- Hello, and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. At their meeting on July 28th, the Monroe County
- Council heard about the recent closure of the Justice Building due to a sewage backup in the jail. Council
- member Marty Hawk asked why employees in the voter registration office were given paid days off when
- the office itself was not affected by the closure. In a related incident, I think some of us were informed
- that the voter registration office was closed. And many wondered, did they really think that because
- the justice building was closed that the showers building people didn't have to go to work? And before
- I would suggest we spend one more penny, we find out who gave them the permission to stay home. I'm
- not faulting the employees because I'm sure they did what they were told. But who told them that?
- And yes, it's a budgetary question because we're being asked to fill the slide plus money out of that
- election fund. And that's where these folks were getting paid from, I would believe, from the election
- fund. So do you have an answer as to who gave them the order to stay home?
- Deputy Clerk Tanner Branham, who was at the meeting to request approval for hiring a part-time voter
- registration clerk during the county's hiring freeze, stated that the decision was made by Monroe County
- Clerk Nicole Brown. That was Clerk Nicole Brown decided to close, and that was because we had a few
- voter registration people who were gonna be out on vacation anyway this week, and then I wouldn't,
- you know, so we just decided to go ahead and close with the justice building being closed, and we wouldn't
- have any employees who would be able to help
- potentially help out any issues that would arise down in Election Central, because they wouldn't be
- in. Judge Mary Ellen Deakoff, who was also requesting to fill vacancies, elaborated on how the closure
- affected offices that are located in the Justice Building. We are on minimalistic what we are doing.
- But for me to shut the courts, for the judges to shut the courts, requires the special petition filed
- with the Indiana Supreme Court, who then has to grant us the permission to do so. To do that is involved.
- And so we try not to do it. But I also want to point out that on Friday afternoon when this took place,
- I have been around a long time. I have seen a lot of things. This was awful. There was water just by
- the gallon full, just spreading everywhere. And it was toilet water.
- I was there, they were there, there was others who were there, and we were trying our best. It was kind
- of like watching a blob movie. And then Dave Gardner showed up and shut off the water. Had that not
- happened, he tells us that it would have just continued down offices to offices. She said that judges
- and other employees were working so that operations would be back up and running as quickly as possible.
- yesterday there were these folks and other court reporters and other office staff and me and other judges
- who were in there taking everything off of bookshelves desks etc because they are ripping out carpeting
- they are ripping out baseboards they are trying to put us back together i tried to negotiate for wednesday
- they convinced me thursday so um they are telling us that we will be able to have the courts
- operational, we will still have people in jury rooms, court personnel in jury rooms, in the court conference
- room, so that we can function and proceed. I was supposed to have a jury trial next week. I contacted
- the attorneys and told them that cannot happen because I don't have space right now to put them. We
- were concerned there was a health hazard, which was also addressed and is being addressed.
- So we are not closed because to close us requires the Indiana Supreme Court. But we are not fully operational
- because we cannot be. During discussion of the county commissioners bond projects presentation, council
- members asked questions about preventing future plumbing issues in the jail. Councilor Peter Iverson
- asked how they can prevent the same situation from happening again. Is there a way to plumb this so that
- The situation we're experiencing now doesn't happen again. Commissioner's administrator, Angie Purdy,
- said it was unpreventable because the problem was intentionally caused. The current situation was entirely
- intentional by inmates. And when somebody is purposely breaking a system, it doesn't matter what kind
- of maintenance you have. This is just the result of bad actions.
- bad actions and a bad design." Purdy said that the new jail designs are built in ways that can prevent
- intentionally caused plumbing issues. The next Monroe County Council meeting is scheduled on August 11th.
- Bloomington City Council met on July 29th. The meeting opened with multiple council members addressing
- topics of concern outside the scope of the agenda. Council member Dave Rollo spoke about a reported
- security breach involving an advanced AI model and urged a moratorium on developing what he called,
- quote, artificial super intelligence, unquote. This is the loss of control that we've been the experts
- have been warning about.
- It proved that AI, powerful AI, can act completely on its own to bypass safety limits when hyper-focused
- on a specific goal. It demonstrated a real-world threat. That is, instead of staying in a harmless digital
- test zone, the AI launched a real unauthorized intrusion, which was illegal, by the way, against an
- outside company. And this is a warning sign.
- that work on models that are, after all, they're meant to explicitly replace people is becoming too
- dangerous. Councilmember Hopi Stasberg criticized the Monroe County Commissioner's late stage proposal
- to use the Hopewell neighborhood as the location for the new jail and justice center. Stasberg aligned
- herself with Councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith's public letter opposing the idea.
- I've had a few constituents message me about concern for putting a jail there because it had been planned
- for housing and you know there was several
- years of feedback given about what to do with Hopewell and There was not any discussion in there at
- the time about it being a jail and I think that that would have been a very Appropriate time to bring
- that up and talk about it when there was still that community discussion around it and at this point
- it feels Not necessarily too late but especially given that there was a collaborative working group
- all summer long that the commissioners declined attending
- It feels a little bit Obtuse perhaps to suddenly come out and suggest something that they could have
- Participated in a collaborative community discussion about and so to bring it up now just It just doesn't
- sit very well with me So if you're not sure out there what it is that I'm referring to I would direct
- you to councilmember Piedmont Smith's very
- eloquently written public letter. Later in the meeting, the Council heard the first reading of Ordinance
- 2026-17 to update the Civil City Salary Ordinance by shifting and reclassifying several utilities, HR,
- and public works positions. HR Director Shar Paycheck described the reclassification as largely budget neutral.
- Council Member Isabel Piedmont-Smith requested more information on the long-term fiscal impact before
- the second reading. I feel strongly that the fiscal impact should be calculated beyond the current fiscal
- year for any ordinances or other legislation that impacts salaries or category one expenses. So I'll
- put that request in with the controller. The next Bloomington City Council meeting will be held on August 5th.
- At their July 27th meeting, the Bloomington Utilities Service Board approved its recommended 2027 budget
- after reviewing proposed spending priorities and hearing questions from board members. The proposed
- budget includes a $7.56 million increase in 2026.
- The increase is driven by the city's new water rates, continued modernization of the Monroe Water Treatment
- Plant, and improvements to the water distribution system. Board member Megan Parmenter questioned why
- negotiations over fleet maintenance charges have dragged on for so long. We've gone 2024, 2025, 2026.
- We're going to approve 2027 today. We're still going to be in conversations. And we're still in conversations.
- We're coming on four and five years that I guess I don't understand why we can't get solid answers on
- this. The board also revisited plans for a new utility service center at the Winston Thomas site. During
- the discussion, board member Jim Sherman joked about the long decision making process. Maybe I watch
- a little too much HGTV, but I see what
- those people do to existing structures. I think I could take this building and turn it over to some
- AGTV people and they'd make it into a wonderful thing without this way we're spending a million here,
- a million here, two million here, without much money. And that's why I say we have not made a decision
- whether to go forward. And we keep spending more and more and more monies.
- Despite questions about the service center project, the board unanimously approved forwarding the 2027
- budget recommendation to the Bloomington City Council. The utility service board will meet again on
- August 10th.
- The Ellitsville Town Council met on July 27th. The meeting began with additional appropriation requests
- for multiple departments to cover expenses through the remainder of the year. Among the largest requests
- were for the fire and police departments. Both agencies cited staffing shortages as the primary reason
- for the increased costs, saying vacant positions have required existing personnel to work additional
- shifts while recruitment efforts continue.
- Detective Lieutenant Zach Michael explained the issues in the police department. We too have also had
- an unfilled position. So we've had to use quite a bit of overtime to keep our shifts staffed. So that's
- the request for 55,000 additional overtime. You'll see an additional appropriation for an officer spot
- that is filling. Well, we had filled it.
- Now we have another one open because of a recent retirement. So that is to get us through the end of
- the year for that position. So similar to the fire department, we're hoping when we're fully staffed,
- we won't have to use as much of the overtime. The requests for additional appropriations were unanimously approved.
- Council members then approved a wholesale water rate tracker ordinance to reflect higher water costs
- charged by the city of Bloomington utilities. Officials emphasized that the increase simply passes along
- the higher cost and is intended to keep the municipal water utility financially stable. Town manager
- Mike Farmer explained. The water tracker means that we ask for a raise in the rates
- to reflect the new costs we pay for per thousand gallons to the City of Bloomington Utilities. They
- supply our water for us. They recently went through a rate change and the wholesale users, which would
- be like Ellipsville, our rate went up significantly. And so we just asked that the tracker pass, it's
- a pass through. We didn't ask for any more than what CBU charges per thousand
- increase. It allows us to retain the rates we had before. And without this tracker, our rates would
- go at a deficit. And then one way or the other, we'd have to figure out how to recoup the money. So
- this is basically penny for penny to track what CBU raised our rates to.
- applies to our new schedule of water rates. Later in the meeting, attention shifted toward preparation
- of the 2027 budget. According to staff, the budgeting process has become significantly more complicated
- because they must prepare both a standard budget and a consolidated budget in preparation for potential
- reorganization.
- Clerk Treasurer Noelle Conyer explained the increased complications. The Gateway platform has completely
- changed this year and we've already started inputting things. We have to put in the fire territory budget
- and the reorganization budget. We had to separate out the police and the fire. It's a new platform.
- It's taking three times as long as it normally does. The next Ellitsville Town Council meeting is scheduled
- for August 10th.
- The Monroe County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees met on July 28th. First, Assistant
- Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Henderson announced that there would be an increase in school lunch prices.
- Federal regulations govern the pricing of all meals and snacks in the USDA child nutrition programs.
- And the paid lunch equity tool that's issued by the Indiana Department of Education is what's utilized
- to determine the need for price increases to secondary lunches.
- The price increases this year impact middle school lunch and high school lunch with an increase to each
- of 20 cents per lunch price. I want to highlight that we're pleased to continue offering free breakfast
- and lunch to all students at the following schools through the community eligibility provision.
- program. That's Arlington Bloomington Graduation School, Clear Creek, Fairview, Grandview, Highland
- Park and Templeton. Board member April Hennessy suggested that those who want to help alleviate the
- effects of the increases support community funds. No one ever likes raising lunch prices. We know that
- it's something that has to happen occasionally. I do appreciate that we've tried to keep, you know,
- the impact in places where perhaps there might it might be easier to sort of manage.
- But I also want to remind people who are out there listening, all four of you, not including who are
- in the room, but a lot of you are here because you have a vested interest in what's happening tonight.
- But that donations to lunch funds can be made. And so I do just want to continually remind people that
- that exists. And if that's something that you feel like you want to do or can do, that we encourage
- you to do that, especially as we see this small bump in lunch prices.
- The board also heard a piece of legislation that would limit collective bargaining rights for operations
- employees, making their rights comparable to teachers, which is limited to wages, benefits,
- and paid leave. Dr. Henderson spoke more about the purpose behind this legislation. I think that the
- policy just speaks to the fact that we continue, although there are no requirements or obligations for
- us to engage in bargaining, it just speaks to the fact that we have a continued and ongoing commitment.
- to continue to support our bargaining groups and ensuring the rights of them are upheld. And so this
- resolution asserts that, and it doesn't take a position one way or the other in terms of the importance
- or the significance of those rights. However, other members were concerned that this would result in
- more difficult and complex negotiation processes. Hennessy commented. I am pretty staunchly and strongly
- pro-union.
- I actually do believe in, you know, sort of empowering people to bargain wherever there is space and
- room to do so. And I do also know that the teachers bargaining has been sort of truncated. Their rights
- have been stripped, truncated in many ways as a result of the legislature of the state. And so,
- those things were somewhat out of our control. And I do understand the impulse or desire then to kind
- of, in the sort of effort toward, what would we, I guess, fairness or equitable policies and processes
- to sort of align what can be bargained for.
- I will just say that from my perspective at this moment, I don't know that I fully agree with the desire
- or the decision to remove bargaining rights that are available to people as there are no laws stripping
- or governing what can or cannot be bargained. I'll also admit that it probably does make bargaining
- more complicated.
- And when you have more to bargain for, the process can take longer. Maybe resolutions are not reached
- as sort of efficiency, efficiently or in a timely manner. This resolution will have its second and final
- reading at the board's next meeting on August 25th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining
- us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.