>> All right. We're going to go ahead and get this meeting started. Today is Tuesday,
 March 25th, 2025. We're coming to you from the NatU Hill meeting room and Teams Connection.
 I will note for the record that we have Councilmember Wilz, Councilmember Henry, Councilmember Pfeidl,
 Councilmember Decker, and Councilmember Iverson in the room. I want to express our sincere
 well-wishes to Councilmember Crossley, who is at home with sickness. So, yes?
 >> It appears that Councilor Hock is virtual. >> Okay. Welcome, Councilmember Hock, online.
 And again, I just want to make sure that your video is working for voting purposes. Let's
 start today with a Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
 States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
 with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Council. Today's agenda can
 be found on the events calendar, and I'll ask Council if you have any changes to today's
 agenda or updates. Councilmember Wilz? >> I was wondering if perhaps we could pull
 item B from the consent agenda out to be its own item just so that we could discuss it.
 If we can discuss it anyway and it doesn't make any difference, then I'm fine with that.
 I just, you know, I'm interested in hearing a little bit more either from the liaison
 or if the surveyors here. It just, it seemed more interesting than a consent agenda item
 to me. >> Sure. Okay.
 >> Remind me which one you're talking about. >> B, it's from the surveyors office, so it's
 6B. >> Because there's several Bs here.
 >> 6B. >> 6B. Now I know which one it is.
 >> Councilmember Wilz, are you comfortable when we get to the consent agenda items and
 we open it up for the conversation that we discussed it?
 >> That's perfect. >> Excellent.
 >> Thank you. >> Are there any other changes to today's
 agenda? Seeing none, we will go ahead and adopt that with, we need to do a roll call
 vote, right? >> There's no changes to the agenda.
 >> We can adopt it as is. >> You can just voice vote the adoption of
 the agenda. >> All those in favor, please say aye.
 >> Aye. >> All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously.
 >> All right. Let's move on to public comments. If you would like to make public comments
 for an item not on the agenda, please come up to the podium or raise your hand on Teams
 and we will recognize you for your public comment. And as always, there will be a brief time
 limit on your comments, and we'll go ahead and start here in the NatU Hill Room. Welcome.
 >> All right. Good afternoon, evening. My name is Jen Pearl. I'm president of the Bloomington
 Economic Development Corporation. We're a nonprofit that serves all of Monroe County
 in attracting and growing quality jobs and wages for the community. I am here because
 we are trying to spread the word about the many opportunities that are available in Monroe
 County right now. We recently did a snapshot among a number of our largest employers, and
 there are literally hundreds of jobs that are open in Monroe County. We know that graduation
 season is coming up on us, and others might be in job transitions, so we wanted everyone
 to be aware of what's out there. Folks can find the article that we published in the
 Herald Times. It's also available through the LinkedIn page for the Bloomington Economic
 Development Corporation. And just briefly, our driving industries that have opportunities
 include healthcare and life sciences, education are really leading the way on job openings.
 We also have opportunities in advanced manufacturing, tech, and there are always opportunities in
 small business growth as well as defense. The article that we have talks about ways
 that you can find these listings and find the employers that are in our community. And
 we would also ask that folks visit our LinkedIn page, find that article, and share it with
 others as well, because we want to make sure that we're really retaining and promoting
 great talent for our community. Also, this is a special thank you to the County Council
 because many of the employers that are listed in here are employers that you've supported
 in recent years as they've worked to expand, such as Syntra, such as Phoenix, and others
 across the community. Everyone in the room, you all have copies of this in front of you,
 but I can also share the links for you to share as well. So thank you and tell your
 friends to come work in Monroe County. Thank you, Ms. Pearl. Thank you, Jen. Are there
 any other public comments? Again, looking to the podium here in that you Hill or people
 raising their hands on teams? Seeing none, let's move on to department updates. Are there
 department heads here in the net you Hill room or online that wish to offer a department
 update? Seeing none, we will move on with our agenda for item number six. This is where
 I go, right? That is correct. Perfect. This is my first time at this. Bear with me. Council,
 I move to approve the following consent agenda items for March 25th at the February 25th
 meeting summary minutes, the February 27th joint meeting of the Monroe County Board of
 Commissioners and County Council and the March 11th executive session of the County Council
 and the surveyors request in the fund 1202-0000 surveyors corner perpetuation fund to create
 account line 38002 ATLP higher ed and longevity. Second. All right. We have a motion and a
 second. Thank you so much for reading that. Councilmember pilot do a great job. Does council
 have any comments or questions? Yes. I would just like to know a little bit more about
 the item B and the program that that he the surveyor is utilizing and I don't know if
 the surveyors even here since this was put on consent agenda. Oh, yeah. John, are you
 there? All right, Mr. and right Randolph, we see your hand raised. Mr. President, is
 that taking this point of order? Are we taking a motion to divide the question out of consent
 agenda and then move it to discuss it? Or how would you like to proceed? At this point,
 I think I'm comfortable with having a conversation about this this agenda item. And if we need
 to take more concerted action, then I'll entertain a motion to separate it. Yes. Is there a way
 you could please promote? I might be live. There you are. Yeah. And my Internet said
 I had poor connectivity. So the reason to create this line is to kind of track the dollars
 going into it that will be coming from the corner perpetuation line. We had a training
 line in the corner perpetuation budget. But I think this is kind of a little outside of
 it. So this will be a good tool to kind of track that. I actually intended to come and
 give a presentation about the program itself. And I could kind of go into that. I actually
 even put a presentation together. Since I am not at the office, I don't have access
 to that document, that PowerPoint. But I would be more than happy to come back and give you
 kind of a not just a presentation on the program, but also how that relates to our perpetuation
 efforts. And, you know, I could kind of keep it tight around, you know, five to six minutes.
 But I think it's a great way to show you what we're up to. And I'd be more than happy to
 do this. This was just kind of something that was recommended to do to kind of set some
 best practices. And, you know, unfortunately, I just kind of was trying to move this along
 since we have the program in place, but I'm more than happy to come back and give you
 a full presentation. If you want to approve it today or hold off, I'd leave that to your
 discretion. But in a nutshell, it's investing in our employees for further education, and
 it's a great opportunity. Marion County had established the program originally, and so
 I'm kind of following off of their template, and it allows our survey technician to get
 further education that eventually could go into getting their license, which really helps
 our office with, you know, kind of streamlining our workflow, maximizing our time. Regardless,
 if we had to do the research or not, we would have to take that time. So all that time spent
 doing that research actually can be an incentive to our employees. So I think it just has a
 great outcome. All right, thank you so much. Councilmember Wilts.
 Thank you for that explanation. I think it's great from, you know, by all accounts, looking
 at the description, I'm totally in support of anything that can help the folks who work
 for the county pursue their education. It looks like it's an associate's degree in surveying
 technology and the help program supports this. Where is that housed? What is it? Where's
 the degree coming from? Well, there's an outline. Let me grab my folder. I'm not completely
 unprepared. I just don't have access to the end drive with the PowerPoint. So there's
 a reimbursement agreement. So basically, after they complete everything, they agree to stay
 with the county for two years. And then there's a sliding scale of that reimbursement program.
 So basically, after the completion of their last class, they stay with the county for
 two years. If they don't complete it, then they have to go through the reimbursement.
 That was put together by me and legal Mr. Schilling. And then there's an outline of
 the program itself. And this is focused on Vinson's University. It's a hybrid virtual
 program. And since the survey technician already has a degree, a lot of it was able to transfer
 over. In the state of Indiana, there's a big need for professional surveyors. So another
 couple benefits is that they're going to learn the profession. And if there's the opportunity
 for them to practice, they're going to really know how the surveying was conducted in Monroe
 County and how that relates to our perpetuation efforts. They're not completely different
 from county to county, but there is somewhat of a way to identify when they're working
 in that local area, which would be a multi-county jurisdiction, if you will. They practice surveying
 a bit different in other areas. Okay. Thank you. All right. We have a motion
 and a second. Are there any other council comments or questions on today's consent agenda
 items? Seeing none, we'll go to the public. If you have any questions or comments on the
 consent agenda items, raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, we'll
 take a roll call vote because we have a member on zoom or teams.
 Councillor Wilz. Yes. Councillor Decker. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes. Councillor Hawke.
 You're muted. I'm going to go ahead with Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor Feidl. Yes. And we'll
 go back to Councillor Hawke. Yes. My answer is no. It sounded me like we're putting in
 place an additional person there in the surveyor's office and and I'm just going to try my best
 not to agree to any additional appropriations. Can we clarify that before we. Councillor Hawke,
 this is not the addition. I know it isn't it but is it not approving the person placed
 within the budget? No. But we have a record of the vote. It's fine. Just put me down as
 a no and move forward. Thank you. All right. Motion passes by majority five to one. Excellent.
 All right. We will move on to agenda item number seven. And I don't think Ms. Feidl has anything
 to read here. So I'm going to recognize members of the Monroe County Civil Air Patrol, particularly
 Second Lieutenant Brad Thompson to introduce the group. And I think we've got some materials
 here on our desk. It looks like we've got a slide deck ready to go for our enjoyment.
 So Second Lieutenant Brad Thompson, the next 15 minutes are all yours. Thank you. I'm just
 going to turn it over to our cadets. Thank you, sir.
 Good evening, counsel. My name is Cadet Captain Mara Keeta Thompson. I am the deputy commander.
 Excuse me. Can you pull your mic a little bit closer? Yeah. Thank you.
 I am Cadet Captain Mara Keeta Thompson. I am the deputy commander of operations. And
 I'm here with Cadet Second Lieutenant Lydia Parker. I am the cadet commander.
 I am Cadet Senior Master Sergeant Zachariah Schmidt. I am the cadet first sergeant.
 And here today we are with our squadron, the Monroe County Composite Squadron. And we are
 a composite squadron. So we are made of both senior members and cadet members. And cadet
 members are students anywhere from 12 years old to 21 years old. If you join before you
 are 18, you can stay at cadet until you are 21. But if you join after 18, you have to
 join as a senior member. With that being said, we have 30 cadets and 30 senior members in
 our squadron. Who we are, Civil Air Patrol is two organizations in one. We are a congressionally
 chartered non-profit all of the time and an auxiliary of the Air Force some of the time.
 As a part of the total force of the Air Force, Civil Air Patrol can be activated for missions
 that meet the operations' call abilities. The total force consists of the Air Force,
 the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, and the Civil Air Patrol. Auxiliary missions
 of the defense support for civil authorities typically include search and rescue, joint
 readiness training, preservation of life and property, and humanitarian relief. Going into
 our history, Civil Air Patrol was established in December 1st, 1941 after the United States
 was thrust into World War II. Civil Air Patrol was a part of the civilian effort and an all-volunteer
 force using privately-owned aircraft in a variety of roles that include patrolling the
 Atlantic coast from Maine to Mexico to monitoring and harassing German U-boats and shipping
 lanes, searching for survivors of ships that succumb to torpedo attacks or weather, and
 training pilots for the military. Franklin Roosevelt, Franklin, President Franklin Roosevelt
 transferred Civil Air Patrol from the Office of Civilian Defense to the Department of War,
 which later became the Department of Defense. In 1943, Truman established Civil Air Patrol
 as the Air Force Civilian Auxiliary on May 26th, 1948. On August 28th, 2015, General
 Mark A. Welsh III Civil Air Force Chief of Staff officially announced Civil Air Patrol
 as a member of the U.S. Air Force Total Force, joining the Regular Guard and Reserve Force
 as American Airmen. And as you can see, we are actually older than the Air Force itself.
 I've got my papers mixed up here. Civil Air Patrol is the nation's premier volunteer-driven
 aviation-based nonprofit, which can be summed up in our mission statement, which is Volunteers
 Serving America's Communities, Saving Lives and Shaping Futures. We have around 70,000
 volunteers that are all volunteers, with 36,000 being adults and 32,000 being youth cadets.
 Aviation-based, we operate the world's largest American fleet of 555 single-engine aircraft,
 operating more than 2,200 drones and operating high-tech aerial imaging capabilities used
 for damage assessment. And we are tasked with three missions from the Air Force, which are
 Aerospace Education, Youth Program, and Emergency Services, which these two will go into more.
 So our first mission, which is Aerospace Education, we provide aerospace education to both cadets
 and the community. We can provide classrooms with support and free STEM kits to teachers
 and other educators. And of course, aligning to national academic standards, AE offers
 more than 40 educational products consisting of hundreds of lesson plans that span through
 pre-K through grade 12. AE also offers 21 different STEM kits for ages 4 and up, textbooks,
 and activity books for the youngest learners. We also have with Civil Air Patrol Aerospace
 Education members or AEMs. AEMs can be teachers, homeschoolers, scout leaders, anyone that
 teaches STEM. They can join for $35 a year flat rate. AEMs can get free STEM kits for
 use in their classrooms as well as free TOP or teacher orientation flight program flights,
 a ride in a Civil Air Patrol aircraft in which they can take control of the aircraft and
 fly it themselves. So if you know an educator, let them know about our program. Pictured
 on the slide is a science teacher and robotics leader at Bloomington High School North who
 had just completed her teacher orientation flight last year. With Aerospace Education,
 our cadets learn about weather, physics, mechanics, aerodynamics, other STEM items related to
 aviation including building model rockets, getting to fly drones and fly aircraft on
 orientation flights, which as part of Aerospace Education, cadets receive five powered orientation
 flights in a Civil Air Patrol aircraft, getting to have their hands on the controls flying
 the airplane themselves. Turn it over to Lieutenant Parker.
 Our second mission is the cadet program. There are many ways youth can choose to spend their
 free time such as sports, band, scouts, video games, etc. CAP is unlike any other service
 organization out there. CAP is based on a military type organization so we achieve rank
 by taking specific tests such as physical training tests, knowledge tests and aerospace
 tests and also participating actively in our program. The aviation component in the cadet
 program, every cadet gets up to five orientation rides before they turn 18. CAP can help with
 college and military academy placement. About 10% of military academy cadets are CAP cadets.
 It also allows cadets to enter the military with a higher rank but we are not a recruiter.
 Cadets have no obligation to join any branch of military. We provide an opportunity to
 serve alongside family for a shared experience and can help bring families together. Cadets
 can also participate in emergency services and be involved with search and rescue, ground
 teams, communications and air crews. Other things that cadets can take advantage of are
 our summer camps. This is the first summer camp that cadets must attend to be eligible
 to go to. I don't want to say more impressive but sometimes are more fun camps. It is kind
 of like basic training for kids but it's also a lot of fun. It is called encampment. This
 was at Camp Atterbury. It has since moved but the one pictured here was at Camp Atterbury
 where cadets built and launched model rockets, went flying and rappelling, learned drill
 and participated in physical training. Also available to cadets are unique special activities
 called NCSAs or National Cadet Special Activities such as mountain rescue in Colorado, honor
 guard, flight training all over the states, civil leadership academy and computer networking,
 cyber security taught by the Air Force and others. Pictured on this slide is us, so next
 slide. So pictured here is us helping with Rees Across America because a big part of
 Civil Air Patrol is the volunteer service. Every year we help place Rees and post the
 colors. And next slide. This is us helping at the 279 Food Pantry a couple years ago
 near Thanksgiving. And then the next one is us helping Kiwanis Club with the Balloon Fest.
 We helped launch and recover the balloons and helped with parking and other jobs. And
 then this is me receiving my Mitchell Award from the mayor. The Mitchell Award is the
 second milestone in the program. It is also the biggest milestone. It is the pivot point
 from NCO to officer and not only do we get to have all the opportunities to come to officers,
 we also if we want to enter the Air Force we would join as an E3 which is a higher pay
 and higher rank. Also available to us are aerospace education scholarships.
 With the picture on the right that you've seen previously, I was on our nation's capital
 about ready to talk to our two senators about our budget request and just kind of letting
 them know what Civil Air Patrol is getting our name out there and being able to meet
 with our federal government. Later on that week I was actually able to speak with my
 congresswoman and have a meeting with her giving her our budget request for the year and that
 was just an amazing opportunity. I actually was able to go up there for free being able
 to tour the capital, different monuments and things like that and just being able to see
 how the government worked. It was absolutely amazing, such an amazing program. Our final
 and third program of Civil Air Patrol Emergency Services, it's arguably the most important
 program of Civil Air Patrol. Civil Air Patrol is who performs 90% of search and rescue missions
 in the U.S. Many searches are conducted using proprietary cell phone forensics and radar
 analysis. Advanced search capabilities make CAP an invaluable resource to facilitate searches
 for downed aircraft, missing persons, stranded motorists, injured hikers, drift boaters and
 much more. Before cell phone forensics and radar analysis searches took hours, days,
 even weeks to complete and today in a matter of minutes Civil Air Patrol can help reduce
 probable search area with our cell phone location software so rescues and resources are much
 quicker even after dark and in bad weather, thereby dramatically increasing survival rate.
 Our E.S. teams also respond to a variety of requests from local and state and even federal
 agencies post disasters like floods, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Support
 may include search and rescue, point of distribution, aerial imaging for rapid damage assessment,
 personal and supply transport, communications networking and much more. We even have our
 own communications network funded and operated by the Air Force by their equipment and frequencies.
 It is secure so we are able to communicate locally or nationally securely. And Civil
 Air Patrol was the only non-military aircraft that were allowed to fly after the attacks
 on September 11th. Civil Air Patrol is who took most of the pictures of the Twin Towers
 disaster site for federal agencies such as DHS or FEMA that were doing damage assessment.
 Last year this aircraft was retired and is now on display at the National Museum of the
 United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. As a total force partner of the Air Force the
 Auxiliary plays an integral role in joint readiness training for the military. You can
 read more about these missions in the packet that you have.
 One interesting program is RPP, the Rated Preparatory Program. It's a joint training
 initiative that relies on Civil Air Patrol aircraft and personnel with flight instructors
 to help Air Force Airmen on their journey to become rated aircrew. The Air Force funded
 program provides training for active duty non-flying Air Force personnel with skills
 to improve their Airman's pilot candidate selection method score. The RPP candidates
 receive more than 40 hours of training with support, discussion, simulator time, and air
 and ground training. There are two locations of this training, one in Texas and one just
 over in Columbus, Indiana. Some of the senior members from our squadron here in Monroe County
 as well as the entirety of Indiana wing help with this program.
 CAP is heavily involved in most national disasters such as the California wildfires, the fires
 in Hawaii, hurricanes in Florida, flooding across Kentucky and the Carolinas. On the
 next slide we have pictured cadets after participating and during participation in the Red Cross
 exercise
 Operation Safe Harbor in October of 2023. Cadets learned how to use a survey app on
 their phone to do damage assessment for emergency management agencies and coordinating resources.
 Most recently in last July our squadron here was called to help set up a point of distribution
 for water after the heavy storms on June 30th. Local emergency management agencies like the
 Monroe County Emergency Management can call the Indiana Department of Homeland Security
 and request our help. This help can be volunteers, search and rescue teams, point of distribution
 support, damage assessment, airborne photography and emergency communications. The Air Force
 purchases and maintains equipment such as the Cessna 182, one of which we have at the
 Monroe County Airport. The Air Force trains and coordinates Civil Air Patrol to be a service
 to you and other communities. We are an all-volunteer organization. The assets of CAP are all free
 to call upon except for our aircraft, but aircraft time is only about $160 an hour as
 compared to a National Guard helicopter, which can be upwards of $4,000 per hour. So as you
 can see, we are quite a bargain. This aircraft and air crews can be useful in events like
 Like the storms last June, tornadoes in Steinsville a few years ago, and much other situations.
 And lastly we'll talk about the impact by the numbers nationally.
 Every year is different, but on average we save over 100 lives.
 There are 555 plus aircraft, 1000 plus vehicles, 1400 plus locations, 100,000 plus hours flown,
 500,000 plus students impacted, and 200 million dollars value of time volunteered.
 We have a three to one return of investment for every dollar spent in the service of others.
 We can also assist in other events, not just emergencies.
 During the eclipse last year we had all of our aircraft in the air and updated traffic
 information to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security to support the Indiana State Police,
 the Indiana Wing, 34 squadrons around the state with 470 adult volunteers, 904 cadets
 ages 12 to 21, 62 air crews, and 777 emergency responders.
 The assets that could be put into use are 8 aircraft and 18 vehicles consisting of cars,
 trucks, and multi-passenger vans.
 60 communication systems that include 16 VHF/FM repeaters, 221 VHF/FM stations, and 31 FM stations.
 This is part of a nationwide communication system.
 Conclusion.
 This is a great program for young people to learn leadership, character development, learn
 new skills, work on STEM activities, and participate in physical training.
 This organization is also a great opportunity for adults to volunteer in their community
 and use their skills or learn new ones.
 Adults can be active with the cadets or participate in the ground or air crew's emergency services
 and communications.
 We believe that the Civil Air Patrol is one of the best-kept secrets of a local community.
 We can support educators, emergency management agencies, and support young people's growth.
 We meet every Thursday evening from 645 to 915 p.m. at the Trinity Reform Church on End
 Right Road.
 You are all welcome to drop by and learn about us.
 For more information, please go to our website, gocivilairpatrol.com, and we thank you for
 your time.
 Does anyone have any questions?
 Thank you so much, Commander Thompson, Sergeant Schmidt, and Lieutenant Parker.
 What a great presentation.
 I'll now turn to Councilor here on my right for any questions or comments.
 Thank you, Mr. President.
 Thank you for your presentation tonight.
 I do have one question for you each.
 What's been your most memorable mission or experience that you've had in the Civil Air
 Patrol?
 And that's for all of you.
 Wow.
 Yeah.
 So for me personally, I think it was probably encampment.
 This past year, I got to staff encampment, which means I was the one getting to yell
 at all the basics and get them learning.
 So that was a lot of fun.
 It also was kind of a kick in the pants to get me going in the right direction.
 So I believe encampment has probably been my favorite.
 For me, it was what I spoke about previously where I got to go on the nation's capital
 and speak to my congresswoman, and that really influenced me in what I want to do, because
 I do want to go into political science or law and work on the capital.
 And I actually got to—I forgot what they're called.
 When I was speaking to two of the congresspeople, they offered me an internship—that's what
 it's called.
 Yeah.
 They offered me an internship there for when I'm old enough, because I'm only a junior
 in high school, and if they are still in their term, I'm able to go back and take them up
 on that internship.
 I'm going to have to agree with Lieutenant Parker.
 My favorite experiences also have to have been in encampment.
 I've been to two as well, once as a basic student and once as an advanced student.
 And next week, I will actually be—next two weekends, first two in April, I will be staffing
 and encampment up in Illinois Wing.
 So get at a third one.
 Thank you for that.
 I will just comment that you leave me hopeful.
 It's another example—Civil Air Patrol—another example of how federal resources come the
 whole way down from Washington to our community and how essential they are for everything
 that you've described in your presentation.
 I'm also hopeful, apparently from the internship offer, that our two senators remember their
 Navy and Marine Corps oaths, as you have for what you've already done in service to our
 country and community.
 So thank you for that.
 Councilmember Hawke.
 Yes, Justin, I'm so sorry to you folks that I'm not there to meet with you this evening.
 I bet my very best friend is watching tonight.
 Helen is somebody that I graduated from high school with and been lifelong friends, and
 this is her family there that's involved, the Thompsons.
 So I know how proud she is of them, and I'm excited for them too.
 And they are really, that whole group is doing so much more than most anybody here would
 know about if they hadn't come to talk with us about it.
 It sounds like an exciting opportunity for so many people.
 Thank you, ma'am.
 Mr. Deckard.
 Thank you so much for spending some time with us this evening and for telling us this important
 information.
 In a community like this, we can sometimes take for granted the riches and the good things
 that we have.
 And I think you have reminded us, not only here on this council, but you've reminded
 the public of the wondrous things that you all do and the impact that you're having in
 so many different ways.
 I love that you have spent some time on Capitol Hill as well.
 I love that you're going to go back to Capitol Hill.
 Maybe one of these days, I'll get a chance to vote for you and send you to Capitol Hill.
 But it's remarkable to think of these things and the experience and the leadership you're
 getting is robust.
 One thing that I love about our folks that are in the service and are serving as you
 are is whenever we see you, we get to see all the badges that you have.
 All throughout these presentations, I go down and I look at that and it tells me that you
 don't get that just walking into a convenience store and saying, "I'd like that one.
 That one's cool."
 You got that from a lot of work that you've done for this community and for others.
 I love that that walks around with you in this role.
 I know that for folks like myself and others, that is a reassuring moment in a flood, in
 a tough time, at a food pantry.
 And I love that that message comes to us tonight, goes out on cats.
 This will be recorded that hopefully more people see this and hear that message.
 And what a blessing that is for all of us.
 So thank you so much for taking time to educate us on a night when you could have been doing
 other things, but yet again, here you are serving.
 So thank you.
 Thank you, Mr. Decker.
 Councilmember Wilts.
 I would just like to say thanks for thinking of us.
 Thanks for coming out to our meeting.
 I've learned a lot.
 I read in the packet and so and I was like, oh, yeah, okay, that's very cool.
 But hearing you all speak about it is extra special.
 And I learned even more from that.
 I'm curious how each of you got involved.
 So how did you find out about the program at first?
 Yes, ma'am.
 So funny enough, it all started when I was watching a TV show with my family and one
 of the characters got into the Air Force Academy and I decided that I wanted to do that.
 So I did a lot of research and I found Civil Air Patrol through the Air Force Academy website
 and I did even more research into that and decided, you know what, this is something
 I want to look into.
 So I told my parents and funny enough, they'd already heard about it.
 So they were like, yeah, we know.
 And then I have been here ever since.
 I was at an air show here in the state, I don't exactly remember where, but they had
 a booth set up and a whole mascot.
 They had one of our Cessna 182s out there and I was able to tour the plane, look at
 all the different things and one of the cadets, I think she might have been 15 or 16, told
 me that she had flown that before and that was really special to me and I found out that
 there was a squadron in my town.
 So I went and visited it and I've been in here for five years now.
 Yeah, for me, I really just was so interested in the Air Force and really wanted to get
 into the Air Force Academy and just wanted to do something for it and obviously because
 I was 14 at the time, I couldn't.
 And then I did a lot of searching around on the Air Force's website and I saw auxiliary
 there and I'd never heard of it, so I looked into it and saw this looks really interesting,
 I saw some of the things that cadets get to do, saw that there was a squadron here in
 Bloomington and I was really scared to join the first day, but been in almost two years
 and I love it every day.
 Okay, I think I'm on.
 So I think that I am impressed that you're here and willing to come and talk to us like
 the others have said and all that you've done, but I'm interested to know when you have,
 is it your weekly meetings, right, like about how many come and then also how do you go around
 and sort of promote who you are in the area for young folks to find out about this, right?
 Where do you put your, do you maybe even make a recording and leave it on cats where people
 can find out about it?
 I don't know what you do, I'd like to know how you promote yourselves.
 So in our system we have 35 cats, I believe, and active around 20.
 Every meeting we get that showing, putting our name out there, I'm not entirely sure
 my dad is actually the recruiter for us.
 But I know in my school, because I do go to Bloomington North, we have posters around,
 we also go to air shows and we have booths try to promote that, send out flyers or whenever
 we're volunteering anywhere, we try to talk to people, get our name out there and we also
 have a booth at the fair whenever that takes place.
 Very nice.
 Thank you.
 Thank you, ma'am.
 Let me turn my mic on.
 Let me conclude with this number $5,406,970.
 That is the value of your volunteer hours in the Indiana Wing.
 That is phenomenal.
 That is such a great investment in what you're doing.
 Of course, I think Councilmember Decker and I have been fortunate enough to come out and
 visit you out at the airport and we're just so thankful for all you do.
 Your presentation was phenomenal.
 Thank you for that.
 Also, for those watching, that presentation starts on page 26 of today's packet.
 If you heard something you liked and want to reference that again, go ahead and head
 over to today's agenda and you can see it on page 26.
 Thank you for your time and again, you're welcome here anytime.
 So have a good night and thank you very much.
 Thank you, Council.
 All right.
 Let's move on to item number eight.
 I think that's me again.
 I think it is.
 Okay.
 Items A and B are combined.
 Council, I move to the Emergency Management Department's request and fund 8188-9624 EMPG
 salary fund to create account lines, approve additional appropriations of $55,000 in the
 personnel category and simultaneously amend the 2025 salary ordinance to add account lines
 13701, Deputy Director, 40 hours, PATB, non-exempt and account line 15115, Director, 40 hours,
 PATD, exempt.
 Second.
 We have a motion and a second.
 Mr. Justin Baker is here with us from the Emergency Management Department.
 Tell us about these agenda items.
 Yes.
 Good evening.
 My name is Justin Baker.
 I'm the Director of Emergency Management for the county.
 This is our annual grant that we get each year that we inverses the county up to $55,000
 for our salary and benefits.
 So that's what this is.
 It's the Emergency Management Performance Grant, and it's to make sure we're compliant
 with the state and the federal, like we got to submit our timesheets, we got to have an
 exercise each year, and we have to have a good program going on.
 All right.
 Well, thank you for that.
 And may I just remark before we go to council questions how appropriate it is that you are
 following the Civil Air Patrol in your presentation.
 That was quite nice.
 All right.
 I went to my right last time, so I'll go to my left.
 Any comments or questions for Mr. Baker?
 Council Member Wilts?
 Yeah.
 Well, first, congratulations on a grant because we can't get enough of that.
 I mean, that's amazing.
 Bringing in money from outside to help fund things that we have to do.
 And appreciate that and the work that it takes to maintain that.
 As I was looking through the paperwork that you submitted in the packet, it was a little
 unclear to me about the reimbursement component and the timeline.
 Is it reimbursing costs for 2024?
 Yes.
 Okay.
 2024.
 Yes.
 Thank you.
 Yep.
 No problem.
 Any other comments or questions?
 Mr. Deckard.
 I always appreciate when you all come before us because my observation over the years has
 been that the role of what you all do and what you experience only expands over time.
 And every season we learn something or think of something or somebody very fiercely tells
 us something that informs our next year of service.
 I know that we're starting to get into that season where we're leading towards either
 June storms or heavy showers or other things.
 Anything you want to share with us while you're here before us and have a camera that's recording
 this that maybe folks should think about or just kind of be wary of as we head into this
 season that we've had pretty steadily here for a number of years?
 Yeah.
 So always keep track of the forecast.
 Make sure you know when bad storms are going to be coming.
 Follow our Facebook page.
 Sign up for the county and work system as it doesn't cost nothing for any all residents.
 Have many ways to get a word.
 Don't just solely focus on one thing.
 Have many ways to get a word about severe letters or any kind of events.
 Right.
 Any other comments or questions to my left?
 Seeing none.
 I'll go to my right.
 Mr. Deckard.
 Good Lord.
 I'm so sorry.
 I'm from the East Coast Deckards.
 Thank you, Mr. President, David Henry, for the record.
 Justin, thanks for coming in.
 I just want to maybe toot the horn of this program a little bit.
 By the way, I'll be over on Friday in the building, so I'll say hi again.
 The Emergency Management Performance Grant Program, do you know how many years we've
 been getting that in the county at all?
 I know it's like a trick question.
 I didn't prep this, sorry.
 It's been a while.
 The program has been around since 1988 nationally, and just to understand for everybody just
 how important this program is, it helps undergird all the work we do locally for threat hazard
 identification assessment, for meeting the national preparedness goal, to show we're
 doing our part as a whole here from a county up to the state, and that is a FEMA-funded
 program.
 It helps us to integrate with all the standards, all the technology, all the things we need
 to do to be a good federal and state partner, and as FEMA has been maligned in the media
 and attacked from up in DC, it's really important for folks to understand just how much we rely
 on that resource not only to keep our community safe, but also to do all the work that Councilman
 Decker and you mentioned on preparing for our season and getting ready for when the
 next disaster happens, how to assess it, and how to continue to get, as Councilor Wills
 mentioned, more federal resources to our community in times of crisis.
 It is an incredibly important program.
 I hope we continue to see that support year in and year out.
 Happy to support it.
 Thank you, Mr. President.
 Mr. David Henry, thank you for your wisdom.
 That was very helpful.
 Council Member Hawke.
 Yes.
 Just to show you how far the county has come, this used to be half time for this service
 and the other half of the person's time was spent with Veterans Affairs.
 So as we grow, we need to have more emphasis placed on different issues.
 And I'm so grateful that you were able to continue to get this grant to cover those
 salaries and your expenses.
 So thank you so much for everything you do.
 And boy, you know, it was just last year when trees were down everywhere and you were like
 doing everything you could to try to make sure that people got the news and got the
 service and the protection that they needed.
 So much appreciated.
 Thank you, Councilmember Hawke.
 Mr. Baker, I'll just ask that you share our congratulations and support with your team.
 As you can hear, we're all very happy that you got this.
 All right.
 I'm going to ask for any public comments on these agenda items.
 So I'm looking, asking for folks to come to the podium here in the NatU Hill Room or raise
 your hand on teams for this grant from the Emergency Management Department.
 Seeing none, may we have a roll call vote?
 Councilor Wilts?
 Yes.
 Councilor Hawke?
 Yes.
 Councilor Decker?
 Yes.
 Councilor Henry?
 Yes.
 Councilor Iverson?
 Yes.
 Councilor Feidl?
 Yes.
 That passes unanimously.
 Thank you, Council.
 Thank you very much.
 That brings us to item number nine, the Employee Services Department.
 Council, I move to approve the Employee Services Department's request and fund 1,000-0309 General
 Fund Employee Services for an additional appropriation of $120,334 in the personnel category.
 Second.
 We have a motion and a second, Denise Ensgenstein, here to tell us what is going on.
 Sure.
 Good evening, Council.
 This is a housekeeping item related to the classification changes that you approved for
 our office in the fall of last year, plus the addition of a new position.
 Last year, I was able to move some funds around in our lines to account for those classification
 changes but do not have all of the money to be able to do so for that new position and
 the classification changes with what we budgeted for this year, so that is the reason for this
 request.
 All right.
 Thank you very much for that update.
 I'll go to my right to begin this time.
 Mr. Henry.
 All right.
 Ms. Hawk, do you have anything to say or comments or questions?
 Yes, I'd like very much to have the commissioners find this dollar amount someplace in their
 budget.
 They wanted so much to have this done and we know we're trying to watch every dollar
 and this was not an addition that I supported during budget hearing, so I'm not going to
 support this move, but I certainly think that the commissioners could get into their budget
 and try to find the dollars to support this.
 Thank you.
 I'm going to look to my left for comments or questions.
 Yes.
 Council Member Woods.
 Yeah, so I don't know that it would make a big difference where the money came from in
 terms of whose budget, but, you know, we committed to supporting the position.
 It's been created and I think it's a no-brainer to pay our bills and support the position
 that's been put in place.
 Any other comments or questions from my left here?
 Seeing none.
 Let's look to see if there's any public comments on this item, whether it's here in the Not
 U Hill Room or online, seeing none, could we have a roll call vote?
 Councilor Iverson.
 Yes.
 Councilor Henry.
 Yes.
 Councilor Hawk.
 No.
 Councilor Wilts.
 Yes.
 Councilor Feidl.
 Yes.
 Councilor Decker.
 Yes.
 Motion passes majority five to one.
 You're welcome.
 All right.
 That brings us to item number 10, the prosecutor's office.
 Council, I move to approve the prosecutor's request and fund four one zero two dash zero
 zero zero zero donations hyphen APS unit 10, the creation of account line three eight one
 one zero services and charges and simultaneously an additional appropriation of one thousand
 five hundred sixty nine dollars and seventy eight cents in the services category.
 Second.
 We have a motion and a second and Beth Hamlin with us tonight.
 What is going on with this agenda item?
 Good evening, counselors.
 This is a fund that we have maintained for as long as I've been here, 18 years.
 We have not ever previously had to have this appropriated because it was a donation fund
 that was specific for APS.
 I believe there's a new rule that requires us to have this appropriated.
 We are only asking to appropriate the balance that's in the fund, which is the fifteen sixty
 nine seventy eight.
 All right.
 Short and sweet.
 Looking to my left.
 For any comments.
 Can I make one clarification?
 Of course you can.
 For counselor Hawk specifically.
 These funds are from donations.
 These are not county general funds.
 Okay.
 And as your mind reader.
 All right.
 Going to the left.
 Right.
 And then we have the first concern.
 Well.
 Yeah.
 Obviously the action seems like a no brainer.
 You're just doing what what the auditor's office has asked you to do, which is great.
 But reading about funding and adult protective services brings to mind some of the uncertainty
 around the future of of that funding.
 Do you have an update?
 I haven't been keeping up like, you know, week to week or anything, but I am aware that
 there might be some threats to APS funding.
 That's correct.
 The state did not recontract with prosecutors offices as they have for decades.
 They opened an RFP and received some proposals to provide the service of protecting endangered
 adults.
 The prosecuting attorneys council did, on behalf of prosecutors offices, submit a proposal
 that was fully funded.
 That was the reason for the breakdown originally was that a program just has not been funded
 adequately for a very long time.
 We still have no answer from the state, which is concerning because our contract, our current
 contract ends on June 30th, and to my understanding, there's no decision that's been made, which
 is extremely concerning.
 We've already lost one of our investigators because obviously, you know, there's such
 uncertainty, you know, they need to take care of their families.
 So yeah, I wish I had an update for you, but I do not.
 Mr. Deckard, thank you.
 Thank you very much, Beth, for being here, and I don't have any comment on this line
 other than the information that Counselor Wiltz has kind of asked and that you were
 very candid to supply.
 I, you know, I entered into our meeting today in a better place than I've started recent
 meetings and you've had to be here and listen to a couple of my editorials and my blood
 pressure, I think if you took it earlier before your last comment was probably in better shape.
 But now my soapbox is going to come out just for about 12 seconds.
 You go, girl.
 I thank you.
 I have to be frank, there are sometimes I read the news, I watch things and I'm a calm entity,
 but this is a regression in society.
 So for folks back home, here's what I mean.
 We're moving backwards in time and not in a good nostalgic backwards.
 We're moving to bad nostalgia.
 And I get memories from being in undergrad criminology classes, it was one of my majors.
 By the way, they tell you in criminal justice criminology majors to never tell anybody that
 that's your major, particularly if you get pulled over because no one will be impressed.
 And they said, you'll make it worse, but I can remember vividly talking, this is 1996/7/8,
 talking about how communities moving to adult protective services is the new wave of where
 we're going.
 And this is, we got to do this because elder abuse and other things that are unmentionable
 but happen when you have older populations and all these things, they occur.
 And so we were bright-eyed students there and thinking, well, this will just be one
 of those things that never goes away.
 Now we hear this, and I have to say for our state and our future, I keep hearing about
 all these things that we're going to do this better.
 This is what cutting looks like, and these are people's families, and a lot of times
 they're families that are not going to have folks that can take care of them or they're
 not going to have folks that are taking care of them in the right way.
 And occasionally the state's got to jump in there because nobody else is.
 So I hear this, and I'll say what I've said in recent meetings.
 I'm sorry for going on so long, but folks, this will be one of those when we'll look
 back and remember when kind of moments.
 For our legislators and others of any way that are doing the people's business, this
 is one, you don't want to screw this one up.
 So make your calls to your agency heads, make your calls to those who are budgeting, and
 say is this really where we're heading?
 Is this really, really, really where we're heading?
 And I hope that the answer is no, this is just one of those mistakes, oversights.
 But folks moving back like this, this isn't nostalgia, this is how cruel things happen
 in bad societies.
 It'd be different if we were not a place that had the means and the efforts and the abilities
 to figure it out.
 Good Lord, we put a man on the moon in 1969, we can't look out for our seniors in the year
 of 2025?
 Come on now.
 So thank you, Beth, and I apologize for my soapbox, but sometimes people in my job that
 took an oath to the state and the federal constitution have to get a soapbox out or
 two and remind folks of their oaths they took as well.
 Mr. President.
 All right.
 After those 12 seconds, is there any other comments or questions?
 All right.
 I see Councilmember Hawke with her hand raised.
 Right.
 I would object to Trent's long dialogue there, except that he was awfully good to help me
 get home the other day when I couldn't make it on my own.
 So maybe I'm one of those endangered species there.
 I just want to say to Beth, because that's what we were talking about to begin with,
 that, of course, I understand that this is money that you've held back, not had to come
 and ask for an appropriation on it.
 But thank you for sharing that information with us.
 And indeed, if you can see a way or if you will let me know what people you've been speaking
 with at the state level, I'll do what I can to see where we are on that.
 Just shoot me a message and let me know.
 All right.
 Thanks.
 No other comments?
 To my right, I will just say as someone who is a caretaker for a vulnerable adult and
 as someone who is married to someone who used to work for APS, it feels really good to be
 able to support you in this moment.
 So I really appreciate that and I'll put an additional addendum on to what Councilmember
 Deckard was saying, is that if folks have not read Senate Bill 2 yet, they should do
 so because the current iteration of that bill is an all out war against the folks that APS
 is serving.
 So I do appreciate everything you're doing here.
 All right.
 Let's...
 Mr. President, could I add on to that?
 We're going to look for public comment because I think we're done here with Council comments.
 I don't...
 If you have any public comments in the NatU Hill Room or online, please raise your hand.
 Seeing none, let's have a roll call vote.
 Councilor Hawke, yes. Councilor Decker, yes. Councilor Feidl, yes. Councilor Wilts, yes.
 Councilor Henry, yes. Councilor Iverson, yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you all very
 much.
 Thank you.
 All right.
 That brings us to item number 11, Board of Commissioners.
 So, Council, I move to approve the Board of Commissioners request and fund 1000-0068 County
 General Commissioners of an additional appropriation in the amount of $10,000 in the services
 category.
 Second.
 All right. We have a motion and a second, and we have Angie Purdy here with us from
 the Commissioner's office. Tell us what's going on here.
 Well, actually, I'm hoping that Mr. Cockrell could be promoted to Panelist as he has had
 firsthand connections with this particular item.
 All right. We do see that Mr. Cockrell is online.
 Good evening.
 All right. The floor is yours, sir.
 Yes. What we have here is a request for a $10,000 appropriation, and I'll give a little
 bit of the background of it. I think it's pretty spelled out in the agenda cover sheet.
 But last fall, the Bean Blossom Trustee was looking to add Bean Blossom Township to the
 Monroe Fire Protection District, and as part of the Commissioner's kind of standard routine
 is they set some rules. One of those rules was that if 50 people filed an objection,
 then the commissioners would have a public hearing, and the commissioners had that public
 hearing at the Steinsville Elementary School. At that hearing, what we heard from the public
 was essentially a lack of information and a lack of understanding of what all the options
 are, what problems they were going to address with changing the fire protection district,
 and a lot of concern with essentially lack of information. So the Commissioner Thomas
 and I have met with the Ellitsville Fire Chief, the Monroe Fire Protection District Chief,
 and the Township Trustee, and at the last meeting there also was Representative Mike
 Farmer from the town of Ellitsville, as well as the Bean Blossom Steinsville Volunteer
 Chief was at the meetings, and what we're trying to do is put together an information
 sheet that explains what the problem is, and what the Ellitsville's offer has been to provide
 the fire protection in that area, what the Monroe Fire Protection District's plan would
 be, and then also a financial analysis so that people can see what the cost differential
 is for those levels of service. This $10,000, we have a quote from Baker Tilley to kind
 of do run that financial analysis for that to include in that program, and so that's
 what this $10,000 additional appropriations for.
 Thank you very much. Anything else to add? All right. I'm going to start to my right
 here, Council Member Henry. All right. Looking online. All right. I'll look over to my left.
 All right. We have no comments. This is a good thing, I think, for fire protection,
 so we'll look to the public to see if they want to say anything about this item. If you
 would come up to the podium in that room or raise your hand on teams. Seeing none, could
 we have a roll call vote?
 Councilor Feidl?
 Yes.
 Councilor Iverson?
 Yes.
 Councilor Henry?
 Yes.
 Councilor Decker?
 Yes.
 Councilor Wilts?
 Yes.
 Councilor Hock?
 No.
 Motion passes, majority five to one.
 All right. Thank you very much. That brings us to letter B.
 Council, I move to approve the Board of Commissioners request and fund 1000-0106 County General
 TSD or in fund 1186-0000 Rainy Day, the creation of account line 30006, contractual and
 simultaneously
 approve an additional appropriation of $200,000 in the services category.
 Second.
 We have a motion and a second on this unusual motion. Ms. Purdy, what do we need to know
 about this?
 What you need to know is that we, the commissioners currently have the option of entering into
 a contract in which we make lease payments or, and when we do lease payments, then there's
 an interest that's assessed. And in this particular case, it's over five years and I believe it's
 $68,000. This was the information I found back in December when I was first looking
 at this. And so what we wanted to do was to provide you with the opportunity to decide
 if you wanted to incur the interest expenses or if you wanted to pay for it upfront in
 its full amount.
 I was able to locate $300,000 to go toward this expense, our older bonds. And that bond,
 as you may or may not know, had some furniture and redesign for offices in the Justice Building.
 I know that, for instance, the prosecutor's office, due to the fact that we've actually
 started moving forward on the provision of our jail and justice center, they elected
 to just get chairs because they thought it was going to be 10 years down the road. And
 so that's how that happened. So we've actually moved those funds into another line for Justice
 Building expenses. Also, I think included in that bond, I believe that's how that played.
 But we also have another line for the clerk's office. And so we purpose that line into the
 software line.
 All right. Thank you for that explanation. I went to my right last time. So let's go
 to my left for counsel. Do you have any comments or questions? I'm going to call on Councilmember
 Wilts because it looks like you've got a question formulating. However, if it's not quite
 formulated
 yet, I can go on.
 It's not quite formulated. Thank you. Sorry, my face was...
 No, no, it's good. It's good. All right. Go to my right. Any comments or questions? Yes,
 Mr. Henry.
 Thank you, Mr. President. So Ms. Purdy, if you could maybe walk me through the bond piece
 a little more. As I recall, I think the last time I was exposed to some conversation about
 this particular item that we were looking at the bond for repurposing and not recommending
 that we pull the funds out of the options here in the proposal. So are we not using
 that resource? Am I missing something here in what I'm looking at?
 I'm not sure I understand the question. We are using the bond.
 We have an or option here for rainy day fund use. We have an or option for county general
 fund, but is the bond a third vehicle or can you clarify that for me so I can understand
 it?
 The total cost of the software is over $500,000. So I was able to locate 300 and now I'm asking
 council and giving you the option of which particular fund you would want to use if that
 was your decision to pay in full.
 So just so I'm clear then, so the 300 is accounted for and the balance, the 200 to apply to the
 500 is what we're talking about this evening. So I guess that wasn't clear in the notes
 I had in front of me, but thank you for that.
 All right. Councilmember Hawke, I see your hand raised.
 Yes. Can you tell me if it's allowed to pay for this out of that QM fund?
 Yes, that's where we pay for all of our software right now out of QM.
 That's what I'm saying. Just you've got, what's your balance in your QM fund? Just pay for
 it out of the QM fund. I mean, all these additionals, and I saw a lot of others coming from the
 commissioners coming up in the next meeting or so, and either we're going to watch these
 budgets and watch these dollars, but to come up with additionals when we're sitting at
 the beginning of the year is, I mean, I just think you ought to go into your present dollars
 and present budgets and find a way to cover this.
 Want me to answer?
 And going to Rainy Day to cover it is actually the same thing as doing a total additional
 in general fund, because we can move that Rainy Day back over into general.
 If you want to know, we have a budget of 3.8 million in our cumulative capital. We currently
 have a million dollar software line.
 I know, I want to know what is your balance in the CUMCAP cash balance?
 1.9 million.
 What?
 1.9 million.
 9.9 million.
 No, we're not going to be able to do that.
 No, 1.9 million.
 1.9 million. And you'll be getting in June, you'll be getting more dollars coming into
 that.
 Correct, because we have a 3.8 million dollar budget.
 Sometimes you have to make choices.
 All right, Councilmember Wilts, looks like that question came up.
 You were starting to explain about the budget that you have, and I guess I felt like you
 weren't finished, or at least I wanted to hear more, so you said that you had a software
 line.
 Yes, there is a software line already in that particular bond, and because of that, the
 bond works, you get the money to complete these projects.
 Some projects are more, some are less, and some projects don't get done if other ones
 become more expensive, so we would be able to transfer that into ... because we put it
 in lines for the projects in the bonds, we could move it into the software line, and
 we're still meeting the intent of that bond.
 Sure, so to Councilor Hawke's point about your existing budget, is there a line in your
 budget that you could use to fund this?
 I haven't looked at your budget in a few months, so I don't remember what your options might
 be, just to be fair to Councilor Hawke's point.
 Sure, we have a million dollars appropriated in a software line that's in our cumulative
 capital fund, and that million dollars is spoken for, so this particular project is
 actually more than $500,000, and so I think it's like 50, and I don't remember off the
 top of my head, and we will take that from that particular line, and hoping that we're
 able to make things work, because we generally do make this fund work, but we don't have
 the capability of doing the full $500,000, so that's why we came to ask.
 Your choice.
 You remind me then when this will come back around to us, so will your budget for next
 year be in the software line $1.5 million?
 No, this is five years.
 So doing a $200,000 appropriation right now covers this need for five years.
 Correct.
 And if we, okay, so no matter where we take it from, the other part is coming from an
 old bond, and you mentioned that it was coming from rearranging from some things, and one
 of the things you mentioned was the clerk's office, and I'm curious as to, is that a project
 that then is no longer happening, and is the clerk aware of that?
 Clerk has not responded to any communications.
 Okay, but the clerk has been made aware via email or some other communication.
 I have not communicated this particular option.
 The commissioners, I don't know if they have contacted her regarding that, so no.
 So this could come as a surprise to the clerk that this project isn't going to happen?
 I don't think so.
 Okay.
 Okay.
 And again, like I said, the projects are not promised from the very beginning.
 They're recommended.
 They're the ideal, right, if we can get them all done.
 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 Yeah, I just would hate to be less than transparent, yeah.
 Okay, so presumably you're asking for $200,000.
 Whether or not you're getting the rest of it from somewhere else is probably a relatively
 moot point on this particular request.
 So that brings me to my just putting forward that if we are going to do this, it looks
 as though the remit, the fund information for county general that you've provided, Michelle.
 Not accurate, the $17 million, I looked at it today and I provided it to Michelle, it's
 like 19.
 Do you have an update?
 Yes.
 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
 Yeah, so as of today, we have $19,842,646 as a cash balance.
 Okay, I was saying, I'm looking at your face, general fund, yes.
 Okay, it was in parentheses, which implied to me that it was negative and that was freaking
 me out.
 That's what you're saying, yeah.
 That might have just been our agenda, you know.
 Right, probably at that moment, and that, yeah, so that's why I read about it, yeah.
 Perfect, okay.
 Thank you.
 I have a moment.
 I want to remind council that rainy day is to be for emergency expenses only.
 So this would be above what we've already appropriated with regards to emergency expenses.
 So you would have to make sure, consider that, you know, that rainy day is for emergencies.
 All right.
 We've got some more hands raised here.
 Councilmember Henry, I saw yours next.
 Thanks, and maybe we already got at it.
 So the Councillor Hock brought up the CUME cap.
 What's the cash fund balance on CUME cap right now?
 I can tell you.
 The auditors got it.
 I'll just, that's okay, Angie.
 Cash balance as of today is $1,957,908.78.
 Further?
 No, I'm all right.
 All right.
 Councilmember Feidl.
 So I guess I have what I might call a fundamental question here.
 And so I hear you talk about this other $300,000, and so we're asking for this $200,000 now.
 So I guess I'm wondering what you can do with that $300,000 of the $500,000 you need.
 What would you be able to do with just $300,000 of it rather than the full $500,000?
 Would you be able to satisfy any of the things you're talking about, what the request is
 for with $300,000 that you've already made arrangements?
 It seems like you said you had money for $300,000 to apply to something, is that right?
 The bond in which there were different projects, and one of those projects isn't going to happen,
 and it's not going to happen because we're actually going to be moving into a new facility
 sooner than later.
 Originally it was going to be, everybody thought it was going to be like 10 years from now,
 but we are moving forward on our justice complex, and so to expend those dollars at this point
 in time would actually be by the county.
 And so instead of using it for a redo of an old office, those funds will go into a software
 line that was already in that bond and has already been expended to cover this other
 part of this cost.
 Does that make sense?
 It does, but it seems to me like if I could do the math, and I don't pretend to know everything
 about all those, how this works at this point in my political career, but I think that there's
 a $500,000 amount here total, is that right?
 You've got $300,000 from somewhere else in $200,000 now, is that not right?
 Correct.
 Okay, so what will the $300,000 be able to do for you for this type of project, or am
 I not understanding?
 It costs over $500,000.
 Right.
 $500,000, right?
 Yeah.
 Okay, so what will you get for the $300,000, I guess is my question.
 We will still pay interest on whatever is left.
 I don't...
 Okay.
 The way it was proposed to us is a five-year lease agreement or all up front, so I don't.
 I think I'm beginning to get it.
 Thank you.
 You're welcome.
 Okay, I'm going to go to Council Member Henry, and then I think our legal department has a
 comment.
 I'll pass in favor of legal department.
 All right, and then I'll go to Council Member Deckard, who had his hands raised previously.
 I'll yield to legal.
 Okay.
 All right, here we go.
 I just wanted to clarify, I wanted to clarify what the rainy day fund could be used for.
 According to Monroe County Code 27038, it's a little bit more expansive than just emergencies,
 because it's stated in there for any other use or purpose determined by the council.
 However, the money, if the money is an additional appropriation outside of the annual budget,
 it must be supported by a super majority, so two-thirds vote.
 So it's not just emergencies, it's a little bit more.
 Okay.
 I do have one question, I guess.
 So in terms of the options presented today, I guess, I know we've spent a little time
 talking about CUME-CAP.
 How did we arrive at these two choices as presented as options?
 What was the decision tree that got us to this point where we were looking at these
 two funds tonight specifically?
 Out to the board of commissioners and to you, the council, regarding this issue, and you
 all had an executive session to talk about this item, and I came back from my medical
 leave and reached out to see what the next steps were, and there had been no decision
 really come to about how to move forward.
 So I thought the best way to do that is to put it on your agenda.
 Yeah, I don't mean to shoot the messenger, so I'll take it that way.
 My question was specific to the two funds that were presented or proposed, but yeah,
 I get that you're in the chair and messaging for Mr. Crown, who's on leave on some of the
 particulars.
 So thank you.
 All right.
 Mr. Decker.
 I kind of want to pick up, and thanks for answering this and walking us through it again.
 I kind of want to pick up where Councilor Feidl left off and maybe go in a direction
 that she was either heading toward or could head to, but it provokes the question in me.
 We have sort of two options to fund the amount that is a remainder from what you've done
 to reconfigure with that existing bond money, and by the way, I want to say that any time
 we can look at any existing bond money and determine where that best goes first, I think
 it's a really powerful thing to do on behalf of the taxpayers, and I know that that's been
 something we've talked about a number of years.
 My question is, is there an additional possibility, because I believe the project, as I understand
 it, needs to move along, and it's due to move along.
 Is there a third potential option that 300,000 for services now and finance 200,000 later
 or revisit that they get to eat a bunch of apples versus a whole bunch of apples, and
 as a result, we kind of move down into additional time and can use dollars now for this?
 I don't know if that's something they could be asked, have been asked, or if I'm out of
 my mind.
 The provider offered two options, and that's where we have been from.
 I got reticent to wait, because they do know that this is before you today, but they're
 not going to be going with the full payment.
 The other option over five years is you do 100, so right now, out of that existing bond,
 we could do the 100, pay interest, do another 100 next year, pay interest, and on down the
 road we go.
 Of course, the risk to that always is, A, paying interest, and what have you.
 Okay, I'll stop my meandering question.
 It is a good question, though, and I was with you, counselor, if I can tell.
 All right.
 Any other questions to my left at this moment?
 I would like us to discuss which one we're doing.
 I mean, are we all considering an up-down vote on the general fund?
 It's just an odd motion, so I just need some clarity.
 I think you actually should vote on whether or not you want to pay in full.
 That makes sense.
 And let's go over to my right, Mr. Henry, and then I'll defer to my colleague, counselor
 Hawk online.
 All right.
 Thank you, Mr. Henry.
 Councilmember Hawk.
 Yes, I'm just wondering if we've all looked at the additional requests that commissioners
 have turned in recently and to look at that total and put this in with that entire total
 so that we can make a choice of what we can do about all these additionals that's coming
 in from the commissioner's office.
 I sent a message back earlier saying, do we have a total on what those are?
 Is there any reason why we have to make this decision tonight?
 Can we not look at the big picture to look at all the other requests that's coming in
 at our next meeting and then see what we can do?
 Thank you, Councilmember Hawk, offering us an alternative here.
 Any other questions or comments from council?
 Councilmember Henry, yes.
 Thank you, Mr. President.
 If I'm hearing the councilor right online, I would also entertain a motion to table until
 we can get clarity on either the additional possibility of the CUME cap as a source or
 just as you indicated there, I think waiting two more weeks on the project after potentially
 nine months of waiting would probably not harm us, so we can get a better answer on
 that.
 But I would support a motion to table if that's what I'm hearing online.
 Councilmember Wilts.
 I'm not opposed to tabling if that comes up.
 But I would like to know, is there any reason we shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't consider
 CUME cap?
 And I'm asking people at this table.
 So just looking at the, I mean we currently have $3.8 million appropriation, $1.9 million
 fund balance.
 So I mean it's already relying on funding coming in.
 I mean we could watch the fund balance and we could always de-appropriate and appropriate
 elsewhere.
 There's always ways to go about it just depends on what actually gets expended.
 We always have reversions as we know.
 Right.
 Thanks.
 Council Member Deckard.
 I agree with Councilor Henry and I think the sentiment we picked up a little bit from Councilor
 Hawk.
 I think this is a classic scenario I said to one of our staff earlier today where council
 kind of sits around staring at each other like it's a strange wedding and I think probably
 a table is in order.
 So with that in mind, Council, I would move to table this to our next meeting.
 Second.
 Second.
 Do we need to withdraw the motion that was originally made?
 Okay.
 Thank you.
 If you're wanting to consider CUME-CAP, it won't be advertised for the next meeting.
 The earliest meeting I could get it would be for the April 22nd.
 Right.
 So I don't know if you'd want to table it to the April 22nd meeting so that you could
 also include a discussion with regards to using CUME-CAP.
 Mr. Deckard, would you like to update your motion with this new information?
 Here's the way I'm going to state this.
 I would like to move to table indefinitely for the following reason.
 If there is a reason we need to revisit the existing motion at the next meeting, we could.
 If there's a reason that the CUME-CAP advertisement needs to be done by the 22nd, either way then
 that is covered by that, and I think the council leadership at their discretion and consultation
 with staff and legal can help figure that out.
 I'll second the friendly amendment.
 All right.
 We have a motion with rationale and a second.
 Is there any other comments or questions with council on this motion?
 Seeing none, I will look to the public.
 Comments or questions come to Net-U-Hill or raise your hand on Teams.
 Seeing none, can we have a roll call vote on the motion?
 Councilor Feidl?
 Yes.
 Councilor Hawk?
 Yes.
 Councilor Henry?
 Yes.
 Councilor Deckard?
 Yes.
 Councilor Iverson?
 Yes.
 Councilor Wilts?
 Yes.
 Motion passes unanimous for table.
 Thank you.
 Thank you for being here.
 We look forward to working with you.
 I didn't mean it that way.
 I know you didn't.
 I know you didn't.
 I knew you were agreeing with me.
 All right.
 Let's move on to item number 12 from the council office.
 All right, council, as a reminder, due to a no vote at the March 11th meeting, this is
 the second reading for this request.
 I move to approve the public defender's request to approve the request of a knowledge skills
 and abilities KSA three-year level status, and to simultaneously amend the 2025 salary
 ordinance and fund 1200 dash 0000 supplemental PD services as outlined on the agenda.
 Second.
 We have a motion and a second and chief public defender Michael Hunt is with us here today
 with his staff.
 So would you like to kick us off?
 Yes.
 Thank you.
 Good evening.
 Can you hear me?
 Yes.
 With me tonight, I have Miss Amy Payne, who's a senior attorney in my office, and Heather
 Stufel, my administrative assistant.
 I would apologize for not being here last time when this first came up.
 I was out of the country.
 So if I misstate something, I won't feel bad if you correct me.
 It's my understanding this is the second hearing, and it's also my belief that for a change,
 we are not asking for more money.
 We're merely asking you to approve a potential employee being classified on a three-step level,
 which as I understand it, the counsel administrator and the personnel administrator has already
 determined that candidate does qualify.
 That was already budgeted for this year because the prior person was already at that level.
 In trying to explain that and talking about our lack of ability to hire attorneys, I was
 discussing that in the office, and Ms. Payne, who despite her youth is a senior attorney
 there and does the serious cases, asked if she could address the counsel with some of
 her concerns.
 With the counsel chairman's permission, I would ask that she be allowed to do that.
 I gladly would like to hear from the wise and Ms. Payne.
 Thank you.
 Okay.
 Yes.
 I'm a deputy public defender.
 I've been doing this for 14 years now, almost 15, and I work every day for the people of
 Monroe County, just like the people at the fire department, just like the people at the
 sheriff's department.
 I work on behalf of the citizens of Monroe County every single day.
 When I was here two weeks ago, I was not familiar with the process, and that's my own fault,
 and that's something I obviously am going to work on becoming more familiar, and I didn't
 realize that if it wasn't a unanimous vote that we would not be able to move forward,
 and that's my own fault.
 But because I didn't realize that, I didn't speak up, and I really kicked myself for the
 last couple weeks because I didn't, so I wanted to come back and make sure that I did speak
 up about what this actually means.
 So my clients, your all's constituents, they are not getting what they deserve right now
 from me, every single day they're not getting it.
 And that's because the Constitution guarantees them adequate representation, and I don't
 believe because I have to pick up the cases when we don't have enough attorneys working
 in our office, my clients are not getting what they deserve of me, they're not.
 Every attorney in our office has to pick up the slack when we don't have enough attorneys
 and when we can't hire attorneys and when we can't hire a person at a level that they
 deserve to be paid at.
 And so the last two weeks, there has been a harm every single day of the last two weeks
 waiting.
 And so by Councilwoman Hawk voting no on the KSA request, there has been every day a tangible
 harm, especially when there's no fiscal impact to the county.
 This is not asking for a raise, we are not asking for more money, and it's doing a disservice
 to the people that we all serve.
 So I don't anticipate that Councilwoman Hawkins is going to change her vote tonight, I just
 want to make sure that it's clear that that vote has caused me, my coworkers, and my clients
 more strife than is necessary with no benefit to the county whatsoever.
 Thank you.
 I will take questions if you have any.
 All right.
 Thank you both for speaking, we appreciate hearing from you.
 Look to my left.
 Any questions or comments?
 Councilmember Deckard, and we'll go down the line.
 Just a point of information to clarify for all of us and the folks at home tonight, simple
 majority gets us this resolved and on down we go.
 Is that correct?
 All right.
 Thank you.
 Councilmember Wilts.
 I wanted to make that point as well and to thank you for speaking because I know that's
 not an easy thing to do and I hear you and I appreciate not just that you've said it
 but what you said.
 All right, Councilmember Hawk, you're muted.
 Almost there.
 Okay.
 Got it.
 I just want to make the point and I'm sorry it caused anybody any hardship but there's
 a lot of hardship going on here in county government and it's going to be for some time.
 I didn't make that $3.8 million mistake but I think each of us need to see where we can
 possibly try to live within what has to be a reduced budget because of reduced revenue
 in my opinion and so it was not particularly this department.
 I just think we should stop the KSA thing altogether until we see where we're going
 to be on this budget and revenue coming in but clearly it's only the first go.
 I can say no but what it does it just delays everything.
 So I can either like go along and just say yes to everything or I can say look we've
 got to start looking at our dollars and I regret that a department thinks that it doesn't
 matter if they've already got something else budgeted high they can just use that money
 anyway.
 If they didn't use that money that money would go back into county general to help us all
 get through.
 That used to be understood by all and it appears that's not no longer understood but I wish
 you well I really when I looked at the applicant I thought if we're going to do KSA well of
 course that person is qualified but in my opinion I think we should stop it.
 So there we go sorry you had a tough time we've all had a tough time.
 Right any other comments from council yes Mr. Henry.
 Thank you Mr. President I just want to thank you for your comments clearly decisions in
 this room have real world impact and I can't imagine how many clients of the county's public
 defenders office had to meander through a few weeks here.
 So I take your words to heart these are real world situations we're talking about they're
 not abstractions on a line and when we are not surgical about our approach it creates
 problems but I just wanted to say thank you for sharing thank you Mr. President.
 Right I also thank you all for coming as someone who also ruminates over things said and unsaid
 I appreciate the candor and coming forward and speaking thank you alright at this point
 I will ask for any public comments if you have any public comment please come to the
 podium or raise your hand on teams seeing none may we have a roll call vote.
 Councilor Fiddle yes Councilor Henry yes Councilor Wilts yes Councilor Hawk no Councilor Iverson
 yes Councilor Deckard yes motion passes majority five to one thank you very much you're welcome
 thank you what you do.
 All right we reached that point in the agenda where it's time for county councilors to update
 the public on their liaison ships and or any other comments they would like to make I'm
 going to start with on the far left here Councilor Fiddle.
 I'm ready with my color coded notes oh my goodness that seems to be drawing a lot of
 attention these days all right let's see it so first of all I don't have a specific liaison
 assignment with visit Bloomington however they made a presentation at a DBI meeting which
 is my purview and I thought I wanted to share publicly some of these things that they shared
 from their annual report which I found very interesting that the public may want to know
 about.
 For instance so this is titled what had the most impact in 2024 IU football was 60 million
 dollars in estimated football economic impact the solar eclipse 90 percent lodging occupancy
 Sunday through Monday during that event Airbnb short-term rental bookings grew by 27 percent
 in 2024 visitors spend over a hundred and fifty million on food in Monroe County every
 year and then in each of these categories it goes up the the numbers go up so from 2020
 through 2023 the amount the visitors spent ranged from 309 million to 509 million in
 a four-year or four-year period wages generated same time period 114 million to 191 million
 job supported ranged from 4,700 to 20 or excuse me to 7,800 the tax receipts generated both
 state and local went from 54 million to 90 million and then going on to economic and
 impact of tourism for every hundred dollars spent by visitor in Monroe County over a third
 of all food and beverage revenue in Monroe County is generated by visitors the 20 percent
 of lodging rooms purchased in Monroe County in 2024 were short-term rentals a couple more
 things here so this this topic is the sports travel marketing 17% of our visitors here
 are here to watch or participate in sports and then they just wanted to feature also
 the cars farm park investment and that begins in 2025 and visit Bloomington is already partnering
 with Monroe County Parks and Rec on that effort so that's all from visit Bloomington which
 I know you can find on there well for their that report for 2024 tourism report now on
 to my other service with liaison assignments I met with the Youth Services Bureau learned
 a lot there the ages they serve 10 to 17 at no cost they have a safe place program 24/7
 and that operates for people or young folks between 8 and 22 they have Bloomington after
 school network youth youth worker cafes building a thriving and compassionate community and
 then leadership opportunities for young folks there's Monroe County Youth Council plus the
 Youth Advisory Board and they also have programs that are community based for counseling and
 community based programming then the City Economic Development Commission meeting I attended as
 a council rep we made a recommendation for two resolutions that will come up at the City
 Council regarding Gene B Glick's purchase of and they'll be rehabbing the projects both
 at Cambridge Square on North Pete Ellis Drive which is 153 units as well as Henderson Court
 150 units which is on Winslow Court and then both of the rehab projects the developer will
 apply for low income housing tax credits so that seems like some good low income housing
 news my assignment is not with the highway engineer however I I met with the highway
 engineer Lisa ridge because I hadn't met her yet in my capacity and I wanted to see the
 facility and speak with her she was very generous in her time and I learned that they have 59
 employees 80% are male 20% are female 42 or highway employees five or bridge 12 stormwater
 and I got to see this special new system that they use for brining when they put down that
 to apply to help with the roads before any sort of inclement weather with no they can
 apply about 260 miles worth of brine in about two days before and the one of the last thing
 last couple of things I did was the Monroe County Women's Commission meeting they are
 developing a policy equity rubric which is almost complete and and so they're working
 on getting some more professional feedback on that and it'll be shared with county and
 local governments businesses community organizations they're also doing outreach to elevate the
 profile of the Women's Commission plus for each meeting coming up in 2025 there'll be
 a different topic it could be anything ranging from wages to health care to a variety of
 others the downtown Bloomington group they are doing a downtown strategies group session
 there'll be a market visit workshop in July of this year a strategic plan presentation
 in October of this year and then with the result of a five-year strategic action plan
 with which will come up with 20 to 30 strategies and recommendations and that's all councilmember
 vital would you hold up your notebook to the camera just just so that your constituents
 know they are getting what they voted for all right at a request we're going to go to
 mr. Deckard next my gosh don't ask me to hold up my notes that is I'm so glad that we have
 our new counselors on here to join us in this effort they strengthen us I've got just three
 quick ones that I will announce and I appreciate these reports us going back to it I kind of
 wish that I had had us doing this last year this is awesome but I spent a little time
 also with county highway along with counselor hawk we spent some time last Friday morning
 with Lisa Ridge and Toby Turner talking about some of the realities that they are facing
 out there and hearing about the good work that they do one thing that highway does exceedingly
 well as they figure out how to bring dollars into this county and they have the hot hand
 at it and if you go up to Indianapolis and say Lisa Ridge in the halls of the state house
 you get smiles and I'm not sure all of us get smiles when we go up there so awesome
 work that they do I also spent this morning with the Elstville Chamber of Commerce it's
 not technically a liaison ship but they invited me to come out and to meet with their policy
 committee and counselors I expect that others of you and other county elected officials
 will be having similar invitations and we talked a lot about mostly about what they
 wanted to talk about current events related to issues facing our community in our county
 and Elstville continues to be a community that is seeing tremendous growth and they're
 seeing a lot of change and we also at a county have a lot of change that we are going to
 be facing down ourselves we talked about recent population discussions the impact that that
 has on us and how as elected officials and other concerned business leaders and community
 members we need to be thinking about it the last thing that I just by the way also last
 night I spent some time I get a lot of these I don't know if other counselors do but I
 had a visit with the grand view scout we below I'm a grand view tiger myself it was good
 to meet these new tigers and particularly to hear about their activities and I have
 to tell you they had as many hard questions for me as they also chambered it this morning
 and that didn't diminish either group so they asked good questions and much like the folks
 that we saw at the beginning of our meeting is always awesome to see folks that are doing
 something serving something when they could be doing anything else but to give giving
 back finally I'll mention this not to steal anything from our liaisons that work with
 the clerk and the election board but council had reminded earlier that there is a vote
 center plan hearing on April 3rd at 1 30 p.m. I assume that's here in the Natu Hill room
 correct correct so for folks that either want to learn about both centers or weigh in on
 both centers because you have strong thoughts I know a lot of us have different thoughts
 on that this would be a chance to weigh in on a proposed draft plan and I am anxious
 to see that myself I don't know if a advance copy gets out but I would love to see that
 as you all may recall from my time at the state I was co-director of the state election
 vision when both centers were first legally authorized and I'd love to see what this plan
 looks like for the community and county and figure out what's best for us and the draft
 plan is available on the election website this is going to be the first of two public hearings
 so at this public hearing they'll receive the draft plan and there'll be a presentation
 on it it will be the start of a 30 at least a 30-day public comment period where the public
 can provide written comment and details on how the election board will receive that written
 public comment will be determined at that first public hearing and then after the 30-day public
 comment period closes there'll be a second public hearing so really because vote center
 law in the state allows that plan to tell you how it's going to be to put it no blunder
 than that if you wonder how it's going to be for members of the public this would be
 a good chance to see this and this is a powerful and can be really good device but this is
 your chance to see that hopefully maybe ask some questions and then we all can weigh in
 so that's all the reporting I have thank you so much mr. Henry thank you mr. president
 and thank you counselor Deckard for covering that for me so I could talk about other stuff
 but I will also say that is the it's a busy week in the board of elections as the public
 hearing will happen and it's the regular meeting that week on a Thursday I think that's not
 the first Thursday are we gonna miss it how what's the sequence there Molly public hearing
 is scheduled during the regular meeting of the election so it is my impression that the
 public hearing will take place I don't know if they have regular agenda items for that
 day or not well then I stand corrected and yeah there you go that's why Trent covered
 it today all right I have some other things I like to chat about in terms of my liaison
 stuff first I want to offer a bit of accommodation to our Board of Health as well as Commissioner
 Madeira and some members of the public that alerted us to an issue in our health department
 late last Friday of a family was seeking a gender change on a birth certificate and at
 our public health department which is under was under a court order to do so there was
 some confusion based on the governor's executive orders on whether or not our locality could
 actually execute on those changes but as Commissioner Madeira had made it clear in local media that
 we will follow court orders in this county whether or not they go to Indianapolis and
 they're handled correctly will be up to litigation but I'm very proud that our Board of Health
 got together quickly I made it clear that for our transgender community we're not turning
 folks away at our public health department even if the state does so thank you for that
 good work and swift work in our community to represent our values secondly is I wanted
 to also share with the surveyors office while I was aware of mr. and right Randolph's proposal
 this evening which is a no-cost solution to provide a training in the county for surveyors
 who'll obviously tell us more about that next time we see him here I also did get a look
 at the dashboard that GIS specialist dr. Baten is working on for the auditor in terms of
 what the dashboarding of our budget looks like it is going to be wonderful to play with
 I don't want to give away any data previews on it but I was I walked away understanding
 that our criminal justice budget the slice of the pie is actually larger than the the
 talking point I usually say a 50% it's more like 62.5 but it's in there and it's a it's
 a really cool gadget so I look forward to seeing that now when we get that live that
 I got a preview so anyway there's that second comment I wanted to raise to the council's
 attention some work that was done on the plan commission this past week to vote on a split
 vote positive recommendation for the down zoning of parcels that have been long designated
 as high higher density parcels within the islands and the city of Bloomington their
 county property that was a 62 vote which I would just indicate that myself and the other
 elected official trying to write Randolph that were on the plan commission voted in
 the negative to make a recommendation to commissioners their meeting is on Thursday on that I will
 just say for the record that when we remove opportunities to restore and revitalize our
 community and especially in economically depressed areas we lose housing choices we lose the
 property rights of parcel owners that live there and how they can use their property
 that they purchased and ultimately lose the abilities of county to improve our ability
 to raise revenue off of parcels to help and share the tax burden in the community so this
 is not a settled issue or a partisan issue in the county where one party thinks this
 is appropriate and the other does not it is definitely a contentious issue for our body
 on how we approach zoning in the urbanized area and the fringe but I've said my piece
 about it tonight lastly I want to thank the jail commander for the opportunity to tour
 the jail last week and get my look in there I've been in there since Sheriff Kennedy was
 in office when I worked for the county 18 years ago and I just want to commend the sheriff
 Marte and the staff for the cleanup in there and the paint and the good work they do to
 maintain the facility we have while we try to figure out next steps and just want to
 share with Councillor Wills I did match your full shift with the deputy this week as well
 and got to ride with Sergeant Molden who is a chatterbox like myself and so we had a very
 fast eight hours driving around the county talking about all sorts of things I do want
 to say one more thing with the time I have we did talk about adult protective service
 tonight as one of our items I wasn't intending to talk about this but on one of our runs
 we did do a visit to a household out in Harrodsburg where there's an individual that needs checking
 on and it turns out when we don't have good APS our sheriff's deputies are the ones that
 are doing it and it's something to keep in mind when we think about the totality of how
 we're using our services here and what we fund and how we fund it so that's a lot Mr.
 President but there you go thank you very much.
 All right thank you Mr. Henry. Council Member Hawk would you like to share any updates?
 Yes I certainly would. Today in the Tax and Fiscal Committee the House Bill 1080 was discussed
 and torn apart and put back together and in a lot of different methods. You'll want to
 check Amendment 13 and to check the entire bill because it is changed dramatically but
 it was clear that they made it clear and because the County Commissioners are unwilling to
 work with Ellitsville in order to assist getting transportation for the most needy, the aged,
 the people with disabilities to be able to get to their appointments. It appears this
 is not going to go through as we had hoped it would. When I say we I'm not saying the
 majority of the council but certainly when we're talking about our senior citizens, whether
 or not they're covered, whether or not we care what happens to them, then we should
 be caring also if we're doing what we can do to assist getting them from point A to
 point B. And so I'm disappointed that the County Commissioners are not willing to work
 with our other communities and community partners to be able to see what we can do to address
 that. So that's very worrisome. The other thing that we have to look at is we know that
 many changes are going to be made, many. And so we're not in a position to be able to make
 long-range plans until we know what's happening at the state. And the taxpayers have made
 it clear they want an adjustment to their taxes. So we just have to have to be as prepared
 as we can be. Now, we know that we were we are looking toward changing what's going on
 in the health department. But it appears that indeed that budget, it looks like as if that
 for the state now that to be able to send to everyone is going to be cut. It looked
 like 50 million over a two-year period of time. And the state's revenue is way reduced
 as well, or at least they think it will be. They won't know until they've got their estimate
 of revenue before they can really make this decision. But we know that Senate Bill 1 had
 a lot of changes. And we also know that Representative Thompson is working on that 1402 to get
 those
 numbers to them and change the way the whole system is supposed to be working. And we just
 have to leave our minds open. And right now, I'd like for us to be able to tread water
 and just get by until we hear what is going to happen. And remember, every time we think
 it's less money for the county, it might just be that it makes more money for those people
 that we represent, the taxpayers. So thank you.
 >> All right. Let's go to Councillor Wilts. >> Thank you. And thank you for skipping me
 and coming back. I was super intimidated by the color-coded sheet to my left and I didn't
 know what to do with myself. In terms of updates from my liaison ships, I -- is that a word
 or liaison ship? >> It sure is.
 >> Sounds so weird. I'm liaison to the auditor's office and I don't know if you all have noticed
 the past couple of weeks there have been a flurry of emails from our internal auditor
 about assets and handling of assets. And I just want to commend them on really looking
 carefully and closely at how the real -- or the assets are handled within the county.
 You know, it's not something that is maybe the most sexy topic for everyone to be following
 along with, but it's a lot of work. And really making sure that we're following the law and
 doing what we need to do with those sorts of things is important. So I wanted to send
 out some kudos to the auditor's office on that. In addition, the waste reduction district
 is doing some really cool planning around the potential for -- and super early stages
 - but the potential for solar out at the old landfill. So we're getting some free technical
 assistance right now on the planning stages of what that could look like and how -- who
 we could partner with to make that happen. So that's pretty exciting. One other thing
 I wanted to just say, and then I promise we can end the meeting, but several times in
 this meeting the concept of caring for one another came up. And I think it's important
 for us to really pause and remember that that's an essential function of why we're here. It's
 an essential function of government. And as we go forth, and even as members of the public,
 caring for each other is fundamental. And if we don't hang on to that, especially in
 these times, I think we run the risk of really falling apart individually and collectively.
 And so I would encourage folks to just really think on that concept. I was in a meeting
 last week, walked out of this building, and on the corner there were folks demonstrating
 about the fact that the Medicaid waiver funding is under threat and people don't typically
 really understand how Medicaid waiver works. I don't fully, but it's not just about money
 for people who don't have resources. The waiver funding is what undergirds supports for people
 with disabilities, and it provides services for a huge proportion of our population who
 need services just to get through day-to-day activities. I'm reminded that that's under
 threat by our state. Adult protective services funding has been revoked apparently and doesn't
 have something in place yet. These are threats to how we care for each other in government,
 and I know we're facing an uncertain future. Councilor Hawk pointed out we've got a lot
 coming down at us from the state, and I think that we're taking measures to address those
 anticipated difficulties, those anticipated harms even, but not all harms are equal. And
 I don't think it's appropriate to justify our actions by drawing false equivalencies,
 and when someone is in our presence and expresses that harm has been done, it is not our place
 to put a value on their harm. It's our place as council to plan for and account for real
 and anticipated challenges, and I think that's why we have halted considerations of new positions
 that have monetary impact, but as we move forward this year we're going to face a lot
 of decisions around funding and not funding, and wherever we land I just hope that we can
 acknowledge any harms and mitigate those whenever possible. That's all I got.
 Thank you very much. Before we conclude, I would like to remind all of you that Women's
 History Month is today and every day for the month of March. It is quickly coming to a
 close and I am deeply honored to share this dais with some very strong and passionate
 women who take leadership very seriously, as you just heard, as well as those in council
 office staff, and we're just so thankful that we are able to do the work in this community
 thanks to strong women. I had the opportunity to be in Guatemala recently and was able to
 talk with some women leaders, an organization called Upavim. They made the tie that I'm
 wearing today. They are working diligently to train other women, to show leadership to
 other women throughout the country of Guatemala, indeed the world through their wares, to not
 only showcase that women can and are able to provide economically for their families
 even some of the most challenging situations, but also that when women come together we
 see some of the community's ills decrease, domestic violence and other forms of violence
 against women. So I wear this tie today in solidarity with not only the women in my life,
 but Todos Upavima and all the women around the world and I just want to express my gratitude
 to those folks and I want to end this meeting with a little bit of that celebration. This
 has been a pretty high stress meeting and some things have been said and I think it's important
 to recognize that we are surrounded by really strong women who are doing really great things
 for your community. We're adjourned.
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