Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. On September 3rd, the Monroe County Commissioners
met to discuss a series of funding approvals for improved spam and phishing detectors, as well as for
fixing the air conditioning in the Monroe County Courthouse. The Commissioners also voted 2-0 to set
aside funds to replace the emergency exit doors in the Justice Building. A representative from Indiana
Door and Hardware Specialties, Inc. explained the contract.
We had two exit devices fell at the Justice Building and due to the secure nature, Commissioner Thomas
went ahead and signed the agreement so we could get that going. This request is to ratify the agreement
with Indiana Door and Hardware Specialties Inc in the amount of $7,840 for the replacement of two delayed
egress exit devices at the Justice Building.
Also during the meeting, the commissioners appropriated $20,000 for the public relations company, Hallowell
Consulting. Commissioner's administrator, Angie Purdy, explained the spending. This is a requirement
with Hallowell Consulting Services who will provide professional communications for the board
of commissioners, your county government using strategy, positioning, looking at...
development of those messages, working on media relations and public relations and engagement. Bloomington
resident Jamie Ford, who is also a volunteer at WFHB, disagreed with the decision. It seems to me that
you wouldn't need to spend $20,000 for a PR consultant firm to develop, quote, a strategic communications
framework designed to improve public understanding of the project and establish a consistent cadence
of communication, or, quote,
develop a clear, fact-based response to recurring questions and concerns surrounding this project,"
if you didn't repeatedly say one thing and then contradict yourselves by saying and doing the complete opposite.
I hope the public is paying attention. More importantly, I hope the council is paying attention. Budget
hearings have started and departments are trimming their budgets as much as possible in an effort to
allow a mere 2% COLA increase for its employees. Meanwhile, y'all are throwing $20,000 at a PR firm
to help you keep your story straight. Clearly your budget is overinflated and therefore council needs
to slash it to the bare minimum. The commissioners unanimously agreed to pass the contract. The next
Monroe County commissioners meeting will be held on September 10th.
The Bloomington city council met on September 2nd and considered several pieces of legislation. Amongst
these was a discussion of the Bloomington city and place branding report. A representative of the company
civic brand discussed their process of branding for the city. If the city of Bloomington actually did
spend $95,000 for a logo, I would be right there with you and say, that's insane. But that's not what
a brand is.
That's not what we were tasked with. That's not what the 116 page audit found. That's not what the 50
page implementation plan suggests. There is a visual identity component. It's a small piece of that.
We're going to talk about that. But place branding, what it is, is going back to those decisions that
people make every day. It's not about selling Bloomington.
to an outsider, it's not about an outside audience, it's about an internal audience. It's actually probably
more about council and staff and leadership and arming them with making choices. How do we, we're all
doing the best we can to make choices, decisions every single day, but even if you're making the right
choices, if we're all making choices in different directions, the sum doesn't add up to greater than
the part, so we're kind of just aimlessly drifting, and that's the challenge with a lot of cities.
And what a brand does is it creates a shared vision, a shared north star of this is what we're all trying
to solve. So that at every level of staff, council, budget, policy decision, all of those decisions
can slightly align towards one shared direction. Council members brought up a number of concerns.
Specifically, council member Sydney Zulek raised questions about the contracting process, questioning
why local firms were not considered for the $95,000 project.
Councilmember Isa Kasari went on to question the methods used to gather information for the report didn't
thinking about the method so You did two site visits. How long were you here on both site visits? I
think it was actually three because I think our team technically split the second year here now and
I'm here now Which is a separate visit? I think I don't know it was
three to four days per trip, so about probably eight days on the ground. And then those in-person trips
bookended some really robust virtual engagement that happened between those. How many in the virtual
engagements, how many people did you actually speak to? I don't have that number off the top of my head.
I do think it's captured in the audit, because we have here's the survey results, here's how many focus
groups, here's how many interviews.
I don't know that like at the pop-ups what was the methodological approach to choosing who you spoke
to. Yeah so at first we were looking at different stakeholder groups we want to talk to you know business
owners we would start to hear things we need to talk to students right so we were.
Identifying different groups and demographics that we felt like we needed to hear from also as we did
the online survey We're always paying attention not just who are we hearing from but who are we not
hearing from and then going to that and saying like hey We're not really getting responses from students.
For example, let's do a focus group And so we would work with staff of can you help us pull together
a focus group of students? members of the City Council also expressed concerns that the report was redundant
to the city's comprehensive plan and
Jane Cooper-Smith, Director of Economic and Sustainable Development responded. The primary recommendations,
one, two, three, four, five, six.
I think actually most of them have been implemented. So branding Bloomington was the first one that
didn't happen in the previous administration But it was identified because we knew that if we couldn't
tell our story as a community we could not market our community to other employers or talent so Councilmember
Rosenberger made a comment about attracting employers with abatements, but actually the primary The
primary we drive primary way we drive attraction is through quality of place initiatives. So quality
of place initiatives attract
Workforce and workforce attracts employers. It used to be decades ago that employees would go wherever
the jobs were but that's not the case anymore So what we've done in Bloomington is we've made a really
beautiful community with lots of assets that we don't know how to talk about so back in 2016 they had
already identified that we had this gap in In our communication and our way of talking about Bloomington
So that's why it was recommended number two create an innovation culture. So this is
Why we've been investing so significantly in the trades district, which has been incredibly successful
and there were questions about KPIs during my council presentation and I think It would be great to
share some of those successes and numbers with you in more detail creating quarterly business slash
academic stakeholder gatherings these were created and
It was called the Lido meetup. It was organized by the mill They happen now in different ways, but that
original Lido meetup that had town and gown economic development orgs some employers present those those
have been paused because I think that they were not They were helpful for relationship building, but
they weren't purposeful enough to
require the time skills, skills gap training to match Bloomington's existing labor pool with high demand,
high wage, local jobs. Well, we knocked this out of the park during the pandemic, frankly. And then
we have really great resources through work one and the state's workforce development programs and Ivy
tech and all the training that they do. City council member David Rollo questioned the value of the
report in the context of the city's budget constraints. This whole process has shown me that there is
a communication problem.
I think that The message has is flat as far as I can tell from feedback from people I've spoken to I
think mostly because we've just started budget We have budget constraints We are drawing down reserves
We're not keeping pace with Jack Hopkins funding social service funding relative to inflation which
I brought up
We're looking to raise taxes in various ways. We're looking to raise water rates. We're looking to raise
parking fees. And people are scrutinizing discretionary funding or spending. And so it comes at a time
when people are, I think they're limiting their budget right now and they wonder what they're getting.
Community member Rowan Morse expressed frustration with the lack of tangible suggestions presented to
the public.
My grandfather, Tom Coleman, he was the one who created the Bloomington Transit logo, the BT. And as
a whole family of graphic designers, I just gotta say this new one is just really not it. It does not
feel like Bloomington. The one, as Liliana said right before me, it feels like home. It feels like something
that's comforting and that I've known my entire life. This new one, as Rollo, you've presented like it
There's a bunch of them. I spent a couple of minutes and I printed out eight different versions of pretty
much the same exact logo. And any graphic designer should double check that it's not a logo that is
already well known or that you might have any competition with. And I think just the lack of effort,
the lack of care that they've shown
and just putting into making a logo or interacting with the community to have them work on a logo has
shown that they don't really care about us. Frankly, have you guys gotten anything of what that was
supposed to be, any tangible thing that we are supposed to do that makes our city better? I got zero.
I mean that was a whole presentation where that should have been sold and I don't think any of that
was sold. And so I just I'd say we've spent ninety five thousand dollars on this already and I really
implore you just don't spend any more money wasting time on something that truly nobody wants. The council
also heard updates regarding the removal of Raynard Cross from the Bloomington Historic Preservation
Committee. Council attorney Larry Allen explained the allegations against him.
Under for cause under the municipal code The council has specifically referred to a code of conduct
that applies to all boards and commissioners that is kept by the clerk's office and that code of conduct
applies to Certain behavior treatment decorum in meetings. There are several factors to that. There
are four factors I can read them off if you prefer more specificity of that Those were
violated or thought to be violated at least that's the Allegation here is that those were violated the
code of conduct was violated in two particular meetings those occurring on July 9th and at the end of
July as well Secondarily there was Messages sent to all commission members asking for immediate response
that has a potential of violating the open-door law that is one of the other allegations that was made and then
Finally it is there and this kind of goes hand-in-hand with the code of conduct There's a requirement
to be able to do the business of the Commission and to respect the time of the public and the Commission
significant amount of time was being taken to delay the action of the Commission and also of staff's
time over the course of that period and that was inhibiting potentially the business
of the commission. The council voted to postpone the decision until their next meeting, which will take
place on September 16th. The Monroe County Election Board met on September 3rd. Council Clerk Nicole
Brown gave an update on a recent tabletop event that she conducted, which was held in preparation for
the upcoming general election in November. The feedback that I got from that, I'm just going to read
an excerpt from the feedback that I got on August 13th.
2020 26 Monroe County conducted in a tabletop exercise to assess abilities to deal with possible emergencies
on Election Day. The test was conducted at Election Central. Clerk Nicole Brown hosted the exercise.
Seven members of the public representing various perspectives were invited to observe the test. The
participants discussed how to respond to example emergencies in three areas, polling sites, Election
Central and natural disasters.
The observers were invited to contribute to the debriefing after each scenario and the exercise concluded
with a general discussion of what went well and potential problems that were not included in this scenario.
The collaborative relationships among the participants were evident, and the discussion of potential
new problems demonstrated the ability to work across jurisdictional lines. So I'm incredibly grateful
to my staff, incredibly grateful to our friends. We had a really, really positive experience.
I already felt as though our plans in Monroe County were good, but this kind of reinforced that and
just gave us a little bit of feedback on something we could do to improve with respect to the upcoming
tabletop event, the secretary of state. Democratic board member Penny Githens expressed her concern
about not being part of the event. I would like to know why I was not invited.
It was my event. Neither of you was invited. I had proxies for you. You did not have a proxy for me,
not one that I appointed or that the Democratic chair appointed. And how you could claim that a proxy
who does not live in Monroe County and who, although is a wonderful young woman, how you can claim that
she is the Democratic representative when she votes in Republican primaries, I do not fathom this. I
was incredibly, incredibly shocked since I'm the one that asked last
and then to see that one was held here in Monroe County and I was not included. That's very disrespectful.
Neither neither board member was included. I did not want to publicize that I was having a tabletop
exercise. We picked people to role play. They did very well. You do have an opportunity to attend the
tabletop exercise that I am getting ready to read if I can finish my update. Well, but again,
To claim that somebody was the Republican, I'm sorry, the Democratic representative who is not even
a Democrat and who does not live in Monroe County is an insult to the Democrats in Monroe County. Clerk
Brown explained that there is another tabletop event scheduled to take place in the near future.
Approximately halfway through the meeting, Republican board member Danny Shields announced that a proxy
would take his place for the remainder of the meeting. All I have been interested in
In these complaints is that if a law was broken. And that's with any of the complaints we've dealt with.
Then we pass it on and let the prosecuting attorney make the decision about whether or not something
should happen. I don't want this to become a circus. We've seen. So what I have decided to do is for
the old business and the remainder of the meeting.
I have assigned proxy for Mr. Jack Schmidt, Dr. Jack Schmidt, to come finish the meeting and handle
the complaints. That way we don't have any of the arguments that you and I are biased against someone
before it even started. I just, I want the truth to come out and I want the law to be followed. So,
Dr. Schmidt, the... Are you leaving the meeting? No, I'm going to go sit with, sit back and...
So you returned because I've got a couple. I'm sure the balance would like sure so doctors made the
board then discussed the next steps needed to address the complaints submitted by Monroe County Assessor
and incumbent Judy Sharp and Assessor candidate Janay Trimble. My position has not changed. Oh,
I am not. Here to vote. To move this forward. I believe it.
The violation has occurred and would be voting to move it forward. But now by moving forward, that means
for us at another meeting to hold a hearing and then to decide whether or not to forward that to the
prosecutor for prosecution. We don't make a decision legally on whether or not a violation occurred.
our responsibility, if I understand it, and, Molly, please correct me if I'm wrong, our responsibility
is to determine whether or not this is something that should receive further investigation. Ultimately,
the board voted to dismiss both complaints. Later in the meeting, Penny Giffins asked election supervisor
Kylie Farris why some Richland township ballots contained a question regarding the town of Aletsville,
while others did not. When I reviewed the ballots this morning, I think that there was a major...
question about some stuff in Richland and I want to make sure that we get that resolved. The ballots
can be printed on time and ready to go. Ferris said that communications are ongoing to ensure that all
ballots have the relevant questions on them. I will add to that. So I was reading through some of the
emails, one that you Miss Giffins had sent and then some that was in response from the IED. I'm going
to move forward with requesting a certified statement from the
group proposal that has put together the question for Ellensville. And then I'm going to move forward
from there. Once I receive that stating exactly which precincts they would like to have the question
on, then I will send that to the election board, make sure you guys are all informed as well and make
those changes. The next Monroe County election board meeting is scheduled for October 1st.
The Bloomington Common Council Committee on Council Processes met on August 31st. The meeting began
with a presentation on structural changes to the city's transportation and environmental commissions.
Council member Hopi Stasberg explained a new guideline regarding school superintendent recommendations
that ensure the city does not overstep its legal authority. We can't really tell
superintendent what to do of schools which of course is a good point and so then instead put in this
mayor shall request line the superintendent recommend up to three applicants and then in the event no
qualifying applicant is identified and
Basically, that's if the superintendent at some point in the future declines to put forth any
recommendations. Then I defaulted that to the mayor, she'll just appoint somebody who is a resident
of the city and then preference for appointment to somebody related to MCCSC, which is how the language
currently reads in terms of that preference for appointment. I'm not sure
if we should put any kind of a timeline in here in the event of no qualifying applicant. But I guess
I'd kind of like to keep it simple unless it becomes problematic. Committee members also weighed whether
to keep a fixed number of seats for the Transportation Commission or to allow expansion due to high
public interest. Ultimately, the committee decided to keep the body at nine members to maintain consistency.
The meeting then turned to the Environmental Commission, where Deputy Clerk Jennifer Crossley highlighted
long-term vacancy issues that have repeatedly prevented the body from reaching a quorum. I actually
have been able to work with ITS because I wanted to have council be able, like, board discussions like
this. I wanted you all to be able to see, like, seats that have been vacant. So on board,
When you go to seats, it should show you field and vacant and it should show you the length of time
that a seat has been vacant. And so that just happened within the recent weeks. And so if I'm scrolling
to environmental commission, one seat has been vacant since October 23rd, 2024.
Following the discussion, the committee voted unanimously to recommend the proposed structural changes
to the full Common Council. Next, the committee addressed procedural issues at the Historic Preservation
Commission, which were brought to light in a briefing by advisory member Reynard Cross. The committee
focused on how the misapplication of Robert's rules and a lack of training led to confusion over motions,
debate limits, and the chair's authority.
Committee Chair Isabel Piedmont-Smith specified what went wrong during the commission's June meeting.
The first issue I think that came up was that HPC commissioners, a subset of them, wanted to postpone
a vote on releasing a dumb omission delay, but did not think they had the opportunity to do so. And
Then the second issue was that there was a motion to limit commissioner comments to three minutes. It
was adopted without meeting the two-third majority that's actually required by Robert's rules. And then
the third issue was that the chair limited a commissioner speaking time without a motion or a vote by
the commissioner, which actually is required per Robert's rules. So I think that
taking the first item, while all of these items, I think, reflect a lack of familiarity with Robertsville's order.
Council attorney Larry Allen agreed that there were procedural mistakes, but said that state law and
local code leave little room to reopen the decision. If it's a clerical error, right, you can maybe
go back. If it's an actual substantive question of law, it looks like the Inespera court has decided
you cannot go back unless expressly authorized by statute. Again, there's
smaller nuances, but I don't know that this rises to a small clerical error that you could go and fix
as much as it might be substantive, particularly now that, and Mr. Cross pointed this out as well, the
30-day deadline for challenging this in the local Monroe County Circuit Court has also passed. The meeting
moved on to public comment where participants expressed frustration over these procedural errors and
a possible proposal to remove Raynard Cross from the HPC.
However, the committee clarified that the removal of a commissioner falls outside of their current purview
and will only be presented to them if the City Council so decides. HPC member Dr. John Butler publicly
apologized for his own procedural confusion and urged city leaders to provide better educational resources.
I am Dr. John Butler. I'm also a member of the HPC. I just want to bring up a couple of sort of corrections
or add to the
the record. As per our training that we received, we did receive training. It was like an hour long,
I think, or a little over an hour. But it covered such a range of topics that Robert's Rules was maybe
10 minutes. And if you know Robert's Rules, that's not enough time to really understand, especially
if you're a new member, because we also covered open door law and, you know,
respect and how to treat each other as commissioners. I would urge you to consider more training because
I certainly felt under-trained. As to whether or not a lawyer was present, there were no lawyers present
because at the same time, city legal was holding a training session and so all the city attorneys were
at that and there was no attorney present online or in person for that meeting. We also did not have
a parliamentarian.
Um, our chair does not understand Robert's rules in a way, um, in a deeply enough to, um, fully instruct
the members of, you know, how we're supposed to run the meetings. For instance, the 4-2 thing, you know,
I don't even know. Um, so, so we need more training. Um, and then, uh, you know, for Commissioner Cross
to sort of be the
person who's facing some sanction for attempting to get us to do a better job of following Robert's
rules, I think is sort of sad. I think really as a body we need to do better. And so I think the failure
lies with all of us.
And myself in particular, I did not make the motion in the proper language, and that is on me. I also
didn't understand when I was allowed to make the motion. And prior to that, when Commissioner DeSolar
was the chair, a person, the tradition in the HPC was a person would phrase the, you know, I would like
more time, and then DeSolar would say,
Am I hearing a motion to delay? And then we would say yes. And so since that did not occur that evening,
I didn't know when I was allowed to bring it forward. And so unfortunately, since it's a subsidiary
action, the vote, if we release it for demolition, we can't delay it. So the delay vote has to take
place before we release it, obviously.
And that didn't occur. So then once we released it, I couldn't get my vote forward at that point, even
though that was my intention. So I apologize for messing the whole thing up. But I feel like we really
could have and should have handled it better. Amy Butler spoke on behalf of Cross, criticizing the potential
removal and calling out leadership for failing to maintain proper rules of order. I'm just really disappointed.
that it's even considered to remove Renard. I have been to multiple meetings with HBC, none of them
before August of 2025. So I have no idea how it was run before that. But that meeting on the 25th, or
whatever date it was, was ridiculous. And there were many things that were wrong. And every meeting
that I had been before, like when commissioner members and members of the public had asked for more
time, when more time was in the time frame allowed, it was granted.
And this was blatantly ignored. And Sam, who had been the previous chair, as far as precedence, if a
commission member was asking for more time, he would say, do I hear a motion? And then it would be brought.
And that was not the case that day. I don't know what happened. But it seemed to me like decisions were
already made before that meeting happened, like people's minds were already made up, and that they were
going to let those buildings go down. And that really upsets me that Bernard is going to be bullied.
and try to be kicked off the commission for trying to make things right because he is speaking truths
and I am here to speak truth that Renard knows Robert's rules better than anyone else. In response,
committee members discussed implementing mandatory training on Robert's rules and rules of conduct for
all commissioners while working with the clerk's office to make simplified rule summaries. The committee's
next meeting is scheduled for September 28th.
And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.