WEBVTT 00:00:07.554 --> 00:00:14.520 - and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Monroe County Commissioners held a work session 00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:21.485 - on July 9th. County officials say the jail has reached a crisis point, from overcrowding to extreme 00:00:21.485 --> 00:00:28.869 - heat and deteriorating conditions. Sheriff Ruben Marte says transporting inmates is becoming unavoidable. 00:00:28.869 --> 00:00:36.670 - We have to be able to provide a constitutional jail. That is my responsibility. I want to tell you that we have 00:00:39.330 --> 00:00:48.562 - We had a point now that is very challenging for us to do that. Chief Deputy Phil Parker said the jail's 00:00:48.562 --> 00:00:57.794 - official bed count can look misleading and does not tell the full story. If you look at the combination 00:00:57.794 --> 00:01:07.292 - of those beds that are available in there, that takes that 294 down to 233. That available general housing 00:01:07.292 --> 00:01:08.446 - beds. So the 00:01:09.186 --> 00:01:17.755 - functional capacity. Let me explain what that is. That's an accepted correctional planning principle 00:01:17.755 --> 00:01:26.493 - that says you are functionally full when you reach 80% of availability for those beds. So if we follow 00:01:26.493 --> 00:01:34.977 - that logic to get to functional capacity here, I'll just step in if I say anything that's incorrect 00:01:34.977 --> 00:01:39.134 - because he's forgot more about this than I know. 00:01:39.362 --> 00:01:45.995 - Our true functional capacity in that facility is 186. Jail commander Kyle Gibbons maintained that they're 00:01:45.995 --> 00:01:52.440 - struggling to keep inmates cool, fearing the overheating issue may lead to a crisis. One of the things 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:58.884 - that we did almost immediately was open up the block as much as possible. When I say the block, I mean 00:01:58.884 --> 00:02:05.142 - the cells inside of it. So there was a time where inmates, we locked down the facility midnight and 00:02:05.142 --> 00:02:07.582 - we allow inmates to have proper sleep. 00:02:08.002 --> 00:02:15.864 - We can't even lock inmates inside their cell because it's 85, 90 degrees inside those cells. It's 75 00:02:15.864 --> 00:02:23.883 - to 84 degrees inside the block depending on the day. Parker says inmate grievances are building toward 00:02:23.883 --> 00:02:32.290 - litigation, making the situation even more dire. They're being inundated with grievances from the facility, 00:02:32.290 --> 00:02:35.326 - about the facility, and rightfully so. 00:02:36.802 --> 00:02:47.817 - But there's a thing that we call in our line of work, it's called a clue. And what the clue here is, 00:02:47.817 --> 00:02:58.832 - is those grievances are, protest the condition of that facility, but they serve another purpose. And 00:02:58.832 --> 00:03:04.830 - that purpose is to satisfy the administrative remedies 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:16.546 - going through the grievance process to get to litigation. Mr. Madera knows exactly what I'm talking 00:03:16.546 --> 00:03:25.369 - about here. So the clue here is for us is we're not just living on borrowed time. This litigation is 00:03:25.369 --> 00:03:34.717 - coming our way and hence that also weighs into what we're here to talk to you about. We are in an imminent 00:03:34.717 --> 00:03:35.678 - situation. 00:03:36.226 --> 00:03:41.645 - I believe that. I know the sheriff believes that. I know Kyle believes that we wouldn't be here. Gibbons 00:03:41.645 --> 00:03:46.909 - brought up the politics of the new jail. However, in his view, the conditions of the current jail are 00:03:46.909 --> 00:03:52.173 - being left out of the conversation. There's a lot of talk about what's going to happen, what property 00:03:52.173 --> 00:03:57.334 - we're going to have, what services we're going to provide, what the facility is going to look like, 00:03:57.334 --> 00:04:02.547 - whether we're going to bring the courts with it. At the end of the day, and this is what the sheriff 00:04:02.547 --> 00:04:04.766 - was just saying, since the very beginning, 00:04:04.962 --> 00:04:11.348 - People have talked about what's going to happen. And a lot of people are talking about what's happening. 00:04:11.348 --> 00:04:17.551 - And we refuse to look past the needs of the people inside of that facility. We refuse. And we've done 00:04:17.551 --> 00:04:23.755 - everything we can. And we're here now starting this project saying, we've done everything we can. Now 00:04:23.755 --> 00:04:24.606 - we need help. 00:04:25.346 --> 00:04:31.753 - The commissioners unanimously approved a resolution declaring an emergency at the county jail. The resolution 00:04:31.753 --> 00:04:37.054 - allows county officials to begin the process of transferring inmates to neighboring jails. 00:04:38.306 --> 00:04:45.251 - The Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee narrowed its list of potential locations for 00:04:45.251 --> 00:04:52.473 - a new jail during their meeting on July 6, reducing the primary focus to five sites. The committee will 00:04:52.473 --> 00:04:59.417 - focus on renovating the current Justice Building along with the Curry property, Tap Road North, Tap 00:04:59.417 --> 00:05:02.334 - Road South, Thompson and Fullerton sites. 00:05:02.466 --> 00:05:10.554 - considering is the Curry building with renovations to the current site. The second one is Tap Road North. 00:05:10.554 --> 00:05:18.642 - The third one is Tap Road South. The fourth is the Thompson property. And then the fifth is the Fullerton 00:05:18.642 --> 00:05:26.502 - property. And then as property alternates for consideration, if none of those work out or we need more 00:05:26.502 --> 00:05:30.622 - information, those include potentially Hopewell West, 00:05:31.394 --> 00:05:38.101 - Popewell East, the HT building, and then potentially private lot one, depending on what happens in executive 00:05:38.101 --> 00:05:44.377 - session. Several other sites were removed from consideration because of the floodways, limited space, 00:05:44.377 --> 00:05:50.653 - planned development, or unavailability. The Bloomington Transit garage, it looks like the owner's not 00:05:50.653 --> 00:05:56.990 - willing to sell the property, so that would pretty much take it off the table. And it's in a floodway. 00:05:57.794 --> 00:06:05.616 - The committee members also agreed to evaluate the sites using the square footage of the county's August 00:06:05.616 --> 00:06:12.611 - 2025 jail design instead of a specific bed count, saying the design provides enough space to 00:06:12.611 --> 00:06:20.734 - meet constitutional standards of care. If you use the square footage from the August 29, 2025 meeting, that 00:06:21.026 --> 00:06:27.489 - blueprint was based on a design that remedies these constitutional conditions. And so in essence, if 00:06:27.489 --> 00:06:33.952 - you're using that square footage, then it would meet constitutional care. The committee met again on 00:06:33.952 --> 00:06:40.543 - July 9th to further discuss the evaluation of the sites. The discussion centered on factors, including 00:06:40.543 --> 00:06:48.158 - floodways, single versus multi-story construction, and each site's proximity to transportation and community services. 00:06:48.450 --> 00:06:56.293 - Mayor Carrie Thompson suggested the committee focus on treating all five locations as viable options. 00:06:56.293 --> 00:07:04.136 - We had discussed last time, at the end of last meeting, how we would approach this discussion. And we 00:07:04.136 --> 00:07:12.056 - talked about eliminating any properties that really were not viable. I just wanted to share that after 00:07:12.056 --> 00:07:16.670 - going through this documentation, as long as we do not take 00:07:17.410 --> 00:07:26.662 - some of the assumptions as foregone conclusions such as it must be co-located and it has to be single 00:07:26.662 --> 00:07:35.733 - story. I don't see anything that eliminates any of the five choices that we have remaining. I think 00:07:35.733 --> 00:07:43.806 - they're all still viable. And I would suggest that we have a conversation about at least 00:07:44.930 --> 00:07:54.909 - how we're going to prioritize them and lenses with which we're looking. I'm eager to hear public comment 00:07:54.909 --> 00:08:04.888 - in 28 minutes. That will definitively influence how I think about this. But I already have some thoughts 00:08:04.888 --> 00:08:10.590 - on ease of development and other things. So I don't know if 00:08:10.978 --> 00:08:17.020 - somebody on the team has thought about how to prioritize or if we want to make individual comments about 00:08:17.020 --> 00:08:22.832 - that. Before opening the floor to public comment, the committee agreed on a voting process that will 00:08:22.832 --> 00:08:29.046 - require rankings and written explanations for all five proposed sites. During public comment, Seth Mutchler 00:08:29.046 --> 00:08:33.822 - with Care Not Cages urged the committee to support the group's preferred location. 00:08:34.210 --> 00:08:40.000 - By saying that I would ask you all to vote in favor of renovation of the existing Zilao building with 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.732 - the possible addition of the Curry and Fiscus building. I personally feel that is the best choice of 00:08:45.732 --> 00:08:47.038 - the options available. 00:08:47.394 --> 00:08:52.492 - Right. This is a very complicated issue. There are a lot of things. So that's where I will say, I will 00:08:52.492 --> 00:08:57.690 - ask you to look at the things that have already been sent. But especially as you are going to be working 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:02.838 - over the weekend, as you said, we at Careknot Cages humbly are very proud of the many years of research 00:09:02.838 --> 00:09:07.837 - and scholarship that collectively we have done on this topic. And we would love to be a resource for 00:09:07.837 --> 00:09:11.550 - you all. We would also love to be a resource for the public. So if anybody 00:09:11.618 --> 00:09:16.807 - has questions and would like to say, hey, Care.cages has read way too many white papers about this. 00:09:16.807 --> 00:09:21.995 - Our email is care.cages.monroecounty at gmail.com. We'll be checking the email over the weekend. So 00:09:21.995 --> 00:09:26.976 - if any of you are like, hey, what about this? Any of the members of the public? If you're like, 00:09:26.976 --> 00:09:32.372 - single story, multi story, what's up with that? We have answers to that that take longer to answer than 00:09:32.372 --> 00:09:36.990 - three minutes, but are relatively short. So thank you all for your time. Appreciate you. 00:09:37.602 --> 00:09:42.686 - Monroe County Commissioner Jody Madeira then spoke emphasizing the significance of the decision. 00:09:43.042 --> 00:09:47.979 - This isn't about creating comfort for comfort's sake. It's about reducing harm. Research shows that 00:09:47.979 --> 00:09:52.915 - environmental stressors, constant noise, heat, poor ventilation, lack of privacy, lack of movement, 00:09:52.915 --> 00:09:58.247 - and lack of control over one's immediate environment can increase anxiety, irritability, conflict, illness, 00:09:58.247 --> 00:10:03.184 - and even suicide risk. The same is true for green space and perimeter design. Even passive exposure 00:10:03.184 --> 00:10:08.269 - to vegetation within secure perimeters has been associated with reductions in self-harm, violence, and 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:13.008 - staff sick leave. That should matter to anyone concerned about human dignity, workplace safety, 00:10:13.008 --> 00:10:18.134 - and public responsibility. Jail design is a decades-long decision. If we build a facility around outdated 00:10:18.134 --> 00:10:23.116 - assumptions, poor visibility, excessive hardening, stacked housing, and inefficient circulation, well, 00:10:23.116 --> 00:10:27.904 - we're going to live with those consequences for generations. But if we build around evidence-based 00:10:27.904 --> 00:10:33.030 - principles, direct supervision, modular housing, safer sightlines, acoustic normalization, accessibility, 00:10:33.030 --> 00:10:38.302 - and humane environmental conditions, we can create a facility that's safer for staff, safer for incarcerated 00:10:38.302 --> 00:10:40.478 - people, and more responsible for the public. 00:10:40.578 --> 00:10:45.959 - And we're in luck. What's best is also what is cheapest and quickest to build. Multi-level facilities 00:10:45.959 --> 00:10:51.341 - are expensive to build, to staff, and to maintain. So the question isn't simply where to build or how 00:10:51.341 --> 00:10:56.933 - cheaply it can be built or how quickly square footage can be stacked. It's what kind of gel we're willing 00:10:56.933 --> 00:11:02.367 - to build. Monroe County can't afford to reproduce the failures of the past. Thank you. The committee's 00:11:02.367 --> 00:11:07.802 - next meeting where members are expected to vote on their site recommendations is scheduled for Monday, 00:11:07.802 --> 00:11:08.382 - July 13th. 00:11:09.634 --> 00:11:17.911 - The Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission met on July 9th. City of Bloomington attorney Dana 00:11:17.911 --> 00:11:26.436 - Kerr gave updates on a legal brief regarding the Historic Preservation Commission's ability to rescind 00:11:26.436 --> 00:11:35.293 - previous decisions. Again, the state legislature has said that the final decision by this body is reviewed 00:11:35.293 --> 00:11:36.286 - judicially. 00:11:37.090 --> 00:11:47.505 - as would be of the BZA. So when this Supreme Court is talking about the BZA and what its abilities to 00:11:47.505 --> 00:11:57.920 - do, it treats this body just like the BZA does in the statute. So I am 100% confident that the Indian 00:11:57.920 --> 00:12:05.374 - Supreme Court would treat this body reconsidering a decision it has made 00:12:06.018 --> 00:12:15.654 - the same as for this body as it would the BZA. So reconsidering a decision that has already been made 00:12:15.654 --> 00:12:25.667 - would be inappropriate in the city of Bloomington's legal department opinion. And that is what our advice 00:12:25.667 --> 00:12:35.870 - is to this body. As you can see, there's strong public policy on that. If these decisions could be changed, 00:12:36.322 --> 00:12:43.161 - at any point in time, there would be so much uncertainty. Developers in this case would not know what 00:12:43.161 --> 00:12:50.066 - they could do or what they couldn't do. This announcement comes in response to the push to rescind the 00:12:50.066 --> 00:12:56.905 - Commission's previous decision regarding Seminary Point. According to Kerr, the Indiana Supreme Court 00:12:56.905 --> 00:13:04.012 - has set precedence that the Board of Zoning Appeals and other similar bodies should not be able to change 00:13:04.012 --> 00:13:05.822 - previously made decisions. 00:13:06.402 --> 00:13:15.279 - Commissioner Reynard Cross challenged this president's and its application to the seminary point ruling. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:23.732 - Were the circumstances of this case that you cite one where the body broke its own rules. It was on 00:13:23.732 --> 00:13:32.524 - the strong objections of its members, certainly three of them. It was under strong objection by members 00:13:32.524 --> 00:13:34.046 - of the public and 00:13:35.202 --> 00:13:43.994 - something that had been established by the body's own rules, both ones that were codified and ones set 00:13:43.994 --> 00:13:52.870 - in precedence, were all breached. I'm asking because a lot of times different circumstances surrounding 00:13:52.870 --> 00:14:01.918 - a decision might sway some people. And again, I was in the courtroom when it was argued. I got this memo. 00:14:03.554 --> 00:14:10.525 - minutes before. I haven't done my research. Again, it is your brief and a legal brief is representative 00:14:10.525 --> 00:14:17.362 - of the lawyers that produce that brief that their opinion is their opinion. Drawing on this gentleman 00:14:17.362 --> 00:14:24.667 - here, I have enough experience to learn that two people looking on the same thing might come to a completely 00:14:24.667 --> 00:14:26.142 - different conclusion. 00:14:26.626 --> 00:14:32.351 - The Commission also amended the previous meeting's minutes to reflect details about the discussion of 00:14:32.351 --> 00:14:38.413 - demolition delays. The staff of the Commission announced that they approved certificates of appropriateness 00:14:38.413 --> 00:14:44.531 - to replace a limestone retaining wall, the construction of a hoop house in a side yard, and the installation 00:14:44.531 --> 00:14:45.822 - of a chain link fence. 00:14:46.466 --> 00:14:52.655 - During final Commissioner comments, Commissioner John Butler also stated that the case of Seminary Point 00:14:52.655 --> 00:14:58.609 - may indicate a need to reconsider the Commission's standards for a historic place. They didn't get a 00:14:58.609 --> 00:15:04.562 - fair shake the first meeting and despite my best efforts they didn't get another fair shake tonight. 00:15:04.562 --> 00:15:09.278 - We made a mistake last time. I wish there was a way that we could rectify that. 00:15:10.018 --> 00:15:16.035 - Apparently there's not. I would encourage them to try to rectify that in any way that they can. And 00:15:16.035 --> 00:15:22.414 - I'm sure that there is somebody that will oversee us. I also think there are some mistakes made by fellow 00:15:22.414 --> 00:15:28.912 - commissioners in judging the buildings too harshly. And so I would like to read the criteria for historical 00:15:28.912 --> 00:15:34.990 - designation so that we can think about that. So building must be 50 years old, which it was. It says 00:15:34.990 --> 00:15:39.262 - nothing about notable, outstanding, contributing, or non-contributing. 00:15:39.810 --> 00:15:46.065 - A, it must embody those distinguishing characteristics of an architectural or engineering type, 00:15:46.065 --> 00:15:52.581 - which it did. B and C are very specific, so I won't bother you with those, and it did not apply. D, 00:15:52.581 --> 00:15:59.749 - it contains elements of design, detail, materials, or craftsmanship which represent a significant innovation. 00:15:59.749 --> 00:16:06.786 - The corner windows and the angled front buttresses could be argued that, but maybe not. But they definitely 00:16:06.786 --> 00:16:08.350 - qualify for E, contains 00:16:08.450 --> 00:16:14.521 - any architectural style detail or other element in danger of being lost or visual feature of a neighborhood 00:16:14.521 --> 00:16:20.256 - or the city and f owing to its unique location or physical characteristics represents established and 00:16:20.256 --> 00:16:25.877 - or familiar visual feature of a neighborhood or of the city you can literally vote to say something 00:16:25.877 --> 00:16:31.892 - because it has established characteristics that's how broad our mandate is don't surrender these buildings 00:16:31.892 --> 00:16:34.366 - just because you've got a bad feeling about 00:16:35.362 --> 00:16:42.346 - The Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission will meet again on July 23. The Monroe County Board 00:16:42.346 --> 00:16:49.468 - of Commissioners met on July 9. Health Administrator Lori Kelly reported on a cyclospora outbreak from 00:16:49.468 --> 00:16:56.729 - raw fruits and vegetables, saying that there are cases in Indiana. There is currently a gastrointestinal 00:16:56.729 --> 00:17:00.670 - illness that's going around that's caused by a parasite. 00:17:01.154 --> 00:17:08.327 - Several states, including Indiana, have reported cases. This is called cyclospora and it's thought to 00:17:08.327 --> 00:17:15.359 - be linked to raw vegetables and fruits. But the CDC is still working to identify the source at this 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:22.602 - time. Next, the commissioners heard a contract continuation between Indiana Youth Services Association 00:17:22.602 --> 00:17:28.158 - and the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County for an annual amount of $9,880. 00:17:28.418 --> 00:17:35.375 - A representative of the program walked through the agreement. I'm here on behalf of our safe place contract 00:17:35.375 --> 00:17:42.073 - continuation. This is just approving our safe place contract between Indiana Youth Services Association 00:17:42.073 --> 00:17:48.515 - and the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County. It will be in effect from July 1, 2026 through June 00:17:48.515 --> 00:17:52.766 - 30, 2028. The commissioners approved the agreement by a 2-0 vote. 00:17:53.570 --> 00:18:00.478 - Then the board heard a presentation regarding the redirection of more than $315,000 in unused Federal 00:18:00.478 --> 00:18:07.522 - American Rescue Plan Act funding. The commissioners will review recommendations from the County Council 00:18:07.522 --> 00:18:14.769 - to move the money into ambulance purchases, improvements at Cars Farm Park, and airport drainage upgrades. 00:18:14.769 --> 00:18:18.494 - County Auditor Carly Woodroof explained the situation. 00:18:18.914 --> 00:18:27.195 - So at the meeting on the 30th, the council made appropriations contingent on Commissioner action as 00:18:27.195 --> 00:18:36.222 - a recommendation for how the ARPA dollars that are in excess for some of the projects should be reallocated. 00:18:36.930 --> 00:18:44.082 - advisement is that we reallocate those dollars within the open projects. Right now there are three open 00:18:44.082 --> 00:18:51.646 - projects that are requesting additional funding and all three of those projects were tentatively appropriated 00:18:52.226 --> 00:19:01.298 - The appropriation amounts, if you'd like me to go over those, would be $200,000 to the Monroe Fire Ambulance 00:19:01.298 --> 00:19:09.621 - Project, $100,000 to the Kars Park Field Project, and $15,225.41 to the Airport Stormwater Drainage 00:19:09.621 --> 00:19:18.110 - Project. The Board voted 2-0 to affirm the Council's Deappropriation Motion and Appropriation Motion. 00:19:19.298 --> 00:19:26.147 - The Ellisville Parks and Recreation Board met on July 6th. Members of the board, led by President Jimmy 00:19:26.147 --> 00:19:32.733 - Durnall, first discussed ideas on how to improve the Ellisville 5K race on September 19th. This was 00:19:32.733 --> 00:19:39.450 - brought up by Ellisville Parks and Recreation Sports Director, Rick Plunkett, who went on to describe 00:19:39.450 --> 00:19:46.167 - the event in its totality and how all areas of the event can be improved, preferably the parking. And 00:19:46.167 --> 00:19:48.670 - parking is still going to be parallel 00:19:48.962 --> 00:20:05.256 - The board discussed creating a Facebook event for details on parking and overall better engagement with 00:20:05.256 --> 00:20:10.270 - the Ellitsville 5k race itself. 00:20:10.370 --> 00:20:19.057 - The final item discussed on the agenda were plans going into the next year, with current President Jimmy 00:20:19.057 --> 00:20:27.329 - Dernal planning to turn over the presidency of the Ellisville Parks and Recreation Board to someone 00:20:27.329 --> 00:20:36.016 - else. So be thinking about that between now and then. I'd say Ronnie would be a good candidate for that. 00:20:36.016 --> 00:20:36.926 - We'll see. 00:20:37.058 --> 00:20:43.391 - The Journal was referring to Vice President Ronnie Van Deventer. The next meeting of the Ellitsville 00:20:43.391 --> 00:20:49.912 - Parks and Recreation Board will be on August 12th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining 00:20:49.912 --> 00:20:52.734 - us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.