- Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Richland Township Board of Trustees and Ellitsville
- Town Council met for a joint meeting on June 22nd. They hosted the final hearing for the proposed
- Ellitsville-Richland Township reorganization. During public comment, Clark Greiner, interim CEO for
- Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, voiced support for putting the reorganization on the November ballot.
- The BEDC highly respects the forward-thinking leadership both entities have shown in shaping the prosperous
- future of generations to come. Therefore, we strongly encourage a favorable vote tonight to place the
- reorganization measure on the ballot and grant your residents the voice and opportunity they deserve
- to decide this issue coming in November. Andrew Henry, who was involved in the reorganization planning
- process, also supported presenting the resolution to voters.
- I have heard many interesting questions, positions, and arguments for and against. One view I have not
- heard a single time, not once, is I would like to not have the opportunity to vote on this. Every single
- person I've spoken to, whether they were indifferent initially, whether they were in favor or opposed,
- every single person expressed the desire to have the opportunity to cast their vote and not have this
- be taken away from them as a ballot initiative.
- The combined boards voted five to one to put the reorganization on the ballot in November. Ellisville
- Town Council President Scott Oldham urged residents to do research and ask questions before the vote.
- Don't just believe everything that's floating around because there's a lot of misinformation both pro
- and con out there. This shapes this town's future. This shapes this township's future. So let's all
- try and get it
- as absolutely right as we can and not disbelieve a rumor of a rumor of a rumor of a rumor. Come and
- ask one of the two boards, come and ask the committee who put these things together. Don't just go on
- third, fourth hand information. This is a very significant vote. Residents can vote on the proposed
- Ellitsville Richland Township reorganization in November.
- The Monroe County Council met on June 23rd and heard a request from the sheriff's office for additional
- funds to hire outside council to prepare for an ACLU lawsuit. Sheriff Ruben Marte asserted the need
- to move quickly. We're moving at a very fast pace that we don't have the luxury to wait. And again,
- to be fair to the council, that's one reason why I said it. Taking your lead, following your lead,
- That's the reason why we're coming to you right now, because it was moving at us really quick. Much
- of the discussion centered on whether the county's insurance would cover litigation and whether the
- sheriff should reallocate existing funds before seeking a new appropriation. Councilmember Kate Wilts
- questioned the request. You already have a line for this and you have money for these purposes.
- I'm just, I guess,
- unsure as to why you need an extra appropriation before a lawsuit has been started. The council approved
- the sheriff's request for an additional $30,000 by a vote of six to one with council member Marty Hawk
- casting the lone dissenting vote.
- Next, the council heard from Cientia, a software cybersecurity company seeking a property tax abatement
- to support a major expansion. Company president Doug McDaniel said the company offers high-wage local
- jobs and long-term careers. We currently have 39 employees. Our average salary is just a little north
- of $105,000 a year.
- 90% of our employees are in Indiana. 74% of those are here in Monroe County. The average longevity of
- our folks is right at five and a half years. And we've got quite a few young folks as well. Counselors
- largely praised the company's local economic impact while asking about workforce longevity, benefits,
- and whether any environmental regulations apply to its operations.
- The council voted to advance the Ciencia tax abatement request to public notice. Later, the County Council
- approved Resolution 2026-25 restructuring the Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee after
- its first meeting failed for lack of quorum. County Attorney Molly Turner King explained the narrowed
- scope of the subcommittee. The Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee's focus shall be on
- location only at this time.
- The subcommittee is expected to return a recommended jail site in roughly one month. The Monroe County
- Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee held its first meeting on June 24th. The expected
- first meeting lacked a quorum, so the Monroe County Council reduced voting membership from eight to
- six members. Currently, the subcommittee has five members because the Monroe County Commissioners have
- yet to appoint a representative.
- The subcommittee's goal is to evaluate potential properties within Bloomington city limits and recommend
- one location to the city county collaborative group. Deputy Prosecutor April Wilson proposed a process
- for the task. With the truncated schedule, I think one of the things we should do is create a site evaluation
- metrics, identify properties, apply the site evaluation metrics to the identified properties, discuss
- our findings and make recommendations. I recognize we only have three weeks.
- That's why you have a calendar which is included as well. Wilson said the council gave the subcommittee
- one month to find a location. This is the calendar. That's why I picked July 14th as our deadline and
- trying to reach that deadline with this process.
- It seems like we would have to have multiple meetings. I just put some meetings on a calendar. Obviously,
- I haven't checked with anyone's schedule, so I understand that they might have to be moved. Wilson said
- she hopes the process and pacing will allow the subcommittee to meet its deadlines.
- Her plan also provided six metrics to judge each property. The subcommittee agreed to review the proposed
- metrics before the next meeting. Thompson suggested the subcommittee members submit additions before
- June 26th. I would suggest that members of the committee submit suggested additions by email ahead of
- time so that we get to a near final
- at least something that we can all look at and the public can look at before our next meeting.
- The subcommittee approved scheduling six meetings through July 13th to finalize its recommendation.
- It voted to accept public comment during the June 29th and July 6th meetings while also establishing
- a process for written public input. The committee moved on to hear County Attorney Larry Allen present
- a history of the jail property search.
- The first round was when we had Sheriff Swain and Sheriff Swain had a request that we look close to
- the I-69 corridor so that they could transport inmates to the medical facilities in Indianapolis if
- there was an event that was needed. I think you guys all received some material about this and it's
- in the packet. We basically looked at and we called one property north, which is a property off Vernal
- Pike, which
- was in round two and then we looked at Fullerton Pike and we looked at a property further south the
- one further south they can get a lot of traction because it's so far south but there was a lot of back
- and forth at least the initial meeting between the Fullerton Pike site and the Vernal Pike site we reached
- out to the owner of Vernal Pike and they weren't interested in selling at that time so that kind of
- eliminated that. So that's how we got to Fullerton. We went through the city council process, city council
- rejected it. Allen also explained the history behind the Thompson Hopewell power lines and North Park
- sites. The North Park site was denied by the county council in May. County attorney Molly Turner King
- moved on to the properties that design company DLZ identified downtown and on the outskirts of Bloomington.
- Within your packet, there are six properties, including a property south of the post office, the Bloomington
- Transit garage, a tap road south, a tap road north, the H.T. building and the fell iron bender lumber
- property. Turner King said the properties were considered for their size, location within floodplains
- and whether they are for sale.
- She said none of the six properties met the stated criteria. The subcommittee decided to add the Thompson
- property, the Curry property, and the Powerlines property to the list of sites under current consideration.
- The subcommittee will meet again on June 29th.
- The Ellisville Town Council met on June 22nd. During public comment, community member and business owner,
- Jason Barrett disputed a fine that he received. Barrett alleged the fine was enforced for personal reasons
- and that there was a lack of communication from the town. Long story short, we were on a great path
- and then had some challenges with being able to expand my business, try to get
- A project internally in the business approved. It took many, many months. Got the DNR involved in another
- project, and then we got a fine because we didn't follow the rules that were set aside by the town.
- And really, it came down to after we've sat down with the town that
- It really took longer than anybody wanted to, expected to, or should have, but then we were fined because
- the DNR forced the town to. Anyway, there's still this little bit of a fine that's standing out there,
- and I've been trying to have somebody listen to just our story, and we're trying to grow our business.
- Really, what we're trying to do is add onto the building that's there, and that's just to grow our business.
- Part of it's gonna be warehouse, part of it's hopefully
- road frontage for another business. And I guess the whole reason I'm here is just to ask for
- some cooperation. Town attorney Darla Brown urged Barrett to go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. I would
- also note that any fine levy by the planning director is something that can be appealed to the Board
- of Zoning Appeals because that's their job. One of their jobs is to consider appeals from
- the zoning director's decision, and that time limit has passed. It's 30 days after she renders her decision.
- Following the discussion, town manager Mike Farmer thanked first responders for their assistance with
- recent storms, and street commissioner Kip Hetty made an announcement about 4th of July fireworks and
- the town's annual blood drive. Two quick things to remind everyone, this year's fireworks are on July
- 4th, up around the high school, junior high area.
- There will be food trucks and they'll be out by the junior high parking lot and then our annual blood
- drive is July the 18th at the fire station and you can sign up for that and get additional information
- on the fire department Facebook page or you can call the station and I'll get you in contact with Chris
- Klaus. The Ellitsville Town Council will meet next on July 13th.
- The Bloomington Transportation Commission met on June 22nd. Project engineer Kendall Kenoki presented
- the goal of an infrastructure project for Patterson Drive, Grimes Lane, and Rogers Street. Kenoki walked
- through the plan for Rogers between 2nd and 3rd streets. This was an area where we were proposing to
- remove some on-street parking. But if you talk to someone who lives in the area, they will tell you
- we are actually removing a left turn lane.
- from northbound Rogers onto westbound Howell. It's actually not a left turn lane. There's street parking
- on the east side and then kind of a taper for traffic to go around, but it essentially functioned as
- a left turn lane. So the proposal was to, this is what was shown before, but to eliminate that parking,
- provide pedestrian refuge islands and then taper the road over and maintain the street parking with
- bump outs.
- After doing outreach, the updated design is essentially the same thing. So there's no changes tonight
- in terms of Title 15 or anything. Kanoki said the third and final location is Grimes Lane where the
- BTC proposes an implementation of safety improvements. We are now showing the extension of an existing
- multi-use path on the north side of Patterson along Grimes.
- from Morton to the Switchyard Park entrance, and then adding a raised crosswalk adjacent to the Switchyard
- Park entrance. So this was prioritized by planning for pedestrian safety and traffic calming. The motion
- passed unanimously. Next, Ryan Roebling proposed updates for the bylaws for BTC members, which would
- seek to reduce confusion in policymaking. Our rules had no formal
- Method for them to bring forward anything which obviously they are allowed to amend title 15 but title
- 2 Requires that this body review any title 15 amendment first and so it led to this confusing handoff
- where no one was really sure how to move that to from council to this body and so thankfully Commissioner
- of Olan is on top of it, but this will alleviate that now
- staff can reach out to council members and have that handoff happen smoother. Robling explained the
- powers that the BTC has with the city engineer. We became aware that there was an issue where the body
- might never agree with the findings and might want to for all intents and purposes adopt a negative
- finding while still allowing the city engineer to move forward with a project since the transportation
- commission doesn't really have the ability to
- cancel a project. So this fix will do that. The motion to update bylaws passed unanimously. The next
- Bloomington Transportation Commission meeting will be held on July 27th. The Bloomington Historic
- Preservation Commission met on June 25th. Board members first discussed staff reviews on two certificates
- of appropriateness ranging from fence installation to solar panels on a garage roof.
- Hand program manager Noah Sandweiss walked through specifics of the first COA on North Jackson Street.
- That was proven to be inaccurate. The 907 North Jackson Street is a limestone faced, pure middle-roofed
- cottage with a front corner porch and a later rear addition corner porch slash carport. There's a 1950s
- garage at the rear of the property. This request, as I received it,
- The proposed project consists of the installation of a new decorative black metal fence along the property
- line. The board members agreed to move forward with the project. Next, the board discussed a demolition
- delay request for a property on 424 South College Avenue. Sandoy said that he thinks there should be
- a delay. This actually generally refers to buildings that are located in a historic district.
- Demolition delay, for the most part, is handled under the Unified Development Ordinance. When demolition
- delay comes up, the things that the commission is allowed to consider are about the significance of
- the existing buildings, but not the future use of the site.
- No. OK. Any other? Well, I'm a bit puzzled. Puzzled is probably the wrong word. Could you explain why
- it is? On what basis did you include this in your submission?
- If the delay is posted, Sarah Wolford, a member of local advocacy group Homes for All, said the organization
- has an alternative plan for the property.
- In reference to some of the deferred maintenance, deferred maintenance isn't necessarily a reason that
- something deserves to be torn down. There are plenty of buildings and I can think of many that the cooks,
- for example, have poured a lot of money into that I think the majority of people would agree had a lot
- of deferred maintenance and that it probably would have been
- more cost-effective to go ahead and tear them down. But just like it's not necessarily relevant what's
- happening with the buildings in the future, that deferred maintenance is not necessarily a reason for
- them to go ahead and be demolished. And they are currently housing people. Next, board members discussed
- a COA for the Fleener Building at 112 East 3rd Street.
- The proposal requested brick repairs in areas damaged by a vehicle accident. Bricks would only be replaced
- where necessary. Sandweiss discussed whether to move forward with brick repairs since it is a unique
- building type from the 1920s. Even though the proposal is for brick replacement now is because that
- shows where repairs are going to have to be made, which, you know, we additionally have this picture
- here of the damaged storefront, but
- This is sort of at an angle, so yeah. Okay, so the window stays. Yes, the window is going to be blended
- instead of having limestone put in. Yes, my understanding that's going to be a combination of salvaged
- brick and the smooth red brick. The Fleener Building brick replacement plan was approved by the Commission.
- The next meeting of the Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission will be on July 9th. And that is
- all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annaliese Poorman.
- you