Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington City Council met on September
16th and deliberated on the appointment of Zach Amerman to the Bloomington Transit Board of Directors.
BT board member Kent McDaniel resigned from his position after nearly 40 years on the job, which led
to an open position on the board.
Councilmember Kate Rosenberger was part of an interview committee to find a new transit board member.
Rosenberger recommended Amerman for the open seat because of his background and his use of BT services.
Today, one board member, Kent McDaniel, announced his resignation from the board. And I also actually
want to first start by just saying a big thank you to Kent McDaniel.
He served on the board for 36 years. He studied public transit in college. He drove IU campus bus when
he was in college. And he was the director of IU transportation services. So he has really shepherded
Bloomington Transit to where it is today. And I have great appreciation for him. So thank you to him.
And then I wanted to recommend Zach Ammerman because the board, as I think
council knows is five members and what it is missing right now is someone who consistently rides transit.
And Zach is a person who consistently uses public transit as his primary mode of transportation. And
then he also has a background in data mapping and diving into numbers. And so in the interview with
him, it was really neat to see him synthesize pretty quickly
over the years, patterns and ideas of change. And so I think that skill set would be a really good addition
to the board. Rosenbarger also said that she would like to see a seven person transit board rather than
a five person board. Council member Hopi Stasberg agreed and expressed her support for Amerman as a
board member.
I also want to say in terms of the five versus seven board members, I did bring that up in the CCP meeting
and I followed up in a couple other areas and there's actually an email thread right now and BT actually
in their meeting last night, they discussed that as well. So I think that maybe our discussing that
during our interview committee was something that led to a wider discussion about that. So that's certainly
in motion and I'm glad that
getting brought up tonight just so that we can make sure that this appointment can get made because
this board is quite small. The council voted unanimously to support Amerman's appointment. Next, the
council discussed the removal of Reynard Cross from the city's Historic Preservation Commission. Council
member Isabel Piedmont-Smith asked to hear the basis for having this on the city council agenda. Attorney
Larry Allen responded.
Basis for whites on the agendas because it was considered last time and it was specifically moved to
be heard At this meeting if you mean the general basis as terms of the allegations Those were the report
of conduct came in. I think the the clerk had observed some of the meetings and written a memo and
to council leadership after a discussion with me, we agreed that the council staff would send out a
letter to notify of the opportunity to be heard. And so that council could take formal action on it.
And that's why it was placed on the agenda originally last meeting. And then it was continued to this
meeting. Deputy Clerk Jennifer Crossley said that the city council needs to weigh its options carefully
when discussing the removal of someone who serves on boards and commissions.
However, she said she did observe violations of the code of conduct implemented by the City Council.
The meetings that I have observed and the meeting that I actually went to, there are some violations
that are in there. There was one meeting that business was held up for 45 minutes, and there was a petition
that was supposed to be heard, but, unfortunately, that was a little bit delayed until
The dust settled and things were able to proceed So again, I don't think that I take this very seriously
and I am not of the mindset of Let's just get ready and we don't like something. Let's just remove we
see that in our federal government and our state government That is not the role that city government
should play. However This is where we are right now and based upon what you all have implemented
that would, under my recommendations, that that's what I see. Councilmember Stasberg recommended that
the council take action on the item during this meeting rather than delay it further. I have had a chance
to review those three meetings. I've watched those and I agree with Clerk Crosley's conclusion that
the code of conduct was in violation and I
Didn't want to just punt this again tonight. So I was like I need to come in with a plan and so my my
thought is Depending on what y'all think and and whether you all have been able to review those and
or and or feel comfortable and just taking the recommendations to either Vote or
a motion around finding mr. Cross and violation of the code of conduct and removal or Potentially referring
this to a committee and I was thinking referring it back to the interview committee that is in charge
of the this board's appointment because you know, we generally take recommendations for appointments
from interview committees and so in terms of
process. I agree, like, the committee for council process maybe needs to figure out, like, let's nail
down a process for how we actually do this and assess it. But unless we all feel comfortable, I think,
taking a vote on the actual removal tonight, I would think that moving it to the interview committee
might be an appropriate place for it. On the other hand, Piedmont-Smith disagreed, saying she did not
feel comfortable making a vote on the removal of Cross.
I don't feel comfortable voting on this tonight. The code of conduct was also violated by other members
of this commission because they did not follow Robert's Rules of Order. So I mean, where do we draw
the line? Do they have to violate more than one of these things in the code of conduct? Or is one enough?
Is the degree of violation considered?
I just think there we need to we need to act very deliberatively here because It's I Think there were
legitimate concerns raised by mr. Cross as to what occurred at the June 25th meeting I did watch the
meetings on cats and So before we
remove anybody. I think we need to consider process and how we determine whether somebody will be removed.
Stasberg moved for the decision to be sent to an interview committee for a recommendation to the full
council regular session on October 14th. The council voted unanimously to approve referring the matter
to interview committee C.
The Ellisville Town Council met on September 14th. The council voted on four resolutions regarding funds
for legal fees, equipment for the fire and police departments, and infrastructure for the street department.
Funds appropriated for the street department are for a sand and salt barn, according to street commissioner
Kip Hetty. Our salt and sand barn was probably built in the
late 70s, early 80s, somewhere around there. And we have already outgrown that building. And with the
proposed reorganization coming up, we are working at rebuilding a new salt sand barn behind the DPW
building. So far, we've been doing good with appropriating funds within the budget to do a lot of the
concrete work. And I am needing an additional
roughly $40,000 to do the concrete walls in that new building behind the DPW building for salt sand
barn. Council President Scott Oldham asked where the funds would come from and noted that he believes
the barn is essential. That will be coming from the CCD. Irrespective of whether the consolidation is
approved or not, we still need that. If you all remember back in January we had that big snow.
and I almost depleted our salt inventory in that one snow. So I'm having a hard time maintaining the
salt amount in the building for the snow. It would be ideal that if I could actually have what we need
for the whole season and not worry about trying to get more salt. I actually had to try to get salt
another route because of salt shortages that was going on in the state of Indiana. And there's also
possibility of salt shortages again for this winter. So we need to be able to try to get more salt on
storage on hand. The motion to approve the additional funds for the barn was approved. Next, the council
heard second readings of two ordinances. Attorney Darla Brown gave an explanation for ordinance 2026-14,
which prohibits the use of public records for commercial purposes.
second reading on this ordinance and the purpose of this ordinance is to limit the number of requests
that the town gets for public records that appear to be earmarked toward getting information that the
requester can use for commercial purposes to sell things to town citizens or to town employees. So under
the Indiana code, the town has the right to pass an ordinance that would require
the requester to sign a document certifying that they will not use any information solicited for commercial
purposes. And if they refuse to certify that, we do not have to give them the records. Oldham asked
what happens if someone signs the document, but then uses the records for commercial purposes anyway.
We can refuse them the second time if they ask again. Ordinance 2026-14 passed unanimously.
The second reading for Ordinance 2026-15 regarding the use of utility task vehicles on town roads was
next. Attorney Brown again explained the ordinance and answered questions from the council. A few weeks
ago, the town council asked me to put together an ordinance that would allow utility task vehicles on
town roads. And this is the second reading on this ordinance that would allow that.
individuals who violate the ordinance can be fined. And this does not mean that ATVs and golf carts
will be allowed on the roads. It's just UTVs. Questions from councilor discussion. If somebody habitually
violates this, can they have the UTV impounded based on this?
Under the Indiana code, yes, they can. Ordinance 2026-15 passed unanimously. During supervisor comments,
Town Manager Michael Farmer thanked the volunteers who helped with the recent Fall Festival. I'd just
like to thank all the volunteers that helped put together the Fall Festival. It is a huge endeavor,
a lot of hours spent planning and then implementing. And so,
just a huge shout out to all the volunteers because anything that actually helps with making our town
feel like a community, that social interaction and the entertainment it brings to the kids and adults
alike, it's a big deal. And so the Fall Festivals
ingrained in me, I can't remember when we didn't have one all the way back into the sixties. And so
it's a big shout out to everybody that has anything to do with it. I'd really like to thank the police
and the fire and the DPW and everybody that actually had to work to help put it together. I don't think
we could do it without the police firing the DPW. So thanks to them, even though they had to do it.
They always seem to do it with a smile on their face. And then, of course, Shannon had mentioned it.
I'd like to shout out to Jeff Farmer for doing such a good job of driving the pylon truck.
So thank you, everyone, that made the Fall Festival great. Our grandkids have more candy than Halloween.
hometown marshal Jimmy Durnall gave an update on the police department staffing and grant funds for
school resource officers. I want to notify you. First of all, we've had an SRO that has indicated he's
going to resign from the department in the middle of October and we'd like to have permission to open
that that spot up if we could like to do that tomorrow for all possible. We're OK with that. You guys.
Do we need a formal vote Darla?
I think so, yep. Also I want to bring to your attention the annual grant that the school receives for
the SROs was short $12,000 this year. So I'd like to present that we meet them halfway and do $6,000
Noel and Baker Telly tells me that I have enough in the budget for next year to do that. I wouldn't
see that being a problem. I mean, I think it's in our best interest to have those officers where they're at.
Yeah, they, they pay for three quarters of the salaries anyway, so. Even if they didn't, I still think
it's in our best interest to have the officers there. Right, we gotta have somebody there, yeah. That's
probably gonna take a vote though, so does anybody wanna weigh in on that? I just have a question, first
of all. Any idea why it was short? Has the grant funding shrunk or? They thought the funding was gonna
go down after a few years.
Oh, okay, so there's nothing we did wrong. Action on funding the school resource officers will come
at a later date. Durnall then read a letter from community member Beth Staggs, who received help from
Officer Sam Miller. About a Wednesday, the half ago, we had a bad storm went through town. It did do
a lot of damage, but where it did do damage, it really put people in jeopardy. Is Beth Staggs here by
chance? She couldn't make it. She couldn't make it, okay.
This is from Beth Staggs. She said, I am writing to inform you of Officer Sam Miller, who pretty much
saved my life after the storm on Wednesday night. I had a tree fall on my house and buried my car. He
happened to drive by right after it happened and stopped to see if everyone was OK. My dog and I were
shaken, but fine. My neighbor had told him that I had dialysis the next morning at 6 a.m.
Officer Miller said he would come back after going on a few calls and get my car out. And he did. It
had to be chainsawed out. It was buried. I cannot express my gratitude enough. What he did to me was
whether it matters, life or death. Literally, I don't go to dialysis, I die. I am hoping that you can
do some type of recognition for officers for outstanding service. He definitely deserves it.
The way I look at it, he saved my life. If you have any questions of this time, anything to recognize
Officer Miller for his outstanding service to the community, please let me know. I will forever be grateful.
Thank you, Beth Staggs. Deputy Chief Bunker also spoke highly of Miller. His control of the other officers
and anybody that was in town that night knew that it was straight chaos. He stopped.
made sure she was OK, and then promised her that he would come back later with a chainsaw and help get
her out, which he did. So we're very, very grateful and thankful for that. On a side note, this is our
SRO that's resigning, so I don't know if he should really get this or not. It seems like when we asked
him to step in and fill in the SRO spot when I vacated it, he jumped on it. But he's got too good of
an opportunity to pass up. So he is going to stay on with us part time and help us with training.
all festival for the July stuff like that. So we appreciate you staying on. The job well done. We're
in Michigan, but you've always got a home in your council, police department. Thank you. Thank you.
The next meeting of the Ellisville Town Council is scheduled for September 28th at 6.30 p.m.
The Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees heard a director's report highlighting a full year
of record-setting circulation and a new platform for local writers during its September 16th meeting.
Director Greer Carson shared a staff story about the impact of MCPL's programming. A staff member was
at a local gas station and happened to be wearing an MCPL t-shirt, the much coveted MCPL shirts, right?
And the cashier there shared that they were never much of a reader until they were incarcerated in the
Monroe County Correctional Center and discovered our jail library collection and its services. And that
turned them into a reader. And since they were released, they're still an active reader.
So the staff member shared that with our outreach services manager, Chris Jackson, who decided to submit
it to the director's report. And that wouldn't really suck out because I think it's kind of a unique
example of the feedback we hear from the community on the impact that our collections and services have.
The board then received an update from Carson on bids and funding to fully modernize three aging elevators
at the downtown library.
This was going to be a building improvement project that we often use capital outlay funds for If you
look at the beginning of the finance report, you'll see that we're in a very very good position heading
into the back half of the year with respect to likely surplus and Particularly our local income tax
revenue checks are strong enough and I want to say it's 22,000 a month for the rest of the year that
that combined with our existing surplus will allow us to use operating funds to fund that particular
project. So it's a little early to say for sure that's how we're going to do it, but that's what we
would prefer is to use our own operating funds. The trustees then approved a resolution to surplus several
large items no longer suited to the downtown building, including teen area ping pong tables and lockers
stored in egress routes.
The director emphasized both safety and the practice of offering usable items to local groups before
disposable. Children's Services Manager Angelica Candelaria then reported on a record year for children
and tween participation in the summer reading program. This year we did have an all-time high of 3,200
Signups for all of the branches system-wide and then here is the breakdown. We are pretty close to what
we were last year for completion We're just slightly under but that is due to that. We had more signups
and more completions overall We did see
an increase for tween. As you can see here when we did start doing it, it was a slow climb, but this
year I think they really did like the dinosaur theme and they got used to having their own board so
more kids came, especially in that tween area. So we are seeing a progression of
an increase, which is really good after the pandemic. To close the meeting, Southwest branch manager
Kathy Riley gave the trustees a choose your own adventure tour of that branch's year from a new bus
stop out front to expanded STEM projects, gardening and cooking programs.
She described how increased transit access, a grant for robots, and a themed seed library are drawing
in families and teens who then stay to craft, game, and cook together. But the real reason that I brought
this out is because the creativity that the staff brings to the programming is incredible. Often we're
talking about, what's your passion? What do you really like doing? Can we partner it up with the need
we're seeing from the community?
How can we use recyclables? How can we get really effective with how we're using our budget? How can
we bring people together to create and create a sense of community? The next meeting of the MCPO Board
of Trustees is October 21st.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners met on September 17th and passed a resolution asking the town
of Steinsville to suspend an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agreement
allows participating police officers to perform certain federal immigration enforcement functions.
Commissioner Julie Thomas argued that the Steinsville town council should have the authority to approve
the agreement and not the Steinsville Police Department.
The party to these agreements is the governmental entity, not the officer who signs it. The task force
model at issue here is the most expansive of the three authorizing street level enforcement outside
any jail setting. These agreements are governed by Indiana's Interlocal Cooperation Statute IC-36-1-7,
and must be approved by the legislative body, the political subdivision through an ordinance or resolution
submitted to the attorney general recorded with the county recorded before it takes effect and filed
with the state board of accounts within 60 days later. Uh, under Indiana law, the town councils, the
town's legislative body and the town marshal locally titled chief of police is appointed by and serves
at the council's direction. A marshal acting alone has no authority to bind the town to an inner governmental
agreement.
Commissioner Jodi Madeira said that the county became aware of the agreement through local media coverage,
and the public record did not show a formal vote by the Steinsville town council. The failure to follow
Indiana law and the failure to ensure transparency impacts county residents and their trust in local
government. The board of commissioners, therefore, has both an interest and responsibility to speak
under Indiana law. Therefore, I think we would like to execute this resolution.
The resolution asked the Steinsville Town Council to take several steps, like putting the agreement
on a public meeting agenda and allowing public comment. It also asked the town to suspend the agreement
while public discourse takes place. The Monroe County Board of Commissioners respectfully request that
the Steinsville Town Board one,
Place the 287G agreement on the agenda of a regular or special public meeting with advanced public notice
consistent with IC 5-14-1.5. Second, to make the agreements full text together with all correspondence
and records relating to its negotiation and execution available to the public in advance of that meeting.
County Attorney Jeff Cockrell said that he heard Steinsville planned to hold a public meeting on the
issue next week.
I think I received communication from Sinesville about they're having a meeting next week in order to
do this and look at this issue. So I think they are progressing towards it. I think when they were,
when the board found out about it was well after the execution of the agreement. And so I think they're
just looking to try to get their hands around it and figure out their proper course of action.
Madeira and Thomas said that they want to emphasize that the county's concern was not about assigning
blame to public officials, but rather whether the decision was made in the public eye. I just want to
be clear, too, that we aren't here as commissioners to assign blame to any individual. The question
isn't whether anyone acted in bad faith. It's just whether the town as a body ever made this decision
public. Right. Right. And that's our concern, because we do.
we live by the rule of transparency and we hope that everyone else does as well in our community. And
that's what our residents deserve. And this impacts every county resident when this kind of agreement
is set because it can mean that those officers can act outside of the town of Steinsville. And so it
does impact other
other county residents potentially as well, not just those who live in Steinsville. The commissioners
approved the resolution by a two to zero vote with Commissioner Lee Jones absent. The resolution itself
does not require Steinsville to take any particular action, and the commissioners say that it does not
supersede the town's authority. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and
WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.