WEBVTT 00:00:01.058 --> 00:00:09.374 - Good afternoon. Welcome to the Bloomington Rotary Club's weekly celebration of service. I'm Steve Wicks, 00:00:09.374 --> 00:00:17.453 - and I'm honored to serve as your president this year. Please silence your electronic devices. On this 00:00:17.453 --> 00:00:25.769 - day in history, April 28, 1942, nightly dim-outs begin along the US East Coast as a deterrence to German 00:00:25.769 --> 00:00:30.046 - military threats. Randy Saunders signed up to deliver 00:00:30.178 --> 00:00:36.475 - today's reflection, Randy is local director of Scouting America. He emailed me this morning to indicate 00:00:36.475 --> 00:00:42.650 - that with all the storms that we had last night, they have quite a bit of damage at one of the camps. 00:00:42.650 --> 00:00:48.705 - So he is there instead of delivering a reflection. But we had another member two weeks ago who took 00:00:48.705 --> 00:00:54.820 - me aside after the meeting and said, you know, with everything going on in the world, should we just 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:57.726 - maybe take a moment for a moment of reflection? 00:00:58.402 --> 00:01:09.258 - And given shootings in Bloomington, shootings in Washington DC, a war in the Middle East, why don't 00:01:09.258 --> 00:01:19.679 - we just take a moment to think, pray if you're so inclined, and just be quiet for a little bit. 00:01:19.679 --> 00:01:25.758 - Thank you. Steven Goll will introduce our guests today. 00:01:36.770 --> 00:01:48.118 - Well, I'm pleased to see that we have several guests today. And when I call your names, would you please 00:01:48.118 --> 00:01:59.249 - stand so that we can recognize you? Our first guest is Barbara McKinney, guest of Michael Shermas. And 00:01:59.249 --> 00:02:05.950 - then Lisa Myers, guest of Efrat Rasa. Welcome. Jeffrey Combs. 00:02:06.594 --> 00:02:19.954 - Guest of Mike Baker. And very special guest, hopefully our next U.S. Congressman Brad Meyer, 00:02:19.954 --> 00:02:34.750 - guest of me. And last but not least, my espousal unit and Brad's campaign manager, Becky Wan. Welcome. 00:02:34.850 --> 00:02:42.759 - Do we have any online guests? Not today. We're all club members. No? OK. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:50.823 - Lori. I also want to recognize someone we don't announce weekly as guests who's been with us most weeks 00:02:50.823 --> 00:02:58.654 - this semester, Shilpa sitting over there from the Civic Engagement Project. She's been observing us, 00:02:58.654 --> 00:03:02.686 - and I'll be anxious to hear her impressions of her. 00:03:05.506 --> 00:03:13.246 - So this is her last week, and she's going home for the summer. We have a couple of birthdays to recognize. 00:03:13.246 --> 00:03:20.480 - First of all, today is Andrea Murray's birthday. And tomorrow, Ruth Boschkoff and Jim Griffith have 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:27.714 - birthdays. And then we have a few anniversaries. On the 30th, Joyce Polling will celebrate 30 years 00:03:27.714 --> 00:03:33.790 - as a Rotarian. And on the 1st, Glenda Murray will celebrate 35 years as a Rotarian. 00:03:40.578 --> 00:03:49.202 - So Tyler, if you wanna go ahead and start the PowerPoint. And we're gonna start with a celebration of 00:03:49.202 --> 00:03:57.911 - service. So as many of you know, the city of Bloomington has a Bloomington Volunteer Network. And each 00:03:57.911 --> 00:04:07.043 - year they stage the BMOR awards where eight community members are recognized for achievements and wonderful 00:04:07.043 --> 00:04:09.918 - things they've done for the city. 00:04:10.850 --> 00:04:17.469 - And last year, I went to the BMORE awards to check it out. And I went in there with a preconceived notion 00:04:17.469 --> 00:04:24.025 - about how Rotary could be involved in this. And after watching the awards and talking to Michael Shermas 00:04:24.025 --> 00:04:30.581 - and Lynn Schwartzberg, I left there with a different impression. And last year, someone from the Kiwanis 00:04:30.581 --> 00:04:36.388 - Club deservedly won an award. And I left there thinking, wow, we have people in our club who 00:04:36.388 --> 00:04:39.198 - are award-worthy. So fast forward 11 months. 00:04:39.554 --> 00:04:49.861 - And I submitted multiple nominations. And lo and behold, one of us won. Dave Meyer. So Dave has won 00:04:49.861 --> 00:05:00.374 - the Beemore Bloomington Award. Here's a picture of Dave in December, Salvation Army bell ringing. And 00:05:00.374 --> 00:05:08.414 - here are some of the details. So the ceremony, the award ceremony is tonight. 00:05:09.090 --> 00:05:16.260 - 6 p.m. to 730. It's at Buskirk Chumley. It's free. The nice thing is the part of the award Dave will 00:05:16.260 --> 00:05:23.644 - get a thousand dollar check not to him. It'll actually be made out to the Bloomington Rotary Foundation 00:05:23.644 --> 00:05:30.743 - and it's from the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County and they do a wonderful job 00:05:30.743 --> 00:05:35.358 - sponsoring this event and promoting volunteerism in Bloomington. 00:05:35.714 --> 00:05:43.148 - The reason Dave won is he, like a few others in our club and lots of people in our community, do outstanding 00:05:43.148 --> 00:05:50.036 - work with refugees. But where Dave really stood out this year is in December, as many of you know, a 00:05:50.036 --> 00:05:57.061 - member of the refugee family that we sponsored, Jaweed, was detained by ICE and taken, I think he went 00:05:57.061 --> 00:06:00.062 - to Brazil, Indiana, and was detained there. 00:06:00.802 --> 00:06:07.024 - And Dave sprung into action, working with the family and then working inside the club. And 00:06:07.024 --> 00:06:13.929 - he made arrangements to try to make sure that Joweed was getting due process. He found a really good 00:06:13.929 --> 00:06:20.834 - attorney, an expensive attorney in Indianapolis. At one point, I think he had $10,000 of legal bills 00:06:20.834 --> 00:06:28.286 - on his personal credit card, which he hoped would be reimbursed by club members, but there was no guarantee. 00:06:28.962 --> 00:06:35.900 - And anyway, thanks to his efforts, in late January, I believe, Jawid was released. He's now back with 00:06:35.900 --> 00:06:43.109 - his pregnant wife, working, being a productive member of society here in Bloomington. So Dave, you really 00:06:43.109 --> 00:06:45.694 - did an outstanding job, so thank you. 00:06:53.314 --> 00:06:59.706 - So move, next thing, help wanted. I put this up last week. We need additional club members to join our 00:06:59.706 --> 00:07:06.099 - membership committee, do various things. If you have any interest, see me or see Lori Garrity. Not too 00:07:06.099 --> 00:07:12.429 - late to register for the Rotary District Conference, May 8th and 9th at the Gold House in Louisville. 00:07:12.429 --> 00:07:18.822 - Still need a volunteer to rapidly, at this point, coordinate, assemble a gift basket. I've already had 00:07:18.822 --> 00:07:23.166 - one person come up to me and volunteer something to go in the basket. 00:07:23.586 --> 00:07:30.136 - This is not my strong area. So if we have someone with more tastes than me and who is interested in 00:07:30.136 --> 00:07:36.687 - rotary at the district level, please step forward. Also as part of the district conference, there's 00:07:36.687 --> 00:07:43.237 - a district conference challenge and for new and gently used shoes. And so we've already accumulated 00:07:43.237 --> 00:07:49.853 - a few shoes and I plan to take them into Louisville. So if you have new or gently used shoes, please 00:07:49.853 --> 00:07:51.294 - bring them next week. 00:07:51.618 --> 00:07:58.505 - if you're on zoom or can't be here next week email me and we'll see if i can figure out a way for me 00:07:58.505 --> 00:08:05.460 - to pick up shoes okays you save the dates uh... we have the wonder lab summer blast off on may twenty 00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:12.961 - first this is something that our club is sponsoring hopefully next week will start the sign up for volunteers 00:08:12.961 --> 00:08:19.166 - refugee picnic on the twenty fourth uh... club member cindy need heart can provide details 00:08:19.266 --> 00:08:25.937 - We have a Meals on Wheels work day just for a couple of us on May 29th. See Diana Hoffman if you're 00:08:25.937 --> 00:08:32.809 - interested for that. And then June 5th, the Beacon Solidarity Sleep Out. I should say June 5th and 6th 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:39.747 - because if you do it right, you start on the 5th and you're getting up on the 6th. So save those dates, 00:08:39.747 --> 00:08:47.486 - please. All right, today's membership quiz. Which of these Rotarians regularly attends deep water aerobic sessions? 00:08:48.066 --> 00:08:55.508 - And you have four choices, Sarah Laughlin, John Hobson, Glenda Murray, and Amy Kendall. And only one 00:08:55.508 --> 00:09:03.023 - of the four regularly does this. Here's a picture of someone who is not a club member doing deepwater 00:09:03.023 --> 00:09:09.801 - aerobics. Looks like it's hard work. But anyway, back to your choices. So I'll name out one 00:09:09.801 --> 00:09:17.022 - of the candidates. Put up your hand if you're in the room. Do so electronically if you're online. 00:09:17.762 --> 00:09:26.077 - So put up your hand if you think Sarah Loughlin regularly attends deepwater aerobics sessions. Boy, 00:09:26.077 --> 00:09:34.557 - especially doing well at one table, Sarah, there in the back. Second choice, John Hobson. Put up your 00:09:34.557 --> 00:09:43.454 - hand if you think John Hobson regularly attends deepwater aerobics. Not quite as many as Sarah, but a few. 00:09:45.154 --> 00:09:53.502 - Your third choice is Glenda Murray sitting over there. Glenda is actively canvassing and campaigning 00:09:53.502 --> 00:10:02.346 - for votes. So put up your hand if you think Glenda Murray is our deep water aerobics. And our last choice, 00:10:02.346 --> 00:10:07.966 - also sitting next to Glenda, competitors, if you think Amy Kendall, 00:10:08.834 --> 00:10:19.779 - If you think Amy Kendall is the club member who regularly attends Deepwater aerobics classes, put up 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:31.048 - your hand. I'll tell you what, it's a very split vote. Lori, how does it look online? Looks good. Okay. 00:10:31.048 --> 00:10:35.166 - All right. Well, let's move on. Okay. 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:42.934 - Well, if you voted for Sarah Laughlin, you will be incorrect. Sarah is a walker who tries to get in 00:10:42.934 --> 00:10:50.843 - 10,000 steps each day. Here's a picture taken a couple of months ago of Sarah dressing the club. Glenda 00:10:50.843 --> 00:10:58.600 - Murray, if you voted for Glenda, you too are incorrect. Glenda is a regular Northwest YMCA user, uses 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:02.782 - the facility for yoga, new step machines, and walking. 00:11:04.546 --> 00:11:11.169 - And if you voted for Amy Kendall, you are also incorrect. When Amy is not doing development work for 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:17.924 - Beacon, she enjoys walking. Here's a picture taken. It looks like it was taken on campus. And my guess 00:11:17.924 --> 00:11:24.548 - is Amy was walking that day. But if you voted for John Hopson, you are correct. So John was supposed 00:11:24.548 --> 00:11:31.106 - to be here today. He's a regular at the IU Pool Deepwater Aerobics class. He also enjoys walking in 00:11:31.106 --> 00:11:32.286 - his neighborhood. 00:11:32.674 --> 00:11:39.755 - John had the misfortune of running into me at the performance of Oklahoma Saturday night, made the mistake 00:11:39.755 --> 00:11:46.439 - of telling me some things going on in his life. And so here he is today. John is one of our longtime 00:11:46.439 --> 00:11:53.057 - members. I haven't had a chance to highlight him yet this year, so I'm glad I could get his face on 00:11:53.057 --> 00:11:58.814 - the screen. So he's actually very fit between the walking and the deep water aerobics. 00:11:58.946 --> 00:12:05.602 - So my hope is, is that he continues and he can continue to be an active member for decades to come. 00:12:05.602 --> 00:12:11.791 - Okay, election season, 2026. So registered voters encouraged to vote in the May 5th primary. 00:12:11.791 --> 00:12:18.780 - Little reminder, candidates for political office are welcome to attend club meetings, visit with members 00:12:18.780 --> 00:12:25.502 - before and after the meeting. We rarely schedule political candidates to speak ahead of an election. 00:12:25.922 --> 00:12:32.054 - Today is an exception as our speaker is unopposed and also will be speaking on the timely topic of the 00:12:32.054 --> 00:12:38.127 - role of townships in Indiana. And it seems like once every generation, the state legislature wants to 00:12:38.127 --> 00:12:44.081 - do something about townships or they want to consolidate school districts. And so there have been a 00:12:44.081 --> 00:12:50.094 - lot of actions lately. And so I thought it was very timely that our speaker speak today. Once again, 00:12:50.094 --> 00:12:51.166 - she is unopposed. 00:12:53.410 --> 00:13:01.682 - So here's the sad news. Sam Udak resigned Wednesday as club president-elect. He'll move to the Chicago 00:13:01.682 --> 00:13:09.875 - area near the end of May, and we wish him well. So the happy news is that 2024, 24, 25 club president 00:13:09.875 --> 00:13:16.862 - Tracy Yovanovitch has stepped up and will serve as club president for the 26, 27 year. 00:13:25.442 --> 00:13:31.861 - Here was the process. So Wednesday, Sam resigned and emailed the nominating, committing, several others. 00:13:31.861 --> 00:13:38.158 - First checked with our president nominee, who will be the president-elect as of July 1st, Hank Walter. 00:13:38.158 --> 00:13:44.271 - And as he had confirmed in the past, he was not able to move up his term by a year. And then in the 00:13:44.271 --> 00:13:48.734 - process of correspondence, Tracy volunteered to serve as club president. 00:13:49.346 --> 00:13:55.544 - We reviewed the club bylaws, because none of us could remember off the top of our heads how we handle 00:13:55.544 --> 00:14:01.682 - a situation like this. Kind of nice to have bylaws sometimes. As on July 1, I will be immediate past 00:14:01.682 --> 00:14:07.881 - president. So Hank and I convened an email meeting of the directors elect. We first had to figure out 00:14:07.881 --> 00:14:14.140 - who the directors elect were. And then after a motion and a second, all nine directors elect voted yes 00:14:14.140 --> 00:14:15.902 - for Tracy as club president. 00:14:16.546 --> 00:14:23.674 - So in the space of six days, we have a new president. I'm really excited. First of all, in our own right, 00:14:23.674 --> 00:14:30.465 - I thought Tracy did a great job as president last year. It just has so many positive attributes. The 00:14:30.465 --> 00:14:37.257 - other nice thing is we're two months away from the start of the Rotary year. And if anything, anyone 00:14:37.257 --> 00:14:44.049 - can hit the ground running with this short of notice, it's Tracy. And I think she'll be able to do a 00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:44.990 - wonderful job 00:14:45.410 --> 00:14:52.892 - And I think she's going to do a great job. And I will say we'll need some help. You know, so I'll be 00:14:52.892 --> 00:15:00.745 - talking to different people and asking for assistance. But I think if we all pull together, we can handle 00:15:00.745 --> 00:15:04.894 - this and we're going to land in a good place. So here's 00:15:10.402 --> 00:15:17.374 - So here's a picture taken July 1st of last year. It was the day that Tracy stopped being president and 00:15:17.374 --> 00:15:24.550 - I started being president. So on July 7th, we will recreate this scene. Except I'll be the person heading 00:15:24.550 --> 00:15:31.454 - for the exits and Tracy will be on the way in. Happy dollar, happy dollar proceeds in March and April 00:15:31.454 --> 00:15:38.494 - will be given to the Bloomington Rotary Foundation. And I think we have a few minutes for happy dollar. 00:15:38.946 --> 00:15:52.228 - If anyone's happy, put up your hand. I'm very happy to have attended my grandson's wedding in Irwin, 00:15:52.228 --> 00:16:06.036 - Tennessee, where we glamped all weekend. I'm happy and very grateful for Stone Belt and for the emphasis 00:16:06.036 --> 00:16:08.798 - they put on training 00:16:10.338 --> 00:16:17.769 - Their staff, it's hard to get good staff, and it's important that their staff is trained. About three 00:16:17.769 --> 00:16:25.200 - weeks ago, a staff member saved our son Jonathan's life by doing the Heimlich mover, and no doubt, no 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.790 - surprise, we're joyful and happy to be able to give this gift. 00:16:40.194 --> 00:16:49.231 - I'm happy for the unsung heroes in the Jawad case of illegal detention. So let me speak to them right 00:16:49.231 --> 00:16:58.622 - now. There is a group of people in the community that gave almost $1,000 within the first week of Jawad's 00:16:58.622 --> 00:17:07.659 - detention directly to the family, who shall remain anonymous. Indiana University, who was informed of 00:17:07.659 --> 00:17:09.342 - what had happened, 00:17:09.954 --> 00:17:20.548 - kept his job open for six weeks in order for him to return without missing a beat other than lost salary. 00:17:20.548 --> 00:17:30.942 - And then what was my last one? My last one was the Rotary Club. Our Rotary Club pitched in more than 12 00:17:31.138 --> 00:17:39.378 - thousand dollars in order to meet his legal exemptions. Oh, I had one more. Sorry, four. Exodus refugee, 00:17:39.378 --> 00:17:48.010 - when they heard of his detention, they volunteered to have the immigration court part of his legal proceeding 00:17:48.010 --> 00:17:55.857 - that they would handle that without cost from their Indianapolis office. But we had to hire outside 00:17:55.857 --> 00:17:57.662 - counsel for the actual 00:17:57.826 --> 00:18:09.764 - appeal for unlawful detention because that was done in federal court. So it takes a village in order 00:18:09.764 --> 00:18:21.702 - to make these things happen. Some of you know that I've been expecting a granddaughter or grandchild 00:18:21.702 --> 00:18:26.430 - and she came five weeks early on Friday 00:18:27.330 --> 00:18:36.114 - Her name is Angela Garnoff. And she weighs five pounds and seven ounces, now down to 412 or something 00:18:36.114 --> 00:18:45.157 - like that. But I'm calling her Angelina because she's just very tiny and kind of fairy-like. But they're 00:18:45.157 --> 00:18:50.238 - doing well. Hannah had a C-section, so she's also got some 00:18:50.370 --> 00:18:57.949 - major surgery to get over, but she's going home today. Angelina will be fine. They had a major flood 00:18:57.949 --> 00:19:05.529 - and disaster at the hospital last night. And it was right in the NICU and the postpartum area of the 00:19:05.529 --> 00:19:13.333 - hospital. So they moved three times in the course of that storm last night. So we're very grateful that 00:19:13.333 --> 00:19:15.134 - they're all doing well. 00:19:24.706 --> 00:19:33.478 - Last one. I would like to just thank all the Rotarians that showed up to support us at our dinner theater 00:19:33.478 --> 00:19:42.084 - event a couple of weeks ago where we celebrated the works of Maya Angelou. It was wonderful. Thank you. 00:19:42.084 --> 00:19:49.118 - Thank you all. Michael, can you put on your other hat and introduce today's speaker? 00:19:58.146 --> 00:20:04.329 - Afrat Rosser is the current trustee of Bloomington Township since 2022. She's been living in Monroe 00:20:04.329 --> 00:20:10.574 - County for 26 years. She has a BA from Indiana University and an MPA from the University of Arizona. 00:20:10.574 --> 00:20:16.881 - I've been lucky enough to know Afrat in both her prior roles as Assistant Director of Finance for the 00:20:16.881 --> 00:20:23.249 - City of Bloomington Utilities and Executive Director of United Way of Monroe County. Her spouse is the 00:20:23.249 --> 00:20:26.526 - famous wrestler and even more famous chef, Chef Lee. 00:20:27.298 --> 00:20:33.915 - I had the opportunity to recently lead an ADA training with AFROT and her Township Trustee staff. They 00:20:33.915 --> 00:20:40.531 - were an amazing group of people. And I can see that a bit of that is due to AFROT's leadership because 00:20:40.531 --> 00:20:46.956 - she is a very nurturing, thoughtful, and kind person. I think you'd have to be in that job. So glad 00:20:46.956 --> 00:20:51.902 - she gets to tell us more about it. Give AFROT a warm Rotary welcome, please. 00:21:04.482 --> 00:21:12.984 - better. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the humbling introduction and for having me here today. I think 00:21:12.984 --> 00:21:21.651 - the last time I was a guest speaker here, I had a different role in a different last name. Same a fraud. 00:21:21.651 --> 00:21:29.988 - If there's another one in town, I'm not. I haven't met her yet, though. Uh, but yeah, there's been a 00:21:29.988 --> 00:21:33.950 - lot going on in the news with township. So, um, 00:21:34.306 --> 00:21:41.685 - Thanks to Michael for inviting me to give a little update on Bloomington Township specifically, but 00:21:41.685 --> 00:21:49.211 - then we can also talk about a lot of the legislative changes that are impacting townships in general. 00:21:49.211 --> 00:21:56.811 - So let me dive right in and then we'll save some time for Q&A and see what you want to get into. Quick 00:21:56.811 --> 00:22:04.190 - overview of township government as it is unique to I think about 17 states currently, including the 00:22:04.450 --> 00:22:12.832 - many of the Midwest ones, and that's because as the original colonies were expanding out West, Indiana 00:22:12.832 --> 00:22:21.051 - was part of the 1785 land purchase, and that whole area was divided into six by six square miles for 00:22:21.051 --> 00:22:29.921 - the purposes of establishing new colonial settlements, right? So in the 1800s, a lot of them were officially 00:22:29.921 --> 00:22:33.502 - formed as a critical mass of people came to 00:22:34.050 --> 00:22:43.316 - settle any of those squares. And the early townships were really meant to be the local government that 00:22:43.316 --> 00:22:52.581 - would do everything from establish a schoolhouse, fire protection, basic roads, basic health services, 00:22:52.581 --> 00:23:01.667 - and what used to be termed poor relief. And now I'll refer to that as emergency financial assistance 00:23:01.667 --> 00:23:03.646 - when I talk about it. 00:23:03.938 --> 00:23:11.364 - So before, you know, state cities and counties came on board and then a lot of the township duties were 00:23:11.364 --> 00:23:18.648 - sort of taken away by those units and townships were left with what we have now, which I'll get into. 00:23:18.648 --> 00:23:25.789 - But we're all independent government units, independent taxing units. So if you have a property tax 00:23:25.789 --> 00:23:29.502 - bill, you'll see a levy from your township. We have 00:23:30.114 --> 00:23:37.559 - We each have a board that's independently elected as well. Around here, that's a three-member board. 00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:45.151 - And I'm very grateful to have an amazing board of gifted and dedicated professionals. Barbara McKinney 00:23:45.151 --> 00:23:52.743 - is one of them, and she's here today. Dorothy Granger and E. Sensenstein are the others. And all three 00:23:52.743 --> 00:23:59.966 - are unopposed again this season on the ballot. So I look forward to the next four years together. 00:24:00.162 --> 00:24:07.830 - While we are independent government units, the state does regulate a lot and charges us with our duties. 00:24:07.830 --> 00:24:15.134 - So that's all Title 36. We report to the same state agencies as cities and counties. So State Board 00:24:15.134 --> 00:24:22.437 - of Accounts audits us. We report to the Department of Local Government Finance. You can find all of 00:24:22.437 --> 00:24:29.886 - our information filed in their website. So we, in a lot of ways, operate like other government units. 00:24:30.146 --> 00:24:37.899 - There are over a thousand currently in Indiana currently in a couple years that that will look different 00:24:37.899 --> 00:24:45.653 - We'll talk about that too and in Monroe County. They're currently 11 I mentioned six by six square miles 00:24:45.653 --> 00:24:53.111 - So you'll notice the exception is Benton and that's because that is the result of two Townships that 00:24:53.111 --> 00:24:57.246 - merged some years back The trustees around here I think 00:24:57.730 --> 00:25:05.093 - are a really good group of collaborative leaders. We meet monthly. I actually am currently the president 00:25:05.093 --> 00:25:12.455 - of the Monroe County Trustees Association. So, you know, Republicans, Democrats, we get around the table 00:25:12.455 --> 00:25:19.958 - and we try to not only align our policies where we can, but, you know, be a voice for township government. 00:25:19.958 --> 00:25:25.918 - Bloomington Township specifically, if you live in town anywhere north of 3rd Street, 00:25:26.018 --> 00:25:33.627 - That's us all the way up towards Sample Row, or you'll bet against Washington Township. And then we 00:25:33.627 --> 00:25:41.846 - also have some unincorporated areas to the east, west, and north. The township office has five professional 00:25:41.846 --> 00:25:48.542 - full-time staff. My deputy trustee and the director of operations, Lisa Myers, is here. 00:25:48.930 --> 00:25:55.204 - two case coordinators, a representative payee program administrator, and a front desk slash 00:25:55.204 --> 00:26:02.229 - pantry coordinator. We have an intern through the Cox Scholarship Program finishing out our third year 00:26:02.229 --> 00:26:09.458 - with us, and we now have an embedded long-term case manager that we share with Perry Township, and that's 00:26:09.458 --> 00:26:16.279 - that partnership through Heading Home and the Community Foundation's access of that big Lilly grant 00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:17.438 - fairly recently. 00:26:20.418 --> 00:26:26.927 - And that's our mission in a nutshell, local government office providing relief support and connection 00:26:26.927 --> 00:26:32.862 - to township residents in need. And let's talk a little bit more about what we do real quick. 00:26:33.058 --> 00:26:39.890 - Besides, you know, I'll get to the emergency assistance and food pantry, but we do have some other statutory 00:26:39.890 --> 00:26:46.284 - duties, as mentioned, that are kind of still there from 200 years ago. And one of them is maintaining 00:26:46.284 --> 00:26:52.865 - historic cemeteries that are otherwise uncared for. So some call them abandoned. The states, like, don't 00:26:52.865 --> 00:26:57.566 - use the word abandoned. Maybe that's too spooky. I don't know. But we love 00:26:57.666 --> 00:27:04.981 - taking care of our couple of cemeteries. That is a lot more time consuming than I ever would have realized, 00:27:04.981 --> 00:27:11.889 - because you're dealing with properties that have trees and limbs and fences and mowing needs, besides 00:27:11.889 --> 00:27:18.932 - 200-year-old monuments that need clean, sometimes reset if they're damaged, and so forth. And I'll talk 00:27:18.932 --> 00:27:25.502 - a little bit more about a project we currently have at one of our cemeteries a little bit later. 00:27:26.082 --> 00:27:32.783 - Trustees also respond to weed complaints in unincorporated areas. So if your neighbor's property is 00:27:32.783 --> 00:27:39.753 - out of control and there's noxious or invasive species, you can go through a process with your township 00:27:39.753 --> 00:27:46.722 - trustee to help remediate that. Fence line disputes, knock on wood, I have not had one yet, but I think 00:27:46.722 --> 00:27:53.960 - in the agricultural community, these come up a lot more. When two neighbors share a fence and it's damaged, 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:55.166 - who repairs that? 00:27:55.330 --> 00:28:04.627 - Well, you can call a trustee to mediate if you can't figure it out. We're also a notary public. And 00:28:04.627 --> 00:28:14.111 - we have a pretty busy food pantry that serves about 200 households a month now that's been ticking up 00:28:14.111 --> 00:28:17.086 - ever since the COVID days where 00:28:17.410 --> 00:28:25.666 - I think things kind of got disrupted and people had a lot of other sources for support. But since then, 00:28:25.666 --> 00:28:33.763 - we've only seen it increase the need and the folks who come to us. We've started offering other basic 00:28:33.763 --> 00:28:41.940 - hygiene products, feminine hygiene products, pregnancy tests, naloxone kits and testing strips, things 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:46.782 - like that as part of our offerings there. And that pantry is 00:28:47.202 --> 00:28:53.845 - I say low barrier because there's not a lot of paperwork. You're going to sign in, you're going to fill 00:28:53.845 --> 00:29:00.616 - out your name, a test that you live in Indiana. Actually, it doesn't even have to be Bloomington Township 00:29:00.616 --> 00:29:06.110 - based on some new rules from Hoosier Hills Food Bank where we get most of our supply. 00:29:06.242 --> 00:29:13.012 - And we try to provide choice for folks by having a rotating list. We'll hand it to you when you come 00:29:13.012 --> 00:29:19.783 - in, you check off what you want, and the staff will go back, get it, bring it up to you. So it's not 00:29:19.783 --> 00:29:26.486 - a big space where folks can shop around, but we try to offer options that way. We also now have pet 00:29:26.486 --> 00:29:33.726 - food, thanks to a partnership with the Humane Association. And after they took some damage in that tornado, 00:29:33.954 --> 00:29:40.749 - you know, reached out and since then we've been stocking dog and cat food as well for free. 00:29:40.749 --> 00:29:48.283 - The representative pay program is a fairly newer one and my predecessor Kim Alexander really gets all 00:29:48.283 --> 00:29:55.817 - the credit for this along with the administrator Kay and Lisa's put an incredible amount of time into 00:29:55.817 --> 00:30:01.726 - this. So if you have benefits through the Social Security Administration or the 00:30:01.858 --> 00:30:09.848 - VA, and that's kind of a new one for us, and you've been deemed unable to manage your own finances, 00:30:09.848 --> 00:30:18.398 - they will freeze those benefits unless you get a representative payee. So this felt like a really critical 00:30:18.398 --> 00:30:26.468 - service to get involved in. It's actually in statute that trustees can take over someone's finances, 00:30:26.468 --> 00:30:31.582 - but now it's actually a social security administration program. 00:30:32.034 --> 00:30:39.165 - you know, just to give you an idea of the impact there, because we'll literally get the folks, you know, 00:30:39.165 --> 00:30:46.161 - benefit and then we'll mail out their bills. So housing, utilities, food. And then if there's a little 00:30:46.161 --> 00:30:53.292 - left, they get like a flex card to spend that as they wish. But that assures that people get their bills 00:30:53.292 --> 00:30:55.262 - paid, that they stay housed. 00:30:55.714 --> 00:31:04.625 - We're talking about situations in this case where dementia may be involved, right, or memory loss, a 00:31:04.625 --> 00:31:13.447 - developmental disability, sometimes substance use will lead to the SSA telling someone you're going 00:31:13.447 --> 00:31:22.270 - to need a rep payee. We had someone through Beacon, I believe, reach us who had back pay of $30,000 00:31:23.394 --> 00:31:31.138 - that he couldn't access until we became his repayee. So that's kind of the, that's a powerful moment, 00:31:31.138 --> 00:31:38.730 - right? This person could have been paying for an apartment for five years with that money, but they 00:31:38.730 --> 00:31:46.398 - didn't have someone to draw it down for them. So we did start offering that to all of Monroe County. 00:31:46.722 --> 00:31:52.990 - But if you live in Bloomington Township, there is no fee since our tax dollars support that. Otherwise, 00:31:52.990 --> 00:31:59.259 - we collect a minimum that SSA allows us to collect. And I think Perry Township is looking into starting 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:05.467 - this too. So hopefully in the future that's being done there because there's always a need and there's 00:32:05.467 --> 00:32:07.998 - usually a wait list that we maintain too. 00:32:09.250 --> 00:32:17.150 - But as I mentioned, the biggest thing we probably spend time on is the emergency financial assistance. 00:32:17.150 --> 00:32:24.896 - This is where if you are falling behind for any reason with your rent, your mortgage, utility bills, 00:32:24.896 --> 00:32:33.103 - or you have some other needs that come up like transportation, you need a bus pass for a month, or someone 00:32:33.103 --> 00:32:36.094 - passes away and there are no assets or 00:32:36.514 --> 00:32:44.711 - Next of kin doesn't have assets. We can pay for a basic burial cremation, some limited medical needs 00:32:44.711 --> 00:32:52.908 - as well. And this assistance, we do this by appointments. We try to get folks in as quick as we can. 00:32:52.908 --> 00:33:00.862 - There is some paperwork involved. It's a state application that we don't necessarily have say in. 00:33:01.026 --> 00:33:07.876 - But the process is meant to be fairly quick and responsive. We will turn around a decision within 72 00:33:07.876 --> 00:33:14.793 - hours And we'll try to you know, not just say yes or no, here's your 900 bucks to cover that bill But 00:33:14.793 --> 00:33:20.286 - you know what other resources would be helpful in? stabilizing someone we try to 00:33:20.386 --> 00:33:28.341 - have that discussion over every application that comes in. And I think the staff is really good about 00:33:28.341 --> 00:33:36.297 - knowing the community, knowing what's out there and being able to sort of wrap support around through 00:33:36.297 --> 00:33:44.408 - nonprofit partners and others. So we pay for all of that with, as I mentioned, tax dollars, right? Your 00:33:44.408 --> 00:33:49.790 - tax levy is that big area there if you live in Bloomington Township. 00:33:49.890 --> 00:33:58.289 - And then there's some other little taxes that we get some revenue share from the state through the county. 00:33:58.289 --> 00:34:06.374 - The lit I'm going to focus on for a minute. That's the local income tax that Monroe County shared with 00:34:06.374 --> 00:34:14.224 - not just townships, but other small government units receive a share of that lit tax currently. And 00:34:14.224 --> 00:34:19.326 - as you can see, it's almost a quarter of our budget. And that is 00:34:20.322 --> 00:34:29.699 - important because some of the legislation I'm going to talk about impacts that that lit local income 00:34:29.699 --> 00:34:40.190 - tax certified shares. So I wanted to point that out and let me talk about some recent trends real quick and then 00:34:40.546 --> 00:34:48.783 - switch over to the legislation that's impacting us. I think you're all well aware of the housing crisis, 00:34:48.783 --> 00:34:57.098 - right? Like it's being covered in the paper and elsewhere, not just that costs keep rising, but earnings, 00:34:57.098 --> 00:35:05.099 - there's that growing gap between earnings and the rent that folks are being asked to pay. We also had 00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:08.158 - changes to Medicaid and SNAP thanks to 00:35:08.738 --> 00:35:17.223 - the federal government and that big, beautiful bill, was that last year or the year before, a lot of 00:35:17.223 --> 00:35:25.624 - people lost their benefits and some other things were kind of cut from those programs. And then the 00:35:25.624 --> 00:35:34.362 - TFAP program, that's the federal commodities program, food commodities, has had some changes too. They, 00:35:34.362 --> 00:35:36.126 - on one hand, made it 00:35:36.290 --> 00:35:43.335 - more accessible by telling us you don't have to just serve Bloomington Township residents. You can serve 00:35:43.335 --> 00:35:50.246 - anyone who walks in and says they live in Indiana. So that was new to us, and that's great. But at the 00:35:50.246 --> 00:35:56.955 - same time, their supply has been dwindling, especially of protein and other more expensive food. So 00:35:56.955 --> 00:36:03.665 - we've kind of got that pressure. And I mentioned 200 households a month currently, and that kind of 00:36:03.665 --> 00:36:05.342 - keeps slowly ticking up. 00:36:05.858 --> 00:36:14.655 - And then harmful legislation. I just summed that up there, because there's been several that are impacting 00:36:14.655 --> 00:36:23.205 - townships negatively, as I think most of us see it. SEA 1 or SB 1 is probably one you've heard the most 00:36:23.205 --> 00:36:31.672 - about, I'm guessing, because that is the governor's property tax relief bill that was just signed into 00:36:31.672 --> 00:36:35.454 - law last session, or the session before last. 00:36:35.586 --> 00:36:43.235 - And so if you did just get your property tax bill, you might have seen some new credits. I got, I think, 00:36:43.235 --> 00:36:50.593 - $300, $350 back. And if you're older, if you have a disability or you're a veteran, you get a little 00:36:50.593 --> 00:36:58.096 - more. I think that's all great, but it does come off the backs of a lot of your local government units 00:36:58.096 --> 00:37:01.374 - because it does two things. First of all, it 00:37:01.570 --> 00:37:09.194 - changes some things that have to do with how that calculation is done about our levy. There's no more 00:37:09.194 --> 00:37:16.668 - increases to that, some changes to the tax caps. That's an immediate fiscal loss to our township of 00:37:16.668 --> 00:37:24.292 - about $14,000 a year that we anticipate. But the bigger thing it's doing is it's sunsetting that lit, 00:37:24.292 --> 00:37:28.478 - that local income tax, which you saw is about a quarter 00:37:28.578 --> 00:37:36.513 - of our current revenue. And I think looking at the other townships, it's about a quarter or 30% of all 00:37:36.513 --> 00:37:44.372 - of them. They spread that out proportionally. So all townships in Monroe County will face the loss of 00:37:44.372 --> 00:37:52.153 - that unless our county council chooses to go forward with a full replacement tax. So the state said, 00:37:52.153 --> 00:37:57.854 - hey, we're done with this. We're gonna give money back to property owners 00:37:58.050 --> 00:38:05.503 - County Council gets to be the bad guy if they want to replace it locally, which I think will be really 00:38:05.503 --> 00:38:12.812 - interesting to see what happens in Indiana. I suspect a lot will not replace it, and funds will just 00:38:12.812 --> 00:38:19.614 - be lost, and then some of us may, and I feel like that could lead to some disparities, right? 00:38:19.746 --> 00:38:27.339 - I don't know where that conversation will go. Every unit of government, including the library, the school 00:38:27.339 --> 00:38:34.646 - system, the solid waste district, the fire district, all of us townships, city and county all rely on 00:38:34.646 --> 00:38:41.953 - that local income tax share. So we're all in the same boat of realizing we need to do something about 00:38:41.953 --> 00:38:48.830 - this or cut surfaces, right? And I don't know that our community thinks that's the best answer. 00:38:49.954 --> 00:38:58.767 - HB 1461 also came during that cycle, and that was the road bill, the one that increased the speed limit 00:38:58.767 --> 00:39:07.496 - on 465. I think it gave some authority for toll roads in Indiana. And then at the sort of last minute, 00:39:07.496 --> 00:39:16.140 - they threw something funny in there and said, you know what? Some of these townships have some funds. 00:39:16.140 --> 00:39:18.174 - They should contribute. 00:39:18.402 --> 00:39:26.137 - 30% of any unrestricted funds that townships hold have to go to the city or county's local road fund 00:39:26.137 --> 00:39:33.873 - from here on out, which is kind of weird. We've not been in the road business for 200 years. There's 00:39:33.873 --> 00:39:41.532 - a whole process in there where it would have to be approved by our board first and all these things 00:39:41.532 --> 00:39:47.582 - in there. So we don't know how that's gonna go yet either, but it's certainly, 00:39:48.354 --> 00:39:56.123 - It's shifted how we budget and we're really budgeting out of our rainy day fund because honestly to 00:39:56.123 --> 00:40:03.892 - me, with that 30% that's gonna go to the county and maybe pave a few miles of road, we can do a lot 00:40:03.892 --> 00:40:11.739 - more with that. So I'm gonna put in the budget and use it. That's kind of been one of the strategies 00:40:11.739 --> 00:40:17.566 - of how we deal with this while other things are getting cut. And then the, 00:40:17.698 --> 00:40:26.287 - big bill that was recently signed by the governor in this recent session. There were a couple for township 00:40:26.287 --> 00:40:34.314 - mergers or consolidation up between the House and the Senate. I think the key difference, the House 00:40:34.314 --> 00:40:42.501 - bill would have eliminated some townships and had the county or municipality that was there otherwise 00:40:42.501 --> 00:40:45.150 - pick up their duties. We thought 00:40:45.410 --> 00:40:55.291 - SB 270 was a better choice because instead of eliminating certain townships, they'd consolidate them. 00:40:55.291 --> 00:41:04.978 - And that's what did pass with a lot of work through our state association, a lot of us around here. 00:41:04.978 --> 00:41:09.822 - So SB 270, I think, if I can sum it up, will have 00:41:10.306 --> 00:41:18.333 - township scored based on measures for both effectiveness and efficiency, and there's a point system. 00:41:18.333 --> 00:41:26.916 - So if you get four more points, you have to merge into the receiving township. Now the county commissioners 00:41:26.916 --> 00:41:35.420 - will have to make some determinations on who's the receiving township of those, as well as I think they're 00:41:35.420 --> 00:41:39.870 - being charged with holding the public process for this. 00:41:40.002 --> 00:41:47.993 - when it happens next year. So out of those 11 townships in Monroe County, I can't really tell you who's 00:41:47.993 --> 00:41:55.600 - going to score four or more points right now. Some of those point criterias are publicly available 00:41:55.600 --> 00:42:03.438 - information like have you seen more than 24 applications for assistance in a year? And if not, that's 00:42:03.438 --> 00:42:09.278 - a point against you. Do you have a fire department that you manage? If not, 00:42:09.378 --> 00:42:16.915 - That's a point against you. Do you have a budget that's over 100,000? And if not, point against you. 00:42:16.915 --> 00:42:24.527 - So some of those are publicly available data points, but there's some things that I can't tell unless 00:42:24.527 --> 00:42:32.363 - the trustee from that township would tell me. So we're not sure what the impact will be in Monroe County 00:42:32.363 --> 00:42:37.662 - and whether some smaller townships will need to merge with bigger ones 00:42:38.274 --> 00:42:47.976 - in our county. That I think will transpire by the I think by the end of the year that point system will 00:42:47.976 --> 00:42:57.770 - be identified and shared and then 2027 you can expect to see that conversation and process move forward. 00:42:57.770 --> 00:43:05.886 - So that was a lot and all of these factors I'm talking about whether it's you know the 00:43:05.986 --> 00:43:13.647 - economical ones housing market, along with the pressures on township services and budgets, you know, 00:43:13.647 --> 00:43:21.231 - means that we're facing increased demands with less resources to address them. So how do we do more 00:43:21.231 --> 00:43:28.968 - with less as I believe the governor asked us to do? I don't know exactly, but this is what we've come 00:43:28.968 --> 00:43:33.822 - up with so far. And I think it's just about some commitments to 00:43:33.986 --> 00:43:43.258 - Accessibility to service, to collaboration. We did expand our hours by shifting around some of our schedules 00:43:43.258 --> 00:43:51.084 - and we found that being open until 6 p.m. instead of just 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday is 00:43:51.084 --> 00:44:00.101 - really appreciated by the community. We've collaborated with a number of groups and we're part of Heading 00:44:00.101 --> 00:44:02.398 - Home and all of that work. 00:44:02.530 --> 00:44:09.534 - We work with the city, the county on different programs, a lot of nonprofit partners. We also give out 00:44:09.534 --> 00:44:17.014 - community service grants to nonprofits. We've been doing that for quite a while. The board is very supportive 00:44:17.014 --> 00:44:23.882 - of that process. I think there's about 60 to 80,000 every year that we grant out to agencies that we 00:44:23.882 --> 00:44:30.750 - refer to a lot and that are in our township or serve our township. I put investing and staff in here 00:44:31.234 --> 00:44:40.013 - And that's because this work is really person-intensive. It's case management, light case management 00:44:40.013 --> 00:44:49.052 - in some cases, or meeting people on their worst day when they walk in, having just gotten that eviction 00:44:49.052 --> 00:44:58.526 - letter, or the lights are off, the electric's off, the water's off, and they're panicking, and they walk in. 00:44:58.786 --> 00:45:08.440 - our staff does absorb a lot. So, you know, I think we've been, the deputy trustee, Lisa and I, I think 00:45:08.440 --> 00:45:18.564 - have been really key on just providing staff with resources, with opportunities to participate in different 00:45:18.564 --> 00:45:25.406 - trainings and in different things that help them as professionals and as 00:45:25.570 --> 00:45:32.070 - people who are sort of, you know, on the front lines of some things. And a commitment we made is to 00:45:32.070 --> 00:45:38.636 - continue to offer excellent resources, events, and programming that is low cost to us. A lot of that 00:45:38.636 --> 00:45:45.461 - is through collaborations and partnerships. And I'll give an example of some, like the last couple years 00:45:45.461 --> 00:45:48.126 - we've been playing with just fun events. 00:45:48.450 --> 00:45:54.878 - You know, people, as I mentioned, come to our office on that worst day. We don't want to be the place 00:45:54.878 --> 00:46:01.306 - you only associate with coming to when you are struggling. You know, we want to be a community center 00:46:01.306 --> 00:46:07.671 - of sorts. And so these events have been really fun. People show up, get some cool free stuff that is 00:46:07.671 --> 00:46:14.162 - not available to them anywhere else in the community. We're trying to meet some gaps, as well as build 00:46:14.162 --> 00:46:17.502 - that little bit of a community feel and social feel. 00:46:19.266 --> 00:46:26.800 - And I think I mentioned some of these partnerships. I won't go into detail because I think I'm running 00:46:26.800 --> 00:46:34.114 - low on time. But one I thought was fun to highlight, and I know some of you are involved with these 00:46:34.114 --> 00:46:41.575 - groups, this Thursday, actually, we're doing a weed wrangle at Stout Houston Cemetery as a first step 00:46:41.575 --> 00:46:46.622 - on a project to fix the historic dry stack stone fence that's there. 00:46:46.850 --> 00:46:54.258 - Thank you to, you know, the Monroe County Board of Historic Preservation and MC Iris and the History 00:46:54.258 --> 00:47:01.886 - Center have all come forward in partnership around this. We're gonna have opportunities for some people 00:47:01.886 --> 00:47:09.514 - to get trained in that method of preservation and then try to accomplish some work that would otherwise 00:47:09.514 --> 00:47:11.934 - be really, really expensive. So, 00:47:12.258 --> 00:47:19.164 - I think that's all I had. And I'm sorry, I ran just a little bit long. But if there is time for questions, 00:47:19.164 --> 00:47:25.877 - Michael, let me know. And otherwise, yeah, thanks again. I'm happy to stick around and answer any other 00:47:25.877 --> 00:47:32.913 - questions as well. And hopefully you all have my contact info if you have any follow-up questions, comments, 00:47:32.913 --> 00:47:38.270 - or you just want to swing by and take a quick tour sometime. Thank you. Thank you. 00:47:44.866 --> 00:47:53.120 - Thank you for that presentation. I also wanna thank you for being such a long community partner. We've 00:47:53.120 --> 00:48:01.214 - done a lot of work over the years. You talked about townships merging at some point. Well, if you've 00:48:01.214 --> 00:48:10.110 - got 11 township trustees and you merge them, does all stay or what's gonna happen with that level of staffing? 00:48:10.274 --> 00:48:17.571 - Yeah, thank you for asking that. The state's process that's being outlined, no, they wouldn't get to 00:48:17.571 --> 00:48:24.795 - all state. But the process does involve a shared board that's a little expanded during a transition 00:48:24.795 --> 00:48:32.453 - and a first term. And then it goes back to, I think, the three-person board in that subsequent elections. 00:48:32.453 --> 00:48:39.678 - They don't really spell out. I mean, the receiving township, so the bigger one or the stronger one, 00:48:40.546 --> 00:48:48.346 - I'm, the trustee there would stay. Yeah, yeah. So I think, you know, my hope would be that in such a 00:48:48.346 --> 00:48:56.069 - scenario, not only could you maybe talk to the person who's losing their job, maybe there's still a 00:48:56.069 --> 00:49:03.946 - need for a part-time staffer, maybe there's a model with an annex where we could keep, you know, that 00:49:03.946 --> 00:49:08.734 - old facility or asset or use the fire department to go onsite 00:49:09.122 --> 00:49:16.003 - in those rural communities if they do lose their trustee. And I think some of us are talking about that 00:49:16.003 --> 00:49:23.016 - and hopeful we can be real creative and set a great example for the state on how to do this. Yeah. Thanks 00:49:23.016 --> 00:49:29.765 - for asking. Yeah, thanks. I've worked in other states as a pastor and I was often the person that had 00:49:29.765 --> 00:49:36.580 - to decide what people got aid. When I came to Indiana, it really troubled me that the township trustee 00:49:36.580 --> 00:49:37.374 - is elected. 00:49:37.538 --> 00:49:45.728 - in a county where I don't live anymore. I thought to myself, who is the township trustee going to help 00:49:45.728 --> 00:49:53.679 - the person that has a lot of voters or the refugee family from Guatemala that stuck up in a holler? 00:49:53.679 --> 00:50:01.630 - So I know there are all kinds of proposals about township trustees. But what do you say about that? 00:50:02.626 --> 00:50:08.389 - Well, I'd say a couple of things. And I appreciate what you're saying. I think, unfortunately, when 00:50:08.389 --> 00:50:14.210 - you have 1,000 townships, and in Indiana, so many of them are rural, in a lot of those smaller ones, 00:50:14.210 --> 00:50:20.030 - what ends up happening is it may be someone's second or third job, right? Because it's not enough of 00:50:20.030 --> 00:50:25.851 - a salary or workload to support them full time. So then you've got a situation where maybe someone's 00:50:25.851 --> 00:50:31.614 - trying to keep office hours once or twice a week. Maybe it's run out of their home in a rural area. 00:50:31.842 --> 00:50:39.410 - And so you get into some issues of accessibility. But I've also seen rural townships that are strong, 00:50:39.410 --> 00:50:47.125 - that are responsive to their constituents, that are centers of their community. So I think just because 00:50:47.125 --> 00:50:54.545 - you're small and rural doesn't mean you can't be creative and responsive. And it's really up to the 00:50:54.545 --> 00:50:57.438 - voters to hold them to account, right? 00:50:57.602 --> 00:51:04.399 - Unfortunately, through some of those stories percolating up to the State House, I think that's why we 00:51:04.399 --> 00:51:11.196 - end up getting targeted every so often, because again, when you have a thousand of us and they're all 00:51:11.196 --> 00:51:17.926 - different, there's going to be some ones that are maybe not doing the best that they could for their 00:51:17.926 --> 00:51:24.190 - community. But then, you know, I think a majority of us are really working hard. I pulled the 00:51:24.290 --> 00:51:32.520 - I mean, I have the impact numbers from all of our townships in Monroe County. And I mean, between us 00:51:32.520 --> 00:51:40.668 - all, the 11, we helped over 5,600 people last year alone with over $1.3 million in direct financial 00:51:40.668 --> 00:51:46.046 - assistance. So that's direct monies that go to either a landlord, 00:51:46.274 --> 00:51:53.886 - to recoup for someone who's not paid rent or the utility companies to keep people's utilities running 00:51:53.886 --> 00:52:01.498 - or food assistance, burial assistance, all that. So it's a pretty significant part of our safety net. 00:52:01.498 --> 00:52:09.707 - And I guess my only answer is we just have to keep working to make it better and to pick up the opportunities 00:52:09.707 --> 00:52:14.782 - that the state's affording here through some of that consolidation. 00:52:16.258 --> 00:52:28.427 - Do we have any questions online? None at this time. I haven't mentioned fire service, but I know that's 00:52:28.427 --> 00:52:40.245 - a township responsibility. And I know in Blooming or in Roe County, we've had a lot of consolidation 00:52:40.245 --> 00:52:44.574 - there. How does that look now? Yeah. 00:52:44.802 --> 00:52:53.115 - Bloomington Township did have a fire department until what year was that before I got here? 2021. And 00:52:53.115 --> 00:53:01.592 - then it merged with the newly forming district. So I believe most of the townships are now part of that 00:53:01.592 --> 00:53:09.742 - district with the others exploring that to one degree or another. I don't know, my personal opinion 00:53:09.742 --> 00:53:12.350 - is it makes sense to me because 00:53:12.674 --> 00:53:19.902 - running fire protection and running what feels like a social services office are very different skill 00:53:19.902 --> 00:53:27.625 - sets and areas of expertise. And I might not have run for this if I knew I had to oversee a fire department. 00:53:27.625 --> 00:53:34.711 - That's a big deviation from my area of comfort. So I think in that sense with fire protection, it's 00:53:34.711 --> 00:53:36.766 - been a good move to have one 00:53:36.866 --> 00:53:45.837 - big professional entity. And I think the rural townships are experiencing the benefit of that, but I 00:53:45.837 --> 00:53:55.075 - won't speak for them. But that's where things stand right now. Now that fire district is under the same 00:53:55.075 --> 00:54:03.868 - pressure as us with the impacts of SB1. So I'm sure you'll hear from them at some point too. Yeah. 00:54:03.868 --> 00:54:05.822 - Thank you. Thank you. 00:54:05.922 --> 00:54:13.586 - Thank you so much. I really, really appreciate all you do, all you do for our community. Rotary is there 00:54:13.586 --> 00:54:20.958 - everywhere I look, doing good things. So keep it up and thanks for having me. Thank you for the work 00:54:20.958 --> 00:54:28.768 - that you and your staff do and also for a very interesting presentation. In honor of your talk, a donation 00:54:28.768 --> 00:54:32.126 - will be made this quarter to Wheeler Mission. 00:54:33.378 --> 00:54:40.277 - I'd like to thank today's volunteers, Winston Schindel, Steve Engel, Michael Shermas, and a couple of 00:54:40.277 --> 00:54:47.041 - roles, Laurie Garrity, Randy Saunders, who couldn't be here, but he's here in spirit, Marilyn Wood, 00:54:47.041 --> 00:54:53.940 - Alann Barker. I also want to thank the nominating committee, Alann Barker, Sally Gaskell, Ron Barnes, 00:54:53.940 --> 00:55:00.703 - for their really quick turnaround with our presidential situation. Next meeting will be here in the 00:55:00.703 --> 00:55:02.462 - Georgian Room on May 5th. 00:55:03.074 --> 00:55:11.375 - Jen Staub and Misha McClaim with the Regional Opportunity Initiatives will tell us about a region on 00:55:11.375 --> 00:55:20.004 - the rise ROIs education and workforce strategy. So please join us. Tyler, if you would share the graphic 00:55:20.004 --> 00:55:28.223 - for the four-way test and please stand if you're able. Of the things we think, say or do, first, is 00:55:28.223 --> 00:55:32.414 - it the truth? Second, is it fair to all concerned? 00:55:32.834 --> 00:55:39.727 - Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned? 00:55:39.727 --> 00:55:41.214 - And fifth, is it fun?