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