- Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the first County Council meeting of the year. Today is January
- 13th, 2026, and the time is now 4 or 5 or 4, and we are ready to start. And so we presently have all
- council members present except Councilor Hawk, and I'm not seeing her
- virtually just yet. So again, we have quorum, so we can go ahead and proceed. Before I do proceed, I
- do want to take a point of privilege, because yet again, our county has lost another giant in the community.
- And so we lost Perry Township trustee Dan Combs, affectionately known as Cart.
- And it was an unexpected passing and our community is better because of how he cared so much. And it's
- a huge loss for us right now. So I just want to have our colleagues and those that are present, whether
- it's virtually as well, to take a moment of silence to remember Mr. Combs.
- All right, thank you very much. All right, next up on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. So all
- those able to stand, please stand for the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance
- to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under
- God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
- Thank you. All right. Next up is the adoption of tonight's agenda. Does anybody wish to amend tonight's
- agenda? Yes. Council, I understand. Council, I move to amend the agenda by amending item 7C
- to acknowledgement of a resignation, amending item 7D to citizen appointment to a board, to the capital
- improvement board, and then renumber the remaining items accordingly. Second.
- Are there any other amendments to tonight's agenda? OK. I got a note up here that, Molly, you have something?
- OK. I will be requesting an amendment to the hiring freeze resolution based on circumstances that I
- learned about today revolving around the court's law clerks.
- I amended it, I placed a draft on everyone in front of everyone. And then I will display it once we
- get to. Okay. All right, that works. When will it show up on the agenda? Put it under item number 12,
- council business. Council business.
- Are there any other amendments to tonight's agenda? All right. So seeing none and still not seeing Councilor
- Hawk online since we are, we don't have anybody participating virtually. We can do this by voice vote.
- So all those in favor of approving tonight's agenda as amended signify by saying aye. Aye. All those
- opposed same sign. Okay.
- motion carries. All right. Next up, we will go to item four, which is public comment. And so this is
- an opportunity for public to come to the lectern here and then at you Hill room to speak on items that
- are not on the agenda. But if you are not
- You can also raise your hand via Teams, and each person will state their name, and they'll have up to
- three minutes to make their comment for items not on the agenda. Looks like we got a friendly face here
- already. So take it away. Thank you, Madam President. This is Christopher M.G. from the Greater Bloomington
- Chamber of Commerce. I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year as we work our way through the ins and
- outs of Monroe County government.
- I want to recognize this body's steward of Monroe County's long-term health. It kind of goes hand-in-hand
- with this little jobby, our 2026 legislative agenda that the chamber brought out last Friday at our
- legislative preview. I guess it wasn't a preview, per se, for the General Assembly's been at work, but
- we appreciate Councilmembers Henry, Iverson, and Deckard in attendance for that well-received Hilton
- Garden and breakfast.
- But one thing that comes clear from our legislative priorities, which we receive surveys from our members,
- and then some things that are in there every year. But one thing that stands up is county growth is
- no longer optional, it's a fiscal necessity. Under Indiana's income tax structure, counties depend heavily
- on strength of their resident-based tax base. Attracting and retaining residents is essential to maintaining
- the revenue
- need to support core services. Without growth, costs rise, and fiscal flexibility narrows. We're already
- talking about that crunch on personnel that Ms. Turner is going to amend. The reality is especially
- important as county discussions hang around this justice system planning. The business community supports
- a goal of a modern jail that improves safety and efficiency at the same time we recognize
- the Council's responsibility to evaluate these investments through a disciplined fiscal lens. Long-term
- operating and staffing costs, overall affordability and debt capacity, sustainability without overburning
- existing residents. So the growth in the tax base ultimately makes these investments viable
- over time. So the county growth, however, does not mean one size fits all. We get that. Our members
- constantly support sort of that balanced approach that respects the rural character and agriculture
- land of Monroe County. But the growth is aligned with infrastructure and service capacity. We know sewer
- is an issue, but I think with collaboration we can solve that, and it reflects Monroe's
- county's diverse sort of communities and economy here. The balance allows the council plan responsibly
- while preserving what makes Monroe County distinctive. And across these issues, the chamber hears consistent
- themes from employers regarding specifically the CDO.
- Predictability matters, coordination matters, and fiscal realism matters. When the city and county work
- together on land use, housing strategy, utilities, major capital planning, outcomes improve, long-term
- risk is reduced. I want to thank all of you for your service and the opportunity to speak tonight. I
- do appreciate that. I'm going to leave this agenda with Michelle. Thank you very much for that.
- All right, there are any other members of the public here and present in the night you hill room who
- wish to speak to items Not on today's agenda again. You could come forward to the lectern here in the
- room or you can raise your hand via teams And Not seeing any more movement here We will move forward.
- Thank you all for public comment and
- Okay. All right. Next up is the department updates and again the department updates are where each department
- has up to 10 minutes to speak on items that are not on the agenda. And we got some movement here and
- it looks like I see Mr Jordan Miller, who is our jail financial manager coming. Present Hello. Welcome.
- Good afternoon,
- The balance as of October 1st, 2025 was $110,313.51. There was a total of $56,420.53 worth of receipts,
- $298.47 worth of interest.
- $47,235.97 in expenditures, resulting in a balance as of December 31st of $119,796.54. As you're aware,
- IC 36-8-10-21 provides a list of approved expenses. And once again, the top item
- of our expenditures would be the merchandise for resale, which was close to half. In total,
- it was $21,434.85. And as I've mentioned in past meetings, this would consist of things such as our
- Pepsi products, e-cigs, nicotine, things of that sort. Any questions I might be able to answer? Look
- into council and see if you have any questions. Seeing none.
- It may be, all right, Councilor Williams. I was just wondering, and this might be for Mr. Gibbons, that
- if there was an update on the audit that was being performed? We did begin the process late December.
- We're working hand in hand to complete the process. I've completed my own internal audit, kind of quite
- a lengthy spreadsheet of all the receipts and expenditures and things of that sort, but we are making progress.
- and we look to have additional information as soon as that takes place. OK, thank you. No other comments?
- We appreciate it. Thank you much, Mr. Mellon. All right. Next up, I see Ms. Ferris coming present here.
- Hello, welcome.
- Hello, I'm Kylie Farris, Monroe County Election Supervisor. I wanted to come and give a couple of updates.
- Candidate filing opened on January 7th and the last data file is going to be February 6th by noon.
- See annual CFA fours are going to be due on January 21st, which is Wednesday next week by noon as well
- And then the voter registration office will be moving to a temporary location On February 9th, and then
- once the space that is downstairs and showers is completed. We will move down there And then in addition
- click Brown had prepared a little small statement just to
- prepare you guys for us coming to the council neck at the next meeting on February 27th. So the statement
- is based on the clerks and the office's evaluation. It is simply not possible to run the kind of election
- that Monroe County voters deserve with the amount of money that has been appropriated under the current
- proposed budget.
- Reducing the amount of money appropriated to our division will mean reduction in early voting hours.
- Normal wait times will increase. Number of polling locations will be cut and an insufficient number
- of poll workers at each location. Additionally, the reduction is funding
- in funding makes our elections more vulnerable to emergencies. With little to no breathing room in our
- budget, it will be impossible for us to make the security advancements that we believe are necessary
- to provide Monroe County voters with the elections possible that we deserve and are accustomed to. At
- its core, our concerns have to do with not providing the county's voters with a safe and secure election
- process that is both the county clerk and election division staff school.
- Thank you for your time, and if there are any other questions or concerns today, we'd be happy to answer,
- but also we'll see you on the 27th as well. Okay, and you mentioned February 27th, January. January.
- No, I just want to make sure. January 24th. Okay, yeah, because I know it was mentioned in some of the
- headlines that council had taken some things away, and so I know it was
- was repeatedly said during our council budget sessions that additional appropriations definitely could
- be had once the clerk makes that request to the council. So it sounds like the ball is rolling, and
- I appreciate that. And I saw a hand raised, and before I do, I see Councilor Hawkins live and in the
- building, and her hoosierette. Welcome. I am happy to be here. You cannot imagine. Well, we are happy
- to see you. Welcome.
- Council Henry. Thank you. I just wanted to be clear when I heard it. I appreciate you delivering the
- message and you are the messenger here, not the person speaking. So did I hear correctly that the January
- 27th, the clerk will be here to ask for that appropriation or to? I will be coming. Oh, you'll be coming
- to ask for the appropriation? Well, that's outstanding. I look forward to having that conversation when
- you come back. All right. Thank you. All right. Yes, Councilor Wilt.
- You said you were moving to a temporary location until the bottom floor of showers is complete. Looks
- like that's, I mean, it's moving quickly, but it's not quite ready for y'all.
- Is the temporary location in showers? Yes. So the temporary location is suite 203. So it's going to
- be on the other end of the upstairs hallway where TSD is. And then that'll be the temporary location
- that we're moved to. And then once downstairs is completed, which we're thinking voter registration
- won't move until June. I do have a question. Go ahead. Go ahead. Did you? It's OK. OK.
- I'll come back. I apologize for being tardy, but I do have a question. When I go in to sign up and turn
- in my reports and so forth, has this move, this move is immediate? No, so we will still be in the current
- voter registration building until after candidate filing. We will move the Monday after the deadline.
- Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
- I'll look back to Councilor Wilts. No, I think that my questions about the statement that you read can
- wait until you come back, because I do have questions about that. That and then I'm always open to emails,
- so if you guys have any questions between then and now, that way I can get a head start to get answers
- for you guys. Councilor Decker. I also look forward to you coming back, but I also want to thank your
- folks who have the patience of Job in taking all of the public's questions, including public that might
- be seeking office. And you all do a tremendous job with that and answer a lot of questions with smiles.
- So thanks for all that and then managing us. Thank you guys. Thank you. All right. Are there any other
- departments that are present here in the room or
- I would like to give updates on items that are not on today's agenda. All right. Moving on. Thank you
- all so much for your updates. Next up is the consent agenda items. Council, I move to approve the following
- consent agenda items for January 13th.
- The health department's request to fund 8111-9623 crisis coag support workforce for the creation of
- account line 18001 full-time self-insurance and simultaneously approve a category transfer of $184,174
- from the services category to the personnel category.
- B, the highway department's request and fund 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway for the creation of account
- line 20700 supply maintenance repair equipment and 24207 supply maintenance repair building slash grounds
- and simultaneously approve a category transfer of $25,000 from the services category to the supplies category.
- C, the highway department's request and fund 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway for the creation of account
- line 38010 service maintenance slash repair equipment of $120,000.
- from the supplies category to the services category. D, the county council summary minutes of September
- 23rd, 2025 county council meeting. September 30th, 2025 county council special session meeting. October
- the 8th, 2025 county council special session meeting.
- October 14th, 2025 county council meeting. October 28th, 2025 county council meeting. November 10th,
- 2025 county council meeting. November 18th, 2025 county council meeting. December 9th, 2025 county council
- meeting. December 16th, 2025 county council meeting. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second
- on our consent agenda items as presented. Is there any questions or comments from council on these items?
- Yes, Councilor Wilts.
- I have a question about our minutes and just in general about the minutes. So not really impacting my
- vote on approving this but I did see an email about the change maybe in the protocol for producing the
- minutes for us. Do you know what I'm looking at Michelle because I think it was a copy of an email.
- that was about who is involved in the process, and I was never certain exactly since we moved away from
- the verbatim minutes how these are produced. So the auditor's office starts the process, creates the
- minutes, and then we have a process now where
- When she's done with those, she lets us know. And then Lehua in the office will check those. I'll give
- it one final check, and then they're good to go kind of thing. So there's like three sets of eyes that
- will be on the minutes checking that kind of stuff. Have we ever had any issues with accuracy in the
- minutes? In general, no pointing fingers. I mean, three sets of eyes.
- on this, I'm just looking to save people time if you ever worked in them. And so I just kind of want
- to know, is that really necessary? That's where I'm headed to have that many eyes on. We're starting
- a new thing where it's, there is a, and I can't, it's called tracking changes. So that whoever is just
- beginning the minutes, then
- We'll see what's going on. So for the first couple of sets of minutes, we're going to do that where
- I'm checking them, but then along with Lehua. But then after that, it's one person is going to check,
- one person is going to review, and then we're done. So there'll be two sets of eyes, but right now we've
- got three.
- And it looks like you might have some time. Yeah, I was just going to say that. Yeah, in the past, the
- council administrative assistant would create the minutes. And then either the chief deputy or the council
- assistant's counterpart, the commissioner's assistant, would review. Because of the added layers, we
- cut out that second layer review in my office. I just don't think it's necessary, just to save some
- time and energy.
- From my perspective, on the outside looking in, of course, because I'm not doing those minutes myself,
- it seems like a lot of the changes have just been like preferential. And so however the council wishes
- to have their minutes, that's absolutely fine. But we'll do that initial and then pass it on to your
- office to make those adjustments as you like. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you. Yes, council hawk. Yes.
- before we had the meetings recorded and we can look at what the written word is saying there. I think
- that's important that we keep that. And also, not too long ago, the minutes were kept and it was up
- to the office or whoever was putting it together to put in
- comments that they thought was important, which I think is ridiculous because it's what we're saying,
- not what they think. It's just I'm saying. So I'm glad they don't do that anymore. It should be either
- it's going to be verbatim or it's going to be this is what the motion said and not what this person
- thought this or that person thought that. You put it all in there, in which I don't know if there's
- room for that. So I'm glad to see that's no longer
- That was a lot of pressure as well when the person trying to put the minutes together. I will also say
- that the recordings are available to the public and that the transcript is also available to the public
- on that recording through Teams. There is a verbatim portion.
- as long as for like accuracy on that, you know that it's not gonna be, cause sometimes they'll call
- me, you say Miss Shell and my name becomes Michelle. So, you know, kind of thing. So, but there is a
- transcript available as well, so. Yeah, and I think we all have to remember, like, that's a whole lot
- of minutes, like a bulk of our packet was a lot of the minutes and my,
- eight to five time frame there is the office that I work in. We primarily deal a lot with that and it
- really managed to just really primarily be about motions and actions that have been taken and really
- not into the weeds of who said what about what and how, when or where, because that gets really kind
- of sticky and y'all are not transcribing the meeting. So that's for people who want to take a look at
- what county government looks like.
- 20 years from now if they decide to go back. All right. But much appreciation to everybody that had
- a lot to do with the meeting minutes as well. Yes, Councillor Hock. Right. Regarding the transfer in
- the health department, and so it says remaining balance available is zero, and it says the fund cash
- balance, but it doesn't say which fund balance they're talking about.
- But what I'm seeing here is the self-insurance new account line, that that is going to be moved to,
- it appears it's gonna be moving to a grant fund, is that correct? And so all of this statement, oh,
- we can't move self-insurance into grant funds, well, duh, right there, it tells us something, because
- it can be. Ms. Gregory.
- If I may, it depends on the grant and, you know, specifically what the award is allowed to be used for.
- So it appears in this case it is an acceptable expense. Moving on. Is there any other questions or comments
- from anybody related to tonight's consent agenda items as presented? All right. And seeing none.
- since we got everybody present. All those in favor of approving our consent agenda items as presented,
- signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. All right, motion carries. Thank you. Next
- up is item number seven. Oh, that's me. Oh, hey, yeah. Bless me.
- Every year we do this thing called reorganization where the state statute requires us to appoint and
- approve council president and pro tem as the first meeting of every year. And so now we open up the
- floor here for nominations for president. Yes, Councilor Iverson.
- Madam President, this county has been through a lot in the previous year. And so I move that Jennifer
- Crossley remain as president of the Monroe County Council. All right, we got a motion and a second.
- Sorry, who seconded? Marty. OK, thank you. All right, we got motion and a second.
- I guess I have to accept the nomination first. So yes, I accept the nomination. Thank you very much.
- Great. I know, right? I appreciate that. Yes, as we have definitely discussed, we have been through
- a lot, but I'm a glutton for punishment, and I continue to volunteer myself to the Tribune. I thought
- last year was not going to be
- I mean, nobody thought 2025 would turn out the way that it did, but it just kept each month just kept
- saying, hold my beer. So I am willing to continue to lead with our council members here. And I look
- forward to continuing to work with my county council members, all six of you, as we continue to move
- forward with the United Front, because we got a lot of stuff coming our way, as we've seen.
- I appreciate that, thank you. Anybody else has any other questions or comments? Yes, Councilor Henry.
- Thank you, Madam President, and I'm glad that I'll have another year of saying Madam President down
- the line. We all know that not every Hollywood sequel is great, but may this be like The Godfather Part
- II. Maybe that is intentional to say it that way, but I'm glad it'll be in the driver's seat for the
- year to come. Thank you. My name is Jennifer Crosley, and I approve that message. All right.
- Anybody else having questions or comments? All right. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call
- on the presidency for 2026? Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor
- Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crosley? Yeah, yes.
- Councilor Iverson yes motion passes unanimous all right thank you all very much for trusting me with
- all of this all right next up is item B and that's where we elect our president pro temp of 2026 same
- as before so look to see if there's any nominations from the floor here
- I'll take a point of privilege here. I will make a motion as we continue to keep with the continuity
- of council leadership for the year. I would like to nominate our current president pro tem Peter Iverson
- to the same job. Yes. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second.
- Thank you so much for your faith in my golden voice I pledge to continue to read what I have to read
- with interest and I'm really looking forward to the coming year to tackling challenges with you madam
- president I know we went through a lot last year and I have a lot of confidence and Optimism that we
- will do very well this year. So thank you for your confidence in me All right
- Any other questions or comments for Councilor Iverson? Yes, Councilor Wilts. I appreciate both of you
- being willing to serve in our leadership for another year. I think it just bears repeating that it's
- 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.
- I'm enthusiastically supporting you both and offering unsolicited advice to exercise some self-care
- in the realm of how much you take on and lean on us as needed. You're here. All right. Any other questions
- or comments for Councilor Iverson?
- and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor
- Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Decker?
- Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Your 2026 leadership of president and pro tem is approved.
- Thank you very much, y'all.
- All right, next up is item C here. And it looks like that we have, as a reminder to the public, we have,
- oops, let me go back. We have an acknowledgement of a citizen appointment resignation, which is Mr.
- Galen Cassidy from the Food and Beverage Tax Commission, or yes, Food and Beverage Tax Commission. So that,
- is received, is there any objections from council on this resignation? All right, seeing none, we have
- received that. Also along that same tone here, we did have Mr. Galen Cassidy apply to be our appointee,
- the council appointee for the Capital Improvement Board. He would be completing the two-year term that
- expires next year.
- January 1st, 2027, because as you know, our former council member, Jeff McKim, who had that position
- resigned to take on new position that he has. So I wanted to express that. Okay. And we just rolling
- through all of this, right? Yep. We need to vote. Yeah, I need to vote. Oh, okay. I wasn't sure.
- appointment to the Capital Improvement Board. Okay, so we technically need to make a motion because
- there was no motion that was made. Okay. Correct. Okay, Councilor Everson. Council, I move to approve
- the appointment of Galen Cassidy to the Capital Improvement Board for the completion of a two-year term
- that expires on January 1st, 2027. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. And I'm not certain,
- I don't want to put him on the spot. I know he was on
- a little bit ago, but Mr. Cassidy, if you would like to come off a mute, and if you want to, no pressure,
- if you want to come off a mute and say something about this motion that was made, now is the time to
- do so. Yeah, I'm happy to thank you for the time and consideration.
- 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
- very excited about this project from the get go, leading this bead advisory group. And I look forward
- to continue to help and advise in this project the best I can from my perspective as a small business
- owner in the downtown Bloomington. Thank you very much.
- All right, is there any other questions or comments on this from Council? Yes, Councilor Decker. I just
- want to thank Mr. Cassidy for this first prior service and this service. And one thing I want to say
- is the amazing thing about this board, the Capital Improvements Board, is they truly are moving like
- lightning on that project. And I can remember times
- in this council when our discussions and frustration on the convention center issues that we were having
- were to a proportion that everyone sort of rung their hands and said, how in the world will this ever
- happen? But that capital improvement board and the collaboration between all parties, and I can recall
- those days vividly, has got us to this moment so much that I believe this for this particular seat,
- this is the third person in about
- two years, but it's not a signal that things are going bad. It's just that they're doing the work and
- people step off for other things. This is a model, friends, on how I think it can go. And I appreciate
- very much that board's diligence on that. There's really nothing stopping them. And that might be give
- us hope for a few other things we've got in our minds these days. All right. Thank you.
- Yes, I appreciate your willingness to move forward with this and stay with us and use the experience
- that you've already received on the Food and Beverage Commission. Just as a reminder, there's a lot
- going on at the state right now having to do with expanded opportunities for
- tourism and having to do with the innkeeper's tax and the food and beverage tax and so forth. And so
- there's a lot that we have to continue to watch to see if there's opportunities for us to learn from
- others and do better for ourselves. But happy to see that we have people who love the downtown and who
- wants tourism to do well.
- So because we need downtown to be successful so that the county can be successful. And so it reflects
- well that we have downtown businesses that want to participate.
- Council Henry. Thank you, Madam President. And I thank you, Mr. Cassidy, for stepping into the role
- in the CIB. You're filling several sets of big shoes between Mr. Spoonmore and Mr. McKim that precede
- you. I agree with my fellow councilor's statements on the vitality of that board. As this council's
- member on the capital, I'm sorry, the visitor's commission for the county, the CBC, we're in the phase
- now where we're booking.
- for that facility now. So when folks in the community see the steel going up, we're already booking
- ahead to when we finally open those doors and those thousand plus conferences come to Bloomington, which
- is exciting. So having you there now that we've moved through a get the thing going phase and with Mr.
- McKim's fiscal acumen getting us to shovels on the ground and now with your eyes as a small business
- owner in the community,
- of the bookings to come. I appreciate your service, so thank you for signing up for it. All right, yes,
- and thank you very much for all the work that you will continue to do. All right, without any other
- further questions or comments from council on this, Michelle, can we please have a roll call vote? Councilor
- Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes.
- Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Motion
- is approved, unanimous seven zero. All right. Thank you very much. And thank you, Mr. Cassidy. And with
- his resignation from the Food and Beverage Tax Commission, there is now a vacancy that we will have.
- So those that are interested, please go to our county's website and apply.
- Yes counselor will. I think this particular position on the food and beverage tax advisory commission
- is it has to be someone who is a restaurateur and maybe Molly could clarify that.
- Mr. Cassidy was fulfilling one of the three spots that are filled by owners of retail facilities that
- sell food or beverages subject to the county fab tax So his replacement would have to also meet those
- qualifications Okay, so you're listening or watching Um, and if you meet those requirements definitely
- apply Okay. All right next up we have a
- the current county council vacancies for boards and commissions. And just as a reminder, we have the
- ones for the Sophia Travis Grant Committee. Again, that is a two year term. And again, if you are interested
- in applying for those vacancies, services, definitely something that we would love to do or have you
- And you can click on community and click on board and commission page. And on that page, you should
- be able to click apply and apply for those vacancies. All right. Next up, we have item D, which is the
- reappointment of the various boards and commissions.
- Thank you. Council, I move to approve the following citizen reappointments to the Alcoholic Beverage
- Commission. Anthony Satili, one year term expires December 31st, 2026. Board of Zoning Appeals skip
- daily a four year term expiring January 1st, 2030.
- The Library Board of Trustees Jennifer Whitley a four-year term expiring January 31, 2030. The Redevelopment
- Commission Colin McCarty a one-year term expires January 1, 2027. Also to the Redevelopment Commission
- Iris Kiesling a one-year term expiring January 1, 2027.
- to the Traffic Commission, Reid Adams, a two-year term expiring December 31, 2027, and two appointments
- to the Women's Commission, Tiana Eriuli, a two-year term expiring January 1, 2028, and Juliet Hardesty,
- a two-year term expiring January 1, 2028. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second for all of
- those. Any questions or comments from council related to the Boarding Commission? Yes. Apologies to
- any mispronunciations of names.
- I apologize. It's okay. It's all right All right, um any other questions or comments from council again
- want to take the point of privilege to thank those that are Continuing to serve the community and those
- that will continue to do so without that me or Any other further questions or comments? seeing none
- and we usually don't have public comment on a
- Okay, because I see it listed here. So I will go ahead and have a roll call vote on the reappointments.
- Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Hawk? Yes. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor
- Deckard? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Motion is approved unanimous 7-0. All right,
- thank you very much.
- Yes, Council. Can I ask a question about the current vacant council boards or commissions for citizen
- members up above where it talks about the Capital Improvement Board? Kate and I were just kind of wondering
- when we approved Galen Cassidy, whether that still should be on there, right? No. No. That's... Ms.
- Turner, can you...
- Originally, the agenda had the appointment of Mr. Cassidy, but we had to remove it, and then I discussed
- with him, and so we added it back. And so when we removed it, we put on the agenda appointment to the
- Capital Improvement Board. But with the appointment of Mr. Cassidy to the Capital Improvement Board,
- there is no longer a vacancy on that board. It does create a vacancy on Fabtech. Right. That's where
- I was saying that. OK. Thank you. All right.
- Any other questions or comments before we move on? All right. So this is the part last year where we
- really got stuck.
- the agenda was going so fast until we got to this point. And so we as liaisons to various departments
- and to the various boards of commissions of the county, I think we've done a really good job this year,
- and I appreciate all of my council colleagues for stepping up and doing that. I know some of y'all had
- some really daunting task and did a lot of hard work, and I appreciate all of that. So I would like to take
- this a different direction. So instead of going through and kind of do a roll call on who wants to do
- what, is there any objections to anybody staying with their current liaison assignments? And some people
- kind of want to move around. Yes. Counselor Wilkes. First, I do not have an objection to any
- of my appointments. Thank you.
- I would, again, just offer that perhaps the president and president pro temp think about whether or
- not they should offload a spot from their duties. Just a suggestion, not that I'm angling to get anything
- or anything like that.
- I just know how busy you are. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, Councillor Decker. I am not that
- I don't enjoy this service, but I think Councillor Fiddle, who has done some pinch hitting for me with
- the BDC, let me say it long ways for the public
- Bloomington Economic Development Corporation's membership, liaisonship. I would recommend that I come
- off that and she go on. I'm happy to do that. Okay. So it seems like for 2026, we will have Councilor
- Feidl step in for the BD membership.
- Councilor Hawk does, see your hand go up over here. I mean, if for some reason there would be a council
- member that later would decide they would like to be moved or relieved of one department or the other,
- we could do that without taking three hours. Exactly. That's why you're setting the Airbnb president
- again. We don't want to do that again. We want to go home and
- and get ready for next week in Miami, or in my case, the Bears. All right. Yes. I would just say,
- I actually, the approach of kind of keeping it how it is really pleases me. And the reason being is
- because we're not in normal budgetary times. And a familiar face in a department is not the worst thing
- among things that are not feeling the best.
- And I think until we get to the other side of whatever this is, that would be, it's probably the wisest
- course for now. All right. So again, this isn't something that's set in stone right now. But as Councilor
- Hockin mentioned, if we
- The only change it looks like we'll do currently is from Decker to Fido for the BED membership.
- And of course, if any of us find that we need to make some changes, we can do so at future meetings.
- Yes, Councilor Hawke. Right. I would just like to use this time as a reminder that any one of us can
- call any department head and ask for questions to be answered. And they should show each of us
- the same kind of respect as they would their liaison because we should not any of us have to wait until
- someone else has a time to ask a question and our question might be more relevant just to what we need
- to know. So agree. Thank you very much for that. All right. Yes. Councillor Henry. Thank you madam president.
- So do we just need an amendment to adopt the 2020
- 2025 list as amended for 2026 or is that required? We do. We just. Yep. All right. So that was easy.
- All right. Moving on to the next item. I can't believe how fast that went. Knock on wood. Council I
- move to open for discussion possible approval of the highway department's request.
- Oh my goodness. They're hiring him way too young. To be exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed
- to hire and fund 1176-0000 Motor Vehicle Highway, a mechanic position. All right, we got a motion and
- a second and I see a future council member in the making with Ms. Ridge. Hello, welcome. This is not
- the mechanic. Hi.
- Good evening. So I know we're under a hiring freeze, but we did have a mechanic give their notice at
- the beginning of the year. His last day is this Friday. So with having 134 pieces of active equipment
- between trucks and dump trucks, grade all sweepers, excavators, skid steers, back trucks, we need to
- get that second mechanic. We have one master mechanic and then two regular mechanics. So we're just
- here. I'm here to request to
- that position. All right, thank you for that. Any questions or comments from Council? To the left here.
- Yes, Councillor Hoff. Yes, as a reminder, this position is paid for out of the highway's revenue. And
- as long as their revenue covers and they know how to watch their budget, it is quite different from
- the hiring freeze that we have on the other budgets.
- just it just is. Thank you for that reminder. Anybody else have any questions or comments for Miss Ridge?
- Seeing none, we will move to public comment. If you have public comment on this item, you can come forward
- to the lectern here or you can raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, may we please have a roll
- call vote?
- Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor
- Hawke? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you
- very much. Thank you. Thanks for coming. All right. Next up is our new business. Council, I move to
- approve the Jail Slash Correctional Center's request to amend the following in the 2026 salary ordinance.
- First, in Fund 1170-0380 Public Safety Lit Jail, in Account Line 17101 Overtime, the range of $40.93
- to $65 hourly. Account Line 17801 Part Time, the range is $14 to $30 hourly.
- In the second fund, fund 1000-0380 County General Jail in account line 17101 overtime with a range of
- $40.93 to $65 hourly. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second. We have Mr. Miller here along
- with our jail commander. Welcome. Hello again. Yes, as you can see, this is kind of a housekeeping item.
- We've got three different accounts in the salary ordinance that we're interested in increasing the max
- range to, starting with our part-time hourly. Historically, part-time correction officers are earning
- the same hourly base rate as our new full-time, and this year, of course, that increased to $27.29.
- As you can see, we also added a little bit higher than that amount with the potential for future increases.
- theoretically not having to come do this each and every year. That one also kind of turned into the
- others needing to be adjusted as well with these increased rates. The overtime lines for both our public
- safety lit fund as well as our county general fund are in need of some changes to account for the potential max
- pay in each of those. The difference from the Public Safety Lit Fund to the County General Fund is a
- matter of the Public Safety Lit Fund only houses COs, the correction officers, and the County General
- Fund contains sergeants, which of course have a higher base rate, and these as well have a little bit
- higher, a little bit of a cushion for the potential for future increases. Any questions?
- Any questions for Mr. Miller from council? Seeing none. OK. Self-explanatory. All right. If there is
- public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the night UO room, or you can
- raise your hand via Teams. And as a stall so that we can have Michelle come. Yeah. I can do the roll call. OK.
- All right, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor
- Iverson? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Crossley?
- Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Okay, thank you very much. Next up item B.
- Council, I move to approve the request to amend the following in the 2026 salary ordinance. First, in
- Fund 1000-0380, County General Jail, and remove the following account lines. 16031, Captain, at 41.25
- hours, jail cap exempt. In Line 16032, Captain, at 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. And finally,
- in Line 1603, Captain, at 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. And in the second fund,
- Fund 1233-0000, correctional lit. Add the following account lines. 16031, captain, 41.25 hours, jail
- cap exempt. 16032, captain, 41.25 jail cap exempt. 16033, captain, 41.25 hours, jail cap exempt. Second.
- Okay. And this one is looking to
- Michelle for this one. Yes, Jordan contacted me and let me know that the salary ordinance didn't match
- the budgets. We had made those corrections and that was just one of, we had moved those three positions
- from general fund into that correctional lit. I missed putting that into the salary ordinance correctly.
- So this is just to correct what we or
- we council approved budget wise. So that's what, so we just need to make those two things patch. Okay.
- I appreciate that. Okay. All right. Counselor votes. Yes. Um, you have under the county general, um,
- the remaining balance available, it's in red and parentheses, which usually indicates an issue. Um,
- That comes from the auditor's office and that's probably when, you know, we hadn't updated, there's
- that rollover. Yeah. Yes. Okay. It's not something to be freaking out about. Okay. No, there's when
- we... It's one we're removing lines from anyway, but I... When we move one year budget into another year,
- some lines look negative. I was hoping this was the answer. We're kind of in that crossover right now
- until they get their annual report done. Yes, until we finish the annual financial report, which is
- due end of February, we have two accounting periods open, which makes things kind of hairy sometimes
- for reporting. Got it. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on this item from counsel? Counselor Hawk.
- like to say that on this agenda and in the packet, it should have said something about that. So when
- the public was looking at it, they would not think that we were that far in the red. So I just think
- it needs to be a very transparent to the public and for us.
- And looking around for final questions or comments from Council. And seeing none, we'll move on to public
- comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams, or you can come
- forward to the lectern here, and then at you Hill Room. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call
- vote. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilz? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor
- Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson?
- Councillor Deckard. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
- All right. Next up, we have County Council business because we don't have any presentations or discussions.
- And so that was amended to add the higher end freeze for Ms. Turner King. Do we need a motion? I don't
- think so. Do we need to? I think it might be easier for me to explain it and then a motion to amend
- if you agree. Okay.
- All right. So go ahead. This afternoon a question came about regarding the court's law clerks and I
- did some digging into how law clerks going to say employed by the county but kind of maybe not
- Floyd is the best word. So the courts, each judge has the opportunity to select a law clerk. And I use
- select because there's not a job description and there's no application process. What happens is if
- there is a law student who wants to serve as a law clerk for the judge, they email court services and
- expresses their interest. That email gets forwarded to all of the judges. And then if a judge likes
- that candidate or student, they select them.
- The law students, interns, they're paid through the court's part-time line. They are submitted, a new
- employee paperwork is submitted to employee services. These individuals, some are paid, some are not.
- If they are paid, they're capped at 10 hours per week and they're paid at the lowest part-time rate.
- For the individuals who
- do not receive pay, they typically receive credit hours through the law school. And how much they work
- really varies depending on what the judge has them research. So some weeks they might hit their 10-hour
- cap, and then it might go another month before they do anything. And so it's more of an internship,
- but we pay them through payroll. And so there was a conversation of how does this
- Was I employee in turn position relate to the hiring freeze given the fact that the judges just select
- these individuals. And so share my screen. What I did was prepare a proposed amendment to the already
- in place hiring freeze resolution that would exempt
- the judges from having to go through the hiring freeze process to select their law clerks. So what I'm
- displaying is it says resolution 2025-42. I did not get a new resolution number for 2026 because
- This document is so fluid that I think it would be confusing to get a 2026 number. So what I did was
- I'm just now calling them A, B, and C. And so this is 202542A. And it adds the language in red,
- which reads, in addition to the above exempted positions,
- The Monroe County judges may select law clerk interns who are paid as part-time employees and whose
- hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring freeze. The Monroe County judges
- may select law clerks without seeking permission from the council pursuant to this amended resolution.
- And then on the last page, I added the potential date of amendment. That's the only changes. Okay. Thank
- you for that, Ms. King.
- Is there any other questions or comments from Council? We'll go to Councilor Iverson first, and then
- I'll come to Councilor Vido next. I support this. This seems very rational and well thought out. My
- only question to any of you is, are there any other positions like this where we have interns, fellows,
- or other IU students, Ivy Tech students, or anybody else who are on payroll? I don't know. I mean, I
- wouldn't be surprised if they are.
- I think this one just came up because the students are scheduled to start on Thursday to meet law school
- requirements. And so it was just one of those things that came about this afternoon. But I wouldn't
- be surprised if there are other interns in the same situation. So I have two questions. One is, so what's
- in red now?
- your addition about the red date on the end makes sense. Will that stay red for the permanent record
- so people can see that that's what was changed on that date? It can. We usually don't. But I don't think,
- given how fluid this document has been, I think it might be easier to track if we have the versions
- in red. Yeah. Thank you. And then also, when I see the language, I wondered if there was any
- finite number or is this unlimited number that we would be approving here? From what I got from court
- services is it varies by semester. They really don't, it just depends on the number of students that
- reach out to them and them being the court. So I think it varies by court and by semester. Okay. So
- there's certainly a, sounds like a past practice or doing this, right? Yes. Correct. Thank you.
- Yes. Councillor. So I need a compelling argument to exempt these positions but not other part time positions.
- And what is that argument. I don't think these positions are similar to other part time employees given the
- limited work schedule that they have and that, I mean, a judge just, the third body of government just
- picks these individuals. Unlike other part-time positions, there's no application, there's
- no job description, it's just a judge picks them. I was just going to say, do they have some sort of
- arrangement with the law school to make that happen?
- do if they're getting credit hours. And for the individuals who are getting paid, I'm not 100% sure,
- but I'm happy to inquire with the courts. Councillor Henry. Yeah, thank you, Madam President. And I
- appreciate that question, Councillor Wilts, because, OK, they're still drawing a monetary paycheck of
- some kind from the county. That's why you're asking. We're asking for the exception here.
- Now I'm wondering, and I appreciate that there's some independence there from the Board of Judges, but
- they're still pulling a paycheck from the coffers of the county. So I also agree with Councillor Wilts
- on this because seasonal employment of part-time nature and compensation is, I'm having a hard time
- understanding the difference between that and a election poll worker or a parks worker for the summer.
- If they're getting paid by the county, they're getting paid by the county.
- I also, I guess, if this is an issue of expediency, is that really, so Ms. Turner-King, is that the
- question? Because it's a 16 week semester and the clerks are, they're overlapping with their academic
- year and by the time, let's, if we play this out, by the time we have a request for hiring freeze, lifting
- the hiring freeze on these positions, they're two to four weeks into their 16 week semester, is that
- what we're talking about?
- Is it a duration issue? I think it does typically go by semester. And summer is three months too,
- I suppose. I bet three months. Let me follow up question. When are clerks, do we know when
- they're interviewed and offered employment? I do not. Because I'm presuming that process occurs before
- the first day of showing up on the job for the semester, right? Like there must be a month or two of
- selection or something going on, like any other hiring?
- We don't know. Yeah, I don't know that. OK. Thank you, Madam President. I'll go to Councilor Huck and
- then Councilor Wilts. I'll circle back to you. Yes. Can you tell me is this the payments made under
- the unappropriated fund or from what fund are they paid? General fund or part time? Under part time. OK.
- It's just a part of their part-time. And how do we know that that part-time number is what you're referring
- to as being the lowest paid? What is the lowest paid? In talking to the courts, I think it's $14 an
- hour, and it's just historically how they've always paid them at the lower end of that part-time.
- And as a reminder, in everything we're doing with the courts this year, we have to recognize that next
- year we're not going to have one of those courts, so we need to be cutting back on the expense of that
- court that we'll no longer have. Great. Councilor Watz.
- You mentioned that some of these positions are doing it for credit through the law school. Maybe I'm
- wrong, but it seems like to me that would imply that there is some sort of memorandum of understanding
- at the very least between the law school and the board of judges.
- all for that type of professional development. I certainly don't want to cross something that's put
- in place formally like that. I don't have any problem with those that are doing it for credit. I think
- that's great. I guess I would encourage the Board of Judges, I mean, not understanding much else about it,
- I would encourage them to think about not paying for this type of position, allowing them to do it for
- credit, expanding that agreement if one exists. And maybe it's something that the law school is willing
- to fund on their end if they want that type of experience for their students as well. But I'm still
- missing that compelling argument part that I was looking for.
- I just want to clarify, the courts have one part-time hourly line. It is in the general fund. The range
- is from $14 to $17. So that's the range rate for their part-time hourly. I guess the other question
- that I have for this, since Ms. Turner-King, you had mentioned, like, you don't, like, we don't know
- what else is out there that is like this.
- Is there any way that we could try to do an audit of some sort to just kind of figure out, like,
- what else, you know, putting our crystal ball in front of us, like, what else this could also, like,
- something like this could also be the same thing, if that makes sense. I'm happy to send, like, an email
- to department heads to ask if there are, like, paid intern positions that we don't know about.
- If there are, they're being paid through payroll. And I don't know if payroll has the capability to
- run some type of report, because I think they would just come up as part-time employees, unless they
- knew the name of the person. So I think the easiest way is to send a department head email. OK. And
- then I'm going to look at Ms. Gregory, because is there something that you might have on your end?
- I think Ms. Turner-King covered it. I was just going to recommend that we talk with employee services
- to see if they have this information at their fingertips. Got it. OK. All right. I appreciate that.
- Thank you.
- Councilor Decker. One of the worries I have on this a little bit is sometimes when credit hours are
- involved with individuals, that is a very premeditated process where someone says, I'll do this then,
- or I need to do this then in order to meet whatever goals, academic or individual or otherwise. And
- I'm a little worried that our timing here on some of these individuals
- disrupts that on maybe a thing that's not been thought through, but I'm also, on a flip side, a little
- bit worried that it also disrupts our system, because I think that they're drawing from this research,
- the judges are drawing from this research, et cetera. I guess, what's our timing look like for what
- we have to do tonight or not do? Because it doesn't sound like counsel's heading towards keeping that
- language and that resolution, unless I'm hearing this wrong.
- I believe one was scheduled to start on Thursday and then a second law clerk was starting next week.
- This is the timeliness goes beyond the resolution. It's how do these things happen Thursday and a second
- one next week. There's just two law clerks.
- There are nine judges, so presumably you could have nine or multiple in a court. I just know of the
- two that we received paperwork on today to start Thursday and next week. All right. When you say received
- paperwork on, were they requesting an exemption to the hiring? No, they submitted it to employee services.
- We've had a hiring freeze for months. Right. And so it was submitted to employee services.
- And then they reached out to me saying, was there anything sent from, you know, approved by council
- from the courts? And I went through my stuff and no, there wasn't. So then that's why we're here tonight
- because there wasn't anything and they've got people starting. That's what I'm looking for.
- potentially have we have two that are in the pike but then we also have more that potentially could
- be coming or are already in place you know because if they're on what is considered like a I think I
- remember Molly saying something you know maybe it's like a two-year kind of thing so
- The paperwork that was submitted is the first day of employment for this one person is January 15th,
- so that's Thursday. Say what? Yeah. And then... They've done it in previous academic years, the same thing.
- The courts have always had law clerks. That's the only one I have on file. I don't know anything about
- one for next week, so they haven't submitted paperwork that I can access. Yes, Councilor Henry.
- Thank you. I didn't think we'd have this kind of heartburn this evening, but here we are. I want to
- echo Councilor Deckard's sentiment about the
- When we start talking credit hours and students that have come to the county in good faith to seek out
- a position and do work for the county as they understand it you know we're talking about human beings
- here at the end of a process that.
- that our decision tonight either delays their start and shortens their work, and potentially it sounds
- like there's others in the pipeline coming on board into the county. So there's that end of this. On
- the other end of this, the resolution that we've amended now several times is starting to take on that
- camel feeling, you know, the course designed by committee where we keep adding things to it.
- I really think this is a message for department heads that I'm speaking about right now. Part of the
- reason why I do believe we did return council leadership as is is we faced a very hard last year and
- we're facing an increasingly harder fiscal climate moving ahead. The way that we've conducted business
- in the county is changing and we can either adapt to it or decline.
- And that is what's before us when it comes to our revenue. This is before us when it comes to our tax
- rates. And so if it is business as usual for departments to say, well, you know, they meant a hiring
- freeze, but, you know, there's always an exception. We have this special thing going on. We'll get around
- to letting you know. This is changing. And so to put before us this evening to fix a problem,
- that we had been communicating to the county department heads for months that we meant a hiring freeze.
- And then we find the variables keep getting thrown at us. There's seasonal and there's exempt and there's
- now this. This is going to break at some point. And so I guess where I'm at, not necessarily to maybe
- to answer Councilor Duckard's comment, I'm not necessarily against voting for this this evening, but
- because there are humans at the end of the line that didn't ask to be caught up in the grist bill here.
- We cannot continue just the yes but approach to the hiring freeze. And yeah we are debating over $14
- an hour position right now. But if this is the first meeting of the year and here we go this is going
- to be a very long year of us wrestling with every last what abouts that comes before here.
- Times are changing. There is absolutely no way our budget process is going to happen the same as it
- did last year with forecasts and revenue projections and what's going on at the State House right now.
- So I want to fix this for the people caught in the mill here, but the Board of Judges must understand
- that the hiring freeze process applies to their third branch of government too. And we need to work
- through that. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yes, Councilor Feidl. So I think
- that would be my question is what didn't the Board of Judges understand about
- them not being a part of that, right? I don't think they think these are employees. It's more of an
- intern. And our resolution, I think, says employees. I see. So it's a category issue. If they're unpaid
- interns, this isn't a problem. If they're doing it for credit, this isn't a problem. But if they're
- being paid by the county, they're employees, and it's a problem. I'm sorry. That's sort of where I land.
- And I am sorry that there was a misunderstanding. I can certainly see it opening up a whole can of worms
- from here on out. Councillor Hawke. Yes, I have concern that departments might think because they have
- budgeted under part-time that they can just go ahead and hire part-time people because they've got a
- line item that says part-time, this is where we're going to pay them.
- But that's just not the way this is going to work. If we're going to do the hiring freeze, we have to
- recognize that all those lines that we did approve, we could approve all of those positions. And if
- that position becomes vacant, that doesn't mean we're going to fill that slot. And so I think we have
- to be cognizant of what the department heads
- Might perceive this to be and and rightfully so I understand that they've not had to face something
- like this with us before and We have to just do this together And we haven't either so and that's what
- we're trying to go through right now So, okay. Yes counselor vital. So one more question, maybe I
- What might it be that the judges might not be able to do if they don't have these clerks helping them?
- I think, and I'm going to speak from experience in the past, typically your law clerks will help research
- motions to suppress or unique legal situations when either the prosecutor or the public defender brings
- up a nuanced argument.
- Typically law clerks will draft memos so that judges can rule on those motions. And then who might be
- doing that work instead if this doesn't get passed. I guess I don't know the answer to that because
- 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.
- So because we have a couple of individuals that are stuck in the matrix of all of this, could we, unbeknownst
- to them, I guess, could we try to make amends to something like this and then freeze everything else
- until they can abide by
- I'm just trying to think of like a solution here since we got a couple of people, since it's been mentioned
- that we have a couple of people that are stuck in the crosshairs and thought that they were starting
- in the next week or so. Councillor Decker. So for instance, if Councillor Decker were to offer a motion
- that the council approve these two law clerk,
- positions and discussion to move forward with our approval and hold off on resolution language, could
- that at least move that forward, having been the council's now discussed and debated it? Wait, do we
- even have a motion on the floor? No, because we opened it up as a discussion. So I'd offer that one.
- I'll second that one. And let's get, let's move this forward and figure out the rest.
- So we're on discussion now for that, right? Well, because there was now a motion to figure out where
- to move these two individuals through, and then Councilor Iverson seconded. Right. If information, can
- you state the action? What's the motion? Yeah, I think we need to restate. So Councilor Decker, if you
- want to restate your motion. Madam President, I move that the two law clerks in our discussion this
- evening be given the approval of the County Council for
- movement in county service for this spring With the courts Henry does that yeah, that's clear clear.
- Okay. Thank you. And I saw again counselor Iverson second it. Yes counselor fight on so Okay, so it
- seems to me like with the language originally and even now it seems to me like there could be more in
- the pipeline that we don't know about
- Am I making that assumption probably? So what do we do then when we have those, right? Come back.
- Come back. Ms. Turner-King, were you about to say something to that? But it was just, okay. All right.
- Councilor Wilts. I appreciate that my colleagues are trying to protect the innocent by standards caught
- in the fray here.
- but I'm, I think it's bizarre that we would approve positions with no submission or request to do so
- from the department and I'm not going to support that. So just letting you know where I'm coming from.
- All right, Council Henry. Thank you. And I guess we are talking about the motion,
- I guess on that point and maybe another way to think about it would be to amend the resolution before
- us to put a date on the exemption to the hiring freeze. So if we for example said something like in
- the red language here whose hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring freeze
- through January 30th which would give two weeks to catch these two people. But otherwise
- I see where Councilor Wolf is coming from in terms of making a motion without a request from the department.
- I also would like the Board of Judges to sit here and make their request for the hiring freeze for the
- positions they'd like to bring on for the rest of the semester, which is more our custom. So I appreciate
- the strong effort by Councilor Decker and Iverson here, but it might just be as easy as amending the
- resolution to a date on these two and then encouraging the Board of Judges to come in to explain their
- rationale for this as a line item in our next meeting. That's a thought on this. Thank you. Okay. Okay.
- Okay. Anybody else have any questions or comments on that?
- Council the Decorate made the motion but council Henry is it it's what we are talking about here and
- it does have something somewhat to do with the motion. So are you saying about changing the language
- and read and put in that date that would still argue that allows the two individuals to come through?
- I think it's an idea. It's another way to go that with the document before us because that's the discussion
- point is the resolution and not I guess trying to approve a Appropriation without a request. Does that
- make sense? So it's more of a technical comment on on that at this point Yes, I see the council members Wilson
- title are the liaisons for the courts, and did they discuss this with you at all? I've not heard anything.
- Well, I think that's rather egregious, but then I think that's because they don't understand the hiring
- freeze. Yeah. It's kind of obvious that they don't, yeah. Okay. So we got the motion on the floor. Can
- we repeat it one more time? I'm sorry.
- Councilor Deckard made a motion to approve the amendment of resolution 2025-42A, the temporary hiring
- freeze, to include the exemption of two law clerks for the spring semester. I was just, if I can clarify,
- I was just saying, just this council sitting here, absent the resolution, just says, we're gonna approve
- those two positions and kind of leave it alone so that maybe liaisons can go figure out other things
- and perhaps we revisit this. But if it's just about these two, at least right now, and I bet my mortgage
- that's not completely the case, but for now we know of two, I think piecemeal, I'm just saying two in
- my motion. So does the motion then
- to keep the red language or not? I'm confused. Motion doesn't have nothing to do with independent of
- the red line. This or scrap paper. So technically the motion could be voted on. And then it sounds like
- potentially maybe counselor Henry could have a possible amendment to the language that was presented
- by Ms. Turner King to kind of coincide with that. Am I?
- Okay. All right. So any further discussion on or any clarification on the motion as presented. So will
- there be further language or not I can't tell. So this is just to approve the two individuals that are
- stuck in the matrix right now. Thank you. And then after that if you know if
- anybody would like to, then we can make that motion to amend the language that Ms. Turner King presented
- to reflect what we as a council would like to see moving forward. Thank you. All right. So no other
- further discussion on this. If we have any public comment on this particular item, you can come forward
- to the lectern here in the night, you know, room or raise your hand via teams.
- All right, and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor
- Wilts? No. Councillor Hawke? No. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Henry?
- Yes. Councillor Deckard? Yes. Motion passes majority five to two.
- President, I would like to offer a motion to amend resolution 2025-42. Okay, the motion is to, in the
- language added by Ms. Turner-King in section one of hiring new employees, the sentence that reads, in
- addition to the above exempted positions, the Monroe County judges may select law clerk interns who
- are paid as part-time employees and whose hours are capped at 10 hours per week as an exemption to the hiring
- freeze to add the language through January 31st, 2026 to the sentence and to strike the last sentence
- of that red line addition as an amendment to the resolution. Second. Okay. And is that something Ms.
- Turner-King that we can see presented on the screen?
- Council Henry, is that what you? Yeah, that would be it. I mean, this is in good faith to hopefully
- cap the two. If I find out they ram date through between now and the 31st, I guess we'll have
- that conversation. But I would very much encourage our colleagues to come before us and really walk
- through this. It's very important that we maintain consistency. So this is just to cap the resolution
- as is to put a date on the freeze.
- the through basically two weeks to let these in the resolution allow that to go through. Okay. Yes.
- Councilor, if I don't so I still went earlier on I asked about a finite number and I still don't see
- a finite number here. I'm not sure how that fixes any of that. We can add to I would say I would accept
- an amendment to to actually say the two higher up. So I'm sorry we're cross talking but would you want
- I would offer if you have a friendly amendment to
- limit the number of clerks. I don't know if I have the amendment, I have the issue. In fact, I think
- it ought to say something about the fact that the ones that are in the pipeline, but not put that way,
- you know what I mean? The ones that are going to be starting, the two that we know are going to be starting,
- right? Something about that.
- Yes, I would accept that friendly amendment if offered. I would offer that. Okay, so is that clear then?
- The beginning of it goes along with the last part of it? I know the last part of it wraps it up the
- 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?
- This may seem like a hammer, but I think it just needs to be clear that this is it. Okay. Yes, Councillor
- Decker. But my question is, council, before we go down this route, are we sure this is it? And the reason
- I say that is if you think about it, counties that have a law school in them are not plentiful. So we
- actually have
- resources here where these folks help ease our court system. I mean we're all the time here talking
- about diversions and anything that keeps people out. I worry that we may be the only county that's saying
- for labor that's at least until they get those degrees it's costing us a little bit less. I'm a little
- bit worried about saying it's it and then tomorrow morning eight judges are going to say oh no.
- you just shut us down. We'll have court reporters at Pickett out there. I've recalled law clerks in
- those offices since I was a kid in those offices. So I'm worried that this, I don't know that this language
- gets us where we're going. I'm also a little bit worried that we're gonna have to figure out whatever
- is not out there beyond the two anyway, which we just said,
- Let's go with those two and then figure out the rest. I just am worried. Sometimes we do things and
- then we have to deal with it later. We obviously are dealing with things with the budget that we had
- to deal with last year and we'll deal with again later. I just get a little bit worried on this one
- and that we will, we're gonna be back here anyway on this. I believe that. Yeah, we definitely will be back.
- of this, but I think what we're trying to get at is just moving these two along and trying to get the
- Board of Judges to come back to talk to us like everybody else in a higher end freeze to
- you know, to, again, to state their case with this. And I, yeah, we for sure will be back with this.
- And then, of course, the two liaisons could be working with the board of judges, since it sounds like
- there was a misunderstanding of if they were originally a part of this exempt status to begin with. So, yeah.
- So I just wanted to say, I wonder what will happen. So if we put it through the 21st, what happens if
- however many judges there are left that still need to do this, get all their stuff in now by the 21st.
- Does that mean they're all in too? 31st. They've got till the 31st. Why did I write down the 21st? She's
- got the 31st on their screen. Well, that's even more time. So now it seems to me like we have judges
- then can go between now and the 31st.
- to get how much money they need to get where they need to have them, right? Right. The process that
- we have in place right now is if they make a request, it is put on the next agenda. If they make a request
- now, it will be put on the January 27th agenda. Which begs the question. I don't know. You know I'm
- not in favor of this, but may I speak?
- I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. And then I got you and then I got Councilor Henry. So I'll go Wilt Henry
- and then back to Decker. I apologize. Obviously, this is not something I'm going to go with. I just
- I'm not sure how much it's helping. Yes, it will allow somebody to start next week. We would be putting
- that off a week.
- Perhaps if they're coming back on the 21st, 7th, sorry. So that's maybe, I don't know, week and a half.
- But I mean, presumably what we want them to, I mean, to your point, they're coming back. Something's
- coming back. This doesn't solve it all. Let's have them come back with what we want them to do, which
- is request and tell us why this has to be this way. So what you're saying is, if I hear you correctly,
- is regardless of the fact, we're making them come back. So the two that are in here will be on hold
- until the 27th. Yeah. I mean, that's the default. Yeah. OK. OK.
- Yes, Councillor Hannon. Thank you. I don't want to belabor it. I mean, the design of what I'm proposing
- dysfunctionally is it does compel that someone needs to come here, right? And while there may be possibly
- hires between the moment we vote and the 27th, we just need them in the room. This just reminds me of
- my helping my dad clean out his garage. He has like this old sausage, this mill, and I should just bring
- it here and put it here. We are making the sausage alive here this evening, but it is
- there's a there's an outcome that I'm after here. I think we all have heard it. I mean we definitely
- need to have this conversation if this is what it takes to get folks in the room to say here's our plan.
- We have 12 interns or whatever. We've got this budget. I think the counselor hawks point I think it's
- clear that while we have had this resolution for months it's just not sinking into department heads
- what it really means. And this is why we have that variable. So I what is is is again seems like a hammer
- at the same time. The twenty seventh is just
- a few weeks away. That's it. Hopefully between the 27th and the 31st we've got an answer if there are
- people coming in the pipeline. That's it. I'll go to Decker next. Yeah, so when I'm looking at the resolution
- and my eyes are straining just a little bit, but when I look at the resolution, this resolution basically
- codifies what we just did on the two, right?
- Because for a second I was looking and I was thinking, is this saying two per judge or is it just saying
- those two that we just did plus we want you to come back here? Am I reading that right or is it literally
- saying the two that we've already approved you can do and then we want you to come back here? Because
- I don't know that we need to even say the two. I think maybe we just need to say, judges, we tonight
- said you did
- You can't do two because we understand there's a situation with Thursday and Tuesday. We want you to
- come back here and talk to us about it and maybe that's what we're looking for because I can't tell
- if this is saying the traditional two clerks per judge, if that's what it is, I may be wrong on that.
- Or what is this saying? Because they're going to ask that same thing. I think if I understand it, the
- intent is to limit it to the two that your motion addressed and
- not and that's it. And we passed that motion. So basically this is just saying this is the two this
- is it through the 31st and then this is also pushing board of judges to come back on the 20 or on the
- yes on the 27th. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Is there an appetite to just table it table this amendment. You
- already passed the thing for these two right. If we just
- tabled this, they can't. I mean, I think we've made it pretty clear. And if not, Liz and I can follow
- up with them and make sure that they understand that, hey, you got to ask. Okay. At the risk of analogies,
- I mean, the two that got out of the barn, we caught and we just blessed, right? I don't know how many
- more are coming.
- And so without it, I mean, the hiring freeze is an instrument of our body, right? So this is the only
- thing we've got to say stop, all right? So without it, again, bar an analogy, there could be other horses
- 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
- two weeks and it's aw shucks, we hired six more.
- And we let us I mean we didn't really we didn't tell them no we just said these two were fine because
- we know about them. We have we're not stopping the pipeline. They could still be interviewed as we speak.
- Do we know that we don't know that 100 percent. Right. I thought we we know of two. Are we 100 percent
- sure there's no one else that's been interviewed offered. No no no no no we don't know. We don't know.
- No no no. OK. So there you have it. I'm so frightened.
- Also, with the date of January 31, it seems to me, like I said, that they would have time to get their
- act together and get even more in by January 31. I don't think this prevents that. So by tabling, just
- getting clarification, because we've had somebody inquire about tabling this, even though that's spent
- all the time talking about it, is this
- What does this do for us if that were to be the case? Theoretically, Counselor Deckard's motion allows
- for the hiring of the two law clerks that we know about. What would happen if they're trying to do more
- law clerks is exactly what happened this time. Employee services would receive paperwork, and we would
- all know about it. And they would not?
- complete the paperwork because they know about the hiring freeze. Yeah, employee services would notify
- presumably Kim and I, and then we can say, oh wait, we talked about this. And make them bring it back.
- So table in this, and what we did previously would basically say the two are good to go, but
- If Employee Services gets anything else from the Board of Judges for any positions that are paid interns
- via law clerk, that will flag something that will kick into what we already have implemented to begin
- with. We would tell them to hold on, yeah. And then that would kickstart them to come back to the meeting,
- potentially here on the 27th, should that happen in between that time. Got it.
- I still have a question about the language about the date, which is January 31st. Does that date still
- stay there? I mean, that was, I believe, what Mr. Henry stated. If we're going to move forward with
- the possible amendment to the resolution, or you could amend the date. OK.
- If we for sure know, if we are okay with this, since we've spent a lot of time in talking about this,
- I would recommend if we hear, and this is correct, since the issue is from council members, is that
- we are trying to prevent more things to come, or more things to happen without approval of council due
- to us enacting the hiring freeze, then I would say that
- then why don't we table this discussion? Yeah, let's just table this. And then that will allow the two
- liaisons to work with them to figure out some things. And then it sounds like potentially a
- strong possibility that they will be coming on the 27th to talk about anything else, because it sounds
- like they will probably have more law clerks that will be coming.
- Does anybody have any objections to that or any questions? Don't move to table till next meeting, which
- is January twenty seven. Yes. OK, I have another statement. And to it. Oh, one second. I'm sorry, Council
- Hawke. So Council will to motion to table until January twenty seventh. I didn't hear a second.
- I'll go ahead. So we got a motion and a second to table into the twenty seventh.
- Yes, now, Councillor Hawke, sorry. Well, if we've got a motion table, I'm not sure we're supposed to
- discuss it. I just want to make sure that we send out a direct message to all the department heads.
- Remember. Stop it. Yeah, remember. Right. Now, get that sent out no later than tomorrow morning. I would
- agree. And I think along the line, it would be nice to work with employee services to try to do some kind of
- of numbers to see who else could be in this type of position, so we don't have a 12-hour surprise, so
- to speak. So we got the motion and the second to table this discussion until January 27, 2026, which
- is our next meeting. Is there any further discussion from council on that motion? I hate to beat it
- to death, but I just want to make sure that that
- Are we leaving the red language in or out? This is just table. We're not voting on that. Exactly.
- Thank you. All right. So motion and second. Further questions, comments from the peanut gallery?
- All right. Any public comment on this item? Come forward to the elector here, the Notting Hill room.
- Raise your hand via Teams.
- All right, and seeing none, we can do this by voice vote. So all those in favor of tabling this discussion
- until January 27th, which is our next meeting, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign.
- Abstain. All right, we got. I need a signature page for that, is what I'm saying.
- So we got a majority, and then we have one abstention. Okay. All right, motion carries. All right, so
- next up on the agenda, we are at the end, and we have council liaison updates and comments. So I'm just
- gonna start down here with the lady in red. Councilor Hawk, if you had anything to add? I feel like you do.
- Yeah, it sort of goes like hoo hoo hoo. I'm sorry, but that's all I got to say. That's your official
- comment? That's my official comment. You know what that means? That means money coming in. Oh,
- yes it does. You believe it. It means money for Monroe County. Absolutely. Agreed. Council Henry, what say you?
- How do you follow that? I don't. I mean, just Happy New Year, everybody. I mean, I want to start with
- maybe more of a sober thing and then just maybe a light thing. So Happy New Year. This past week was
- National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in the United States on January 9. I want to thank our local
- law enforcement and our partners in public safety for the good work they do. There are good cops out
- there, and we need to honor that when we can.
- Of course, the other part of that is when we have challenges in our nation that we have to pay attention
- to when cops aren't so great. We had an officer involved shooting in Minneapolis that made national
- attention, and many in our community had bear witness on that for Renee Goode on the square over the
- past weekend. And I think as we go into this year, we're dealing with the good and bad. We have to make
- sure that we can balance those two ideas at the same time and not paint with the broadest brushes that
- we do in this year. So I'm hopeful that we can keep that nuance and celebrate those that do hard work
- in public service and hold those accountable that have not done so in our nation and in our state. So
- there's that sobering thought. And I guess this is somewhat sobering too, but not really, because I
- appreciate Councillor Crossley starting with honoring Carp Combs. You know, Dan was trying really hard
- over the last quarter to come in and talk to us about his extensive work.
- In the township in support of the victims of the tornado last spring, and we just couldn't get him in
- here to read that report out, there was always something. And I will admit, maybe Dan and I had more
- than a passing interest in meteorology in this community, and I feel compelled to take up his torch
- on that issue. Our townships, especially as we're watching the state house move to eliminate them, Dan
- was not only the trustee in terms of his exemplary service over 40 years in this community,
- was in a lot of ways the first responder for so many people in Perry Township. The fact that I woke
- up Sunday morning and there was no Dan Combs weather report on my social media about the snow, I knew
- he was really gone.
- crushing, but that's the sad part about Karp. The fun stuff is what people need to know. He was a prolific
- texter. This guy would text at two in the morning about whatever was on his mind. The last things we
- talked about were emergency management and things that aren't appropriate for this microphone. And I
- want to share at least two world according to Karpisms, because I just got to get this into the record
- somewhere. Karp once told me that all he ever wanted was academic honors,
- to do noble deeds, and to live in a girl's dorm, which he managed the latter for four months when he
- was a student at IU. That is Carp Combs in a nutshell. He told me when I took the interest in running
- for county council that six months on the county council and your time as chairman of the Democratic
- Party will feel like the golden days. You signed up to say no.
- And I don't know if I've done that enough for Dan's satisfaction. And when it comes to public policy,
- he would say, here we must take the bull by the tail and face the wet of an ugly situation. And he would
- say on all these issues, I think, as he said, undercover hippiness. Rise up, citizens. And in the words
- of his generation, eat the meatball. And I'm going to miss every last minute of that stuff.
- You know, Levi was telling me his son that, you know, as they're going through the stuff, that they
- found a story that he wrote about when he first ran for office. And he approached Pat Williams, the
- chairwoman of the party at the time, and said, you know, I've got these two things about my background.
- I'm a leftist and I had a pot. I was arrested for possession. And so Pat met with the Republican chair
- at the time. And I don't know if, Marty, you remember who the chair was when, who was it, 1986?
- And Pat brought the story to the opposite side and said, well, we're going to run combs for trustee.
- And they said, well, we know about his pot conviction, and we know about him being leftist.
- And Pat said, of course, who also passed last year, Pat Williams told the Republicans, and that's why
- we're running him. And of course, he won that race by, I believe, only 14 votes, or something very small,
- and then stayed put ever since. So thank you for letting me indulge on this a minute or two.
- A good friend. I'm going to miss him greatly, but thank you. Thank you for that.
- All right. Going on down the line. Councilor Decker. Hard to follow that. On Dan comes a legend and
- we will miss him so greatly. I told a couple of students this story. I'll be really quick. One time
- he and I had some some words over an issue and I'll never forget his response to me when I was just
- saying but Dan did you think about this. He said all right you've got your job.
- 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
- nothing I can do. Don't be mad at me, Dan. You know, this community's lost some legends in the last
- months. And it just, and sometimes in those moments, you can really get down on it and think about,
- Who's going to do those things? But I think we all have to kind of figure, first we have to look at
- our fading eye vision and know that it's probably us moving into some of those roles to try to fill
- those shoes. But also we just have to figure out the right things to do and do them. One thing I wanted
- to mention here is Councilor Wilts and I had a meeting with our friends in care not cages who are here
- more often than most elected officials.
- And one of the things that was really refreshing in this age is it was just a meeting where people that
- really care about the community have dialogue about the community to talk about the issues. A lot of
- times we hear that phrase a lot. Let's get out there and talk about the issues. But that group has been
- showing up for a long time to have that discussion. And I appreciate that greatly. That kind of patriotism
- towards your community when you're not getting paid, that's a big deal.
- And if nothing else in this community, we always have folks that show up and that honors kind of the
- freedom that we have. We're in times like this where you're worried about the strangeness of many things.
- It's something to focus on and go, you know what, we can figure this out or we can do it or we need
- to work harder. So anyway, happy new year, friends. It's good to be back here doing the people's work
- with this leadership team. All right, Councilor Wilks.
- Thank you. Wow. So people already said a lot. And so I won't repeat all of the sentiments I share, including
- the Hoosiers, as well as the more somber ones. And in the appreciation for the community meeting with us and
- just having discussions and I just want to reiterate that that is welcomed. I think every person on
- this council shares that viewpoint. We enjoy talking about the issues or we wouldn't be here. So invitation
- there I guess to bend my ear if needed and
- I need to say that we are still searching on the Monroe County Waste Reduction Board for members for
- our Citizens Advisory Council. It's actually a pretty interesting and low stress kind of position, but
- we would really like to add some folks. We have lots of openings, so don't be shy.
- We've just established a small grant program for waste reduction projects in the county and the Citizens
- Advisory Commission will be reviewing applications for that. So it's kind of neat. Anyway, please, if
- you're interested, just go to Monroe County Waste Reduction Commission and go to the website and you
- can apply right there for the CAC, Citizens Advisory Commission. And that's all I have.
- So I go to many meetings, and I've been to 11 so far this calendar year, and I'm enjoying every one
- of them, and including BEDC, DBI, Memorial County Women's Commission, the Fair Association. I've gotten
- myself involved in, and I'm glad I'm going to
- almost all, I think about all of them actually, the Ellisville Richland Township potential discussion
- about what's gonna happen out there. I live in Richland Township, so I have a vested interest and I
- care about what's gonna happen out there. It'll be interesting to see what does happen. There's a committee
- and it's fully formed now. They have meetings, I think the first Wednesday of the month, I went to the
- last one. Then I found myself involved in a Kirkwood Avenue,
- meeting group which I had just started recently in the last couple of months. And that's a group that
- is not my council appointment but I do enjoy going. And there is one other elected official from the
- city there that goes it's her district. So it's good to hear what the people are thinking on the ground
- in those areas when they get together and talk what their concerns are. There's there's probably going
- to be news kind of soon I hope.
- about what's going to happen out at the airport. There may be some employment news out there, and things
- are moving along with that. I'm not at liberty to say a whole lot about it publicly yet, but it's quite
- interesting work, and I think it'll be really good for the community when it does happen. So that's
- it. Thank you. All right. And to wrap up real quick, I wore red for a reason.
- I never would have thought in 25 years step in on IU's campus in 2001, after the firing of Bobby Knight,
- that I would sit here and say that the Hoosiers are in the national championship. My times have changed,
- but I am just so grateful the energy that they brought and the economic vitality that that has generated
- throughout our city and county by way of good football. So we appreciate that.
- I think it's a good time to travel and go kick butt. The other thing that I wanted to say is if you
- are like me and had a real live Christmas tree this past year and are trying to figure out what to do
- with it instead of keeping it in your house or having the dog pick at it or throwing it out on your
- front lawn.
- collecting at the recycling centers This is a personal reminder for me, but other people as well now
- through January 17th Which is just in a few days that you can drop those? live decorations like the
- wreaths and the Christmas trees for free and you can go to the website and check out the
- the different recycling centers for that. Lastly, as we do mention there, you know, January definitely
- is coming in like a lion, you know, national level and on a state level too. But one of the lights that
- we have to remember is the fact that next in addition to next Monday of it being a big day
- for our Bloomington community, there is the King holiday celebration that is happening. It's a day on,
- not a day off. And those that need to remember is actual
- that we can still continue to do so- so I would just like to say that- again remember. King's
- the quotes that you have seen from King and go around and do the exact opposite of what he preached
- for and Again, there is a celebration at the buzz Kirk Trimbley this Monday at 6 p.m. So you can dress
- in red and immediately leave after
- That is done to go celebrate. And the last thing I was going to say is I got invited to the North-South
- game by way of MCCSE. So I appreciate.
- the superintendent, Dr. Markay Winston, for that invitation. It was nice to get interaction with our
- local leaders on our superintendent level, as well as our board leaders. And there were some other people
- that were there. I know the sheriff and team were there yesterday, too, and Go Panthers, because they
- won. So without that being said, we bleed purple in our house. So without that being said, thank you
- again for counsel, and without
- Nothing else? We are adjourned. Thank you.