WEBVTT 00:00:00.258 --> 00:00:10.193 - Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the first County Council meeting of the year. Today is January 00:00:10.193 --> 00:00:19.934 - 13th, 2026, and the time is now 4 or 5 or 4, and we are ready to start. And so we presently have all 00:00:19.934 --> 00:00:26.686 - council members present except Councilor Hawk, and I'm not seeing her 00:00:27.170 --> 00:00:35.601 - virtually just yet. So again, we have quorum, so we can go ahead and proceed. Before I do proceed, I 00:00:35.601 --> 00:00:44.700 - do want to take a point of privilege, because yet again, our county has lost another giant in the community. 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:51.294 - And so we lost Perry Township trustee Dan Combs, affectionately known as Cart. 00:00:51.394 --> 00:00:59.294 - And it was an unexpected passing and our community is better because of how he cared so much. And it's 00:00:59.294 --> 00:01:07.270 - a huge loss for us right now. So I just want to have our colleagues and those that are present, whether 00:01:07.270 --> 00:01:13.022 - it's virtually as well, to take a moment of silence to remember Mr. Combs. 00:01:29.282 --> 00:01:36.846 - All right, thank you very much. All right, next up on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. So all 00:01:36.846 --> 00:01:44.336 - those able to stand, please stand for the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 00:01:44.336 --> 00:01:51.975 - to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under 00:01:51.975 --> 00:01:55.870 - God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:02:01.570 --> 00:02:09.008 - Thank you. All right. Next up is the adoption of tonight's agenda. Does anybody wish to amend tonight's 00:02:09.008 --> 00:02:15.589 - agenda? Yes. Council, I understand. Council, I move to amend the agenda by amending item 7C 00:02:15.589 --> 00:02:23.027 - to acknowledgement of a resignation, amending item 7D to citizen appointment to a board, to the capital 00:02:23.027 --> 00:02:28.606 - improvement board, and then renumber the remaining items accordingly. Second. 00:02:32.098 --> 00:02:42.981 - Are there any other amendments to tonight's agenda? OK. I got a note up here that, Molly, you have something? 00:02:42.981 --> 00:02:52.875 - OK. I will be requesting an amendment to the hiring freeze resolution based on circumstances that I 00:02:52.875 --> 00:02:58.910 - learned about today revolving around the court's law clerks. 00:02:59.394 --> 00:03:09.678 - I amended it, I placed a draft on everyone in front of everyone. And then I will display it once we 00:03:09.678 --> 00:03:20.168 - get to. Okay. All right, that works. When will it show up on the agenda? Put it under item number 12, 00:03:20.168 --> 00:03:23.870 - council business. Council business. 00:03:32.866 --> 00:03:41.120 - Are there any other amendments to tonight's agenda? All right. So seeing none and still not seeing Councilor 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:48.920 - Hawk online since we are, we don't have anybody participating virtually. We can do this by voice vote. 00:03:48.920 --> 00:03:56.569 - So all those in favor of approving tonight's agenda as amended signify by saying aye. Aye. All those 00:03:56.569 --> 00:03:58.462 - opposed same sign. Okay. 00:03:58.594 --> 00:04:04.794 - motion carries. All right. Next up, we will go to item four, which is public comment. And so this is 00:04:04.794 --> 00:04:11.116 - an opportunity for public to come to the lectern here and then at you Hill room to speak on items that 00:04:11.116 --> 00:04:13.694 - are not on the agenda. But if you are not 00:04:13.826 --> 00:04:20.491 - You can also raise your hand via Teams, and each person will state their name, and they'll have up to 00:04:20.491 --> 00:04:27.286 - three minutes to make their comment for items not on the agenda. Looks like we got a friendly face here 00:04:27.286 --> 00:04:34.343 - already. So take it away. Thank you, Madam President. This is Christopher M.G. from the Greater Bloomington 00:04:34.343 --> 00:04:41.008 - Chamber of Commerce. I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year as we work our way through the ins and 00:04:41.008 --> 00:04:43.230 - outs of Monroe County government. 00:04:43.362 --> 00:04:49.909 - I want to recognize this body's steward of Monroe County's long-term health. It kind of goes hand-in-hand 00:04:49.909 --> 00:04:56.086 - with this little jobby, our 2026 legislative agenda that the chamber brought out last Friday at our 00:04:56.086 --> 00:05:02.448 - legislative preview. I guess it wasn't a preview, per se, for the General Assembly's been at work, but 00:05:02.448 --> 00:05:08.687 - we appreciate Councilmembers Henry, Iverson, and Deckard in attendance for that well-received Hilton 00:05:08.687 --> 00:05:10.046 - Garden and breakfast. 00:05:10.210 --> 00:05:17.537 - But one thing that comes clear from our legislative priorities, which we receive surveys from our members, 00:05:17.537 --> 00:05:24.385 - and then some things that are in there every year. But one thing that stands up is county growth is 00:05:24.385 --> 00:05:31.712 - no longer optional, it's a fiscal necessity. Under Indiana's income tax structure, counties depend heavily 00:05:31.712 --> 00:05:39.176 - on strength of their resident-based tax base. Attracting and retaining residents is essential to maintaining 00:05:39.176 --> 00:05:39.998 - the revenue 00:05:40.098 --> 00:05:47.043 - need to support core services. Without growth, costs rise, and fiscal flexibility narrows. We're already 00:05:47.043 --> 00:05:53.658 - talking about that crunch on personnel that Ms. Turner is going to amend. The reality is especially 00:05:53.658 --> 00:06:00.669 - important as county discussions hang around this justice system planning. The business community supports 00:06:00.669 --> 00:06:06.622 - a goal of a modern jail that improves safety and efficiency at the same time we recognize 00:06:06.722 --> 00:06:12.837 - the Council's responsibility to evaluate these investments through a disciplined fiscal lens. Long-term 00:06:12.837 --> 00:06:19.069 - operating and staffing costs, overall affordability and debt capacity, sustainability without overburning 00:06:19.069 --> 00:06:24.478 - existing residents. So the growth in the tax base ultimately makes these investments viable 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:30.865 - over time. So the county growth, however, does not mean one size fits all. We get that. Our members 00:06:30.865 --> 00:06:36.800 - constantly support sort of that balanced approach that respects the rural character and agriculture 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:43.031 - land of Monroe County. But the growth is aligned with infrastructure and service capacity. We know sewer 00:06:43.031 --> 00:06:48.254 - is an issue, but I think with collaboration we can solve that, and it reflects Monroe's 00:06:48.770 --> 00:06:54.790 - county's diverse sort of communities and economy here. The balance allows the council plan responsibly 00:06:54.790 --> 00:07:01.162 - while preserving what makes Monroe County distinctive. And across these issues, the chamber hears consistent 00:07:01.162 --> 00:07:04.318 - themes from employers regarding specifically the CDO. 00:07:04.482 --> 00:07:11.705 - Predictability matters, coordination matters, and fiscal realism matters. When the city and county work 00:07:11.705 --> 00:07:18.859 - together on land use, housing strategy, utilities, major capital planning, outcomes improve, long-term 00:07:18.859 --> 00:07:25.874 - risk is reduced. I want to thank all of you for your service and the opportunity to speak tonight. I 00:07:25.874 --> 00:07:32.542 - do appreciate that. I'm going to leave this agenda with Michelle. Thank you very much for that. 00:07:33.250 --> 00:07:40.960 - All right, there are any other members of the public here and present in the night you hill room who 00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:48.747 - wish to speak to items Not on today's agenda again. You could come forward to the lectern here in the 00:07:48.747 --> 00:07:56.533 - room or you can raise your hand via teams And Not seeing any more movement here We will move forward. 00:07:56.533 --> 00:07:59.358 - Thank you all for public comment and 00:07:59.458 --> 00:08:08.209 - Okay. All right. Next up is the department updates and again the department updates are where each department 00:08:08.209 --> 00:08:16.244 - has up to 10 minutes to speak on items that are not on the agenda. And we got some movement here and 00:08:16.244 --> 00:08:24.517 - it looks like I see Mr Jordan Miller, who is our jail financial manager coming. Present Hello. Welcome. 00:08:24.517 --> 00:08:25.790 - Good afternoon, 00:08:26.018 --> 00:08:41.918 - The balance as of October 1st, 2025 was $110,313.51. There was a total of $56,420.53 worth of receipts, 00:08:41.918 --> 00:08:46.046 - $298.47 worth of interest. 00:08:46.274 --> 00:09:02.408 - $47,235.97 in expenditures, resulting in a balance as of December 31st of $119,796.54. As you're aware, 00:09:02.408 --> 00:09:14.974 - IC 36-8-10-21 provides a list of approved expenses. And once again, the top item 00:09:15.426 --> 00:09:22.843 - of our expenditures would be the merchandise for resale, which was close to half. In total, 00:09:22.843 --> 00:09:30.905 - it was $21,434.85. And as I've mentioned in past meetings, this would consist of things such as our 00:09:30.905 --> 00:09:39.048 - Pepsi products, e-cigs, nicotine, things of that sort. Any questions I might be able to answer? Look 00:09:39.048 --> 00:09:43.966 - into council and see if you have any questions. Seeing none. 00:09:44.386 --> 00:09:51.459 - It may be, all right, Councilor Williams. I was just wondering, and this might be for Mr. Gibbons, that 00:09:51.459 --> 00:09:58.396 - if there was an update on the audit that was being performed? We did begin the process late December. 00:09:58.396 --> 00:10:05.469 - We're working hand in hand to complete the process. I've completed my own internal audit, kind of quite 00:10:05.469 --> 00:10:13.086 - a lengthy spreadsheet of all the receipts and expenditures and things of that sort, but we are making progress. 00:10:13.314 --> 00:10:21.987 - and we look to have additional information as soon as that takes place. OK, thank you. No other comments? 00:10:21.987 --> 00:10:30.497 - We appreciate it. Thank you much, Mr. Mellon. All right. Next up, I see Ms. Ferris coming present here. 00:10:30.497 --> 00:10:31.806 - Hello, welcome. 00:10:32.194 --> 00:10:39.871 - Hello, I'm Kylie Farris, Monroe County Election Supervisor. I wanted to come and give a couple of updates. 00:10:39.871 --> 00:10:46.974 - Candidate filing opened on January 7th and the last data file is going to be February 6th by noon. 00:10:47.234 --> 00:10:54.725 - See annual CFA fours are going to be due on January 21st, which is Wednesday next week by noon as well 00:10:54.725 --> 00:11:02.288 - And then the voter registration office will be moving to a temporary location On February 9th, and then 00:11:02.288 --> 00:11:09.924 - once the space that is downstairs and showers is completed. We will move down there And then in addition 00:11:09.924 --> 00:11:14.142 - click Brown had prepared a little small statement just to 00:11:14.402 --> 00:11:20.635 - prepare you guys for us coming to the council neck at the next meeting on February 27th. So the statement 00:11:20.635 --> 00:11:26.867 - is based on the clerks and the office's evaluation. It is simply not possible to run the kind of election 00:11:26.867 --> 00:11:32.982 - that Monroe County voters deserve with the amount of money that has been appropriated under the current 00:11:32.982 --> 00:11:33.982 - proposed budget. 00:11:34.690 --> 00:11:40.716 - Reducing the amount of money appropriated to our division will mean reduction in early voting hours. 00:11:40.716 --> 00:11:46.683 - Normal wait times will increase. Number of polling locations will be cut and an insufficient number 00:11:46.683 --> 00:11:51.038 - of poll workers at each location. Additionally, the reduction is funding 00:11:51.266 --> 00:11:57.633 - in funding makes our elections more vulnerable to emergencies. With little to no breathing room in our 00:11:57.633 --> 00:12:03.876 - budget, it will be impossible for us to make the security advancements that we believe are necessary 00:12:03.876 --> 00:12:10.181 - to provide Monroe County voters with the elections possible that we deserve and are accustomed to. At 00:12:10.181 --> 00:12:16.672 - its core, our concerns have to do with not providing the county's voters with a safe and secure election 00:12:16.672 --> 00:12:21.246 - process that is both the county clerk and election division staff school. 00:12:21.442 --> 00:12:28.749 - Thank you for your time, and if there are any other questions or concerns today, we'd be happy to answer, 00:12:28.749 --> 00:12:35.711 - but also we'll see you on the 27th as well. Okay, and you mentioned February 27th, January. January. 00:12:35.711 --> 00:12:42.811 - No, I just want to make sure. January 24th. Okay, yeah, because I know it was mentioned in some of the 00:12:42.811 --> 00:12:47.774 - headlines that council had taken some things away, and so I know it was 00:12:47.906 --> 00:12:54.528 - was repeatedly said during our council budget sessions that additional appropriations definitely could 00:12:54.528 --> 00:13:00.957 - be had once the clerk makes that request to the council. So it sounds like the ball is rolling, and 00:13:00.957 --> 00:13:07.450 - I appreciate that. And I saw a hand raised, and before I do, I see Councilor Hawkins live and in the 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:14.008 - building, and her hoosierette. Welcome. I am happy to be here. You cannot imagine. Well, we are happy 00:13:14.008 --> 00:13:15.358 - to see you. Welcome. 00:13:15.554 --> 00:13:21.191 - Council Henry. Thank you. I just wanted to be clear when I heard it. I appreciate you delivering the 00:13:21.191 --> 00:13:27.107 - message and you are the messenger here, not the person speaking. So did I hear correctly that the January 00:13:27.107 --> 00:13:32.967 - 27th, the clerk will be here to ask for that appropriation or to? I will be coming. Oh, you'll be coming 00:13:32.967 --> 00:13:38.771 - to ask for the appropriation? Well, that's outstanding. I look forward to having that conversation when 00:13:38.771 --> 00:13:42.622 - you come back. All right. Thank you. All right. Yes, Councilor Wilt. 00:13:42.818 --> 00:13:49.906 - You said you were moving to a temporary location until the bottom floor of showers is complete. Looks 00:13:49.906 --> 00:13:55.326 - like that's, I mean, it's moving quickly, but it's not quite ready for y'all. 00:13:55.490 --> 00:14:02.738 - Is the temporary location in showers? Yes. So the temporary location is suite 203. So it's going to 00:14:02.738 --> 00:14:10.059 - be on the other end of the upstairs hallway where TSD is. And then that'll be the temporary location 00:14:10.059 --> 00:14:17.308 - that we're moved to. And then once downstairs is completed, which we're thinking voter registration 00:14:17.308 --> 00:14:23.614 - won't move until June. I do have a question. Go ahead. Go ahead. Did you? It's OK. OK. 00:14:23.970 --> 00:14:32.260 - I'll come back. I apologize for being tardy, but I do have a question. When I go in to sign up and turn 00:14:32.260 --> 00:14:40.710 - in my reports and so forth, has this move, this move is immediate? No, so we will still be in the current 00:14:40.710 --> 00:14:48.840 - voter registration building until after candidate filing. We will move the Monday after the deadline. 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:51.710 - Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. 00:14:52.898 --> 00:14:59.926 - I'll look back to Councilor Wilts. No, I think that my questions about the statement that you read can 00:14:59.926 --> 00:15:07.227 - wait until you come back, because I do have questions about that. That and then I'm always open to emails, 00:15:07.227 --> 00:15:14.254 - so if you guys have any questions between then and now, that way I can get a head start to get answers 00:15:14.254 --> 00:15:21.214 - for you guys. Councilor Decker. I also look forward to you coming back, but I also want to thank your 00:15:21.442 --> 00:15:28.929 - folks who have the patience of Job in taking all of the public's questions, including public that might 00:15:28.929 --> 00:15:36.416 - be seeking office. And you all do a tremendous job with that and answer a lot of questions with smiles. 00:15:36.416 --> 00:15:43.831 - So thanks for all that and then managing us. Thank you guys. Thank you. All right. Are there any other 00:15:43.831 --> 00:15:47.358 - departments that are present here in the room or 00:15:47.458 --> 00:15:56.829 - I would like to give updates on items that are not on today's agenda. All right. Moving on. Thank you 00:15:56.829 --> 00:16:06.751 - all so much for your updates. Next up is the consent agenda items. Council, I move to approve the following 00:16:06.751 --> 00:16:10.334 - consent agenda items for January 13th. 00:16:10.562 --> 00:16:18.206 - The health department's request to fund 8111-9623 crisis coag support workforce for the creation of 00:16:18.206 --> 00:16:26.078 - account line 18001 full-time self-insurance and simultaneously approve a category transfer of $184,174 00:16:26.078 --> 00:16:30.206 - from the services category to the personnel category. 00:16:30.402 --> 00:16:38.509 - B, the highway department's request and fund 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway for the creation of account 00:16:38.509 --> 00:16:46.692 - line 20700 supply maintenance repair equipment and 24207 supply maintenance repair building slash grounds 00:16:46.692 --> 00:16:55.262 - and simultaneously approve a category transfer of $25,000 from the services category to the supplies category. 00:16:55.426 --> 00:17:05.445 - C, the highway department's request and fund 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway for the creation of account 00:17:05.445 --> 00:17:11.838 - line 38010 service maintenance slash repair equipment of $120,000. 00:17:12.418 --> 00:17:18.463 - from the supplies category to the services category. D, the county council summary minutes of September 00:17:18.463 --> 00:17:24.507 - 23rd, 2025 county council meeting. September 30th, 2025 county council special session meeting. October 00:17:24.507 --> 00:17:27.646 - the 8th, 2025 county council special session meeting. 00:17:27.714 --> 00:17:34.480 - October 14th, 2025 county council meeting. October 28th, 2025 county council meeting. November 10th, 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:41.649 - 2025 county council meeting. November 18th, 2025 county council meeting. December 9th, 2025 county council 00:17:41.649 --> 00:17:48.415 - meeting. December 16th, 2025 county council meeting. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second 00:17:48.415 --> 00:17:55.516 - on our consent agenda items as presented. Is there any questions or comments from council on these items? 00:17:55.516 --> 00:17:56.990 - Yes, Councilor Wilts. 00:17:57.762 --> 00:18:07.617 - I have a question about our minutes and just in general about the minutes. So not really impacting my 00:18:07.617 --> 00:18:17.568 - vote on approving this but I did see an email about the change maybe in the protocol for producing the 00:18:17.568 --> 00:18:27.230 - minutes for us. Do you know what I'm looking at Michelle because I think it was a copy of an email. 00:18:28.674 --> 00:18:40.486 - that was about who is involved in the process, and I was never certain exactly since we moved away from 00:18:40.486 --> 00:18:51.957 - the verbatim minutes how these are produced. So the auditor's office starts the process, creates the 00:18:51.957 --> 00:18:57.182 - minutes, and then we have a process now where 00:18:57.314 --> 00:19:05.295 - When she's done with those, she lets us know. And then Lehua in the office will check those. I'll give 00:19:05.295 --> 00:19:13.276 - it one final check, and then they're good to go kind of thing. So there's like three sets of eyes that 00:19:13.276 --> 00:19:21.102 - will be on the minutes checking that kind of stuff. Have we ever had any issues with accuracy in the 00:19:21.102 --> 00:19:26.526 - minutes? In general, no pointing fingers. I mean, three sets of eyes. 00:19:27.330 --> 00:19:34.598 - on this, I'm just looking to save people time if you ever worked in them. And so I just kind of want 00:19:34.598 --> 00:19:41.867 - to know, is that really necessary? That's where I'm headed to have that many eyes on. We're starting 00:19:41.867 --> 00:19:49.279 - a new thing where it's, there is a, and I can't, it's called tracking changes. So that whoever is just 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:51.294 - beginning the minutes, then 00:19:51.586 --> 00:19:57.331 - We'll see what's going on. So for the first couple of sets of minutes, we're going to do that where 00:19:57.331 --> 00:20:03.190 - I'm checking them, but then along with Lehua. But then after that, it's one person is going to check, 00:20:03.190 --> 00:20:09.222 - one person is going to review, and then we're done. So there'll be two sets of eyes, but right now we've 00:20:09.222 --> 00:20:09.854 - got three. 00:20:10.690 --> 00:20:16.757 - And it looks like you might have some time. Yeah, I was just going to say that. Yeah, in the past, the 00:20:16.757 --> 00:20:23.060 - council administrative assistant would create the minutes. And then either the chief deputy or the council 00:20:23.060 --> 00:20:29.010 - assistant's counterpart, the commissioner's assistant, would review. Because of the added layers, we 00:20:29.010 --> 00:20:34.901 - cut out that second layer review in my office. I just don't think it's necessary, just to save some 00:20:34.901 --> 00:20:35.902 - time and energy. 00:20:36.066 --> 00:20:43.140 - From my perspective, on the outside looking in, of course, because I'm not doing those minutes myself, 00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:50.215 - it seems like a lot of the changes have just been like preferential. And so however the council wishes 00:20:50.215 --> 00:20:57.152 - to have their minutes, that's absolutely fine. But we'll do that initial and then pass it on to your 00:20:57.152 --> 00:21:04.638 - office to make those adjustments as you like. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you. Yes, council hawk. Yes. 00:21:04.802 --> 00:21:14.592 - before we had the meetings recorded and we can look at what the written word is saying there. I think 00:21:14.592 --> 00:21:24.191 - that's important that we keep that. And also, not too long ago, the minutes were kept and it was up 00:21:24.191 --> 00:21:29.854 - to the office or whoever was putting it together to put in 00:21:30.754 --> 00:21:37.260 - comments that they thought was important, which I think is ridiculous because it's what we're saying, 00:21:37.260 --> 00:21:43.829 - not what they think. It's just I'm saying. So I'm glad they don't do that anymore. It should be either 00:21:43.829 --> 00:21:50.207 - it's going to be verbatim or it's going to be this is what the motion said and not what this person 00:21:50.207 --> 00:21:56.585 - thought this or that person thought that. You put it all in there, in which I don't know if there's 00:21:56.585 --> 00:21:59.838 - room for that. So I'm glad to see that's no longer 00:22:00.482 --> 00:22:11.729 - That was a lot of pressure as well when the person trying to put the minutes together. I will also say 00:22:11.729 --> 00:22:23.084 - that the recordings are available to the public and that the transcript is also available to the public 00:22:23.084 --> 00:22:29.854 - on that recording through Teams. There is a verbatim portion. 00:22:30.882 --> 00:22:38.085 - as long as for like accuracy on that, you know that it's not gonna be, cause sometimes they'll call 00:22:38.085 --> 00:22:45.360 - me, you say Miss Shell and my name becomes Michelle. So, you know, kind of thing. So, but there is a 00:22:45.360 --> 00:22:52.708 - transcript available as well, so. Yeah, and I think we all have to remember, like, that's a whole lot 00:22:52.708 --> 00:22:57.822 - of minutes, like a bulk of our packet was a lot of the minutes and my, 00:22:58.178 --> 00:23:04.779 - eight to five time frame there is the office that I work in. We primarily deal a lot with that and it 00:23:04.779 --> 00:23:11.315 - really managed to just really primarily be about motions and actions that have been taken and really 00:23:11.315 --> 00:23:17.852 - not into the weeds of who said what about what and how, when or where, because that gets really kind 00:23:17.852 --> 00:23:24.453 - of sticky and y'all are not transcribing the meeting. So that's for people who want to take a look at 00:23:24.453 --> 00:23:26.718 - what county government looks like. 00:23:26.882 --> 00:23:34.786 - 20 years from now if they decide to go back. All right. But much appreciation to everybody that had 00:23:34.786 --> 00:23:42.770 - a lot to do with the meeting minutes as well. Yes, Councillor Hock. Right. Regarding the transfer in 00:23:42.770 --> 00:23:50.753 - the health department, and so it says remaining balance available is zero, and it says the fund cash 00:23:50.753 --> 00:23:56.286 - balance, but it doesn't say which fund balance they're talking about. 00:23:56.386 --> 00:24:05.111 - But what I'm seeing here is the self-insurance new account line, that that is going to be moved to, 00:24:05.111 --> 00:24:13.836 - it appears it's gonna be moving to a grant fund, is that correct? And so all of this statement, oh, 00:24:13.836 --> 00:24:22.736 - we can't move self-insurance into grant funds, well, duh, right there, it tells us something, because 00:24:22.736 --> 00:24:24.830 - it can be. Ms. Gregory. 00:24:25.058 --> 00:24:34.567 - If I may, it depends on the grant and, you know, specifically what the award is allowed to be used for. 00:24:34.567 --> 00:24:44.441 - So it appears in this case it is an acceptable expense. Moving on. Is there any other questions or comments 00:24:44.441 --> 00:24:53.310 - from anybody related to tonight's consent agenda items as presented? All right. And seeing none. 00:24:53.666 --> 00:25:02.891 - since we got everybody present. All those in favor of approving our consent agenda items as presented, 00:25:02.891 --> 00:25:11.937 - signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. All right, motion carries. Thank you. Next 00:25:11.937 --> 00:25:17.758 - up is item number seven. Oh, that's me. Oh, hey, yeah. Bless me. 00:25:18.210 --> 00:25:26.803 - Every year we do this thing called reorganization where the state statute requires us to appoint and 00:25:26.803 --> 00:25:35.311 - approve council president and pro tem as the first meeting of every year. And so now we open up the 00:25:35.311 --> 00:25:40.926 - floor here for nominations for president. Yes, Councilor Iverson. 00:25:41.410 --> 00:25:51.856 - Madam President, this county has been through a lot in the previous year. And so I move that Jennifer 00:25:51.856 --> 00:26:02.097 - Crossley remain as president of the Monroe County Council. All right, we got a motion and a second. 00:26:02.097 --> 00:26:10.494 - Sorry, who seconded? Marty. OK, thank you. All right, we got motion and a second. 00:26:10.818 --> 00:26:19.232 - I guess I have to accept the nomination first. So yes, I accept the nomination. Thank you very much. 00:26:19.232 --> 00:26:27.562 - Great. I know, right? I appreciate that. Yes, as we have definitely discussed, we have been through 00:26:27.562 --> 00:26:36.059 - a lot, but I'm a glutton for punishment, and I continue to volunteer myself to the Tribune. I thought 00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:38.558 - last year was not going to be 00:26:39.554 --> 00:26:47.271 - I mean, nobody thought 2025 would turn out the way that it did, but it just kept each month just kept 00:26:47.271 --> 00:26:54.836 - saying, hold my beer. So I am willing to continue to lead with our council members here. And I look 00:26:54.836 --> 00:27:02.478 - forward to continuing to work with my county council members, all six of you, as we continue to move 00:27:02.478 --> 00:27:09.438 - forward with the United Front, because we got a lot of stuff coming our way, as we've seen. 00:27:09.538 --> 00:27:15.478 - I appreciate that, thank you. Anybody else has any other questions or comments? Yes, Councilor Henry. 00:27:15.478 --> 00:27:21.301 - Thank you, Madam President, and I'm glad that I'll have another year of saying Madam President down 00:27:21.301 --> 00:27:27.357 - the line. We all know that not every Hollywood sequel is great, but may this be like The Godfather Part 00:27:27.357 --> 00:27:33.238 - II. Maybe that is intentional to say it that way, but I'm glad it'll be in the driver's seat for the 00:27:33.238 --> 00:27:38.654 - year to come. Thank you. My name is Jennifer Crosley, and I approve that message. All right. 00:27:38.786 --> 00:27:49.532 - Anybody else having questions or comments? All right. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call 00:27:49.532 --> 00:28:00.593 - on the presidency for 2026? Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor 00:28:00.593 --> 00:28:07.230 - Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crosley? Yeah, yes. 00:28:07.426 --> 00:28:15.863 - Councilor Iverson yes motion passes unanimous all right thank you all very much for trusting me with 00:28:15.863 --> 00:28:24.384 - all of this all right next up is item B and that's where we elect our president pro temp of 2026 same 00:28:24.384 --> 00:28:30.398 - as before so look to see if there's any nominations from the floor here 00:28:32.002 --> 00:28:40.950 - I'll take a point of privilege here. I will make a motion as we continue to keep with the continuity 00:28:40.950 --> 00:28:50.252 - of council leadership for the year. I would like to nominate our current president pro tem Peter Iverson 00:28:50.252 --> 00:28:56.542 - to the same job. Yes. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second. 00:28:57.698 --> 00:29:05.498 - Thank you so much for your faith in my golden voice I pledge to continue to read what I have to read 00:29:05.498 --> 00:29:13.375 - with interest and I'm really looking forward to the coming year to tackling challenges with you madam 00:29:13.375 --> 00:29:21.174 - president I know we went through a lot last year and I have a lot of confidence and Optimism that we 00:29:21.174 --> 00:29:27.198 - will do very well this year. So thank you for your confidence in me All right 00:29:27.522 --> 00:29:36.812 - Any other questions or comments for Councilor Iverson? Yes, Councilor Wilts. I appreciate both of you 00:29:36.812 --> 00:29:46.011 - being willing to serve in our leadership for another year. I think it just bears repeating that it's 00:29:46.011 --> 00:29:56.030 - been a lot, and I've been in that seat, I've been in both those seats, and it's more challenging by the year. 00:29:56.610 --> 00:30:08.231 - I'm enthusiastically supporting you both and offering unsolicited advice to exercise some self-care 00:30:08.231 --> 00:30:20.666 - in the realm of how much you take on and lean on us as needed. You're here. All right. Any other questions 00:30:20.666 --> 00:30:24.734 - or comments for Councilor Iverson? 00:30:27.106 --> 00:30:36.208 - and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor 00:30:36.208 --> 00:30:44.635 - Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Decker? 00:30:44.635 --> 00:30:53.062 - Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Your 2026 leadership of president and pro tem is approved. 00:30:53.062 --> 00:30:55.422 - Thank you very much, y'all. 00:30:56.066 --> 00:31:05.705 - All right, next up is item C here. And it looks like that we have, as a reminder to the public, we have, 00:31:05.705 --> 00:31:14.884 - oops, let me go back. We have an acknowledgement of a citizen appointment resignation, which is Mr. 00:31:14.884 --> 00:31:24.798 - Galen Cassidy from the Food and Beverage Tax Commission, or yes, Food and Beverage Tax Commission. So that, 00:31:24.898 --> 00:31:34.154 - is received, is there any objections from council on this resignation? All right, seeing none, we have 00:31:34.154 --> 00:31:43.499 - received that. Also along that same tone here, we did have Mr. Galen Cassidy apply to be our appointee, 00:31:43.499 --> 00:31:52.755 - the council appointee for the Capital Improvement Board. He would be completing the two-year term that 00:31:52.755 --> 00:31:54.462 - expires next year. 00:31:54.562 --> 00:32:04.213 - January 1st, 2027, because as you know, our former council member, Jeff McKim, who had that position 00:32:04.213 --> 00:32:13.865 - resigned to take on new position that he has. So I wanted to express that. Okay. And we just rolling 00:32:13.865 --> 00:32:23.134 - through all of this, right? Yep. We need to vote. Yeah, I need to vote. Oh, okay. I wasn't sure. 00:32:23.810 --> 00:32:29.866 - appointment to the Capital Improvement Board. Okay, so we technically need to make a motion because 00:32:29.866 --> 00:32:36.043 - there was no motion that was made. Okay. Correct. Okay, Councilor Everson. Council, I move to approve 00:32:36.043 --> 00:32:42.341 - the appointment of Galen Cassidy to the Capital Improvement Board for the completion of a two-year term 00:32:42.341 --> 00:32:48.760 - that expires on January 1st, 2027. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. And I'm not certain, 00:32:48.760 --> 00:32:52.030 - I don't want to put him on the spot. I know he was on 00:32:52.258 --> 00:33:01.816 - a little bit ago, but Mr. Cassidy, if you would like to come off a mute, and if you want to, no pressure, 00:33:01.816 --> 00:33:10.923 - if you want to come off a mute and say something about this motion that was made, now is the time to 00:33:10.923 --> 00:33:17.054 - do so. Yeah, I'm happy to thank you for the time and consideration. 00:33:17.442 --> 00:33:24.988 - I just wanna say that I'm honored to be a part of this. If you choose to go this path, and I've been 00:33:24.988 --> 00:33:32.609 - very excited about this project from the get go, leading this bead advisory group. And I look forward 00:33:32.609 --> 00:33:40.230 - to continue to help and advise in this project the best I can from my perspective as a small business 00:33:40.230 --> 00:33:44.414 - owner in the downtown Bloomington. Thank you very much. 00:33:44.930 --> 00:33:51.222 - All right, is there any other questions or comments on this from Council? Yes, Councilor Decker. I just 00:33:51.222 --> 00:33:57.333 - want to thank Mr. Cassidy for this first prior service and this service. And one thing I want to say 00:33:57.333 --> 00:34:03.444 - is the amazing thing about this board, the Capital Improvements Board, is they truly are moving like 00:34:03.444 --> 00:34:06.590 - lightning on that project. And I can remember times 00:34:06.690 --> 00:34:13.394 - in this council when our discussions and frustration on the convention center issues that we were having 00:34:13.394 --> 00:34:19.906 - were to a proportion that everyone sort of rung their hands and said, how in the world will this ever 00:34:19.906 --> 00:34:26.483 - happen? But that capital improvement board and the collaboration between all parties, and I can recall 00:34:26.483 --> 00:34:32.867 - those days vividly, has got us to this moment so much that I believe this for this particular seat, 00:34:32.867 --> 00:34:35.038 - this is the third person in about 00:34:35.426 --> 00:34:41.813 - two years, but it's not a signal that things are going bad. It's just that they're doing the work and 00:34:41.813 --> 00:34:48.262 - people step off for other things. This is a model, friends, on how I think it can go. And I appreciate 00:34:48.262 --> 00:34:54.712 - very much that board's diligence on that. There's really nothing stopping them. And that might be give 00:34:54.712 --> 00:35:00.222 - us hope for a few other things we've got in our minds these days. All right. Thank you. 00:35:00.578 --> 00:35:08.296 - Yes, I appreciate your willingness to move forward with this and stay with us and use the experience 00:35:08.296 --> 00:35:15.938 - that you've already received on the Food and Beverage Commission. Just as a reminder, there's a lot 00:35:15.938 --> 00:35:21.822 - going on at the state right now having to do with expanded opportunities for 00:35:22.050 --> 00:35:30.925 - tourism and having to do with the innkeeper's tax and the food and beverage tax and so forth. And so 00:35:30.925 --> 00:35:39.799 - there's a lot that we have to continue to watch to see if there's opportunities for us to learn from 00:35:39.799 --> 00:35:48.849 - others and do better for ourselves. But happy to see that we have people who love the downtown and who 00:35:48.849 --> 00:35:51.134 - wants tourism to do well. 00:35:51.394 --> 00:36:02.108 - So because we need downtown to be successful so that the county can be successful. And so it reflects 00:36:02.108 --> 00:36:08.830 - well that we have downtown businesses that want to participate. 00:36:10.466 --> 00:36:17.021 - Council Henry. Thank you, Madam President. And I thank you, Mr. Cassidy, for stepping into the role 00:36:17.021 --> 00:36:23.708 - in the CIB. You're filling several sets of big shoes between Mr. Spoonmore and Mr. McKim that precede 00:36:23.708 --> 00:36:30.263 - you. I agree with my fellow councilor's statements on the vitality of that board. As this council's 00:36:30.263 --> 00:36:37.015 - member on the capital, I'm sorry, the visitor's commission for the county, the CBC, we're in the phase 00:36:37.015 --> 00:36:38.654 - now where we're booking. 00:36:38.722 --> 00:36:44.914 - for that facility now. So when folks in the community see the steel going up, we're already booking 00:36:44.914 --> 00:36:51.416 - ahead to when we finally open those doors and those thousand plus conferences come to Bloomington, which 00:36:51.416 --> 00:36:57.794 - is exciting. So having you there now that we've moved through a get the thing going phase and with Mr. 00:36:57.794 --> 00:37:04.048 - McKim's fiscal acumen getting us to shovels on the ground and now with your eyes as a small business 00:37:04.048 --> 00:37:05.534 - owner in the community, 00:37:05.602 --> 00:37:14.362 - of the bookings to come. I appreciate your service, so thank you for signing up for it. All right, yes, 00:37:14.362 --> 00:37:22.784 - and thank you very much for all the work that you will continue to do. All right, without any other 00:37:22.784 --> 00:37:31.965 - further questions or comments from council on this, Michelle, can we please have a roll call vote? Councilor 00:37:31.965 --> 00:37:35.166 - Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. 00:37:35.298 --> 00:37:43.201 - Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Motion 00:37:43.201 --> 00:37:51.258 - is approved, unanimous seven zero. All right. Thank you very much. And thank you, Mr. Cassidy. And with 00:37:51.258 --> 00:37:59.083 - his resignation from the Food and Beverage Tax Commission, there is now a vacancy that we will have. 00:37:59.083 --> 00:38:04.894 - So those that are interested, please go to our county's website and apply. 00:38:06.114 --> 00:38:16.862 - Yes counselor will. I think this particular position on the food and beverage tax advisory commission 00:38:16.862 --> 00:38:25.502 - is it has to be someone who is a restaurateur and maybe Molly could clarify that. 00:38:26.338 --> 00:38:34.539 - Mr. Cassidy was fulfilling one of the three spots that are filled by owners of retail facilities that 00:38:34.539 --> 00:38:42.740 - sell food or beverages subject to the county fab tax So his replacement would have to also meet those 00:38:42.740 --> 00:38:51.022 - qualifications Okay, so you're listening or watching Um, and if you meet those requirements definitely 00:38:51.022 --> 00:38:54.238 - apply Okay. All right next up we have a 00:38:55.074 --> 00:39:03.237 - the current county council vacancies for boards and commissions. And just as a reminder, we have the 00:39:03.237 --> 00:39:12.046 - ones for the Sophia Travis Grant Committee. Again, that is a two year term. And again, if you are interested 00:39:12.046 --> 00:39:20.208 - in applying for those vacancies, services, definitely something that we would love to do or have you 00:39:24.930 --> 00:39:31.978 - And you can click on community and click on board and commission page. And on that page, you should 00:39:31.978 --> 00:39:39.238 - be able to click apply and apply for those vacancies. All right. Next up, we have item D, which is the 00:39:39.238 --> 00:39:42.974 - reappointment of the various boards and commissions. 00:39:43.170 --> 00:39:49.158 - Thank you. Council, I move to approve the following citizen reappointments to the Alcoholic Beverage 00:39:49.158 --> 00:39:55.086 - Commission. Anthony Satili, one year term expires December 31st, 2026. Board of Zoning Appeals skip 00:39:55.086 --> 00:39:58.110 - daily a four year term expiring January 1st, 2030. 00:39:58.178 --> 00:40:05.777 - The Library Board of Trustees Jennifer Whitley a four-year term expiring January 31, 2030. The Redevelopment 00:40:05.777 --> 00:40:12.958 - Commission Colin McCarty a one-year term expires January 1, 2027. Also to the Redevelopment Commission 00:40:12.958 --> 00:40:16.862 - Iris Kiesling a one-year term expiring January 1, 2027. 00:40:17.090 --> 00:40:23.964 - to the Traffic Commission, Reid Adams, a two-year term expiring December 31, 2027, and two appointments 00:40:23.964 --> 00:40:30.838 - to the Women's Commission, Tiana Eriuli, a two-year term expiring January 1, 2028, and Juliet Hardesty, 00:40:30.838 --> 00:40:37.513 - a two-year term expiring January 1, 2028. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second for all of 00:40:37.513 --> 00:40:44.123 - those. Any questions or comments from council related to the Boarding Commission? Yes. Apologies to 00:40:44.123 --> 00:40:46.238 - any mispronunciations of names. 00:40:48.514 --> 00:40:56.570 - I apologize. It's okay. It's all right All right, um any other questions or comments from council again 00:40:56.570 --> 00:41:04.625 - want to take the point of privilege to thank those that are Continuing to serve the community and those 00:41:04.625 --> 00:41:12.371 - that will continue to do so without that me or Any other further questions or comments? seeing none 00:41:12.371 --> 00:41:15.934 - and we usually don't have public comment on a 00:41:16.482 --> 00:41:24.569 - Okay, because I see it listed here. So I will go ahead and have a roll call vote on the reappointments. 00:41:24.569 --> 00:41:32.889 - Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Hawk? Yes. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor 00:41:32.889 --> 00:41:41.053 - Deckard? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Motion is approved unanimous 7-0. All right, 00:41:41.053 --> 00:41:42.686 - thank you very much. 00:41:43.010 --> 00:41:50.370 - Yes, Council. Can I ask a question about the current vacant council boards or commissions for citizen 00:41:50.370 --> 00:41:58.163 - members up above where it talks about the Capital Improvement Board? Kate and I were just kind of wondering 00:41:58.163 --> 00:42:05.379 - when we approved Galen Cassidy, whether that still should be on there, right? No. No. That's... Ms. 00:42:05.379 --> 00:42:06.750 - Turner, can you... 00:42:08.514 --> 00:42:15.196 - Originally, the agenda had the appointment of Mr. Cassidy, but we had to remove it, and then I discussed 00:42:15.196 --> 00:42:21.687 - with him, and so we added it back. And so when we removed it, we put on the agenda appointment to the 00:42:21.687 --> 00:42:28.115 - Capital Improvement Board. But with the appointment of Mr. Cassidy to the Capital Improvement Board, 00:42:28.115 --> 00:42:34.542 - there is no longer a vacancy on that board. It does create a vacancy on Fabtech. Right. That's where 00:42:34.542 --> 00:42:37.406 - I was saying that. OK. Thank you. All right. 00:42:37.570 --> 00:42:47.208 - Any other questions or comments before we move on? All right. So this is the part last year where we 00:42:47.208 --> 00:42:48.926 - really got stuck. 00:42:49.122 --> 00:42:56.252 - the agenda was going so fast until we got to this point. And so we as liaisons to various departments 00:42:56.252 --> 00:43:03.521 - and to the various boards of commissions of the county, I think we've done a really good job this year, 00:43:03.521 --> 00:43:10.721 - and I appreciate all of my council colleagues for stepping up and doing that. I know some of y'all had 00:43:10.721 --> 00:43:18.270 - some really daunting task and did a lot of hard work, and I appreciate all of that. So I would like to take 00:43:18.626 --> 00:43:27.865 - this a different direction. So instead of going through and kind of do a roll call on who wants to do 00:43:27.865 --> 00:43:37.375 - what, is there any objections to anybody staying with their current liaison assignments? And some people 00:43:37.375 --> 00:43:45.798 - kind of want to move around. Yes. Counselor Wilkes. First, I do not have an objection to any 00:43:45.798 --> 00:43:48.606 - of my appointments. Thank you. 00:43:48.738 --> 00:44:01.145 - I would, again, just offer that perhaps the president and president pro temp think about whether or 00:44:01.145 --> 00:44:14.296 - not they should offload a spot from their duties. Just a suggestion, not that I'm angling to get anything 00:44:14.296 --> 00:44:17.150 - or anything like that. 00:44:17.922 --> 00:44:27.826 - I just know how busy you are. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, Councillor Decker. I am not that 00:44:27.826 --> 00:44:37.635 - I don't enjoy this service, but I think Councillor Fiddle, who has done some pinch hitting for me with 00:44:37.635 --> 00:44:42.206 - the BDC, let me say it long ways for the public 00:44:42.306 --> 00:44:54.791 - Bloomington Economic Development Corporation's membership, liaisonship. I would recommend that I come 00:44:54.791 --> 00:45:07.277 - off that and she go on. I'm happy to do that. Okay. So it seems like for 2026, we will have Councilor 00:45:07.277 --> 00:45:11.806 - Feidl step in for the BD membership. 00:45:12.482 --> 00:45:20.630 - Councilor Hawk does, see your hand go up over here. I mean, if for some reason there would be a council 00:45:20.630 --> 00:45:28.700 - member that later would decide they would like to be moved or relieved of one department or the other, 00:45:28.700 --> 00:45:36.613 - we could do that without taking three hours. Exactly. That's why you're setting the Airbnb president 00:45:36.613 --> 00:45:41.470 - again. We don't want to do that again. We want to go home and 00:45:41.634 --> 00:45:48.829 - and get ready for next week in Miami, or in my case, the Bears. All right. Yes. I would just say, 00:45:48.829 --> 00:45:56.172 - I actually, the approach of kind of keeping it how it is really pleases me. And the reason being is 00:45:56.172 --> 00:46:03.807 - because we're not in normal budgetary times. And a familiar face in a department is not the worst thing 00:46:03.807 --> 00:46:07.038 - among things that are not feeling the best. 00:46:07.138 --> 00:46:14.717 - And I think until we get to the other side of whatever this is, that would be, it's probably the wisest 00:46:14.717 --> 00:46:22.441 - course for now. All right. So again, this isn't something that's set in stone right now. But as Councilor 00:46:22.441 --> 00:46:24.190 - Hockin mentioned, if we 00:46:24.354 --> 00:46:30.982 - The only change it looks like we'll do currently is from Decker to Fido for the BED membership. 00:46:30.982 --> 00:46:37.955 - And of course, if any of us find that we need to make some changes, we can do so at future meetings. 00:46:37.955 --> 00:46:44.927 - Yes, Councilor Hawke. Right. I would just like to use this time as a reminder that any one of us can 00:46:44.927 --> 00:46:51.486 - call any department head and ask for questions to be answered. And they should show each of us 00:46:51.586 --> 00:46:59.402 - the same kind of respect as they would their liaison because we should not any of us have to wait until 00:46:59.402 --> 00:47:07.142 - someone else has a time to ask a question and our question might be more relevant just to what we need 00:47:07.142 --> 00:47:15.409 - to know. So agree. Thank you very much for that. All right. Yes. Councillor Henry. Thank you madam president. 00:47:15.409 --> 00:47:19.166 - So do we just need an amendment to adopt the 2020 00:47:19.298 --> 00:47:29.675 - 2025 list as amended for 2026 or is that required? We do. We just. Yep. All right. So that was easy. 00:47:29.675 --> 00:47:39.950 - All right. Moving on to the next item. I can't believe how fast that went. Knock on wood. Council I 00:47:39.950 --> 00:47:48.478 - move to open for discussion possible approval of the highway department's request. 00:47:48.674 --> 00:47:56.843 - Oh my goodness. They're hiring him way too young. To be exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed 00:47:56.843 --> 00:48:05.093 - to hire and fund 1176-0000 Motor Vehicle Highway, a mechanic position. All right, we got a motion and 00:48:05.093 --> 00:48:13.262 - a second and I see a future council member in the making with Ms. Ridge. Hello, welcome. This is not 00:48:13.262 --> 00:48:14.718 - the mechanic. Hi. 00:48:15.426 --> 00:48:22.322 - Good evening. So I know we're under a hiring freeze, but we did have a mechanic give their notice at 00:48:22.322 --> 00:48:29.286 - the beginning of the year. His last day is this Friday. So with having 134 pieces of active equipment 00:48:29.286 --> 00:48:36.182 - between trucks and dump trucks, grade all sweepers, excavators, skid steers, back trucks, we need to 00:48:36.182 --> 00:48:43.010 - get that second mechanic. We have one master mechanic and then two regular mechanics. So we're just 00:48:43.010 --> 00:48:44.990 - here. I'm here to request to 00:48:45.186 --> 00:48:53.815 - that position. All right, thank you for that. Any questions or comments from Council? To the left here. 00:48:53.815 --> 00:49:02.279 - Yes, Councillor Hoff. Yes, as a reminder, this position is paid for out of the highway's revenue. And 00:49:02.279 --> 00:49:10.576 - as long as their revenue covers and they know how to watch their budget, it is quite different from 00:49:10.576 --> 00:49:14.974 - the hiring freeze that we have on the other budgets. 00:49:16.194 --> 00:49:25.732 - just it just is. Thank you for that reminder. Anybody else have any questions or comments for Miss Ridge? 00:49:25.732 --> 00:49:35.360 - Seeing none, we will move to public comment. If you have public comment on this item, you can come forward 00:49:35.360 --> 00:49:44.448 - to the lectern here or you can raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, may we please have a roll 00:49:44.448 --> 00:49:45.438 - call vote? 00:49:48.354 --> 00:49:55.935 - Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor 00:49:55.935 --> 00:50:03.300 - Hawke? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you 00:50:03.300 --> 00:50:10.520 - very much. Thank you. Thanks for coming. All right. Next up is our new business. Council, I move to 00:50:10.520 --> 00:50:18.174 - approve the Jail Slash Correctional Center's request to amend the following in the 2026 salary ordinance. 00:50:18.306 --> 00:50:29.470 - First, in Fund 1170-0380 Public Safety Lit Jail, in Account Line 17101 Overtime, the range of $40.93 00:50:29.470 --> 00:50:37.982 - to $65 hourly. Account Line 17801 Part Time, the range is $14 to $30 hourly. 00:50:38.114 --> 00:50:46.114 - In the second fund, fund 1000-0380 County General Jail in account line 17101 overtime with a range of 00:50:46.114 --> 00:50:54.035 - $40.93 to $65 hourly. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second. We have Mr. Miller here along 00:50:54.035 --> 00:51:02.270 - with our jail commander. Welcome. Hello again. Yes, as you can see, this is kind of a housekeeping item. 00:51:02.402 --> 00:51:09.647 - We've got three different accounts in the salary ordinance that we're interested in increasing the max 00:51:09.647 --> 00:51:16.822 - range to, starting with our part-time hourly. Historically, part-time correction officers are earning 00:51:16.822 --> 00:51:23.857 - the same hourly base rate as our new full-time, and this year, of course, that increased to $27.29. 00:51:23.857 --> 00:51:31.454 - As you can see, we also added a little bit higher than that amount with the potential for future increases. 00:51:31.554 --> 00:51:39.558 - theoretically not having to come do this each and every year. That one also kind of turned into the 00:51:39.558 --> 00:51:47.962 - others needing to be adjusted as well with these increased rates. The overtime lines for both our public 00:51:47.962 --> 00:51:56.926 - safety lit fund as well as our county general fund are in need of some changes to account for the potential max 00:51:57.058 --> 00:52:04.308 - pay in each of those. The difference from the Public Safety Lit Fund to the County General Fund is a 00:52:04.308 --> 00:52:11.631 - matter of the Public Safety Lit Fund only houses COs, the correction officers, and the County General 00:52:11.631 --> 00:52:18.953 - Fund contains sergeants, which of course have a higher base rate, and these as well have a little bit 00:52:18.953 --> 00:52:25.342 - higher, a little bit of a cushion for the potential for future increases. Any questions? 00:52:25.890 --> 00:52:35.400 - Any questions for Mr. Miller from council? Seeing none. OK. Self-explanatory. All right. If there is 00:52:35.400 --> 00:52:45.098 - public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the night UO room, or you can 00:52:45.098 --> 00:52:55.550 - raise your hand via Teams. And as a stall so that we can have Michelle come. Yeah. I can do the roll call. OK. 00:52:56.002 --> 00:53:03.257 - All right, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor 00:53:03.257 --> 00:53:10.657 - Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Crossley? 00:53:10.657 --> 00:53:15.518 - Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Okay, thank you very much. Next up item B. 00:53:15.586 --> 00:53:23.672 - Council, I move to approve the request to amend the following in the 2026 salary ordinance. First, in 00:53:23.672 --> 00:53:31.758 - Fund 1000-0380, County General Jail, and remove the following account lines. 16031, Captain, at 41.25 00:53:31.758 --> 00:53:39.210 - hours, jail cap exempt. In Line 16032, Captain, at 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. And finally, 00:53:39.210 --> 00:53:45.552 - in Line 1603, Captain, at 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. And in the second fund, 00:53:45.552 --> 00:53:58.067 - Fund 1233-0000, correctional lit. Add the following account lines. 16031, captain, 41.25 hours, jail 00:53:58.067 --> 00:54:11.077 - cap exempt. 16032, captain, 41.25 jail cap exempt. 16033, captain, 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. Second. 00:54:11.077 --> 00:54:15.166 - Okay. And this one is looking to 00:54:16.450 --> 00:54:24.830 - Michelle for this one. Yes, Jordan contacted me and let me know that the salary ordinance didn't match 00:54:24.830 --> 00:54:33.292 - the budgets. We had made those corrections and that was just one of, we had moved those three positions 00:54:33.292 --> 00:54:41.834 - from general fund into that correctional lit. I missed putting that into the salary ordinance correctly. 00:54:41.834 --> 00:54:44.926 - So this is just to correct what we or 00:54:45.026 --> 00:54:54.110 - we council approved budget wise. So that's what, so we just need to make those two things patch. Okay. 00:54:54.110 --> 00:55:03.018 - I appreciate that. Okay. All right. Counselor votes. Yes. Um, you have under the county general, um, 00:55:03.018 --> 00:55:11.838 - the remaining balance available, it's in red and parentheses, which usually indicates an issue. Um, 00:55:12.162 --> 00:55:21.468 - That comes from the auditor's office and that's probably when, you know, we hadn't updated, there's 00:55:21.468 --> 00:55:30.774 - that rollover. Yeah. Yes. Okay. It's not something to be freaking out about. Okay. No, there's when 00:55:30.774 --> 00:55:40.638 - we... It's one we're removing lines from anyway, but I... When we move one year budget into another year, 00:55:40.834 --> 00:55:47.852 - some lines look negative. I was hoping this was the answer. We're kind of in that crossover right now 00:55:47.852 --> 00:55:54.733 - until they get their annual report done. Yes, until we finish the annual financial report, which is 00:55:54.733 --> 00:56:01.682 - due end of February, we have two accounting periods open, which makes things kind of hairy sometimes 00:56:01.682 --> 00:56:09.182 - for reporting. Got it. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on this item from counsel? Counselor Hawk. 00:56:09.378 --> 00:56:18.209 - like to say that on this agenda and in the packet, it should have said something about that. So when 00:56:18.209 --> 00:56:27.040 - the public was looking at it, they would not think that we were that far in the red. So I just think 00:56:27.040 --> 00:56:32.286 - it needs to be a very transparent to the public and for us. 00:56:36.322 --> 00:56:43.402 - And looking around for final questions or comments from Council. And seeing none, we'll move on to public 00:56:43.402 --> 00:56:50.082 - comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams, or you can come 00:56:50.082 --> 00:56:56.962 - forward to the lectern here, and then at you Hill Room. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call 00:56:56.962 --> 00:57:03.775 - vote. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilz? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor 00:57:03.775 --> 00:57:06.046 - Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? 00:57:06.178 --> 00:57:13.051 - Councillor Deckard. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. 00:57:13.051 --> 00:57:20.549 - All right. Next up, we have County Council business because we don't have any presentations or discussions. 00:57:20.549 --> 00:57:27.699 - And so that was amended to add the higher end freeze for Ms. Turner King. Do we need a motion? I don't 00:57:27.699 --> 00:57:34.642 - think so. Do we need to? I think it might be easier for me to explain it and then a motion to amend 00:57:34.642 --> 00:57:36.030 - if you agree. Okay. 00:57:36.322 --> 00:57:45.346 - All right. So go ahead. This afternoon a question came about regarding the court's law clerks and I 00:57:45.346 --> 00:57:53.918 - did some digging into how law clerks going to say employed by the county but kind of maybe not 00:57:54.050 --> 00:58:00.853 - Floyd is the best word. So the courts, each judge has the opportunity to select a law clerk. And I use 00:58:00.853 --> 00:58:07.459 - select because there's not a job description and there's no application process. What happens is if 00:58:07.459 --> 00:58:14.196 - there is a law student who wants to serve as a law clerk for the judge, they email court services and 00:58:14.196 --> 00:58:20.802 - expresses their interest. That email gets forwarded to all of the judges. And then if a judge likes 00:58:20.802 --> 00:58:23.774 - that candidate or student, they select them. 00:58:23.906 --> 00:58:31.961 - The law students, interns, they're paid through the court's part-time line. They are submitted, a new 00:58:31.961 --> 00:58:40.015 - employee paperwork is submitted to employee services. These individuals, some are paid, some are not. 00:58:40.015 --> 00:58:47.991 - If they are paid, they're capped at 10 hours per week and they're paid at the lowest part-time rate. 00:58:47.991 --> 00:58:49.886 - For the individuals who 00:58:50.114 --> 00:58:57.434 - do not receive pay, they typically receive credit hours through the law school. And how much they work 00:58:57.434 --> 00:59:04.824 - really varies depending on what the judge has them research. So some weeks they might hit their 10-hour 00:59:04.824 --> 00:59:11.931 - cap, and then it might go another month before they do anything. And so it's more of an internship, 00:59:11.931 --> 00:59:17.758 - but we pay them through payroll. And so there was a conversation of how does this 00:59:18.850 --> 00:59:28.788 - Was I employee in turn position relate to the hiring freeze given the fact that the judges just select 00:59:28.788 --> 00:59:38.629 - these individuals. And so share my screen. What I did was prepare a proposed amendment to the already 00:59:38.629 --> 00:59:43.646 - in place hiring freeze resolution that would exempt 00:59:44.386 --> 00:59:58.095 - the judges from having to go through the hiring freeze process to select their law clerks. So what I'm 00:59:58.095 --> 01:00:11.006 - displaying is it says resolution 2025-42. I did not get a new resolution number for 2026 because 01:00:11.138 --> 01:00:19.844 - This document is so fluid that I think it would be confusing to get a 2026 number. So what I did was 01:00:19.844 --> 01:00:28.119 - I'm just now calling them A, B, and C. And so this is 202542A. And it adds the language in red, 01:00:28.119 --> 01:00:33.118 - which reads, in addition to the above exempted positions, 01:00:33.314 --> 01:00:39.573 - The Monroe County judges may select law clerk interns who are paid as part-time employees and whose 01:00:39.573 --> 01:00:45.894 - hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring freeze. The Monroe County judges 01:00:45.894 --> 01:00:52.340 - may select law clerks without seeking permission from the council pursuant to this amended resolution. 01:00:52.340 --> 01:00:58.912 - And then on the last page, I added the potential date of amendment. That's the only changes. Okay. Thank 01:00:58.912 --> 01:01:00.414 - you for that, Ms. King. 01:01:00.514 --> 01:01:06.801 - Is there any other questions or comments from Council? We'll go to Councilor Iverson first, and then 01:01:06.801 --> 01:01:13.026 - I'll come to Councilor Vido next. I support this. This seems very rational and well thought out. My 01:01:13.026 --> 01:01:19.500 - only question to any of you is, are there any other positions like this where we have interns, fellows, 01:01:19.500 --> 01:01:25.787 - or other IU students, Ivy Tech students, or anybody else who are on payroll? I don't know. I mean, I 01:01:25.787 --> 01:01:27.966 - wouldn't be surprised if they are. 01:01:28.130 --> 01:01:36.295 - I think this one just came up because the students are scheduled to start on Thursday to meet law school 01:01:36.295 --> 01:01:44.070 - requirements. And so it was just one of those things that came about this afternoon. But I wouldn't 01:01:44.070 --> 01:01:52.313 - be surprised if there are other interns in the same situation. So I have two questions. One is, so what's 01:01:52.313 --> 01:01:53.246 - in red now? 01:01:53.442 --> 01:02:00.147 - your addition about the red date on the end makes sense. Will that stay red for the permanent record 01:02:00.147 --> 01:02:07.185 - so people can see that that's what was changed on that date? It can. We usually don't. But I don't think, 01:02:07.185 --> 01:02:13.824 - given how fluid this document has been, I think it might be easier to track if we have the versions 01:02:13.824 --> 01:02:19.998 - in red. Yeah. Thank you. And then also, when I see the language, I wondered if there was any 01:02:20.354 --> 01:02:27.175 - finite number or is this unlimited number that we would be approving here? From what I got from court 01:02:27.175 --> 01:02:33.930 - services is it varies by semester. They really don't, it just depends on the number of students that 01:02:33.930 --> 01:02:40.618 - reach out to them and them being the court. So I think it varies by court and by semester. Okay. So 01:02:40.618 --> 01:02:47.038 - there's certainly a, sounds like a past practice or doing this, right? Yes. Correct. Thank you. 01:02:51.010 --> 01:03:05.411 - Yes. Councillor. So I need a compelling argument to exempt these positions but not other part time positions. 01:03:05.411 --> 01:03:19.550 - And what is that argument. I don't think these positions are similar to other part time employees given the 01:03:20.002 --> 01:03:28.354 - limited work schedule that they have and that, I mean, a judge just, the third body of government just 01:03:28.354 --> 01:03:35.734 - picks these individuals. Unlike other part-time positions, there's no application, there's 01:03:35.734 --> 01:03:43.924 - no job description, it's just a judge picks them. I was just going to say, do they have some sort of 01:03:43.924 --> 01:03:48.222 - arrangement with the law school to make that happen? 01:03:48.322 --> 01:03:54.875 - do if they're getting credit hours. And for the individuals who are getting paid, I'm not 100% sure, 01:03:54.875 --> 01:04:01.364 - but I'm happy to inquire with the courts. Councillor Henry. Yeah, thank you, Madam President. And I 01:04:01.364 --> 01:04:07.982 - appreciate that question, Councillor Wilts, because, OK, they're still drawing a monetary paycheck of 01:04:07.982 --> 01:04:13.822 - some kind from the county. That's why you're asking. We're asking for the exception here. 01:04:14.978 --> 01:04:20.602 - Now I'm wondering, and I appreciate that there's some independence there from the Board of Judges, but 01:04:20.602 --> 01:04:26.226 - they're still pulling a paycheck from the coffers of the county. So I also agree with Councillor Wilts 01:04:26.226 --> 01:04:31.687 - on this because seasonal employment of part-time nature and compensation is, I'm having a hard time 01:04:31.687 --> 01:04:37.311 - understanding the difference between that and a election poll worker or a parks worker for the summer. 01:04:37.311 --> 01:04:41.406 - If they're getting paid by the county, they're getting paid by the county. 01:04:42.722 --> 01:04:49.312 - I also, I guess, if this is an issue of expediency, is that really, so Ms. Turner-King, is that the 01:04:49.312 --> 01:04:56.034 - question? Because it's a 16 week semester and the clerks are, they're overlapping with their academic 01:04:56.034 --> 01:05:03.085 - year and by the time, let's, if we play this out, by the time we have a request for hiring freeze, lifting 01:05:03.085 --> 01:05:09.741 - the hiring freeze on these positions, they're two to four weeks into their 16 week semester, is that 01:05:09.741 --> 01:05:11.454 - what we're talking about? 01:05:11.554 --> 01:05:17.581 - Is it a duration issue? I think it does typically go by semester. And summer is three months too, 01:05:17.581 --> 01:05:23.177 - I suppose. I bet three months. Let me follow up question. When are clerks, do we know when 01:05:23.177 --> 01:05:29.511 - they're interviewed and offered employment? I do not. Because I'm presuming that process occurs before 01:05:29.511 --> 01:05:35.722 - the first day of showing up on the job for the semester, right? Like there must be a month or two of 01:05:35.722 --> 01:05:39.166 - selection or something going on, like any other hiring? 01:05:40.994 --> 01:05:50.625 - We don't know. Yeah, I don't know that. OK. Thank you, Madam President. I'll go to Councilor Huck and 01:05:50.625 --> 01:06:00.068 - then Councilor Wilts. I'll circle back to you. Yes. Can you tell me is this the payments made under 01:06:00.068 --> 01:06:09.982 - the unappropriated fund or from what fund are they paid? General fund or part time? Under part time. OK. 01:06:10.242 --> 01:06:19.152 - It's just a part of their part-time. And how do we know that that part-time number is what you're referring 01:06:19.152 --> 01:06:27.401 - to as being the lowest paid? What is the lowest paid? In talking to the courts, I think it's $14 an 01:06:27.401 --> 01:06:35.486 - hour, and it's just historically how they've always paid them at the lower end of that part-time. 01:06:38.594 --> 01:06:48.518 - And as a reminder, in everything we're doing with the courts this year, we have to recognize that next 01:06:48.518 --> 01:06:58.442 - year we're not going to have one of those courts, so we need to be cutting back on the expense of that 01:06:58.442 --> 01:07:03.838 - court that we'll no longer have. Great. Councilor Watz. 01:07:03.938 --> 01:07:13.932 - You mentioned that some of these positions are doing it for credit through the law school. Maybe I'm 01:07:13.932 --> 01:07:24.123 - wrong, but it seems like to me that would imply that there is some sort of memorandum of understanding 01:07:24.123 --> 01:07:30.654 - at the very least between the law school and the board of judges. 01:07:30.754 --> 01:07:39.548 - all for that type of professional development. I certainly don't want to cross something that's put 01:07:39.548 --> 01:07:48.605 - in place formally like that. I don't have any problem with those that are doing it for credit. I think 01:07:48.605 --> 01:07:58.014 - that's great. I guess I would encourage the Board of Judges, I mean, not understanding much else about it, 01:07:58.658 --> 01:08:06.964 - I would encourage them to think about not paying for this type of position, allowing them to do it for 01:08:06.964 --> 01:08:15.350 - credit, expanding that agreement if one exists. And maybe it's something that the law school is willing 01:08:15.350 --> 01:08:23.414 - to fund on their end if they want that type of experience for their students as well. But I'm still 01:08:23.414 --> 01:08:28.414 - missing that compelling argument part that I was looking for. 01:08:31.586 --> 01:08:40.197 - I just want to clarify, the courts have one part-time hourly line. It is in the general fund. The range 01:08:40.197 --> 01:08:48.477 - is from $14 to $17. So that's the range rate for their part-time hourly. I guess the other question 01:08:48.477 --> 01:08:56.840 - that I have for this, since Ms. Turner-King, you had mentioned, like, you don't, like, we don't know 01:08:56.840 --> 01:09:00.318 - what else is out there that is like this. 01:09:00.578 --> 01:09:07.877 - Is there any way that we could try to do an audit of some sort to just kind of figure out, like, 01:09:07.877 --> 01:09:15.477 - what else, you know, putting our crystal ball in front of us, like, what else this could also, like, 01:09:15.477 --> 01:09:23.378 - something like this could also be the same thing, if that makes sense. I'm happy to send, like, an email 01:09:23.378 --> 01:09:30.526 - to department heads to ask if there are, like, paid intern positions that we don't know about. 01:09:31.170 --> 01:09:36.029 - If there are, they're being paid through payroll. And I don't know if payroll has the capability to 01:09:36.029 --> 01:09:40.937 - run some type of report, because I think they would just come up as part-time employees, unless they 01:09:40.937 --> 01:09:45.797 - knew the name of the person. So I think the easiest way is to send a department head email. OK. And 01:09:45.797 --> 01:09:50.608 - then I'm going to look at Ms. Gregory, because is there something that you might have on your end? 01:09:50.608 --> 01:09:55.564 - I think Ms. Turner-King covered it. I was just going to recommend that we talk with employee services 01:09:55.564 --> 01:10:00.423 - to see if they have this information at their fingertips. Got it. OK. All right. I appreciate that. 01:10:00.423 --> 01:10:00.958 - Thank you. 01:10:01.058 --> 01:10:08.907 - Councilor Decker. One of the worries I have on this a little bit is sometimes when credit hours are 01:10:08.907 --> 01:10:16.913 - involved with individuals, that is a very premeditated process where someone says, I'll do this then, 01:10:16.913 --> 01:10:24.761 - or I need to do this then in order to meet whatever goals, academic or individual or otherwise. And 01:10:24.761 --> 01:10:30.334 - I'm a little worried that our timing here on some of these individuals 01:10:31.490 --> 01:10:37.905 - disrupts that on maybe a thing that's not been thought through, but I'm also, on a flip side, a little 01:10:37.905 --> 01:10:44.321 - bit worried that it also disrupts our system, because I think that they're drawing from this research, 01:10:44.321 --> 01:10:50.549 - the judges are drawing from this research, et cetera. I guess, what's our timing look like for what 01:10:50.549 --> 01:10:56.903 - we have to do tonight or not do? Because it doesn't sound like counsel's heading towards keeping that 01:10:56.903 --> 01:11:00.702 - language and that resolution, unless I'm hearing this wrong. 01:11:03.714 --> 01:11:12.904 - I believe one was scheduled to start on Thursday and then a second law clerk was starting next week. 01:11:12.904 --> 01:11:22.458 - This is the timeliness goes beyond the resolution. It's how do these things happen Thursday and a second 01:11:22.458 --> 01:11:26.462 - one next week. There's just two law clerks. 01:11:29.506 --> 01:11:36.745 - There are nine judges, so presumably you could have nine or multiple in a court. I just know of the 01:11:36.745 --> 01:11:44.418 - two that we received paperwork on today to start Thursday and next week. All right. When you say received 01:11:44.418 --> 01:11:52.163 - paperwork on, were they requesting an exemption to the hiring? No, they submitted it to employee services. 01:11:52.163 --> 01:11:58.750 - We've had a hiring freeze for months. Right. And so it was submitted to employee services. 01:11:59.010 --> 01:12:04.644 - And then they reached out to me saying, was there anything sent from, you know, approved by council 01:12:04.644 --> 01:12:10.559 - from the courts? And I went through my stuff and no, there wasn't. So then that's why we're here tonight 01:12:10.559 --> 01:12:15.742 - because there wasn't anything and they've got people starting. That's what I'm looking for. 01:12:37.730 --> 01:12:48.045 - potentially have we have two that are in the pike but then we also have more that potentially could 01:12:48.045 --> 01:12:58.463 - be coming or are already in place you know because if they're on what is considered like a I think I 01:12:58.463 --> 01:13:07.230 - remember Molly saying something you know maybe it's like a two-year kind of thing so 01:13:07.426 --> 01:13:20.955 - The paperwork that was submitted is the first day of employment for this one person is January 15th, 01:13:20.955 --> 01:13:35.422 - so that's Thursday. Say what? Yeah. And then... They've done it in previous academic years, the same thing. 01:13:36.674 --> 01:13:45.334 - The courts have always had law clerks. That's the only one I have on file. I don't know anything about 01:13:45.334 --> 01:13:53.406 - one for next week, so they haven't submitted paperwork that I can access. Yes, Councilor Henry. 01:13:53.406 --> 01:14:01.814 - Thank you. I didn't think we'd have this kind of heartburn this evening, but here we are. I want to 01:14:01.814 --> 01:14:05.598 - echo Councilor Deckard's sentiment about the 01:14:06.018 --> 01:14:10.892 - When we start talking credit hours and students that have come to the county in good faith to seek out 01:14:10.892 --> 01:14:15.718 - a position and do work for the county as they understand it you know we're talking about human beings 01:14:15.718 --> 01:14:17.374 - here at the end of a process that. 01:14:18.210 --> 01:14:24.125 - that our decision tonight either delays their start and shortens their work, and potentially it sounds 01:14:24.125 --> 01:14:29.926 - like there's others in the pipeline coming on board into the county. So there's that end of this. On 01:14:29.926 --> 01:14:35.841 - the other end of this, the resolution that we've amended now several times is starting to take on that 01:14:35.841 --> 01:14:41.182 - camel feeling, you know, the course designed by committee where we keep adding things to it. 01:14:41.314 --> 01:14:46.728 - I really think this is a message for department heads that I'm speaking about right now. Part of the 01:14:46.728 --> 01:14:52.143 - reason why I do believe we did return council leadership as is is we faced a very hard last year and 01:14:52.143 --> 01:14:57.665 - we're facing an increasingly harder fiscal climate moving ahead. The way that we've conducted business 01:14:57.665 --> 01:15:01.310 - in the county is changing and we can either adapt to it or decline. 01:15:01.538 --> 01:15:06.591 - And that is what's before us when it comes to our revenue. This is before us when it comes to our tax 01:15:06.591 --> 01:15:11.594 - rates. And so if it is business as usual for departments to say, well, you know, they meant a hiring 01:15:11.594 --> 01:15:16.845 - freeze, but, you know, there's always an exception. We have this special thing going on. We'll get around 01:15:16.845 --> 01:15:21.502 - to letting you know. This is changing. And so to put before us this evening to fix a problem, 01:15:21.698 --> 01:15:27.497 - that we had been communicating to the county department heads for months that we meant a hiring freeze. 01:15:27.497 --> 01:15:33.408 - And then we find the variables keep getting thrown at us. There's seasonal and there's exempt and there's 01:15:33.408 --> 01:15:39.095 - now this. This is going to break at some point. And so I guess where I'm at, not necessarily to maybe 01:15:39.095 --> 01:15:44.727 - to answer Councilor Duckard's comment, I'm not necessarily against voting for this this evening, but 01:15:44.727 --> 01:15:50.526 - because there are humans at the end of the line that didn't ask to be caught up in the grist bill here. 01:15:50.914 --> 01:15:57.465 - We cannot continue just the yes but approach to the hiring freeze. And yeah we are debating over $14 01:15:57.465 --> 01:16:04.080 - an hour position right now. But if this is the first meeting of the year and here we go this is going 01:16:04.080 --> 01:16:09.982 - to be a very long year of us wrestling with every last what abouts that comes before here. 01:16:10.050 --> 01:16:15.107 - Times are changing. There is absolutely no way our budget process is going to happen the same as it 01:16:15.107 --> 01:16:20.315 - did last year with forecasts and revenue projections and what's going on at the State House right now. 01:16:20.315 --> 01:16:25.473 - So I want to fix this for the people caught in the mill here, but the Board of Judges must understand 01:16:25.473 --> 01:16:30.530 - that the hiring freeze process applies to their third branch of government too. And we need to work 01:16:30.530 --> 01:16:35.638 - through that. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yes, Councilor Feidl. So I think 01:16:35.638 --> 01:16:39.582 - that would be my question is what didn't the Board of Judges understand about 01:16:39.906 --> 01:16:47.173 - them not being a part of that, right? I don't think they think these are employees. It's more of an 01:16:47.173 --> 01:16:54.732 - intern. And our resolution, I think, says employees. I see. So it's a category issue. If they're unpaid 01:16:54.732 --> 01:17:01.999 - interns, this isn't a problem. If they're doing it for credit, this isn't a problem. But if they're 01:17:01.999 --> 01:17:09.630 - being paid by the county, they're employees, and it's a problem. I'm sorry. That's sort of where I land. 01:17:10.850 --> 01:17:18.003 - And I am sorry that there was a misunderstanding. I can certainly see it opening up a whole can of worms 01:17:18.003 --> 01:17:25.020 - from here on out. Councillor Hawke. Yes, I have concern that departments might think because they have 01:17:25.020 --> 01:17:31.901 - budgeted under part-time that they can just go ahead and hire part-time people because they've got a 01:17:31.901 --> 01:17:36.670 - line item that says part-time, this is where we're going to pay them. 01:17:38.850 --> 01:17:47.051 - But that's just not the way this is going to work. If we're going to do the hiring freeze, we have to 01:17:47.051 --> 01:17:55.091 - recognize that all those lines that we did approve, we could approve all of those positions. And if 01:17:55.091 --> 01:18:03.292 - that position becomes vacant, that doesn't mean we're going to fill that slot. And so I think we have 01:18:03.292 --> 01:18:06.910 - to be cognizant of what the department heads 01:18:07.234 --> 01:18:15.621 - Might perceive this to be and and rightfully so I understand that they've not had to face something 01:18:15.621 --> 01:18:24.259 - like this with us before and We have to just do this together And we haven't either so and that's what 01:18:24.259 --> 01:18:32.478 - we're trying to go through right now So, okay. Yes counselor vital. So one more question, maybe I 01:18:32.834 --> 01:18:41.053 - What might it be that the judges might not be able to do if they don't have these clerks helping them? 01:18:41.053 --> 01:18:49.512 - I think, and I'm going to speak from experience in the past, typically your law clerks will help research 01:18:49.512 --> 01:18:57.811 - motions to suppress or unique legal situations when either the prosecutor or the public defender brings 01:18:57.811 --> 01:18:59.646 - up a nuanced argument. 01:18:59.874 --> 01:19:08.326 - Typically law clerks will draft memos so that judges can rule on those motions. And then who might be 01:19:08.326 --> 01:19:16.612 - doing that work instead if this doesn't get passed. I guess I don't know the answer to that because 01:19:16.612 --> 01:19:25.726 - for all the time that I've been an attorney there's a law clerk doing it. So I don't I don't know the answer. 01:19:32.706 --> 01:19:44.777 - So because we have a couple of individuals that are stuck in the matrix of all of this, could we, unbeknownst 01:19:44.777 --> 01:19:55.860 - to them, I guess, could we try to make amends to something like this and then freeze everything else 01:19:55.860 --> 01:19:58.494 - until they can abide by 01:19:59.490 --> 01:20:08.384 - I'm just trying to think of like a solution here since we got a couple of people, since it's been mentioned 01:20:08.384 --> 01:20:16.701 - that we have a couple of people that are stuck in the crosshairs and thought that they were starting 01:20:16.701 --> 01:20:25.266 - in the next week or so. Councillor Decker. So for instance, if Councillor Decker were to offer a motion 01:20:25.266 --> 01:20:29.054 - that the council approve these two law clerk, 01:20:29.506 --> 01:20:36.795 - positions and discussion to move forward with our approval and hold off on resolution language, could 01:20:36.795 --> 01:20:44.012 - that at least move that forward, having been the council's now discussed and debated it? Wait, do we 01:20:44.012 --> 01:20:51.229 - even have a motion on the floor? No, because we opened it up as a discussion. So I'd offer that one. 01:20:51.229 --> 01:20:57.374 - I'll second that one. And let's get, let's move this forward and figure out the rest. 01:20:59.010 --> 01:21:05.292 - So we're on discussion now for that, right? Well, because there was now a motion to figure out where 01:21:05.292 --> 01:21:11.698 - to move these two individuals through, and then Councilor Iverson seconded. Right. If information, can 01:21:11.698 --> 01:21:18.104 - you state the action? What's the motion? Yeah, I think we need to restate. So Councilor Decker, if you 01:21:18.104 --> 01:21:24.323 - want to restate your motion. Madam President, I move that the two law clerks in our discussion this 01:21:24.323 --> 01:21:27.806 - evening be given the approval of the County Council for 01:21:28.546 --> 01:21:37.255 - movement in county service for this spring With the courts Henry does that yeah, that's clear clear. 01:21:37.255 --> 01:21:45.878 - Okay. Thank you. And I saw again counselor Iverson second it. Yes counselor fight on so Okay, so it 01:21:45.878 --> 01:21:54.673 - seems to me like with the language originally and even now it seems to me like there could be more in 01:21:54.673 --> 01:21:57.950 - the pipeline that we don't know about 01:21:58.658 --> 01:22:07.492 - Am I making that assumption probably? So what do we do then when we have those, right? Come back. 01:22:07.492 --> 01:22:16.777 - Come back. Ms. Turner-King, were you about to say something to that? But it was just, okay. All right. 01:22:16.777 --> 01:22:26.151 - Councilor Wilts. I appreciate that my colleagues are trying to protect the innocent by standards caught 01:22:26.151 --> 01:22:27.774 - in the fray here. 01:22:27.970 --> 01:22:37.845 - but I'm, I think it's bizarre that we would approve positions with no submission or request to do so 01:22:37.845 --> 01:22:47.916 - from the department and I'm not going to support that. So just letting you know where I'm coming from. 01:22:47.916 --> 01:22:55.934 - All right, Council Henry. Thank you. And I guess we are talking about the motion, 01:22:56.130 --> 01:23:03.519 - I guess on that point and maybe another way to think about it would be to amend the resolution before 01:23:03.519 --> 01:23:10.762 - us to put a date on the exemption to the hiring freeze. So if we for example said something like in 01:23:10.762 --> 01:23:18.223 - the red language here whose hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring freeze 01:23:18.223 --> 01:23:24.670 - through January 30th which would give two weeks to catch these two people. But otherwise 01:23:24.866 --> 01:23:31.120 - I see where Councilor Wolf is coming from in terms of making a motion without a request from the department. 01:23:31.120 --> 01:23:37.029 - I also would like the Board of Judges to sit here and make their request for the hiring freeze for the 01:23:37.029 --> 01:23:43.110 - positions they'd like to bring on for the rest of the semester, which is more our custom. So I appreciate 01:23:43.110 --> 01:23:48.905 - the strong effort by Councilor Decker and Iverson here, but it might just be as easy as amending the 01:23:48.905 --> 01:23:54.814 - resolution to a date on these two and then encouraging the Board of Judges to come in to explain their 01:23:55.106 --> 01:24:14.214 - rationale for this as a line item in our next meeting. That's a thought on this. Thank you. Okay. Okay. 01:24:14.214 --> 01:24:25.054 - Okay. Anybody else have any questions or comments on that? 01:24:25.186 --> 01:24:32.520 - Council the Decorate made the motion but council Henry is it it's what we are talking about here and 01:24:32.520 --> 01:24:39.855 - it does have something somewhat to do with the motion. So are you saying about changing the language 01:24:39.855 --> 01:24:47.262 - and read and put in that date that would still argue that allows the two individuals to come through? 01:24:47.650 --> 01:24:56.428 - I think it's an idea. It's another way to go that with the document before us because that's the discussion 01:24:56.428 --> 01:25:04.800 - point is the resolution and not I guess trying to approve a Appropriation without a request. Does that 01:25:04.800 --> 01:25:13.822 - make sense? So it's more of a technical comment on on that at this point Yes, I see the council members Wilson 01:25:13.986 --> 01:25:21.997 - title are the liaisons for the courts, and did they discuss this with you at all? I've not heard anything. 01:25:21.997 --> 01:25:29.783 - Well, I think that's rather egregious, but then I think that's because they don't understand the hiring 01:25:29.783 --> 01:25:37.494 - freeze. Yeah. It's kind of obvious that they don't, yeah. Okay. So we got the motion on the floor. Can 01:25:37.494 --> 01:25:40.414 - we repeat it one more time? I'm sorry. 01:25:41.634 --> 01:25:50.549 - Councilor Deckard made a motion to approve the amendment of resolution 2025-42A, the temporary hiring 01:25:50.549 --> 01:25:59.813 - freeze, to include the exemption of two law clerks for the spring semester. I was just, if I can clarify, 01:25:59.813 --> 01:26:08.990 - I was just saying, just this council sitting here, absent the resolution, just says, we're gonna approve 01:26:09.538 --> 01:26:17.198 - those two positions and kind of leave it alone so that maybe liaisons can go figure out other things 01:26:17.198 --> 01:26:25.160 - and perhaps we revisit this. But if it's just about these two, at least right now, and I bet my mortgage 01:26:25.160 --> 01:26:32.896 - that's not completely the case, but for now we know of two, I think piecemeal, I'm just saying two in 01:26:32.896 --> 01:26:35.550 - my motion. So does the motion then 01:26:35.650 --> 01:26:43.675 - to keep the red language or not? I'm confused. Motion doesn't have nothing to do with independent of 01:26:43.675 --> 01:26:51.939 - the red line. This or scrap paper. So technically the motion could be voted on. And then it sounds like 01:26:51.939 --> 01:26:59.964 - potentially maybe counselor Henry could have a possible amendment to the language that was presented 01:26:59.964 --> 01:27:04.414 - by Ms. Turner King to kind of coincide with that. Am I? 01:27:07.298 --> 01:27:14.483 - Okay. All right. So any further discussion on or any clarification on the motion as presented. So will 01:27:14.483 --> 01:27:21.667 - there be further language or not I can't tell. So this is just to approve the two individuals that are 01:27:21.667 --> 01:27:27.038 - stuck in the matrix right now. Thank you. And then after that if you know if 01:27:27.298 --> 01:27:34.129 - anybody would like to, then we can make that motion to amend the language that Ms. Turner King presented 01:27:34.129 --> 01:27:40.636 - to reflect what we as a council would like to see moving forward. Thank you. All right. So no other 01:27:40.636 --> 01:27:47.402 - further discussion on this. If we have any public comment on this particular item, you can come forward 01:27:47.402 --> 01:27:52.542 - to the lectern here in the night, you know, room or raise your hand via teams. 01:27:54.370 --> 01:28:05.432 - All right, and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor 01:28:05.432 --> 01:28:16.385 - Wilts? No. Councillor Hawke? No. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Henry? 01:28:16.385 --> 01:28:23.614 - Yes. Councillor Deckard? Yes. Motion passes majority five to two. 01:28:24.002 --> 01:28:31.065 - President, I would like to offer a motion to amend resolution 2025-42. Okay, the motion is to, in the 01:28:31.065 --> 01:28:38.128 - language added by Ms. Turner-King in section one of hiring new employees, the sentence that reads, in 01:28:38.128 --> 01:28:45.053 - addition to the above exempted positions, the Monroe County judges may select law clerk interns who 01:28:45.053 --> 01:28:52.670 - are paid as part-time employees and whose hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring 01:28:52.962 --> 01:29:03.186 - freeze to add the language through January 31st, 2026 to the sentence and to strike the last sentence 01:29:03.186 --> 01:29:13.310 - of that red line addition as an amendment to the resolution. Second. Okay. And is that something Ms. 01:29:13.310 --> 01:29:18.622 - Turner-King that we can see presented on the screen? 01:29:47.426 --> 01:29:53.075 - Council Henry, is that what you? Yeah, that would be it. I mean, this is in good faith to hopefully 01:29:53.075 --> 01:29:58.385 - cap the two. If I find out they ram date through between now and the 31st, I guess we'll have 01:29:58.385 --> 01:30:04.035 - that conversation. But I would very much encourage our colleagues to come before us and really walk 01:30:04.035 --> 01:30:09.797 - through this. It's very important that we maintain consistency. So this is just to cap the resolution 01:30:09.797 --> 01:30:11.774 - as is to put a date on the freeze. 01:30:12.066 --> 01:30:17.906 - the through basically two weeks to let these in the resolution allow that to go through. Okay. Yes. 01:30:17.906 --> 01:30:23.805 - Councilor, if I don't so I still went earlier on I asked about a finite number and I still don't see 01:30:23.805 --> 01:30:29.879 - a finite number here. I'm not sure how that fixes any of that. We can add to I would say I would accept 01:30:29.879 --> 01:30:35.894 - an amendment to to actually say the two higher up. So I'm sorry we're cross talking but would you want 01:30:35.894 --> 01:30:38.814 - I would offer if you have a friendly amendment to 01:30:39.074 --> 01:30:45.981 - limit the number of clerks. I don't know if I have the amendment, I have the issue. In fact, I think 01:30:45.981 --> 01:30:53.025 - it ought to say something about the fact that the ones that are in the pipeline, but not put that way, 01:30:53.025 --> 01:31:00.479 - you know what I mean? The ones that are going to be starting, the two that we know are going to be starting, 01:31:00.479 --> 01:31:02.462 - right? Something about that. 01:31:07.170 --> 01:31:14.006 - Yes, I would accept that friendly amendment if offered. I would offer that. Okay, so is that clear then? 01:31:14.006 --> 01:31:20.516 - The beginning of it goes along with the last part of it? I know the last part of it wraps it up the 01:31:20.516 --> 01:31:27.678 - way I'm thinking, but still the first part of it to me says they can still do this. You know what I'm saying? 01:31:42.434 --> 01:31:51.275 - This may seem like a hammer, but I think it just needs to be clear that this is it. Okay. Yes, Councillor 01:31:51.275 --> 01:32:00.115 - Decker. But my question is, council, before we go down this route, are we sure this is it? And the reason 01:32:00.115 --> 01:32:08.622 - I say that is if you think about it, counties that have a law school in them are not plentiful. So we 01:32:08.622 --> 01:32:09.790 - actually have 01:32:10.178 --> 01:32:16.917 - resources here where these folks help ease our court system. I mean we're all the time here talking 01:32:16.917 --> 01:32:24.060 - about diversions and anything that keeps people out. I worry that we may be the only county that's saying 01:32:24.060 --> 01:32:31.001 - for labor that's at least until they get those degrees it's costing us a little bit less. I'm a little 01:32:31.001 --> 01:32:37.470 - bit worried about saying it's it and then tomorrow morning eight judges are going to say oh no. 01:32:37.666 --> 01:32:44.100 - you just shut us down. We'll have court reporters at Pickett out there. I've recalled law clerks in 01:32:44.100 --> 01:32:51.048 - those offices since I was a kid in those offices. So I'm worried that this, I don't know that this language 01:32:51.048 --> 01:32:57.610 - gets us where we're going. I'm also a little bit worried that we're gonna have to figure out whatever 01:32:57.610 --> 01:33:01.470 - is not out there beyond the two anyway, which we just said, 01:33:02.018 --> 01:33:08.831 - Let's go with those two and then figure out the rest. I just am worried. Sometimes we do things and 01:33:08.831 --> 01:33:15.711 - then we have to deal with it later. We obviously are dealing with things with the budget that we had 01:33:15.711 --> 01:33:22.524 - to deal with last year and we'll deal with again later. I just get a little bit worried on this one 01:33:22.524 --> 01:33:29.950 - and that we will, we're gonna be back here anyway on this. I believe that. Yeah, we definitely will be back. 01:33:30.594 --> 01:33:40.128 - of this, but I think what we're trying to get at is just moving these two along and trying to get the 01:33:40.128 --> 01:33:48.446 - Board of Judges to come back to talk to us like everybody else in a higher end freeze to 01:33:48.738 --> 01:33:55.831 - you know, to, again, to state their case with this. And I, yeah, we for sure will be back with this. 01:33:55.831 --> 01:34:02.993 - And then, of course, the two liaisons could be working with the board of judges, since it sounds like 01:34:02.993 --> 01:34:10.718 - there was a misunderstanding of if they were originally a part of this exempt status to begin with. So, yeah. 01:34:11.618 --> 01:34:18.269 - So I just wanted to say, I wonder what will happen. So if we put it through the 21st, what happens if 01:34:18.269 --> 01:34:24.985 - however many judges there are left that still need to do this, get all their stuff in now by the 21st. 01:34:24.985 --> 01:34:31.831 - Does that mean they're all in too? 31st. They've got till the 31st. Why did I write down the 21st? She's 01:34:31.831 --> 01:34:38.416 - got the 31st on their screen. Well, that's even more time. So now it seems to me like we have judges 01:34:38.416 --> 01:34:40.894 - then can go between now and the 31st. 01:34:41.122 --> 01:34:48.418 - to get how much money they need to get where they need to have them, right? Right. The process that 01:34:48.418 --> 01:34:56.225 - we have in place right now is if they make a request, it is put on the next agenda. If they make a request 01:34:56.225 --> 01:35:03.521 - now, it will be put on the January 27th agenda. Which begs the question. I don't know. You know I'm 01:35:03.521 --> 01:35:06.366 - not in favor of this, but may I speak? 01:35:06.562 --> 01:35:15.752 - I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. And then I got you and then I got Councilor Henry. So I'll go Wilt Henry 01:35:15.752 --> 01:35:24.942 - and then back to Decker. I apologize. Obviously, this is not something I'm going to go with. I just 01:35:24.942 --> 01:35:34.500 - I'm not sure how much it's helping. Yes, it will allow somebody to start next week. We would be putting 01:35:34.500 --> 01:35:36.062 - that off a week. 01:35:36.450 --> 01:35:45.338 - Perhaps if they're coming back on the 21st, 7th, sorry. So that's maybe, I don't know, week and a half. 01:35:45.338 --> 01:35:53.969 - But I mean, presumably what we want them to, I mean, to your point, they're coming back. Something's 01:35:53.969 --> 01:36:02.686 - coming back. This doesn't solve it all. Let's have them come back with what we want them to do, which 01:36:03.298 --> 01:36:13.950 - is request and tell us why this has to be this way. So what you're saying is, if I hear you correctly, 01:36:13.950 --> 01:36:24.291 - is regardless of the fact, we're making them come back. So the two that are in here will be on hold 01:36:24.291 --> 01:36:30.910 - until the 27th. Yeah. I mean, that's the default. Yeah. OK. OK. 01:36:32.482 --> 01:36:38.264 - Yes, Councillor Hannon. Thank you. I don't want to belabor it. I mean, the design of what I'm proposing 01:36:38.264 --> 01:36:44.157 - dysfunctionally is it does compel that someone needs to come here, right? And while there may be possibly 01:36:44.157 --> 01:36:49.827 - hires between the moment we vote and the 27th, we just need them in the room. This just reminds me of 01:36:49.827 --> 01:36:55.665 - my helping my dad clean out his garage. He has like this old sausage, this mill, and I should just bring 01:36:55.665 --> 01:37:00.446 - it here and put it here. We are making the sausage alive here this evening, but it is 01:37:00.770 --> 01:37:06.094 - there's a there's an outcome that I'm after here. I think we all have heard it. I mean we definitely 01:37:06.094 --> 01:37:11.629 - need to have this conversation if this is what it takes to get folks in the room to say here's our plan. 01:37:11.629 --> 01:37:17.006 - We have 12 interns or whatever. We've got this budget. I think the counselor hawks point I think it's 01:37:17.006 --> 01:37:22.278 - clear that while we have had this resolution for months it's just not sinking into department heads 01:37:22.278 --> 01:37:27.866 - what it really means. And this is why we have that variable. So I what is is is again seems like a hammer 01:37:27.866 --> 01:37:30.238 - at the same time. The twenty seventh is just 01:37:30.338 --> 01:37:37.953 - a few weeks away. That's it. Hopefully between the 27th and the 31st we've got an answer if there are 01:37:37.953 --> 01:37:46.165 - people coming in the pipeline. That's it. I'll go to Decker next. Yeah, so when I'm looking at the resolution 01:37:46.165 --> 01:37:54.078 - and my eyes are straining just a little bit, but when I look at the resolution, this resolution basically 01:37:54.078 --> 01:37:57.438 - codifies what we just did on the two, right? 01:37:57.730 --> 01:38:04.795 - Because for a second I was looking and I was thinking, is this saying two per judge or is it just saying 01:38:04.795 --> 01:38:11.928 - those two that we just did plus we want you to come back here? Am I reading that right or is it literally 01:38:11.928 --> 01:38:18.791 - saying the two that we've already approved you can do and then we want you to come back here? Because 01:38:18.791 --> 01:38:25.587 - I don't know that we need to even say the two. I think maybe we just need to say, judges, we tonight 01:38:25.587 --> 01:38:26.462 - said you did 01:38:26.818 --> 01:38:33.123 - You can't do two because we understand there's a situation with Thursday and Tuesday. We want you to 01:38:33.123 --> 01:38:39.365 - come back here and talk to us about it and maybe that's what we're looking for because I can't tell 01:38:39.365 --> 01:38:45.732 - if this is saying the traditional two clerks per judge, if that's what it is, I may be wrong on that. 01:38:45.732 --> 01:38:52.099 - Or what is this saying? Because they're going to ask that same thing. I think if I understand it, the 01:38:52.099 --> 01:38:56.094 - intent is to limit it to the two that your motion addressed and 01:38:56.290 --> 01:39:04.368 - not and that's it. And we passed that motion. So basically this is just saying this is the two this 01:39:04.368 --> 01:39:12.608 - is it through the 31st and then this is also pushing board of judges to come back on the 20 or on the 01:39:12.608 --> 01:39:20.929 - yes on the 27th. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Is there an appetite to just table it table this amendment. You 01:39:20.929 --> 01:39:25.534 - already passed the thing for these two right. If we just 01:39:25.890 --> 01:39:33.651 - tabled this, they can't. I mean, I think we've made it pretty clear. And if not, Liz and I can follow 01:39:33.651 --> 01:39:41.792 - up with them and make sure that they understand that, hey, you got to ask. Okay. At the risk of analogies, 01:39:41.792 --> 01:39:49.553 - I mean, the two that got out of the barn, we caught and we just blessed, right? I don't know how many 01:39:49.553 --> 01:39:50.846 - more are coming. 01:39:51.170 --> 01:39:58.161 - And so without it, I mean, the hiring freeze is an instrument of our body, right? So this is the only 01:39:58.161 --> 01:40:05.425 - thing we've got to say stop, all right? So without it, again, bar an analogy, there could be other horses 01:40:05.425 --> 01:40:12.416 - on the way out that we don't know about. So let's hope that's not the case. But if we're back here in 01:40:12.416 --> 01:40:15.774 - two weeks and it's aw shucks, we hired six more. 01:40:15.970 --> 01:40:21.697 - And we let us I mean we didn't really we didn't tell them no we just said these two were fine because 01:40:21.697 --> 01:40:27.648 - we know about them. We have we're not stopping the pipeline. They could still be interviewed as we speak. 01:40:27.648 --> 01:40:33.431 - Do we know that we don't know that 100 percent. Right. I thought we we know of two. Are we 100 percent 01:40:33.431 --> 01:40:39.214 - sure there's no one else that's been interviewed offered. No no no no no we don't know. We don't know. 01:40:39.214 --> 01:40:42.302 - No no no. OK. So there you have it. I'm so frightened. 01:40:43.458 --> 01:40:52.038 - Also, with the date of January 31, it seems to me, like I said, that they would have time to get their 01:40:52.038 --> 01:41:00.618 - act together and get even more in by January 31. I don't think this prevents that. So by tabling, just 01:41:00.618 --> 01:41:09.197 - getting clarification, because we've had somebody inquire about tabling this, even though that's spent 01:41:09.197 --> 01:41:12.446 - all the time talking about it, is this 01:41:12.674 --> 01:41:21.012 - What does this do for us if that were to be the case? Theoretically, Counselor Deckard's motion allows 01:41:21.012 --> 01:41:29.431 - for the hiring of the two law clerks that we know about. What would happen if they're trying to do more 01:41:29.431 --> 01:41:37.769 - law clerks is exactly what happened this time. Employee services would receive paperwork, and we would 01:41:37.769 --> 01:41:40.926 - all know about it. And they would not? 01:41:41.218 --> 01:41:49.253 - complete the paperwork because they know about the hiring freeze. Yeah, employee services would notify 01:41:49.253 --> 01:41:57.287 - presumably Kim and I, and then we can say, oh wait, we talked about this. And make them bring it back. 01:41:57.287 --> 01:42:04.542 - So table in this, and what we did previously would basically say the two are good to go, but 01:42:04.834 --> 01:42:12.015 - If Employee Services gets anything else from the Board of Judges for any positions that are paid interns 01:42:12.015 --> 01:42:18.990 - via law clerk, that will flag something that will kick into what we already have implemented to begin 01:42:18.990 --> 01:42:26.307 - with. We would tell them to hold on, yeah. And then that would kickstart them to come back to the meeting, 01:42:26.307 --> 01:42:31.710 - potentially here on the 27th, should that happen in between that time. Got it. 01:42:32.098 --> 01:42:42.518 - I still have a question about the language about the date, which is January 31st. Does that date still 01:42:42.518 --> 01:42:52.635 - stay there? I mean, that was, I believe, what Mr. Henry stated. If we're going to move forward with 01:42:52.635 --> 01:43:00.222 - the possible amendment to the resolution, or you could amend the date. OK. 01:43:00.738 --> 01:43:08.666 - If we for sure know, if we are okay with this, since we've spent a lot of time in talking about this, 01:43:08.666 --> 01:43:16.439 - I would recommend if we hear, and this is correct, since the issue is from council members, is that 01:43:16.439 --> 01:43:24.445 - we are trying to prevent more things to come, or more things to happen without approval of council due 01:43:24.445 --> 01:43:28.798 - to us enacting the hiring freeze, then I would say that 01:43:29.378 --> 01:43:37.553 - then why don't we table this discussion? Yeah, let's just table this. And then that will allow the two 01:43:37.553 --> 01:43:44.856 - liaisons to work with them to figure out some things. And then it sounds like potentially a 01:43:44.856 --> 01:43:53.031 - strong possibility that they will be coming on the 27th to talk about anything else, because it sounds 01:43:53.031 --> 01:43:58.270 - like they will probably have more law clerks that will be coming. 01:43:59.778 --> 01:44:07.439 - Does anybody have any objections to that or any questions? Don't move to table till next meeting, which 01:44:07.439 --> 01:44:15.247 - is January twenty seven. Yes. OK, I have another statement. And to it. Oh, one second. I'm sorry, Council 01:44:15.247 --> 01:44:22.319 - Hawke. So Council will to motion to table until January twenty seventh. I didn't hear a second. 01:44:22.319 --> 01:44:28.286 - I'll go ahead. So we got a motion and a second to table into the twenty seventh. 01:44:28.642 --> 01:44:35.767 - Yes, now, Councillor Hawke, sorry. Well, if we've got a motion table, I'm not sure we're supposed to 01:44:35.767 --> 01:44:42.821 - discuss it. I just want to make sure that we send out a direct message to all the department heads. 01:44:42.821 --> 01:44:50.229 - Remember. Stop it. Yeah, remember. Right. Now, get that sent out no later than tomorrow morning. I would 01:44:50.229 --> 01:44:57.918 - agree. And I think along the line, it would be nice to work with employee services to try to do some kind of 01:44:58.914 --> 01:45:06.340 - of numbers to see who else could be in this type of position, so we don't have a 12-hour surprise, so 01:45:06.340 --> 01:45:13.694 - to speak. So we got the motion and the second to table this discussion until January 27, 2026, which 01:45:13.694 --> 01:45:20.974 - is our next meeting. Is there any further discussion from council on that motion? I hate to beat it 01:45:20.974 --> 01:45:24.542 - to death, but I just want to make sure that that 01:45:24.674 --> 01:45:30.537 - Are we leaving the red language in or out? This is just table. We're not voting on that. Exactly. 01:45:30.537 --> 01:45:36.340 - Thank you. All right. So motion and second. Further questions, comments from the peanut gallery? 01:45:36.340 --> 01:45:42.383 - All right. Any public comment on this item? Come forward to the elector here, the Notting Hill room. 01:45:42.383 --> 01:45:43.998 - Raise your hand via Teams. 01:45:45.506 --> 01:45:56.312 - All right, and seeing none, we can do this by voice vote. So all those in favor of tabling this discussion 01:45:56.312 --> 01:46:06.917 - until January 27th, which is our next meeting, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. 01:46:06.917 --> 01:46:15.198 - Abstain. All right, we got. I need a signature page for that, is what I'm saying. 01:46:15.522 --> 01:46:24.377 - So we got a majority, and then we have one abstention. Okay. All right, motion carries. All right, so 01:46:24.377 --> 01:46:33.406 - next up on the agenda, we are at the end, and we have council liaison updates and comments. So I'm just 01:46:33.406 --> 01:46:42.782 - gonna start down here with the lady in red. Councilor Hawk, if you had anything to add? I feel like you do. 01:46:43.394 --> 01:46:52.396 - Yeah, it sort of goes like hoo hoo hoo. I'm sorry, but that's all I got to say. That's your official 01:46:52.396 --> 01:47:00.863 - comment? That's my official comment. You know what that means? That means money coming in. Oh, 01:47:00.863 --> 01:47:10.846 - yes it does. You believe it. It means money for Monroe County. Absolutely. Agreed. Council Henry, what say you? 01:47:12.642 --> 01:47:18.434 - How do you follow that? I don't. I mean, just Happy New Year, everybody. I mean, I want to start with 01:47:18.434 --> 01:47:24.170 - maybe more of a sober thing and then just maybe a light thing. So Happy New Year. This past week was 01:47:24.170 --> 01:47:30.018 - National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in the United States on January 9. I want to thank our local 01:47:30.018 --> 01:47:35.754 - law enforcement and our partners in public safety for the good work they do. There are good cops out 01:47:35.754 --> 01:47:38.366 - there, and we need to honor that when we can. 01:47:38.466 --> 01:47:43.582 - Of course, the other part of that is when we have challenges in our nation that we have to pay attention 01:47:43.582 --> 01:47:48.455 - to when cops aren't so great. We had an officer involved shooting in Minneapolis that made national 01:47:48.455 --> 01:47:53.376 - attention, and many in our community had bear witness on that for Renee Goode on the square over the 01:47:53.376 --> 01:47:58.443 - past weekend. And I think as we go into this year, we're dealing with the good and bad. We have to make 01:47:58.443 --> 01:48:03.462 - sure that we can balance those two ideas at the same time and not paint with the broadest brushes that 01:48:03.462 --> 01:48:08.432 - we do in this year. So I'm hopeful that we can keep that nuance and celebrate those that do hard work 01:48:08.432 --> 01:48:14.981 - in public service and hold those accountable that have not done so in our nation and in our state. So 01:48:14.981 --> 01:48:21.402 - there's that sobering thought. And I guess this is somewhat sobering too, but not really, because I 01:48:21.402 --> 01:48:28.015 - appreciate Councillor Crossley starting with honoring Carp Combs. You know, Dan was trying really hard 01:48:28.015 --> 01:48:32.766 - over the last quarter to come in and talk to us about his extensive work. 01:48:32.962 --> 01:48:39.100 - In the township in support of the victims of the tornado last spring, and we just couldn't get him in 01:48:39.100 --> 01:48:45.177 - here to read that report out, there was always something. And I will admit, maybe Dan and I had more 01:48:45.177 --> 01:48:51.194 - than a passing interest in meteorology in this community, and I feel compelled to take up his torch 01:48:51.194 --> 01:48:57.392 - on that issue. Our townships, especially as we're watching the state house move to eliminate them, Dan 01:48:57.392 --> 01:49:02.928 - was not only the trustee in terms of his exemplary service over 40 years in this community, 01:49:02.928 --> 01:49:09.378 - was in a lot of ways the first responder for so many people in Perry Township. The fact that I woke 01:49:09.378 --> 01:49:15.956 - up Sunday morning and there was no Dan Combs weather report on my social media about the snow, I knew 01:49:15.956 --> 01:49:17.246 - he was really gone. 01:49:17.474 --> 01:49:22.983 - crushing, but that's the sad part about Karp. The fun stuff is what people need to know. He was a prolific 01:49:22.983 --> 01:49:28.182 - texter. This guy would text at two in the morning about whatever was on his mind. The last things we 01:49:28.182 --> 01:49:33.382 - talked about were emergency management and things that aren't appropriate for this microphone. And I 01:49:33.382 --> 01:49:38.684 - want to share at least two world according to Karpisms, because I just got to get this into the record 01:49:38.684 --> 01:49:42.494 - somewhere. Karp once told me that all he ever wanted was academic honors, 01:49:42.914 --> 01:49:49.007 - to do noble deeds, and to live in a girl's dorm, which he managed the latter for four months when he 01:49:49.007 --> 01:49:55.160 - was a student at IU. That is Carp Combs in a nutshell. He told me when I took the interest in running 01:49:55.160 --> 01:50:01.253 - for county council that six months on the county council and your time as chairman of the Democratic 01:50:01.253 --> 01:50:05.054 - Party will feel like the golden days. You signed up to say no. 01:50:05.154 --> 01:50:11.624 - And I don't know if I've done that enough for Dan's satisfaction. And when it comes to public policy, 01:50:11.624 --> 01:50:18.285 - he would say, here we must take the bull by the tail and face the wet of an ugly situation. And he would 01:50:18.285 --> 01:50:24.882 - say on all these issues, I think, as he said, undercover hippiness. Rise up, citizens. And in the words 01:50:24.882 --> 01:50:30.718 - of his generation, eat the meatball. And I'm going to miss every last minute of that stuff. 01:50:31.426 --> 01:50:37.094 - You know, Levi was telling me his son that, you know, as they're going through the stuff, that they 01:50:37.094 --> 01:50:42.761 - found a story that he wrote about when he first ran for office. And he approached Pat Williams, the 01:50:42.761 --> 01:50:48.655 - chairwoman of the party at the time, and said, you know, I've got these two things about my background. 01:50:48.655 --> 01:50:54.493 - I'm a leftist and I had a pot. I was arrested for possession. And so Pat met with the Republican chair 01:50:54.493 --> 01:50:59.934 - at the time. And I don't know if, Marty, you remember who the chair was when, who was it, 1986? 01:51:00.258 --> 01:51:05.496 - And Pat brought the story to the opposite side and said, well, we're going to run combs for trustee. 01:51:05.496 --> 01:51:10.267 - And they said, well, we know about his pot conviction, and we know about him being leftist. 01:51:10.267 --> 01:51:15.557 - And Pat said, of course, who also passed last year, Pat Williams told the Republicans, and that's why 01:51:15.557 --> 01:51:21.054 - we're running him. And of course, he won that race by, I believe, only 14 votes, or something very small, 01:51:21.054 --> 01:51:25.877 - and then stayed put ever since. So thank you for letting me indulge on this a minute or two. 01:51:25.877 --> 01:51:30.078 - A good friend. I'm going to miss him greatly, but thank you. Thank you for that. 01:51:30.786 --> 01:51:37.522 - All right. Going on down the line. Councilor Decker. Hard to follow that. On Dan comes a legend and 01:51:37.522 --> 01:51:44.258 - we will miss him so greatly. I told a couple of students this story. I'll be really quick. One time 01:51:44.258 --> 01:51:50.993 - he and I had some some words over an issue and I'll never forget his response to me when I was just 01:51:50.993 --> 01:51:56.382 - saying but Dan did you think about this. He said all right you've got your job. 01:51:56.578 --> 01:52:03.802 - And I've got mine. And it sounded like a Western movie. And I was like, I don't have a six gun. There's 01:52:03.802 --> 01:52:10.748 - nothing I can do. Don't be mad at me, Dan. You know, this community's lost some legends in the last 01:52:10.748 --> 01:52:17.694 - months. And it just, and sometimes in those moments, you can really get down on it and think about, 01:52:18.466 --> 01:52:25.087 - Who's going to do those things? But I think we all have to kind of figure, first we have to look at 01:52:25.087 --> 01:52:31.708 - our fading eye vision and know that it's probably us moving into some of those roles to try to fill 01:52:31.708 --> 01:52:38.594 - those shoes. But also we just have to figure out the right things to do and do them. One thing I wanted 01:52:38.594 --> 01:52:45.414 - to mention here is Councilor Wilts and I had a meeting with our friends in care not cages who are here 01:52:45.414 --> 01:52:48.062 - more often than most elected officials. 01:52:48.322 --> 01:52:54.418 - And one of the things that was really refreshing in this age is it was just a meeting where people that 01:52:54.418 --> 01:53:00.338 - really care about the community have dialogue about the community to talk about the issues. A lot of 01:53:00.338 --> 01:53:06.434 - times we hear that phrase a lot. Let's get out there and talk about the issues. But that group has been 01:53:06.434 --> 01:53:12.706 - showing up for a long time to have that discussion. And I appreciate that greatly. That kind of patriotism 01:53:12.706 --> 01:53:16.926 - towards your community when you're not getting paid, that's a big deal. 01:53:17.026 --> 01:53:23.426 - And if nothing else in this community, we always have folks that show up and that honors kind of the 01:53:23.426 --> 01:53:30.144 - freedom that we have. We're in times like this where you're worried about the strangeness of many things. 01:53:30.144 --> 01:53:36.481 - It's something to focus on and go, you know what, we can figure this out or we can do it or we need 01:53:36.481 --> 01:53:42.945 - to work harder. So anyway, happy new year, friends. It's good to be back here doing the people's work 01:53:42.945 --> 01:53:46.430 - with this leadership team. All right, Councilor Wilks. 01:53:46.626 --> 01:54:00.848 - Thank you. Wow. So people already said a lot. And so I won't repeat all of the sentiments I share, including 01:54:00.848 --> 01:54:15.070 - the Hoosiers, as well as the more somber ones. And in the appreciation for the community meeting with us and 01:54:15.490 --> 01:54:25.088 - just having discussions and I just want to reiterate that that is welcomed. I think every person on 01:54:25.088 --> 01:54:35.455 - this council shares that viewpoint. We enjoy talking about the issues or we wouldn't be here. So invitation 01:54:35.455 --> 01:54:39.582 - there I guess to bend my ear if needed and 01:54:39.714 --> 01:54:49.938 - I need to say that we are still searching on the Monroe County Waste Reduction Board for members for 01:54:49.938 --> 01:55:00.364 - our Citizens Advisory Council. It's actually a pretty interesting and low stress kind of position, but 01:55:00.364 --> 01:55:08.766 - we would really like to add some folks. We have lots of openings, so don't be shy. 01:55:08.962 --> 01:55:16.742 - We've just established a small grant program for waste reduction projects in the county and the Citizens 01:55:16.742 --> 01:55:24.299 - Advisory Commission will be reviewing applications for that. So it's kind of neat. Anyway, please, if 01:55:24.299 --> 01:55:31.782 - you're interested, just go to Monroe County Waste Reduction Commission and go to the website and you 01:55:31.782 --> 01:55:38.302 - can apply right there for the CAC, Citizens Advisory Commission. And that's all I have. 01:55:42.434 --> 01:55:49.946 - So I go to many meetings, and I've been to 11 so far this calendar year, and I'm enjoying every one 01:55:49.946 --> 01:55:57.758 - of them, and including BEDC, DBI, Memorial County Women's Commission, the Fair Association. I've gotten 01:55:57.758 --> 01:56:01.214 - myself involved in, and I'm glad I'm going to 01:56:01.474 --> 01:56:07.478 - almost all, I think about all of them actually, the Ellisville Richland Township potential discussion 01:56:07.478 --> 01:56:13.364 - about what's gonna happen out there. I live in Richland Township, so I have a vested interest and I 01:56:13.364 --> 01:56:19.721 - care about what's gonna happen out there. It'll be interesting to see what does happen. There's a committee 01:56:19.721 --> 01:56:25.783 - and it's fully formed now. They have meetings, I think the first Wednesday of the month, I went to the 01:56:25.783 --> 01:56:29.374 - last one. Then I found myself involved in a Kirkwood Avenue, 01:56:29.634 --> 01:56:36.191 - meeting group which I had just started recently in the last couple of months. And that's a group that 01:56:36.191 --> 01:56:42.683 - is not my council appointment but I do enjoy going. And there is one other elected official from the 01:56:42.683 --> 01:56:49.368 - city there that goes it's her district. So it's good to hear what the people are thinking on the ground 01:56:49.368 --> 01:56:55.989 - in those areas when they get together and talk what their concerns are. There's there's probably going 01:56:55.989 --> 01:56:58.046 - to be news kind of soon I hope. 01:56:58.210 --> 01:57:06.223 - about what's going to happen out at the airport. There may be some employment news out there, and things 01:57:06.223 --> 01:57:14.159 - are moving along with that. I'm not at liberty to say a whole lot about it publicly yet, but it's quite 01:57:14.159 --> 01:57:21.790 - interesting work, and I think it'll be really good for the community when it does happen. So that's 01:57:21.790 --> 01:57:27.742 - it. Thank you. All right. And to wrap up real quick, I wore red for a reason. 01:57:28.066 --> 01:57:36.052 - I never would have thought in 25 years step in on IU's campus in 2001, after the firing of Bobby Knight, 01:57:36.052 --> 01:57:44.038 - that I would sit here and say that the Hoosiers are in the national championship. My times have changed, 01:57:44.038 --> 01:57:52.024 - but I am just so grateful the energy that they brought and the economic vitality that that has generated 01:57:52.024 --> 01:57:58.032 - throughout our city and county by way of good football. So we appreciate that. 01:57:58.032 --> 01:58:05.476 - I think it's a good time to travel and go kick butt. The other thing that I wanted to say is if you 01:58:05.476 --> 01:58:13.069 - are like me and had a real live Christmas tree this past year and are trying to figure out what to do 01:58:13.069 --> 01:58:20.513 - with it instead of keeping it in your house or having the dog pick at it or throwing it out on your 01:58:20.513 --> 01:58:21.406 - front lawn. 01:58:21.698 --> 01:58:29.498 - collecting at the recycling centers This is a personal reminder for me, but other people as well now 01:58:29.498 --> 01:58:37.221 - through January 17th Which is just in a few days that you can drop those? live decorations like the 01:58:37.221 --> 01:58:44.094 - wreaths and the Christmas trees for free and you can go to the website and check out the 01:58:44.194 --> 01:58:50.933 - the different recycling centers for that. Lastly, as we do mention there, you know, January definitely 01:58:50.933 --> 01:58:57.738 - is coming in like a lion, you know, national level and on a state level too. But one of the lights that 01:58:57.738 --> 01:59:03.692 - we have to remember is the fact that next in addition to next Monday of it being a big day 01:59:03.692 --> 01:59:10.431 - for our Bloomington community, there is the King holiday celebration that is happening. It's a day on, 01:59:10.431 --> 01:59:14.160 - not a day off. And those that need to remember is actual 01:59:14.160 --> 01:59:34.526 - that we can still continue to do so- so I would just like to say that- again remember. King's 01:59:34.626 --> 01:59:43.929 - the quotes that you have seen from King and go around and do the exact opposite of what he preached 01:59:43.929 --> 01:59:53.510 - for and Again, there is a celebration at the buzz Kirk Trimbley this Monday at 6 p.m. So you can dress 01:59:53.510 --> 01:59:56.766 - in red and immediately leave after 01:59:56.866 --> 02:00:05.823 - That is done to go celebrate. And the last thing I was going to say is I got invited to the North-South 02:00:05.823 --> 02:00:09.182 - game by way of MCCSE. So I appreciate. 02:00:09.378 --> 02:00:16.156 - the superintendent, Dr. Markay Winston, for that invitation. It was nice to get interaction with our 02:00:16.156 --> 02:00:23.270 - local leaders on our superintendent level, as well as our board leaders. And there were some other people 02:00:23.270 --> 02:00:30.115 - that were there. I know the sheriff and team were there yesterday, too, and Go Panthers, because they 02:00:30.115 --> 02:00:36.894 - won. So without that being said, we bleed purple in our house. So without that being said, thank you 02:00:36.894 --> 02:00:38.974 - again for counsel, and without 02:00:39.682 --> 02:00:41.342 - Nothing else? We are adjourned. Thank you.