30.202 --> 00:06:36.124 - member Matthew Austin spoke about composting efforts at the Wonder Lab Museum and upcoming workshops 00:06:36.124 --> 00:06:42.340 - focused on food waste reduction. Wonder Lab is already starting Bokashi, and they're gonna start teaching 00:06:42.340 --> 00:06:48.321 - Bokashi. In September, we're gonna be doing a training around Bokashi food-based fermentation. Garden 00:06:48.321 --> 00:06:53.598 - Quest just had one out at Will Detmer Community Gardens, had I think 11 or 12 households. 00:06:53.730 --> 00:07:00.010 - And nine of them adopted, or at least started the TRY IT program around that food waste. And then there's 00:07:00.010 --> 00:07:06.053 - a workshop on June 6th, July 12th, August 8th, I don't know when the September one is, and October on 00:07:06.053 --> 00:07:11.977 - that. So I'd encourage anybody that wants to be responsible fully for their food waste and to learn 00:07:11.977 --> 00:07:18.434 - how to turn it into soil quickly to look on either Garden Quest's website, gardenquest.org, or the Community 00:07:18.434 --> 00:07:21.278 - Orchards website. That's typically one of them. 00:07:22.402 --> 00:07:28.843 - Austin encouraged residents interested in composting to attend upcoming workshops and learn how they 00:07:28.843 --> 00:07:35.539 - can turn food waste into soil. During council reports, Dave Rallo explained that the county's moratorium 00:07:35.539 --> 00:07:41.916 - on AI data centers will expire in July and encouraged local officials to make it permanent based on 00:07:41.916 --> 00:07:48.294 - environmental concerns. He said no data center projects are currently planned for Bloomington. They 00:07:48.294 --> 00:07:50.398 - use tremendous amounts of water. 00:07:50.818 --> 00:07:58.122 - for cooling because any sort of computational process produces a lot of heat. It uses tremendous amounts 00:07:58.122 --> 00:08:05.635 - of electricity, which drive up rates and so forth. And ironically, most of this is going toward development 00:08:05.635 --> 00:08:12.660 - of generative AI, LLMs, and eventually AGI, which is artificial general intelligence, which is meant 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:13.982 - to replace people. 00:08:14.722 --> 00:08:20.890 - The commission went on to discuss whether the group should hold more meetings or create additional strategy 00:08:20.890 --> 00:08:26.715 - sessions because of the growing number of resolutions and agenda items. Some members said one monthly 00:08:26.715 --> 00:08:32.883 - meeting may not be enough to address the commission's workload. I would like to see us move to two meetings 00:08:32.883 --> 00:08:38.766 - a month. Maybe we could do like every other month, one's an extra actual business meeting and then the 00:08:38.766 --> 00:08:42.878 - next month it's a working meeting or something like that, I don't know. 00:08:43.074 --> 00:08:49.265 - I think we've got an ambitious agenda of stuff and that is good. We should be doing that and we just 00:08:49.265 --> 00:08:55.885 - don't have time to do it in an hour and a half a month right now. We need more time to work. The commission 00:08:55.885 --> 00:09:02.321 - also approved a second reading of resolution 2026-03 concerning the pedestrianization of Kirkwood Avenue 00:09:02.321 --> 00:09:08.511 - and sustainable transportation. The resolution recommends closing Kirkwood Avenue to vehicle traffic 00:09:08.511 --> 00:09:10.718 - and prioritizing pedestrian access. 00:09:11.298 --> 00:09:16.819 - It's not an economic development issue. It's a public space and pedestrian and sustainable transportation 00:09:16.819 --> 00:09:22.080 - issue. So the planning and transportation are better equipped to handle it. And that's the next one. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:27.288 - The resolution passed unanimously. The next meeting of the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability 00:09:27.288 --> 00:09:28.382 - will be on June 9th. 00:09:29.666 --> 00:09:35.967 - The Bloomington Arts Commission met on May 13th. Director of the city's economic and sustainability 00:09:35.967 --> 00:09:42.268 - department, Jane Cooper-Smith, said the city made a new hire for the assistant director of the arts 00:09:42.268 --> 00:09:48.820 - position, replacing former assistant arts director Holly Warren. Cooper-Smith says that the city cannot 00:09:48.820 --> 00:09:54.302 - officially announce the name of the new hire, but the expected start date is May 26th. 00:09:55.202 --> 00:10:01.874 - that we have an accepted offer and potentially a start date of 526, but HR doesn't want us to announce 00:10:01.874 --> 00:10:08.351 - until it's official. So we'll wait, but we're really excited and looking forward to onboarding that 00:10:08.351 --> 00:10:10.942 - person and introducing them to you all. 00:10:11.266 --> 00:10:17.972 - Yeah, I think it'll be good. Vice Chair of the Arts Commission, Christina Elam, provided an update on 00:10:17.972 --> 00:10:25.007 - Bloomington Convention Center artwork. Elam said the Capital Improvement Board will review recommendations 00:10:25.007 --> 00:10:32.174 - from the Public Arts Subcommittee before selecting a final piece. The Public Arts Subcommittee met yesterday 00:10:32.174 --> 00:10:38.814 - and we kind of deliberate and give our recommendation to the CIB and we, it seemed like, not me, but 00:10:39.042 --> 00:10:46.029 - It seemed like it was unanimous around the same, the Benjamin Ball wisteria installation. The commission 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:52.882 - welcomed new members Austin White and Becca Keough. Keough expressed interest in taking over as public 00:10:52.882 --> 00:10:59.802 - art subcommittee chair and explained why she's interested in the position. I have an art administration 00:10:59.802 --> 00:11:03.262 - background so I'm working on getting my art degree. 00:11:03.554 --> 00:11:10.332 - I also have a studio art background and photography. So I love art, love being around public art. So 00:11:10.332 --> 00:11:17.245 - I would love to just kind of be more around public art and just kind of steering the committee, if you 00:11:17.245 --> 00:11:24.090 - would let me. So that would be my first time doing it. And yeah, I would just love the opportunity to 00:11:24.090 --> 00:11:31.070 - kind of get my feet wet on that in front of it. So. So what do you currently do? Oh yeah, I work at IU. 00:11:31.426 --> 00:11:38.213 - Right now, I'm an assistant director of on-campus recruitment for the O'Neill School, which is SPIA. 00:11:38.213 --> 00:11:45.403 - And I'm working on hopefully getting a job either at the museum or I just recently applied to the Eskenazi 00:11:45.403 --> 00:11:52.123 - School, which is where I graduated from with my undergrad. So we'll see if I get a call back for an 00:11:52.123 --> 00:11:53.534 - interview next week. 00:11:53.794 --> 00:12:00.537 - The board unanimously voted for Keough to be the new subcommittee chair. The board also approved White 00:12:00.537 --> 00:12:07.150 - as a member of the grants subcommittee. The Bloomington Arts Commission will meet again on May 27th. 00:12:07.150 --> 00:12:13.958 - The Bloomington City Council focused on improving pedestrian and public safety during snowstorms during 00:12:13.958 --> 00:12:16.446 - its deliberation session on May 13th. 00:12:16.578 --> 00:12:23.817 - Councilmember Dave Rallo said that residents frequently complain about plows driving snow onto already 00:12:23.817 --> 00:12:31.267 - cleared sidewalks. I get complaints quite often about, especially where people have monolithic sidewalks, 00:12:31.267 --> 00:12:38.436 - that is, you know, they meet the street at the curb, so there's no grass plot, that when a plow comes 00:12:38.436 --> 00:12:45.886 - by, it pushes the snow back on the sidewalk where they've already, you know, so it's a constant struggle. 00:12:46.434 --> 00:12:55.729 - And they feel defeated by the city coming by, especially during large snow events. And I know just from 00:12:55.729 --> 00:13:04.935 - experience in some states, some municipalities, they have different types of equipment where it's more 00:13:04.935 --> 00:13:13.694 - like a snow blower type of equipment where they actually lift the snow, put it into a truck side. 00:13:14.114 --> 00:13:21.125 - Expense and you know, but it might just to have that in mind when we replace equipment It might be a 00:13:21.125 --> 00:13:28.066 - good direction to go in just to alleviate this. I think this chronic problem Council president Hopi 00:13:28.066 --> 00:13:35.007 - Stasberg said some constituents believe city fines are too low to encourage apartment complexes and 00:13:35.007 --> 00:13:39.102 - businesses to adequately clear the snow from the sidewalks 00:13:39.554 --> 00:13:47.715 - They questioned whether we should increase fines because only having a fine of $50 so that even if somebody 00:13:47.715 --> 00:13:55.272 - gets fined They wouldn't necessarily get get it a second time and so then that's $50 and especially 00:13:55.272 --> 00:14:03.358 - a commercial Outfit that's cheaper to pay the fine then it is to hire somebody to actually do the work and 00:14:03.906 --> 00:14:12.439 - That's like absolutely facts. It's definitely cheaper to pay the fine than to hire somebody to do the 00:14:12.439 --> 00:14:21.223 - work and So I they found that very problematic and similarly problematic The process of giving a warning 00:14:21.223 --> 00:14:30.174 - first before the fine and how that resets every year and especially for commercial frequent offenders that 00:14:31.266 --> 00:14:38.457 - the suggestion that maybe it shouldn't reset every year because it is frequently the same people over 00:14:38.457 --> 00:14:45.577 - and over and over, or the same companies over and over and over, who never deal with their snow. And 00:14:45.577 --> 00:14:52.768 - personally, I also see that happening. And it was especially, I think that there are some places that 00:14:52.768 --> 00:15:00.382 - have done a lot better this last year. I know the administration and the departments have been working hard 00:15:01.378 --> 00:15:08.330 - advertising, making sure people are aware of their responsibility. And so I've definitely seen some 00:15:08.330 --> 00:15:15.421 - improvements, but it's still kind of like scattershot. A representative from the Council on Community 00:15:15.421 --> 00:15:22.651 - Accessibility said that the city often pushes snow into accessible parking spaces during winter storms. 00:15:22.651 --> 00:15:29.950 - Essentially, there's way more regular spots, yet somehow the snow always ends up in the accessible ones. 00:15:30.242 --> 00:15:37.181 - And those are already extremely limited. So I feel like we need to come up with a different solution 00:15:37.181 --> 00:15:44.600 - for that. And also on the street when because they often push the snow into the parking that the accessible 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:51.677 - parking is prioritized to be clear before the regular parking. Because again there's a lot less of it. 00:15:51.677 --> 00:15:58.615 - Parks director Tim Street said that every winter storm brings a different set of challenges for snow 00:15:58.615 --> 00:15:59.646 - removal crews. 00:15:59.810 --> 00:16:06.014 - It's very hard to know what to prepare for in Indiana. You know, are we going to get a year where we 00:16:06.014 --> 00:16:12.156 - have two inches of light slush for the whole winter, or are we going to get what we've had the last 00:16:12.156 --> 00:16:18.422 - two years where not only does it snow heavily, but the temp drops. And if removal isn't done quickly, 00:16:18.422 --> 00:16:24.687 - that stuff hardens into something very difficult to remove, which I think has been the situation both 00:16:24.687 --> 00:16:25.854 - of the last years. 00:16:25.954 --> 00:16:32.022 - As this was a deliberation session, the council did not actually vote on any items. The Bloomington 00:16:32.022 --> 00:16:35.966 - City Council will meet for its next regular session on May 20th. 00:16:36.930 --> 00:16:43.985 - The Monroe County Commissioners met on May 14. Acting Director of the Planning Department, Tammy Bierman, 00:16:43.985 --> 00:16:50.841 - presented a series of updates to the County Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO. Among these changes 00:16:50.841 --> 00:16:57.630 - are allowing for schools to be placed in any zone, including industrial and mineral extraction zones. 00:16:57.698 --> 00:17:05.729 - Another UDO updates aims to add to restrictions on the building of data centers by prohibiting the use 00:17:05.729 --> 00:17:13.994 - of small modular nuclear reactors in Monroe County. Commissioner Julie Thomas supported this push against 00:17:13.994 --> 00:17:21.791 - data centers, citing recent stories of data centers introduced into Indiana towns. Obviously, small 00:17:21.791 --> 00:17:25.534 - nuclear reactors are pretty frightening things. 00:17:25.698 --> 00:17:34.125 - especially when you take into account not just waste and accidents, but also decommissioning and what 00:17:34.125 --> 00:17:42.799 - happens if the company goes up and who pays for it and how is it done. There's a lot to it. And so those 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:51.308 - are banned or not permitted. And then the data center part that Ms. Bierman raised is really important 00:17:51.308 --> 00:17:52.382 - because I've 00:17:53.026 --> 00:18:02.678 - Just this week, I've read two more articles about how a small city lost about half of their water pressure 00:18:02.678 --> 00:18:11.789 - because they added a data center in their vicinity. And another one, which is tracking the amount of 00:18:11.789 --> 00:18:20.990 - PFOAs, or forever chemicals, as they're often called, and how the data centers are leaching the stuff 00:18:21.634 --> 00:18:28.632 - into the environment, which no one really thought about before. The commissioners also voted to approve 00:18:28.632 --> 00:18:35.293 - a series of contracts for paving projects. Representative of the Monroe County Highway Department, 00:18:35.293 --> 00:18:42.156 - Lisa Ridge, said that the moratorium on the gas tax has not yet affected the paving program. We might 00:18:42.156 --> 00:18:49.356 - not see that deduction for a couple of months. So we're just moving forward as is. We haven't cut anything 00:18:49.356 --> 00:18:51.038 - from our paving program. 00:18:51.202 --> 00:18:57.036 - And if we have to go in for an additional from our cash, that's what we anticipate. Right. Or something 00:18:57.036 --> 00:19:02.701 - has to get postponed potentially. Correct. And these contracts allow you to do that if it comes down 00:19:02.701 --> 00:19:08.479 - to it. Okay. Perfect. The commissioners also voted for an ordinance that would allow the Monroe County 00:19:08.479 --> 00:19:13.022 - Sheriff to appoint up to three deputies under the emergency appointment statute. 00:19:13.186 --> 00:19:20.178 - Monroe County staff attorney Justin Roady stated that use of the statute would be aimed at training 00:19:20.178 --> 00:19:27.800 - correctional staff in the police academy. The statute is admittedly much more designed for what I considered 00:19:27.800 --> 00:19:34.863 - like the Wild West and the Old West posse. Special deputy and those kind of things, which is not the 00:19:34.863 --> 00:19:41.855 - intent of what we're using this for. We're using this for the ability to get our correctional staff 00:19:41.855 --> 00:19:42.974 - trained better. 00:19:43.490 --> 00:19:51.293 - Even if these correctional staff never utilize it as a merit deputy, there is a value to the jail to 00:19:51.293 --> 00:19:59.018 - have members of the jail trained through the Law Enforcement Academy, either help the conversations 00:19:59.018 --> 00:20:06.975 - between EPD, IUPD, merit deputies, and the jail staff to help understand what's going on and what some 00:20:06.975 --> 00:20:11.070 - of the concerns are. And so that's a benefit even if 00:20:11.554 --> 00:20:17.974 - this emergency situation where they need to be actually used as mayor and deputies does not exist. So 00:20:17.974 --> 00:20:24.709 - there is benefit no matter what. The ordinance passed three to zero. The next Monroe County Commissioner's 00:20:24.709 --> 00:20:31.317 - meeting will be on May 21st. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, 00:20:31.317 --> 00:20:32.702 - I'm Annalise Poorman. 00:28:25.538 --> 00:28:33.720 - for hurting families in Monroe County. A contribution to children who are vulnerable and in need of 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:42.392 - an advocate. A staff that goes above and beyond to support and advocate for children in need of services. 00:28:42.392 --> 00:28:50.737 - The web of remarkable people who are dealing with difficult situations. So many young people that are 00:28:50.737 --> 00:28:54.910 - in need of help and trying to find a stable family 00:28:55.522 --> 00:29:02.138 - stable place to live. Without the CASAs, to make that happen, many of them would be unable to find a 00:29:02.138 --> 00:29:08.819 - good home. I love being that voice for the child who can't speak for themselves in court. It takes me 00:29:08.819 --> 00:29:15.501 - out of my comfort zone and it also helps others. CASA means supporting our community. Being a CASA is 00:29:15.501 --> 00:29:22.182 - making sure that your village is healthy and whole and that the children in your village will someday 00:29:22.182 --> 00:29:24.606 - be able to help the village as well. 00:29:25.314 --> 00:29:31.677 - A child who doesn't have a voice maybe in their family situation or school situation now has a voice 00:29:31.677 --> 00:29:38.230 - that can advocate for them. I really enjoy working with children that are going through difficult times 00:29:38.230 --> 00:29:44.782 - and letting them know that I care about their future. We are privileged with our charge of representing 00:29:44.782 --> 00:29:50.516 - the best interest of children. And so therefore we can advocate for exactly what they need 00:29:50.516 --> 00:29:53.918 - without restriction, focusing on their best interest. 00:29:54.466 --> 00:29:57.566 - I want to repair the world one child at a time.