and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission met on June
1st and discussed the Hopewell South housing development. Bloomington engineer Kendall Kandoki presented
the engineering report. I kind of wanted to get a temperature check but my impression or I think plan
moving forward is to move full steam ahead on the design and moving towards all the approvals. That's
one of the agenda items tonight is
authorization for myself or the engineering department to apply for all the needed approvals for Hopewell
South. But the idea being that I kind of come to you when there are major milestones or specific things
I need feedback on, but not necessarily at every meeting moving forward. I just wanted to make sure
that all of the RDC members were in agreement. I mean, I can continue to come every two weeks, but I
don't feel it's really necessary at this point. Just wanted to get your feedback.
The commission agreed that the project should move forward without bi-weekly updates. The commissioners
decided engineering should provide quarterly updates instead and report on any milestones. Kenoki said
engineering is expecting infrastructure bids this year. So I still anticipate we can get the infrastructure
out to bid this year. However, with the couple delays that we've had, I don't anticipate we will be
able to do much construction.
before the end of the year, it's probably going to be mostly in 2027. However, you do have the lot line
adjustment and kind of those initial homes that could start this year if that's the desire. And it's
possible that the contractor might get out and do some earthworks and utility work depending on weather
and all of that. The commission moved on to approve the Hopewell South planned unit development as passed
by the Bloomington City Council. Commission member Sue Scambaluri detailed the affordability conditions.
The next reasonable condition, there were multiple reasonable conditions related to the affordability.
And this was an alternative that was proposed by Council Member Piedmont-Smith at the last meeting that
was at least 35% of all dwelling units in Hopewall South community shall be designed as permanently
affordable with a goal of 50% of all dwelling units.
The approved plan calls for at least 35 percent of homes in Hopewell South to be permanently affordable,
with a goal of reaching 50 percent. The Commission unanimously approved the City Council conditions
and authorized staff to move forward with platting, permitting, and other project approvals.
The Monroe County Commissioners met on June 4th and approved a three-year cybersecurity agreement to
allow ethical hackers to test county networks for vulnerabilities. Monroe County Chief Technology Officer
Greg Crone explained the process. For those who don't know what deep penetration is, basically you're
contracting with a company as white hackers.
to go after your systems just the same as any threat actor would do to try to discover revealed
vulnerabilities in your system and then bring them up for remediation. The agreement was approved
unanimously. The commissioners noted that prevention is far less costly than responding to a successful
cyber attack. The commissioners moved on to ratify the county's 2026-2027 juvenile detention alternatives
initiative grant to fund local diversion programs.
Commissioner Jody Madeira praised the effort. I think in the last couple of weeks especially we've heard
how important it is the community to have these non-carceral alternatives and I think that now more
than ever before both those plus anything that keeps anybody especially at these core ages out of the
system is just
and especially out of detention is just so important. And so I think for every dollar spent, you can't
even anticipate the amount of return you get. So I think this is just so precious.
Then the commissioners discussed a resolution 2026-21, which would repeal Monroe County's 30-day notice
policy for homeless encampment removals due to a new state law taking effect on July 1. Officials emphasized
that the action was required by state legislation and does not represent a change in the county's overall
approach to homelessness.
Commissioner Julie Thomas expressed concern that the law relies on enforcement without providing resources
to address housing instability, mental health needs, or substance use treatment. I know that there are
a lot of good folks in the community. I know that there are a lot of agencies, churches, and other really
well-meaning people who are involved. I hope they are able to fill the gap because
beyond being an unfunded mandate, this is a human tragedy. And it is horrible to imagine what will happen
here in Monroe County, but across the state especially, where they may have different kinds of leaders.
The resolution passed unanimously.
The Bloomington City Council met on June 3rd and approved a letter to the Redevelopment Commission supporting
a land swap between College Square and Seminary Point. Council Member Isabel Piedmont-Smith said that
the land swap could preserve or even add affordable housing in the area. There are multiple ways to
leverage this property to advance affordable housing and enable downtown residency for those who otherwise
could not afford it. These options include one, developing affordable housing on the site
two, exchanging the property for nearby land owned by the Monroe County government, now the CIB, and
then developing or preserving existing affordable housing there, or three, selling the property at market
rate and reinvesting the proceeds in affordable housing. So that all is talking about the College Square
site. Council Member Matt Flaherty said that while he supports the letter, he does have some reservations
about public subsidies for the convention center.
In general, my view for many, many years, since before we've been taking office, was that the food and
beverage tax is the city's public subsidy and contribution for the convention center project, including
all things like a host hotel. And we've, of course, talked about this in the past. And my concern here
is that we're not just talking about public expenditure to preserve affordable housing, which, of course,
is terrific and something I've wished that the RDC did more of, frankly.
But we're also talking about public subsidy for convention center that's TIF revenues. And how much
is a little bit unknown because the properties were bought at different times. And we don't know, I
don't think yet, their exact market values. But I've had some reservations about, let's say, the Bunker
Robertson property, former Bunker Robertson property, College Square, which were considerably more than
the Seminary Point property, that we would just be
subsidizing not only the affordable housing but also the convention center, which is something that
I'm sort of philosophically opposed to because I think we set boundaries and we've sort of exceeded
them. I'm worried about future requests to exceed them. Council member Dave Rollo said he wants to leave
negotiations up to the RDC. I agree with my colleague, Council member Flaherty. I think that in spirit,
I would like to see this negotiation happen in terms of the specifics
I think it's up to the RDC to negotiate that. And perhaps they can arrive in the middle somewhere. But
I think that it's important to try to save Seminary Point and maintain it for affordability. So that's
my main priority here, and let the RDC negotiate from here.
Local activist Bryce Green spoke on behalf of the group Bloomington Homes for All during the public
comment portion of the meeting. Green addressed Flaherty's remarks, saying this land swap is unprecedented.
I want to acknowledge the concerns that have been brought up throughout this process about the precedent
it might set for
boundary pushing of public subsidies for these major things. However, I think that this case is exceptional
enough that no one can really claim that it's a precedent for anything that we can anticipate in the
future. I mean, unless there's some other grand bargain to save a bunch of units of affordable housing
in the future, no one's really gonna be referring to this as an example of why we should increase public
subsidy to something like the convention center.
Another resident, Barry Herbers, said that he's glad the city is listening to activists and taking the
land swap into consideration. I moved recently to the neighborhood near Seminary Square in the Seminary
Point Apartments. And it's a really lovely neighborhood in a lot of ways. And it's a really troubled
neighborhood in a lot of ways. And since I moved there, I've really fallen in love with the place.
walk to Friendly Beast a lot, take my dogs around, folks around there, pet them and stuff. But it's
such a relief to know that there's people in our government who are as hopeful about keeping that place
thriving and beautiful and communally oriented for people of all different income brackets as I feel.
So I just really want to say thank you guys for being in such great communication with the activists
around here.
It's really wonderful to hear you read the letter out loud. Thank you. Housing Solutions Director for
Habitat for Humanity, Sarah Wolford, announced that Bloomington Homes for All will give a presentation
on June 20th in support of Preserving Seminary Point. You all will be invited as well as members of
the CIB and RDC.
All of the decision makers and also people of the public can come and kind of have a presentation of
what we hope to bring to the community in regards to this incredible property and how we envision improving
it and kind of our hopes for the future. The letter passed by a vote of eight to zero.
The Bloomington Utilities Service Board met on June 1st, where they approved a service agreement with
First Appraisal Group, Inc., to appraise real estate at and around Lake Griffey and Lake Lemmon. City
Attorney Chris Wheeler explained that the appraisal is the first step in determining what the City owns
and will inform future decisions about whether to retain, sell, or repurpose the lakes and surrounding parcels.
It's a first attempt at trying to get a professional appraisal done to determine what the value of our
real estate is out at those lakes. Just to understand what we own primarily and then it very likely
will inform the utility department and this board on what steps we may take in the future with regards
to our ownership of those lakes.
primarily because we do not use them anymore as a water source. And so it's hard to continue to justify
ownership when it really isn't providing any benefit to our customers. Then water quality coordinator
Justin Mashter presented the 2026 annual drinking water quality report. Just talk about all the contaminants
that are listed. Anything that deviates from the EPA maximums, which I'm here to tell you that we are within
range of all the contaminants that were detected in our water. So there's very few changes from last
year, which is a good thing because consistency in water treatment is always a positive for us. Nothing
new popping up to cause issues.
The report noted two current deficiencies at Monroe Water Treatment Plant identified in the last sanitary
survey, a backwash tank overflow port that needs to be extended closer to the ground and the addition
of a secondary backwash pump. Both are expected to be resolved by the fall of 2026.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on June 2nd. Board members discussed an abatement at 1205
West East Branch Road with four citations for garbage, debris, and overgrowth. Neighborhood compliance
officer Mike Arnold spoke on the abatement request. I did get one call about two weeks ago saying that
they had mowed and they did actually mow somewhat, but the garbage and debris is still on the property.
The board approved the abatement unanimously. Later, the board reviewed a right-of-way closure and a
noise permit request for Crider and Crider at North Walnut and East 19th Street. Program manager of
right-of-way use, Kyle Baugh, presented the request. Street to accommodate completion of a sanitary
sewer connection associated with the Hub 2 project. The request includes temporary closures of the north
sidewalk along East 19th Street, the east sidewalk along
North Walnut Street and the intersection of East 19th Street and North Walnut Street as necessary to
safely complete the work. Closures are proposed to occur in June 2026 for a two week period. Pedestrian
and vehicular traffic will be maintained, shifted or rerouted in accordance with the approved maintenance
of traffic plan. The board approved the right-of-way closure.
The Monroe County Election Board met on June 4th and approved sending complaints against former clerk
candidate Joe Davis to the county prosecutor for further investigation. This comes after allegations
that Davis violated state election laws. County Attorney Molly Turner-King gave a summary of the first
complaint against Davis. An email was received from Ms. Karen Wheeler on April 28th, 2026 that outlines
like four potential election violations and in summary that includes violations pertaining to campaign
signs without the required disclosure, electioneering inside the chute, following a voter after voting
and potentially misleading representation of legal credentials. A copy of the complaint was provided
to the board as well as Mr. Davis who received certified notice of today's hearing along with a copy
of that formal complaint.
Unless there's questions on that summary, I think we could proceed to the complainant providing or addressing
her complaint. Former election supervisor Karen Wheeler provided testimony to the board saying she observed
Davis throughout early voting. I had the opportunity to see Joe Davis pretty much every day during the
election early voting because I work in that building and I would come outside and I would see him.
And pretty much every day, I really can't think of a day that it didn't happen, but I did not have the
disclaimer on his signs in the beginning in that he would very often go into the chute. He would follow
people to the door. He would also follow people afterwards and having walking them to the car or toward
their car.
He would, I saw him different times blocking people so they could not even get out of their car easily.
And for me as a woman, that would be intimidating. No matter where you're at, you just don't want anybody,
but especially a man standing there that I can't even open my door without him moving. Election supervisor
Kylie Farris described multiple attempts by election officials to address the situation.
So there were multiple in-person conversations before a formal written notice was given to him. It was,
I believe, the first Saturday of early voting was when the written formal statement saying that he was
not doing things that he was allowed to be doing, and that was after the first two conversations that
we had had with him.
Local resident Carol McGarry, who filed the second complaint, said Davis approached her after she exited
her car. She said she kept telling him she did not want to talk while walking to vote early. As soon
as I walked into the building, I made a complaint because I felt trapped. I felt it was inappropriate
to be on my way. I think she called it the shoot.
and being approached so insistently by a candidate. McCary said she believed Davis's demeanor was misleading
and bizarre, not emblematic of how Monroe County candidates should behave during elections.
He claimed that he was a practicing jurist at law, and I'm not really for sure what that is, but it
didn't seem like it was accurate or it seemed confusing at best. He would also just do things that were
kind of bizarre from brushing his teeth on the sidewalk, and so I thought it was a
I think Monroe County is a great county and we really want to have the most accurate voting day that
we have from our early voting to election day itself. And this just did not reflect, I think, what Monroe
County stands for. Then Joe Davis had the opportunity to defend himself. Davis argued that he was not
acting improperly with voters. He was cleaning the area.
every early voting session from the beginning all the way to the end. I camped out basically at the
area where early voting takes place, and it was a shambles. There was debris everywhere. All over where
the handicap parking was was a mess, so I took my time to clean up the property, clean up the hardscape
around, to prune the trees, to make it
hospitable so that voters could come and enjoy their day of voting instead of walking through a litter
covered environment with gravel that was hard to walk and branches and debris everywhere. Okay, so I
cleaned this up. I brought some of the rock and gravel that I cleared off of the parking lot in the
area where the handicap parking was.
I took care of that place. Davis said it was alleged that he violated several rules during the election
cycle. Okay, first off I want to say that Penny Givens should recuse herself from sitting on the board
and someone else should fulfill her role because she
is a biased individual who is not going to give me a fair hearing, especially she has had a hand in
two of these alleged allegations coming from Karen Wheeler. One of those is the sign. She was scrutinizing
my sign incredibly. She and the other whispering cabal, which is what I call them, Karen Wheeler, Penny
Givens, Tree, Martin Lucas,
There was another woman with frizzy gray hair. She was in one of those videos. Another guy, they were
always whispering about me while I was cleaning up around the place. And obviously it was, you know,
trying to conspire and come up with what they could do to bring me down. Davis then defended his title
of, quote, jurist at law, unquote. When I was telling voters that I am a practicing jurist at law,
at law. I have filed into eight causes or filed into eight different cases. Seven of those are my own
cases, three of them gone to appellate court. I am a practicing jurist at law. You are looking at just
a smattering of my files right here, my law books, many more
Twice this amount of law books are at home, three times actually. I just brought some of them that are
most relevant because I'm working on filing for the appellate court right now that's due today. Republican
Chair Danny Shields explained that the board is not deciding whether Davis is guilty. You may not completely
understand what we're doing here today and I understand that. What we're doing today
is determining whether or not there is cause for us to push this along to a different level of people
that work on it. We are not in a position to make a finding of guilt nor innocence of any of this, nor
are we in a position to determine whether some fines or something would happen. We are not in that position.
We are not in a position to have to cross-examine witnesses here. That was part of what we talked about earlier.
The board approved sending the complaints to the prosecutor into unanimous votes. The next meeting of
the Monroe County Election Board will take place on July 2nd. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you
for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.