I'm gonna go ahead and get started. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Frozen Tundra Tuesday.
It is Tuesday, January 27th, and we are calling to order our council meeting for tonight. We have present
councilors Henry, Iverson, Deckard, Wilts, and Feidl.
And we don't have counselor Hawk in person, but I do believe she might be joining virtually. So when
she does join, we'll be sure to announce her arrival here, but we will go ahead and get started. So
next up is the Pledge of Allegiance. So all those that are able to stand, please stand for the reciting
of the Pledge of Allegiance. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
into the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. All right. Next up, we will have the adoption of
our agenda. But before we get into our agenda, I do want to say for the public that's watching, it's
nice and sunny right now. However, when the sun goes down and the roads still aren't the greatest right
now, out of abundance of caution for those that will be in
and for our staff that has to drive home. I just want to make sure everybody gets home safe and sound.
So we are capping tonight's meeting at 8 p.m. I will ask my colleagues to help us move this train going.
We got three hours to do our business and we will do so as fast and as meaningful as we can. So I just
wanted to put that out there for everybody to know.
We will go ahead and proceed with tonight's agenda. Okay, do we have any amendments for tonight's agenda?
All right, and seeing none. Oh, yes, I do.
The only thing that I was going to add is the clerk's items that we have here. I know we have some attendees
from the clerk's office joining virtually, and some folks have to leave early. So I would like to bump
up their items immediately following when our consent agenda items. So that is the only amendment that
I'd like to make for tonight's item or agenda, which
We are moving those after the consent agenda items those will be the new item 7.
So because we don't have anybody attended virtually, all those that are in favor of or adopted in tonight's
agenda as amended signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Okay. Motion carries. Thank
you so much, colleagues, for that. Next up, we have item four, which is public comment. These are usually
for items that are
are not on tonight's agenda. So you can, if we have members of the public that are here, you can come
forward to the lectern here in the NatU Hill Room. You can speak up to three minutes for items not on
tonight's agenda, or if you are participating virtually, you can raise your hand via Teams. And looking
out into the audience and seeing none.
And then looking virtually, looks like we have somebody that is attended virtually. So you looks like
this person's name is Skip Daly. So Skip, you should be able to unmute yourself, state your name for
the record and you'll have up to three minutes to speak. Thank you. Skip Daly is my name. Madam President,
honorable council members, thank you for your time.
and while I wear a number of different hats within the community, tonight I come to you not as a member
of the local media, not as a board member of a local commission, not as an insurance professional, but
simply as a resident of Monroe County. I first became aware of this matter out of a social media post
made by council member Hawke. I believe the matter is so grave that I decided to weigh in and additionally
make a few phone calls and send a few
emails on the matter. There are roads in the county that did not receive plowing services for reasons
beyond the reasonable control of those living in those neighborhoods. For whatever reason, there are
legal fights currently ongoing between the county and some developers for allegedly not complying with
regulations regarding their neighborhood, and the roads remain off of the county maintenance inventory
I'm not here to place blame on county departments, staff members or elected officials on how we got
here. I'm not looking to spark discussion at this moment about the long-term solutions, as I trust those
conversations need to either happen and or get expedited. My concern is the current immediate needs
of our taxpaying and voting neighbors. I understand that you are the fiscal wing and not the legislators
of the county, but I was directly told
by the highway department that they are not able to use county funds for private roads. Meanwhile, police,
fire and medical professionals cannot easily get to a potential destination. Residents cannot leave
their homes and quality of life is significantly decreased during this emergency, sorry.
I look to this council to use the clout of the office to facilitate an immediate solution. Plow them
out. Find the money or the means to make it work today, tonight. Worry about the legal cases and the
blame of the situation and the future long-term solutions next week, but plow them out now. Germanium
Lane is the one particularly in question, but our residents don't,
deserve to hand shovel 13 or 14 inches of snow from the road. Hearing the simple line that Monroe County
cannot plow a private road is kicking the can during an emergency situation. Find a solution. Make the
money available to get this taken care of. Be the answer tonight. And when the weather is more cooperative,
help get to the bottom of this. But regardless of the circumstances that got us here, plow the roads.
Thank you again for your time. Great. Thank you very much. Are there any other public commenters wishing
to speak on items not on tonight's agenda that are attended virtually? You can again raise your hand
via Teams.
And seeing none, we will move on. Next up is department updates. And these are for items that are not
on the agenda. And just the person I was hoping to come up here. Thank you. And department heads usually
have up to 10 minutes to speak on items not on tonight's agenda. And we have the wonderful Miss Lisa
Ridge here from the Highway Department. Welcome.
Good evening. Good evening. I just wanted to provide an update after the snow event this past weekend.
Our crew began at 5 p.m. on Saturday evening and we sent them home on Monday around 5 p.m.
after 48 hours. We had approximately 45 employees working during this time from management to mechanics,
equipment operators and truck drivers. We rotated crews consistently so that we could provide the rest
of our crews but had assistance available 24-7 throughout this time.
The average snowfall was 12 to 16 inches across the county. The crew will be plowing all week trying
to widen the roadways with extreme cold temperatures. The melting will be a slow process. We will continue
to haul in more materials and be ready for the next storm event. I personally think our crew did an
excellent job with the snowfall that we experienced this past weekend. The cost of this event from Saturday
to Monday for labor, equipment and materials was $297,800.
$297,812.07. I also wanted to provide a little information about snow removal and private roads. Monroe
County Highway Department receives their funding from the Motor Vehicle Highway Distribution. One of
the factors that is part of this calculation is the road mileage of county maintained roads. When we
officially accept county roads for future maintenance, it is sent to the state who then adds this to
our funding.
private roads do not bring any funding to the county highway department we are very restricted on what
our funds can be used for but most importantly it must be on county maintained roads we have multiple
subdivisions in this county that we are working long with the planning department that include issues
of unfinished subdivisions and we would be happy to share this list with you or anyone else explain
the issues that are outstanding
who the developer is, if there's a bond on file, what it would take to bring this subdivision up to
county standards, which the developer agreed to bring to standards when they started their project.
It could be a whole subdivision or a phase of a subdivision. It could be unfinished roads, trees, sidewalks,
ADA curb ramps, and it could be more reasons why the developer has not finished the subdivision or they
just simply walked away.
When a developer is approved for a subdivision within the county part of that agreement is that they
will provide snow removal and all other maintenance until it is accepted by the county as you can see
that doesn't happen. I have nothing but sympathy for the homeowners that are not aware that they might
be buying a home on a private road. We are unable to maintain all these subdivisions with private roadways.
If you take the snow plowing, which again we are not allowed to use our resources on private roads,
this only makes it matters worse giving that developer more incentive just not to finish the improvement
because the county has already stepped in. This has been an ongoing issue for the 38 years that I have
been here. We do have some great developers in this county and this does not happen with all of them.
But as you know, the saying goes, when there's one bad apple, then you have rules and you have regulations.
I hope there can be a solution to this issue moving forward. It would make things a lot easier on homeowners
and Monroe County. But I also want to add there's been about three or four subdivisions that planning
department and highway have worked with where their developer has walked away. The homeowners developed
their own HOA. They brought up
They used what bond money was left and we accepted those roads when they were finished just as we said
we would in the beginning So there are solutions, but we don't have the funds We don't have the resources
to do this for the private roads and I do have sympathy for the people out there But that's who's paying
the price, but the developers just get to walk away and never look back Thank you Thank you
And first and foremost, we just want to say thank you to your staff. I think you said 45 employees working
since Saturday night around the clock. OK.
So that's a lot of people that are out doing a lot of work. And nothing is perfect. And we knew things
were going to happen. But again, everything just happened so fast. So I just want to make sure that
we can give grace. But understanding the job and task that you all have to do is not us that are out
there. It's y'all. So we appreciate and I appreciate you all just
like doing what you needed to do. And I appreciate you addressing that concern because I think something
like this happened last year where a constituent reached out to me and I was asking about that. And
so it's a shame that the developers take advantage of that and place the blame
within county when they really should look at themselves and think about the HOAs and how they can figure
out how to make that happen. So I appreciate that. And I do know that Skip had reached out to myself
and I gave him the explanation also. I know our legal department has been involved with uranium. Myself,
planning department, legal department, the developer, their attorney walked to the whole project last
year, noted everything that was insufficient in that development.
And the developer said he wasn't going to spend a dime in there. So now there's a litigation. We have
tried providing the homeowners out there with private contractor names.
We're currently working with Gentry East that has some private sections. I think we're close to having
a solution with them to be able to stand up and take that section in that we promised if they made these
improvements and they hired a contractor to get it done. We did the same thing in Emerald Trace.
They used the bond money, got the work done. We accepted the roads as soon as it was completed. So we
do anything that we can, but we just are not allowed to go in and use our resources to do private roads.
Where do you stop? If we go do geranium, are we gonna go do the other 60 subdivisions that have private
roads? We have development that's going on now. They're not being built to our county specifications.
They're not having things inspected at the proper
time but they're going to come to us and want us to take it in and we will say no but then it's the
county's fault because we're not taking it in but it wasn't built to our specifications i don't know
what the problem i don't know what the solution is but i still think it falls back on developers that
do not keep their promise in the agreements that they agree to when they bring these subdivisions forward
to the county and ask for permission to build them then build them right and build them to what you
agreed to and don't leave these homeowners
and on a private road with no help. Thank you. Real quickly, I'm going to see if anybody has anything
for Ms. Ridge before we can get through our agenda. Yes, Council Member Wilts. I want to preface this
with thank you for all that you do and all that your staff has been doing. And I know it's a monumental
task, and I can't even imagine. I am wondering,
about that short-term versus long-term solution that the public comment referred to. Because I too have
had people call and then called your office and planning and tried to intervene, and it's a quagmire
with some of these situations. At some point though, it becomes
public safety concern, does it not? Not very often. This has gone on for years and I can only speak.
If I lived on that road and I knew I didn't have this help and assistance, I would make sure I did have
a private contractor and work with my neighbors while the county is going through litigation. I'm not
blaming the neighbors. I'm not trying to put it onto them, but I know in talking with our legal department,
we've provided
And they have provided all the resources that they know to help these homeowners. I don't have an answer
for the private roads. It's hard enough to take care of 700 miles of road. And again, I have sympathy
for them. Would it be easy for me to just go drop a plow and plow that? And I wouldn't have had all
the emails and the social media bashing. Absolutely. But I can't. It's not the right thing to do. It's
not the proper thing to do.
I'm not supposed to use our funding that way because then it takes away from the other areas that do
receive, that we receive gasoline tax. And I know it's out there that I pay my property taxes and I
should get the road, the plow. We don't get the property taxes. It's all based on the gasoline tax.
So again, I have sympathy for all the neighbors. It's not just geranium. There's many roads out there
that are private in these subdivisions that are suffering. I just don't know how you help them all.
I don't have the answers. Okay. I'll take one more and then we got to keep moving. Yeah. Do you know
how many subdivisions currently where the developers are not doing what they're supposed to be doing?
I live in a neighborhood that is very similar to this and the developer actually is doing the plowing.
So, and that didn't happen right away, but it's happening now. So how many actually are not doing the
plowing? Do we know?
So we have so I reached out to planning today to get an updated list and we have over 60 subdivisions
on that list that we're currently working with that could be subdivisions that are 20 years old. That
that I had a call today for one down a private road off herald road off plateau place developer walked
from that one.
I would say out of that 60, some of them are ongoing right now. But I would say some of those, the list
I looked at before was probably 30 or 40 subdivisions with old issues of the developer not finishing
the subdivision. OK. I didn't see council members Hawks. And for the record, she is joining virtually.
So council member Hawks. And then after that, I will move on through the agenda. Oh, you're muted, council
member Hawks.
TSD, can we help unmute Council Member Haug? Okay. That looks like it is. We can hear you now, Council
Member Haug. Okay, right. Okay. As Ms. Rich knows, people that have been contacting me and have been
over the months and shall I say a few years. And so I wanted to make it clear
This is not through the fault of the highway workers. They will plow whatever roads that they are directed
to plow. But this does appear to be a situation where the developers just have dumped it in the county's
lap. And I think this is a big situation. It's not gonna be fixed overnight. I think, however, we might
just do as an emergency
for those folks that are on that. I think it was on Geranium Lane where they have someone there that
has hospital issues. But those are things, and I tried to make it clear, it's a county commissioner's
decision. It's not the council's decision. And if they ask for an additional appropriation, it perhaps
could be out of the Rene Day Fund for emergencies.
But we can't do it forever until the developers step up and honor that bond or whatever they have signed
to. Thank you. Yeah, I'll be quick, given the urgency. I know we're on a time crunch here, but I'm just
wondering, I'm going to offer this out into the ether and hopefully someone with the commissioners staff
hears this and I can follow up later.
But I'm just wondering about this. I think it's unfair to dump on highway for doing their job following
the law, which they do second to none. And they've done the job really well for the last 48 hours. I
think what we have and counselor Henrik can speak to this better. I think we have an emergency management
situation where people are on on a street that we've identified both publicly and in discussion. We've
got folks kind of trapped on the street. And I wonder about
the commissioners exploring with emergency management getting a contractor to get them in out of there
one time this time and then whoever this developer is for this I don't know why we're not saying the
name but maybe maybe we shouldn't say the name legal wherever they're at they'll know that but my god
man or woman whoever you are get a plow in there
Come on, be human, be a neighbor. In the meantime, we will have to be that person or someone should.
So commissioners, as you're listening, I think this is just like if we had water up, we had boats out,
we had something out. I think we've got to do it. Let's take this pressure off highway, which my God,
they do their job well enough. They clearly were bound by the state on everything else. I think this
is an emergency management process and let's do that.
and stop putting Lisa Ridge through this when she follows the rules. And we have a developer that apparently
did not. So that's my recommendation. Councilor. Because my name was evoked, I thought I'd chime in.
Thank you, Councilor Deckard. I would just add some technical to this. And I agree that the commissioners
need to get involved. We had a state of emergency in the county. I never saw it published anywhere.
I understand that there was a state of emergency declared or not. That's not clear. That'd be nice to
know Thursday, because that document is what lifts ordinances out of the way to go do emergency things.
I've asked County Legal through Ms. Turner-King to take a look at some code that may allow for that,
but that's well beyond Ms. Ridge's, it's not you.
That's not you. It's a commissioner's decision about how we declare an emergency in the county and what
resources we can and can't do. But I would say that I took a look at that. I want to honor the fact
there are 60 subdivisions in the county that are suffering this. And I just want to raise for the public's
awareness, that's a lot of neighborhoods. And that's why our schools remain closed, because
those neighborhoods are not open. And the schools, it impacts other
of government in our community. So I would join in the chorus to the commission to really evaluate what
the state of emergency really does for our community and what resources it can open up. But I would
agree. Okay. Thank you. We appreciate it. All right. Moving on. And for those who just joined here in
the NETU Hill Room, I know we got a lengthy agenda here, but I did mention that due to
the road conditions that could potentially get a little worse once the sun starts to officially set.
I want to cap tonight's meeting at eight.
that we can get through everything so I'm again asking council members here to help us get through this
so we can get through everything and get y'all home is safe and sound. Next up consent agenda items.
Council I move to approve the following four consent agenda items for January 27th. Number one the sheriff's
request and fund 1000-0005 county general sheriff to create account line 30190 promotion and advertisement.
Number two the health department
request and fund 1159-0000 health fund to create account line 10189 public health nurse communicable
diseases and simultaneously transfer eighty thousand six hundred and fifteen dollars
from the services category to the personnel category. Number three, the health department's request
and fund 8104-9626 public health emergency preparedness grant to transfer $4,902.86 from the services
category to $4,687.47 into the supplies category and $215.39 into the services category for a total transfer.
of four thousand nine hundred two dollars and eighty six cents and number four the highway department's
request and fund eleven twelve dash zero five three zero economic development lit highway for a transfer
of four hundred eighty nine thousand seven hundred forty three dollars from the supplies category to
the services category All right. We got a motion and a second. Is there any questions or comments from council?
Seeing none. If we have public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lecture here in the
net you have room or you can raise your hand via teams. And seeing none, just like with everything that
we have to do this evening, because we have council member hung attending virtually, may we please have
a roll call vote. Councilor cross Lee. Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes.
Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker?
Yes. Motion passes 7-0 unanimous. Great. Thank you very much. Next up, because we amended the agenda,
we bumped up the clerk's items to come next following the consent agenda items.
Just for clarification, I'm going to start with what was item Y. Are we all on the same page? Yes.
All right. Council, I move to approve the clerk's request and fund 1112-0000 economic development lit
voter registration for an additional appropriation of $600 in the supplies category.
All right, we got a motion and a second. And I see that we have Kylie that is joining us. And it looks
like we also have Election Board member Penny Githens join in as well, too. So welcome. Hello. I have
a statement from Clark Brown that she has prepared. Sorry.
I'm Kylie Ferris, currently serving as the Election Supervisor for Monroe County. Thank you for allowing
me to appear before you. I'm presenting on behalf of the Monroe County Clerk and the Chair of the Monroe
County Election Board. As I relayed to you guys during the public comment section of the last meeting
and during the item as well, the Clerk noticed after the budget has been finalized that the cuts were
drastic and that we would then have to come back to ask for appropriations.
per state statute indiana code three dash eleven dash ten dash twenty six early voting hours only have
to occur during the regular voting hours of the county clerk's office for the twenty eight days prior
to the election. The minority clerk clerk's office is open Monday through Friday eight a.m. to four p.m.
mineral county voters are accustomed to early voting on Monday through Friday eight a.m. to six p.m.
with the reduction and allowing composition hours for 60 from 60 to 40 and the elimination of overtime
considerably there will be sufficient not Unsufficient manpower to accommodate the more than 10 early
voting and election voter registration office for during early voting There is more to this I feel like
it would be best to just pass this forward to you guys and
Really, I just am here to answer any questions that you guys have. Just trying to get out how much that
we are missing, where we need, and trying to make it to where we can get this push through as quickly
as possible. Because we have an election board meeting next week. And right now, it's just kind of a
bunch of back and forth trying to figure out how we're going to move forward for early voting and Election
Day this spring in May. And just want to answer any questions you guys may have. OK.
Thank you very much. I will open it up to council council member Iverson. Thank you for being here on
such a snowy night. I'm going to refer to the questions I submitted earlier. So they shouldn't come
as a surprise. But it appears that in the clerk's office supplies, there's still a lot of budgeted funds
since we just passed the budget a month ago. So I'm still a little confused about with a brand new budget
being passed.
You're asking for $600, but there's can you kind of explain that a little bit more. I will say, on my
behalf as election supervisor, my main priority is going to be poll workers.
and the overtime for the staff in the office, seeing as last year alone, after doing some of the numbers
myself personally, I had worked a little bit over 200 hours of overtime last year with the election.
So just ensuring that those are in place in order for us to continue conducting business the way that
we always have to be accessible to the voters in Monroe County. I'm sorry.
I've been with kids all day long, so I'm in like second grade brain here. My understanding is this request
is about office supplies, not about overtime or staffing lines. Is that correct? So I believe this first
request, yes. But then moving forward, the other ones, no. Sure, right, right. OK, so. Again. There
there's sufficient funds in this in this account. It seems like the
this request could easily be used with the budget that we just passed a month ago. Okay. Okay. And she's
not the elected. I know, I know, I know, I know. So I don't, I just want to make sure that we don't
put you're on the hot seat just because by nature. Um, but I just want to, you know, you're, you're
doing good because you're here. So we appreciate that.
Yes, Councilor Henry. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. I guess my first question, Michelle, can we
pull the budget for the clerk's office to see what those lines are? Or do you have the number for the
supply line, what we budgeted? Of how much is in there currently? Yes, I can do that for you. And I
guess that's really good, right? I mean, if this is an in-house transfer to handle it, that would get
you through the primary. I presume there's $600 in there somewhere. Thanks for finding it to be absolutely sure.
Michelle, was that it there? Yes. There has been appropriated for that particular line that's requesting
the $600, $1,900, and there has not been anything spent out of it at this point. Does Farish think that
could get you through the election primary? Yes. Okay. And then if you need more after the primary,
you just come back.
Any other questions? Okay. So because we don't have any other questions, I'll go to public comment.
If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the Nat Yehiel room
or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Iverson?
No. Councilor Feidl?
no counselor hawk no counselor wilts no counselor henry no counselor dekert no counselor crossley no
motion passes or fails unanimously seven zero okay next item
Council I move to approve the clerk's request and fund 1215 dash zero zero one zero election fund voter
registration for an additional appropriation of four thousand six hundred twenty five dollars in the
services category Okay, what would you like to add to this? Can I get a clarification that that line
is not going to be connected to the customs line
We don't know what you mean. So there's a line that's for the contractor that we use for the IT. I'm
just trying to make sure that those two lines are not connected. For office supplies? No, this is another
office supply. I guess I'm not understanding what you mean connected because you have an account line
printing and subscriptions and you have an account line training and travel. OK. Sorry. Thank you.
These two lines, the training and travel, there is going to be a IVRA conference that is going to be
closer to home this year. We are looking at trying to get as many individuals to that conference as
possible. In the past, we've only done one or two.
With it being long distance, we wanna be able to try to get as many staff members there as possible
since it will be so close. And then the other line was for printing and subscriptions. With the move
to the new location, this is going to be a big situation with trying to get the word out to voters in
Monroe County. With the looking at what we expended from this line last year and what we are expecting
to be expending this year,
We feel like it would be best to go ahead and get the appropriation for this line as the cost is going
to be one more because it's another year. Prices are always going to increase, but also we're going
to have to do more mailings due to the move. Yeah, Councilor Iverson. I have essentially the same questions
that I had on the last item.
We just passed this budget a month ago, and there's quite a bit of unexpended dollars in the services
line. Most, the vast majority of this could be handled by what's already in there. We had lots
of conversations about the budget, and we tried to budget pretty close to what folks needed. So again,
we could pull the unexpended dollars in this line, but there's quite a bit in there. Yeah, I will say
Clerk Brown, I think her main
thought on trying to get in here as soon as possible is so that we're not having to come back in between
elections or during an election. Yeah. The difference, and maybe the number has changed, based on what
I had earlier was there's still $4,500 in unexpended dollars in this fund. So the difference is $125.
I mean, it's being shown on the screen here.
That could be an internal transfer. I don't think I can support this based upon what the unexpended
dollars in this brand new budget is being shown on the screen. And just to explain what's on the screen,
the printing and subscriptions account line was appropriated $4,000. Nothing has been expended at this
time. Training and travel.
was appropriated at $2,375. And there has been a claim for $321.44 for that. So that leaves a balance
of $2,053.56 for the budget for that. OK. Does anybody else have any questions or comments for Ms. Ferris?
Councilor Wilts. Thank you. So just to kind of follow along, the existing balance in the printing and
subscriptions will cover through the primary what you think needs to be done in terms of letting folks
know about the move.
My consideration, yes, there should be. It might be coming close, but as we said, that we can transfer
internally. And are you aware of, gosh, I sound like a lawyer. I don't mean to sound that way.
You're fine. That sounded horrible. On the night of, no, there's been one
I'm not sure if there's a claim on the training and travel. Do you happen to know what that is? Yeah.
So the state conference for Indiana election administration was in December. So that would have came
out of this year's budget. Oh, would it? OK. All right. Thank you. Yep. OK. Any other questions or comments
on this item here? Yeah. So thank you. Thank you again.
recently these additional requests? Did the board vote on these before they came? The final number the
clerk and myself went through to see where we were short on certain lines and then we had decided how
much to ask for in appropriations. The election board was informed of the
The election board was informed of where we're in a deficit for the election next year. So they had
also agreed that we should come back to the council to see about the appropriations and then move forward
from there. All right. Oh, and I see looks like there is a hand raise. So I'll go to Councilor Hawke.
And then it looks like an election board member
rather, Penny Githens also has her hands up. So I'll go to her, I'll go to Councilor Hawk and then I'll
go to Ms. Githens next. Yes, I would just since I heard the response was they wanted to make sure there
was additional dollars so that more of the staff could go for the training. There's so much training
that's available online that they can do if they have a good one coming up again tomorrow.
And so I think all of the departments are going to have to take a look and make sure we're not spending
more than what we really have, because we know we have to look at the budgets hard this year. Should
do it every year. Thank you, Counselor Hawk. All right, Ms. Githins, if you can unmute and you can go ahead.
Okay, while I was aware of the fact, serving on the election board, that Ms. Farris was gonna come this
evening, the election board was not given precise numbers and we did not vote on these precise numbers
that are being brought before you tonight. Okay, thank you. All right, and seeing no other,
Um, questions or comments from council. I'll move forward with public comment. If there's public comment,
you can come forward to the lectern here in the net you over. Um, you'll have up to three minutes or
you can raise your hand via teams. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councillor Fiddle.
No. Councillor Hawk. No.
Councilor Wilts? No. Councilor Henry? No. Councilor Decker? No. Councilor Crossley? No. Councilor Iverson?
No. Motion fails 707. Okay, next item. Council, I move to approve the clerk's request and fund 1215-0062
Election Fund Election Board and additional appropriation of $221,106 in the
for a total appropriation of two hundred forty two thousand seven hundred eighty one dollars.
Second okay. Right so this is going to be where the poll workers are- for on election day and during
early voting. These are the- lines that we will definitely. Be looking at.
The primary, however the primary is ran, is how the general has to be ran. So if we have a set hours
during the primary for early voting, those same hours have to apply to the general. This is where we
are kind of coming to a tie and don't know how to proceed until we either have the dollars or we don't
have the dollars. Right now there is a
two different proportions where one will go to cutting early voting hours to eight to four instead of
eight to six and then we will also be having to reduce the Saturday election day early voting hours
as well to the minimum. That one I believe is seven hours minimum on the Saturdays. These are both things
that we don't want to do but if
the money's not there and that we know that it will be there for the general. We don't feel comfortable
doing it one way in the primary and just hoping that we can have it the same in the general. This is
also a situation with the number of polling locations. We had 29 polling locations this last election,
2024. Right now we are looking at reducing that to 22, but we were notified that one polling location
will not be being a polling location. So that will have to reduce to 21 unless if there is a
Location in Monroe County that would be open to being a polling location Thank you Any questions or
comments from council on this item council Henry? Thank you, Michelle I don't know if you could pull
up or find the excel sheet where we did the comp during the budget cycle where we compared the 2024
verse what we budgeted because that's really the crux of this I appreciate you coming in on this because
I think this was one space during the budget cycle where
You know, I think from my seat anyway, we looked at a series of budget numbers. And what we didn't account
for was the adjustment in pay to poll workers between the primary and the general election by the board
of commissioners, right? So the number that we ended up approving in our budget was a percentage up
from the primary and not really accounting for that difference, the pay bump. Now, I know that sounds
plaid in the room, but I guess I'm trying to figure this out
Maybe a few absentee lines here so absentee worker a you have requested for sixty eight thousand eight
eighty which is. How did you guys how did you drive this number like why that number so by all of this
we had taken every day of early voting and we had divided each of those in half for the primary and
the general.
If we do the full eight to six every day, like we have in the past, there's always two shifts. So it's
a customating the number of poll workers at each of those locations. Well, on each of those days of
early voting and then multiplying that by how much they would be making each day. There's an estimate
for regular early voting hours and your short sixty eight thousand eight eighty, according to what the
commissioners agreed to pay those. Correct. There's no additional
percentage increase in pay? No, and I've actually even reduced the number of poll workers already for
the numbers that we gave you this year. So we had taken back quite a bit during early voting during
the 2024 general. The first two weeks, we had a smaller number of workers. The second two weeks, we
had a higher number of workers. From those numbers, I have reduced even more for this next election.
Thanks. In October, as soon as we took that vote,
You were all very gracious to have me over to do an Excel sheet comparison of what happened during the
budget. At that point I thought we would have saw this request much earlier than where we are now. My
next two questions have to do with B and C because what I and I know this isn't I'm looking at an Excel
sheet that the public doesn't have here but it was a document shared by the clerk's office.
Absentee B, the regular EV hour difference that I thought we had in
October was 32,400 here. The request is 41,300 in what you have in the packet tonight. Do we know why
the change? Because the 6880 matches what I heard in October. This doesn't. This is off by almost 9,000.
Yeah, so I believe that there might have been rounding up after it had left from the numbers that I
had given.
So similarly, absentee C, the regular EV hour difference was about 24,432. Your absentee C request tonight
is 49,416. So while the absentee A seems to be close to what these other two, they're off by a bit.
Let me ask this. Do these numbers reflect a 29 poll location? Or these are early voting, right? Early
voting is the ABS. OK.
But does it reflect a full hour, like the usual hours? 8 to 6, yes. So this would be 8 to 6.
But even still, the B and C lines seem to be larger than what even in October we had talked about. Correct.
So B, when we had gone through, we had noticed that the requested amount during the budget season was
lower than what it should have been. I then added in who is supposed to be paid out of that line and
realized that those were not
in the correct line. I guess maybe Michelle, thank you for throwing that up quickly. What is the current
appropriation for these? Because ultimately, you all can come back and ask for additional appropriations
between the primary and the general once we've locked in those poll locations. We have to do it the
same. So whatever, and then there's ample in the fund, right? So what was the appropriate for these
account lines? This column right here, whoop, daggummit, sorry.
That's why we're not getting, I'm kidding. This column right here, which is in, was what was approved
for. And then here's the 2024. Here's 2025, 2024, and 2023.
What's the difference? It all depends on what I can make them bigger, but what specifically do you want
to look at? Do you want to see the personnel part right at this moment? Okay. Absentee B particularly,
right? Where we have... Yeah, absentee B is the one that even I was questioning why the original number
was what it was.
If we needed more time with this, what does that do to the timeline for the election board to approve
polling location? We should have approved polling locations and early voting hours at the January meeting.
So we are currently a month behind. You're pursuing 22, not 29 right now. They would prefer 29. That
contingent on this vote tonight, because these two line items are a little messy.
Okay, the only other thing that I'll say to this is, I know we have been, it's been said in some of
the, and this is not to you at all Ms. Barrett, so I just want to make it abundantly clear.
And watching some of the election board meetings, it's been a little dismay at the fact that it almost
feels like it's the county council's fault if we don't do certain things. But we have said during last
year's budget purgatory is what I like to call it, because it was a lot, that you all could come back
for additional appropriations as needed. And so I just saw some of the
messages out there via social media. And it was definitely said that if council doesn't do this, then
we might have to drastically cut back. And I don't want any, for a second, anybody to think that we
are trying to dismay or reduce things here. We just got a fiscal job, and we have to do it. And we're
trying to hold our ground and stay to that.
However, my council members think of how we should proceed here. I just want to make it explicitly clear
that we have expressed that should the clerk need anything else ahead of time, we can get on the agenda.
People could attend virtually or can also attend here for additional appropriations as we proceed. But
I just wanted to note that for the record here. Yes, Councilor Decker.
Thank you very much. This is the line item area that I kind of get the most keyed up on watching because
I think it's the one not to diminish anything else, but I think it's where the fruit is on what actually
happens or what doesn't happen. And as we were looking at these lines, I was talking to Councilor Wilts,
these very definitions of absentee workers, A workers, B workers, C. I remember, I think when you started
here, we had that whole curve.
That was fun. I remember there was a little bit of smiling and frowning and crying all the same time.
But one thing I just want to say on that is I recall on that we were mid flight, not ideal, but adjusting
things as we went and
We had a lot of absentee workers that came in here at one point, because you all were literally in season
of doing that. Yeah, I had poll workers on the verge of walking out during that time. I think I went
in there to do something and they called me everything but Trenton Deckard. But the reason I bring this
up is I do think this is one to watch particularly hard, particularly as we go forward with planning.
But to me, because of our
our current predicament and situation I want the early voting to be the early voting that is the will
of the public I mean we've heard from at least one party chair I suspect we'll hear from the other on
it because it's a bipartisan election board but my preference would be that we keep as a council pretty
limber about coming back here to say
here's what early voting costs looks like, and here's where we need to add in with the hopes that we
do achieve some savings over time, but we don't defund the entire election, because I think there's
a bipartisan support for what happens in there. I mean, it's clear with those workers. But we are at
the issue that it is January versus
the May where we're trying to figure out those classifications. So I would actually offer to council
that this be held here as an item to come back to as we start to look at that. I'd almost say it's a
motion to keep it indefinitely so that they know that door comes in because we're not that, I don't
think we're that hard to come back in and ask for additionals here. I just want to say that
in order because it is additional appropriations, you have to table it to a specific date and time.
So you can't do it indefinitely. But could you table it to multiple dates and times so that you preserve
the option? No, you can only do one date. We get to that date, you can table it forward. And we've done
that in the past with some other departments where we've gotten here, we weren't quite ready yet, and
we just moved it.
And we just move it. So you could set a date for in the future. We get to that date. If we still don't
know what's going on, you table it again forward. Okay. So we have to do that because of DLGF. We have
to assign it a certain meeting date. So yes, counselor.
In that instance then, I do move to table this item to the February 10th meeting, which is our very
next meeting. Second. Okay, we got a motion and a second to table to February 10th. Are there any additional
questions or comments from council related to this? Okay, yes. I'll be very brief. So for February 10th,
like I think the way to move this forward would be I need the change that
that gets us whole to the 2024 cycle on these positions, right? So whatever was changed, because I think
what we're discovering on the fly here is the numbers aren't, I mean, one of them looks right to adults.
And so it really is coming in and saying, here's the difference. This is what needs to be done to get
us to what we think we need. Does that make sense? I think when we tidy that up, a lot of this moves
quickly. That's it.
Councilor Iverson. And the other benefit to this is that we can all be watching and participating on
the election board meeting on January the 8th, which happens two days prior to this coming back to Council.
February. That's what I said. Okay. This is about the issue as a whole. Would you like me to wait till
after we decide to table? Because if we table it, I wasn't sure if I was still able to ask. Well, because if we
motion to table it. That's it. Like if it goes through, then there's really nothing else that needs
to be said. So do you want to just. OK. OK. All right. Anybody else that has any questions or comments
related to this? All right. If there is public comment on this item, you can come forward to lectern
here in the night. You know, remember, raise your hand via teams. Sound like a commercial.
all right and that being said michelle can we please have a roll call vote what's the motion the motion
is to table this item um to february 10th okay on the motion to table counselor hawk yes counselor wilts
yes counselor henry yes counselor dekert yes
Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Okay,
thank you. And so looks like that is all the business. All right, thank you Ms. Ferris for coming in
tonight. All right, next up we will jump back into our regularly scheduled program with the agenda.
And we're going right back to item number 7A for those of you keeping track at home.
Council I move to open for discussion and possible approval of the prosecutor's request to be exempt
from the hiring freeze and to be allowed to hire and fund one thousand dash zero six six zero county
general child support the case child support caseworker position and in fund one thousand dash zero
zero zero nine county general prosecutor the leg legal secretary position.
All right, we got a motion and a second and I see that we have our prosecutor joining us virtually.
So please, you should be able to unmute and go ahead.
TSD, does she have, or can somebody help her unmute? Oh. All right, I think I got it. Yes, we just took
a second. Apologies. All right, I'll try to go quickly. We must post and fill our case manager position
as soon as possible. This position will be vacant Monday, February 2nd.
The current person in the position is retiring this week after many years in county service. So it's
a happy occasion. This position is responsible for gathering and providing information from custodial
and non-custodial parents for establishing paternity and child support orders to ensure children receive
necessary financial and medical support. They monitor compliance in cases where such orders have already
been established.
They prepare rearages when non-custodial parents have not paid as ordered. This specific position carries
a caseload of 507 cases. The child support program in my office is responsible for establishing paternity
in cases where that has not been done, locating absent parents, establishing child support
orders, particularly where a child and custodial parent are on TANF, which is temporary assistance for
needy families,
or Medicaid benefits. And then enforcing child support orders if they're not paid, and we can use things
like wage garnishment, suspension of professional or driver's licenses, and tax intercepts as required
by law. Our child support program did receive the 2019 Haynes Turner World Award from the Community
Justice Mediation for its efforts to right-size child support orders and work with noncustodial parents
to overcome barriers
through things like treatment and educational efforts. Custodial parents, non-custodial parents, and
legal guardians can all apply for child support services through the prosecutor's office, regardless
of their income level. But the case manager position is an important part of the team, routinely monitoring
cases, entering and processing payment information to ensure timely receipt of payments, and identifying
non-compliance issues early.
The case manager is responsible for a lot of communications with custodial and non-custodial parents
regarding payment of child support. This program has a direct and immediate impact on children in our
community, particularly those who are in need of TANF and other benefits. Without effective case management,
delays in payments may be exacerbated. I would note that the salary benefits are reimbursed by approximately
two-thirds for this position,
under Title IV-D due to our mandatory enforcement for those receiving those federal TAMF benefits. So
at this time I'd entertain any questions that the council may have. Okay, thank you. All right, looking
to council here either at the dais or virtually to see if anybody has any questions on this item. I do.
Okay, Councilor Hawke, go ahead. Right, I was trying to see the agenda on split screen. Are we speaking
right now just as the child support caseworker? Or I think I heard the motion read that it would also
be for the legal secretary. So I would like to say. I thought we were just doing the case manager, but
I do have notes on the legal secretary.
Am I mistaken about where? Yeah, the motion was read for both to be heard at the same time. I'd like
to split the question, please. OK. OK. Sue and Council Hawk, you want to just divide the questions regarding
the child support casework and legal secretary to clarify, right? Right, that's correct. OK, so we need
a second. OK, OK.
We got a motion and a second to divide the question there. Any discussion with council related to divide
in this question? All right. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Iverson?
Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk?
Yes. Is this the vote to support the first part of the question or just the vote to support? This is
the vote to split. Okay, yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor
Crossley? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Okay. So first up,
It is the child support caseworker. So, Councilor Hawke, did you have questions about the caseworker?
Not at all. I think we need to support that. Okay. Okay. All right. Councilor, I appreciate it. And
I think the fact that this receives that reimbursement, approximately two thirds via the federal 4D
program, I think that's really helpful in this case as well. I'm looking to my left here to see if anybody
has any questions.
And seeing none, I'll go to a public comment. If you have public comment on this particular item, which
is the child support caseworker, you can raise your hand via Teams or you can come forward to the lectern
here in the Nattie Hill room. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Feidl?
Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry?
Yes. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Councillor Crossley. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes. Motion passes unanimous.
Okay. Next up is the item for legal secretary. Councillor Hong, did you have a question about this one?
I just think that we're going that's not supported with that reimbursement, correct?
That's right. May I read? Sorry, I didn't read my comments on that. May I please do that? Yes, go ahead.
Okay. It's imperative that we be able to post and fill the position of legal secretary as soon as possible.
This position will also be vacant effective Monday, February 2nd. The person who was in this position
love to stay with our office but was offered and recruited a position in Greene County which is closer
to home and pays significantly more with fewer duties and responsibilities. One of the primary
responsibilities for the legal secretary position is discovery compliance for four assigned
deputy prosecutors in my office.
The current caseload is 1,143 cases. This is the highest caseload due to the specialized Circuit Court
II caseloads. So pursuant to Indiana rule of criminal procedure 2.5, we are required to provide discovery
to the defense in all criminal cases 30 days from the date of initial hearing. So when we initially
file a criminal case, the legal secretary receives the initial batch of police reports
attaches them in our case management system, which is web-based, builds files, and runs the calendars
of initial hearings to ensure that these cases are ready for court. After the initial hearings, the
legal secretary must read through those police reports to identify what additional items of evidence
or information need to be requested from law enforcement agencies or other departments. This can include
body-worn camera videos, 911 calls, photographs, surveillance videos, forensic interviews from Susie's place,
medical records, laboratory results, autopsy reports, certified copies of records or other items referenced
in the initial police reports. These items are requested and then as they are received, they are attached
with our case management system and then a copy is provided to the defense. Discovery is an ongoing
obligation. Any new information that we receive on criminal cases must be timely shared with the defense.
This particular position includes sex crimes,
violence offenses. This means that there are some extra obligations such as filing protective orders
to prevent copying of sensitive digital evidence, notifying events of child sex abuse material that
cannot be legally copied and shared but must be available for inspection by defense counsel, redacting
medical records, preparing no contact orders, and other measures to protect victims and witnesses in
these sensitive case cases.
During the pendency of the case, the legal secretary is also responsible for drafting and filing certain
motions and other documents, issuing subpoenas for various hearings and trials to witnesses, and otherwise
assisting deputies with case processing. Until we can fulfill this position, the other legal secretaries,
who also have very full caseloads, must absorb the slack. And this is the recipe for getting behind
on discovery
or making mistakes that could compromise sensitive information. So what happens if we don't meet our
discovery deadlines because the legal secretaries can't keep up? Well, there are very severe consequences.
If we can't get the case to trial due to the state's late discovery, it could mean that a serious violent
offender is released from jail.
Or it could also mean that if it's been a year since the initial hearing, the case could be dismissed
with prejudice pursuant to criminal rule four and never be heard on the merits. A less punitive but
still very serious sanction is that the court could order a late-discovered piece of evidence excluded
from trial, which could jeopardize our chances of a successful prosecution. I would also just add it
puts us attorneys at risk. Pursuant to Indiana rule of professional conduct 5.3, for us attorneys,
Our law licenses are on the line if our non-lawyer assistants cannot meet legal requirements
and expectations. So we must have sufficient support staff to meet our legal obligations. And that's
challenging to do when we're fully staffed, but it's going to be impossible if we have missing positions.
So if you have any questions about the legal secretary position, I'd be happy to answer those for you.
Okay. Anybody have any questions or
comments on this item. Yes, Councilor Anderson. Thank you, Madam Prosecutor, for being with us today.
I hope that you're staying warm and safe where you're at. I cannot find the org chart for whatever reason
for your department. Again, I've been with kids all day long, so I've got a second grader's brain right
now. How many legal secretaries are in the department?
Let me think about it. We have two who do intake functions, and then we have one who acts as a receptionist,
and then we have five who do these discovery compliances and ongoing case maintenance that I've just
described. Okay, thank you so much. Looks like maybe, oh, okay. All right. Does anybody else have any
questions or comments on this item?
And seeing none, I'll take public comment on this item. If you have public comment on this item, you
can come forward to the lectern here and then at you. However, my raise your hand via teams. And seeing
none, may we please have a roll call vote. Councillor Hawk. No.
Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor Henry. Councilor Decker. Yes. Councilor Crossley. Yes. Councilor Iverson.
Yes. Councilor Fein. Yes. Motion passes majority six to one.
thank you all right next thank you is you're welcome um item b from the highway department council i
move to open for discussion possible approval of the highway department's request to be exempt from
the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway the mechanic position
so yeah i'm just here to see if we can uh
fill a vacant position, second mechanic position. And this is also funded out of the motor vehicle highway.
So it's not out of the county general or doesn't affect the county general fund. We have one master
mechanic and then we have two open mechanic positions. You had already approved us filling that position.
So I'm asking to fill the second one. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or comments on this
item for Ms. Ridge?
Councilor Wilks. Is this position currently vacant? It will become this Friday. This Friday. Okay.
Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Seeing none, we'll take public comment. You can come forward here
to the lectern in the room, or you can raise your hand via TAMES. And seeing none, maybe please have
a roll call vote. Councilor Feidl? Yes.
Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Deckard. Yes. Councilor Crossley. Yes. Councilor
Iverson. Yes. Motion passes unanimous 7-0. Thank you. All right. Next up is our ongoing business items
and we'll start with A.
Council, as a reminder, this item was tabled from the January 13th council meeting. I move to open a
discussion regarding law clerks. Second. Okay, we got a motion and a second. And I see that we have
Judge Decoff in our room here and she will be present at the table here momentarily. Welcome. Good evening.
I'm primarily here because
From the January 13th meeting, which I was not present for, but I watched, Councilmember Henry asked
that I attend. I want to start off by saying that at no time on the 13th did I, and I take responsibility
for this. This is not my colleagues. This is not any other judge. This was not me as presiding judge.
What happened was we had two law clerks that we put in to get paid.
And all of the years that I've been on the bench, law clerks were never considered employees. We were
told that we needed to submit as employees. I called the county attorney. The county attorney told me
that she would submit a resolution to the council with the law clerks in them so those two could get
paid as we had done in the past. We had done this during hiring freezes. They have never been affected.
So this is on me. It never occurred to me that there was going to be any kind of discussion or debate.
I apologize to you for the time that you took. Had I been here, had I known that was going to happen,
I would have been here to answer your questions. I would have so answered your questions, because I
did not think that this was going to be an issue. And it was, and council member, council
Councilmember Henry said during that meeting that times are different. I get that. We would have appeared
before you. We would have asked for them like you wanted us to. It just did not occur to me. In an attempt
to answer a couple of those questions now,
We do use unpaid law clerks. We prefer law clerks that are getting credit from the law school. We prefer
that. We get law clerks either because I teach there as an adjunct. Judge Stafford teaches there as
an adjunct. We know of people. Judge Bradley has contacts. Judge Salzman. And so if somebody wants to
be a law clerk, it's invaluable experience for them. And it's invaluable to us.
They do the things we don't really have time to do. They do extensive research. They come to court.
They take notes. We can consult with them. They're invaluable. And in answer to a question that was
asked during the 13th, if we didn't have clerks who did this who did, it would be us. So that is what
law clerks do. In 2025, we had 18 law clerks, three we paid for. The other 15 were
getting it through credit. The one that I have this semester and the one that Judge Salzman has with
me is because she began a project that is ongoing and so I wanted her to finish that project and she
could no longer get credit from the law school. Judge Salzman's law clerk is in the same position. She
had her doing some things and she wanted her to continue.
We pay them $14 an hour. We do not let them work more than 10 hours a week and most of the time if they
work 10 hours a week I would be surprised. We have never considered them our staff. We have never considered
them anything but quite helpful to us. We get their assistance and they get expertise. So that's what
law clerks are about.
I told Councilmember Wilt and I told Councilmember Feidl that I'm embarrassed that that even happened.
In fact, one of my colleagues was like, oh my God, that was so embarrassing. Like what? And I'm like,
yes, I know. This is on me. I believed it was going to be what it had been before. And then you all
had to take the time to address this.
I so apologize. That's never what I thought. I know Council Member Hawke called me egregious. We certainly
did not mean to be egregious. I didn't mean to ignore our liaisons. I just didn't think it was going
to be an issue for the liaisons. If I thought it was going to be an issue at all, I would have been
here. And we certainly would have asked the way we were supposed to ask. So to assure everybody, I'm
not here to ask for anything tonight. You approved the two we had. Thank you very much. We are not asking
for any more during the semester. We don't need any more during the semester.
They are semester positions or summer positions, because that's the way that the law school operates.
And we know that. We know that we'll have a law clerk typically for a semester. Could we all use one?
Yes, but what we do is share.
My law clerk is available to the other judges as is Judge Salzman's and there are other judges this
semester who have clerks who are doing it for credit and we share them. Somebody else said I have this,
I need this and we say there's a clerk available. We would like them to get as much experience as possible.
So that's how they're utilized.
We certainly, I certainly meant no disrespect to you at all or to circumvent your process or to think
that we're the third branch of government and we can do what we want. That was never ever that, never
did I have that intention. It was simply that this had never been an issue and I did not think it was
gonna be an issue. So I appreciate the two you gave us and in the future if you, if we need law clerks
we will certainly come to you and
put forth the argument as to why we do need them, but I just wanted to explain to you that's how we've
always done this and how we've seen it. So you asked me to be here to answer your questions, and I'm
pleased to be here to answer your questions because I didn't really feel bad about the hour you spent
debating this on the 13th because, oh my gosh.
Trust me, I know how valuable time is and I know how valuable time is arguing about something that somebody
could have just taken care of. So yes, so whatever you need. Here I am. Well, we appreciate that Judge
DeKoff and I mean, I'll speak for myself. I've never been in this position before where we've had something
like this that has happened. So I don't think I would say for me personally, I don't think you all took
that as or, you know,
staying in our lane and doing whatever we want here. That's not how I think that is. So I appreciate
you giving that explanation to us and providing clarification. Maybe we did need to have that conversation
so that this conversation that we all know. So out of, it was an hour long conversation, there came
a lot of knowledge and you just clarified a bunch of stuff, at least for me. So I appreciate that. So
thank you very much.
I see my hand wave, but I'm gonna look over here first, see if anybody had any questions. Councilor
Wilson, then I'll circle back over here. I just want to say that Councilor Feidl and I worked together
to kind of send an update email to the judge explaining the nature of the discussion and the outcome.
And I want to thank you for, you know, we tried to have a meeting, you know, our schedules didn't work.
But Judge DeKoff responded quickly and explained how we got to where we were. And I certainly don't
think it sounds like it was anything other than a rushed agenda item that wasn't thought through. And
that's not on you. I think it was kind of a multi-step issue.
I don't have any questions for you. You answered all of my questions in the email, and I very much appreciate
that. And I apologize for the feelings of embarrassment. Thank you for coming in and answering the questions.
I know my name was brought up there. There was an hour of sausage making. I didn't get a sandwich out
of it at the end. Sorry, we went through that with everybody. But I guess my question is this, though.
You mentioned summer interns.
So if there's some thought to hiring summer interns under this new idea that we really do need to understand
how the dollars are being spent in the hiring freeze. Do you anticipate those? What's the advertising
for those? What's the timeline? When do you start collecting summer interns? Because it sounds like
we might be there again in a few months. We would typically start knowing interest of law clerks or
whether we needed to try to find a law clerk that would
need to be paid sometime I would say towards after about the middle of the semester so sometime Aprilish
where we're going to start knowing that but again our preference is going to be for them getting credit
other than our paying them. So we have paid a few through the years but
typically we're going to get interest from students who say I want to stay in Bloomington for the summer.
I can get some summer credit. Are you interested in law clerks, et cetera. So right now I can't tell
you definitively that there wouldn't be somebody that would ask would want to have a law position that
isn't in the position for credit that for some reason we would want.
A lot of times we may have one law clerk during the summer because somebody is doing it for credit,
but typically I would say it's the semesters and usually those students are doing it for credit.
Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor, for bringing that to us. I think to Councilor Wilts's point, it was
an agenda item that was presented with not a lot of context, and so we've definitely scrambled in public
on those. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Yes, I thank you, Judge, for coming and discussing this with us. I think it's a learning curve for all
of us. This is really going to be a tough year and we'll all have to do things differently than what
we would like. But I thank you for coming and showing respect to the Council of Justice. We need to
show respect to the courts.
and so to that end I'm I'm glad to see you here and we'll work this out because I mean I do want to
make clear um and the 13th I kept hearing do they not know there's a hiring freeze like what is wrong
with them there's a hiring freeze yes we are aware there's a hiring freeze we're respecting the hiring
free hiring freeze again we I did not and the county attorney said we're going to do the resolution
like we've done I'm like okay um and so again yes we we are aware and
It's important that we communicate and we understand each other because in 2027, for the first time
since I've been part of this system, we are going to lose a court. And the thing about losing that court
is, right now, currently in that court, there are over 4,000 cases. Those 4,000 cases have to be now
dealt with without a court. So we are going to have to also
In our arena, we have a meeting set up in April to start looking at what we are going to do and how
we are going to take care of. Those are 4,000 right now at the beginning of 26. So we are going to also
have to experience some things that we have never experienced before. And I definitely did not want
to do anything that was going to impact the relationship that we have with the council. So again, I just
I appreciated being asked to come and appreciate the opportunity to explain to you from my position
what happened. So again, I apologize for your time and I apologize for misunderstanding. So I hope I've
answered your questions. Yes, Councillor Faito. I just want to thank you for coming here myself.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you.
And I think we can all learn from all that communication goes a long way with everybody. So we appreciate
that. All right. Next up is item B. But I will have Councilor Iverson discuss that first before we move
into the next. Council, based on what we just heard from the presiding judge, I move to table this item
indefinitely. Second. OK. There is a motion and a second.
Um, not yet. Um, yeah, no, it's okay. Um, and that is because if you recall a couple of weeks ago, the
conversation, um, was brought up because it had something to do with the law clerks. But since we all
got our answers there, there's nothing that needs to be said. Um, or as Forrest Gump said, that's all
I have to say about that. So, um, that being said, we can all laugh. It's okay. All right. So that's it folks.
All right. All right. So no other further questions or comments. There is a motion and a second. If
there is any public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here, the NETE Hill Room,
or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote to table this item
indefinitely. Councilor Wilts.
I know what you're confused. Look, yes. Yeah. Councillor Henry. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Councillor
Crossley. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes. Councillor Fiddle. Yes. Councillor Hawk. Yes. Motion passes
unanimous. Thank you. And again, that was to
the item regarding the law clerks. So next up is item number nine. Council, I move to approve the courts.
Yep, sorry. Council, I move to approve the prosecutor's request and fund nine. You're up there. Sorry.
Prosecutor is B and item is
Item A is courts. Yes. So you, Ms. Hamlin, will come directly after courts. Sorry. All right. Getting
our steps in. Council, I move to approve the court's request and fund 1213-0000 GAL slash CASA grant
to create account line 38350 grant distribution and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation
of $85,897 in the services category.
Okay. Okay. I come with good news. Our CASA program has received two grants for this year,
totaling the $85,897. So I'm just here asking that they both be appropriated. The money, I understand,
has already been received, so we can get the money to them. Congratulations on that. Any questions or
comments for Ms. Abraham on this item?
public comment on this item. You can come forward to the lectern here. Raise your hand via Teams. And
seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Council Henry? Yes. Council Decker? Yes. Council Crosley?
Yes. Council Iverson? Yes. Council Fiddle? Yes.
Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Just give you a heads up. I'll be back
on February 24th. I've submitted for three more grants that we've received. So I'm nice. Okay. We appreciate
it. Thank you.
Now is item B for the prosecutor's office. That was B. All right. I got it. All right. Counsel, I move
to approve the prosecutor's request and fund 9159-9626 High Tech Crimes Unit Fund for an additional
appropriation of $151,642.27 in the services category. Second.
All right, Ms. Hamlin. Now you're up. Good evening, counselors. I just heard I heard B. I got so excited.
I hustle right up here. Sorry about that. It's OK. This is a request to appropriate the high tech crimes
unit fund for two thousand twenty six. The source of the funding is a grant from the Indiana Prosecuting
Attorneys Council and is in the net amount mentioned. The funding period starts January 1st of twenty
six and goes through the end of the year.
The Monroe County High Tech Crime Unit is overseen by Prosecutor Oliphant, directed by Levi Minnick,
and covers an 11-county area, Monroe, Bartholomew, Brown, Green, Jackson, Lawrence, Marion, Morgan,
Orange, Owen, and Washington counties. The HTCU forensically processes computer-related materials to
obtain evidence in criminal cases. In 2025, the numbers were that we opened 188
individual cases, they processed 358 pieces of evidence for 42 different organizations and processed
20 terabytes of evidence. Happy to take any questions. Okay. Any questions or comments for Ms. Hamlin
on this item from council? Seeing none over here. Seeing none over there.
don't see Councillor Hawke's hands raised. Okay, so we'll move on to public comment. You can come forward
to the lectern here or you can raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll
call vote. Councillor Deckard? Yes. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl?
Yes. Councillor Hawke? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes.
Counselor Henry. Yes motion passes unanimous. Thank you. We appreciate this All right. Next up is item
C the convention and visitors commission council I move to approve the request from the convention and
visitors commission in fund 1127 dash zero zero zero zero convention visitor tourism fund for an additional
appropriation of six hundred thousand dollars in the services category Second. All right. Welcome.
We got mr. Campbell here. Welcome
Yes, well, thank you very much. So have a quick update for you from the Convention and Visitors Commission.
In November, we voted and approved up to $600,000 for development of a downtown visitors center in our
downtown location. We have a location selected near the new convention center, and this would be fully
funded through the innkeepers tax.
It's interesting, in 1988, when we moved into our current visitor's center, we were on the main thoroughfare
into town. And that is no longer the case if you've been out to our visitor's center. So we've been
in that location for 37 years, and the world has changed. Nobody stops in for maps anymore. You have
one on your phone. And this move will allow us to engage
the over 1000 hotel rooms that will be in the downtown area and the visitors and the community members
that live and work in downtown. This will be a resource for them to understand and explore the rest
of Monroe County and all of our attractions and shops and restaurants we have to offer. So it's certainly the time.
And it also coincides with the opening of the Convention Center and will allow us to engage not only
the visitors who are here, but also to encourage those event planners and convention planners coming
to our community to say, is this where we want to host this event? Being able to walk right across the
street and then on board and show all the
all the great things that are in this community. So happy to answer any questions. This would come from
the general fund, and we are asking for a separate line item so we could track those expenses that are
going specifically for that. If not all of this money is used, then that just returns to the general
fund, the general fund for the
commission and visitors commission. Not the. Yes, not your job. Thanks for that clarification. We appreciate
that. And it makes sense to have everything downtown. So I think so. It's just different. Yep. Everything
is all working out. And I saw Councilor Hawk had her. She was first to have her hand up. So I'm going
to Councilor Hawk and then I'll turn to my right here for the other council members. Yes. Can you
share with us the plans for the existing building and that property there. I believe that is or at least
one time it was in the name of the county government so I'm not sure exactly where we stand on that
but would like to have an explanation about what is plans for that property. Well you're not getting
rid of us just yet so we are still planning to occupy that building
in the interim. So this convention or this downtown center would be a customer facing or guest facing
portion of that. Now our intention is long term is to move the whole staff downtown and at that point
it is in the county's name and would revert to the county. I don't know that we would have a use for
it after that but I wouldn't anticipate that that
we will still be in that building for the next couple of years at least. So it might I anticipate that
you'll continue to maintain the building and in good repair. As we've always done. I know.
Thank you. I'll be brief and good to see Mr. Gamble. I'm on the CBC on behalf of council. So I got a
little bit of a preview of what was coming. The early design mockups and things are going to be really
interesting for this space. And I look forward to the foot traffic, even for local residents buying
mugs and tchotchkes and holiday things to send to family to tell them to visit Bloomington more often.
So it's a good project. This is just bringing our convention core together. All good things. Thank you
for bringing it.
Thank you. Looking to my left here I'll go counselor vital and then Decker next. And so, I understand
you're coming downtown and is it possible to tell us where that location is. Yes, so we're selected
the below the fourth street garage, there's a vacant lot.
vacant space at that point. It's the closest one to the expansion of the convention center.
So that proximity, both to all of the traffic in downtown and the convention center, really make this
an ideal location for this operation. So that brings up parking for me, that you would be in that space.
So will there be adequate parking in the garage to service your needs for people coming to see you,
visitor center people? Well, I think so. It's a visitor garage anyway. And so that is the purpose. And
so having that there means it's already built in. So are there adequate places in the garage currently
during the daytime to service you? I believe so. Yes.
Thank you very much for your comments. I'll also be brief. I just love the comments that you made about
the years and change because in this community so often we get very rooted and it's always been and
it can't be and it's never been. The reality is this community is because of some of our status has
always had some changes going on. So I appreciate that. I also appreciate the patience
which you all have towards some of the change, particularly around the Convention Center, because it's
been a long haul, but you've been more successful than most public discussions or projects than I can
recall in some time. So thank you for that. All right. And just because they're here, I just want to
shout out your Convention Center board. Hi.
Thanks for being here. All right. If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the
lectern here, the Nightingale room or raise your hand via teams. I mean, I need to. Oh, I'm so sorry.
That's OK. I'm sorry, Michelle. This is a contractual line. Do you do you guys have a contract? We have
not signed a contract yet. We need to make sure we have the funding to do that. But yes, we would engage
with an architect.
and a GC. OK. And when you get that signed, we need a copy of it for us to link to this appropriation.
Absolutely. OK. Yeah. We want to make sure we have the money before we sign the deal. OK. Thank you.
OK. All right. And so we will move on to public comment here. So it looks like we already have a hand raised.
and everybody has up to three minutes. So I see one here already raised and it looks like we have movement
here in the room. So it looks like Commissioner Thomas. All right. So Commissioner Thomas, you all have
up to three minutes. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I want to thank Mr. Campbell and the members
of the Convention and Visitors Commission for their great work through all of this. And I agree that this is
great idea to move this office downtown. It makes total sense. But I remember there was some discussion
early on that the visiting Bloomington site was offered for the third street location of the existing
convention center. In other words, it would be in a current, what is currently a meeting room would
be made available.
and that what you're committing to is rental at the 4th Street garage that you wouldn't have to pay
if you were in the existing convention center. I don't know if you could offer any information on that.
Thank you. Yeah, you can after the public comment. Yes, you can totally do that afterwards. Yes, please
come forward to the lecture.
State your name and you'll have up to three minutes. Hello, my name is Talisha Coppock with Downtown
Bloomington, Inc. and enthusiastically support this request. Our downtown community super excited. Visit
Bloomington is such a professional, well-trained staff, and they've done such a great job of promoting
all our small businesses and attractions. And this is just the next level of hospitality for our community.
So it's pretty exciting.
And the hope is growth and development and more interactive and deeper connections with our locals and
visitors on all that we have to offer. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Is there any other public comment
before Mr. Campbell comes up and addresses Miss Thomas questions? Seeing none, Mr. Campbell, if you
want to go ahead and address that.
Yes, Commissioner Thomas is correct. We did consider a room or vacating or occupying a meeting room
in the convention center proper in the older section of that building. We declined that for the reason
of we need that space to sell the convention center. So the loss of a meeting room, a breakout room,
I think would
in the long run be something we would kind of kick ourselves for doing. So we need that large space
for the event space, for that expo venue, and then the breakout sessions that go on. So we decided to
preserve that so we could better sell the commencement center. So I hope that helps. All right.
Thank you. We appreciate that. All right.
And seeing no other further question or comment, may we please have a roll call vote on this item. Councilor
Crossley. Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Hawk. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes.
Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Deckard. Yes.
Motion passes unanimous. All right. We appreciate it. Thank you. Next up, item D from the aviation
department. Council, I move to approve the aviation department's request and fund forty eight oh one
dash zero zero zero zero aviation construction for the creation of a new account line three zero zero
zero six contractual services and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of seventy four
thousand thirty five dollars in the services category. Second.
All right. And it looks like we have Mr. Carlos Laverne joining us virtually. Please go ahead and proceed.
Okay. Greetings. Okay. Great. They just added me to the meeting. Thank you. Okay. We're good to go.
So, uh, we are requesting an additional appropriation from the construction fund.
to create a new account line contractual services for $74,035. Is the audio okay there? I'm getting
a really bad echo. No, we can hear you. Okay.
Following up on work done by SM&E and AP Engineering Consulting for geotechnical testing in the area
around Runway 1734, we engaged CTO Engineering for additional testing. This was to ensure
basically that we had no cars in the airfield area there was some earlier geotechnical work that we
paid for if you might recall last year that kind of raised some eyebrows so we consulted with CTL to
do some additional geotesting for $49,035 and that confirmed the fact that
there were no additional cars. We wanted to be very sure that we had no dangers approaching the main
runway on the airport. So that's item number one. Item number two is the airport purchased an additional
runway snow plow from the Minneapolis St. Paul airport systems for $5,000. This is a large 27 foot runway plow.
And if you'll recall, we had already received six pieces of equipment from Minneapolis-St. Paul through
the help of the Indiana University Athletic Department and Cook Group. We had received two 27-foot plows,
two rotary blowers, and two 18-foot runway brooms with their generous help. And during the transaction,
we had the opportunity to acquire one more
27 foot runway plow. So the airport went ahead with that purchase for $5,000. And so now that we have
these seven pieces of runway size and airport specific snow removal equipment, we're also seeking additional
appropriation of $25,000 to cover that $5,000 purchase and then to allow us to do some some upkeep and
some maintenance, particularly the runway brooms that we acquired. They all have to be reth
re-bristled from time to time. So we already purchased $12,000 in bristles, and those were put on last
month. And with all of that snow equipment that we have in place now, I can pretty proudly say that
we made it through the storm without having to close the runway. We allowed the small crosswind runway
to close, but at no time during the storm did our main runway close.
Thank you. All right. Looks like Councilor Hawke has her hand raised first. So Councilor Hawke proceed.
Yes. Thank you for presentation. Just as a reminder to the public, this is out of the construction fund
and does not affect the general fund or the property tax fund or any other revenue. It just comes from
that construction fund.
Thank you. All right. Any other questions or comments from council on this item? Seeing none, we'll
go to public comment. If you have public comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams or
you can come forward to the podium here. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Iverson.
Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker?
Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you, Mr. Lerner. Thank you very
much. Have a good night. You too. All right. Next up is item E from our Parks and Rec Department.
Council, I move to approve the parks department's request and fund 4113-0000 donations park to create
new account lines as outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of
$3,000 in the supplies category and $164,800 in the services category for a total appropriation of $167,800.
Second. And we have Ms. Whitman.
Whitmer here. Excuse me. Welcome. Hello. Hello. This should be very easy. These are donated funds. And
by the end of August, I am calculating we should have one hundred sixty seven thousand eight hundred
dollars. And that's exactly what I'm asking you to appropriate. Plus add the two lines in there. I do
want to add two words. The funds will be used at the Monroe County Nature Preserve Equipment Storage
Building related amenities and memorial benches. So that's
part of everything. Any questions? Anybody have any questions for Ms. Whitmer? Looks like you stumped
them. Oh, I'm sorry. We got one. Councilor Hogg has her hand raised. Sorry. Hello, I just wanted to
make sure that we all know that since she said that that's not the amount of money they have presently.
So if the money doesn't come in as she has anticipated, she'll adjust the amount that she spends. That's
the way the Parks Department works. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any other questions
or comments? And seeing none, we'll go to public comment. You can raise your hand via Teams, or you
can come here in the room in the Nattie Hill room. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote.
Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Hawk. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Deckard.
Yes. Councilor Crossley. Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Thank you.
Have a good night.
All right, next up is item F from the public defender's office. Council, I move to approve the public
defender's request to amend the 2026 salary ordinance and fund 1200-0000 public defender supplemental
and remove account 13041 senior paralegal and simultaneously and fund 1000-0271 county general public
defender at account line 13041 senior paralegal
40 hours pat a non exempt. And I'm going to look to our council staff Michelle here for this item. During
the budget process the senior paralegal position for 2025 was in the supplemental fund. During the budget
process that
position was moved to general fund and approved there in the general fund. But during a review of the
salary ordinance, this was missed. So this is just to bring the salary ordinance and the approved budget
together so that payroll can process correctly. OK.
Yes, can you give us a total dollar map that will be going over to the general fund expense? And I'm
assuming shouldn't assume anything, I guess. But will this mean that that will just be a part of adding
on to what we actually ended up budgeting?
This was a budgeted and approved already in the general fund. So this is just to make the salary ordinance
match what was previously approved back in October. Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Michelle?
Okay. Councilor Huck, did you have another question?
and I was trying to lower it, didn't I? Oh, okay. It's good now. You're okay. All right. Thank you.
Seeing no other questions or comment, if we have public comment, you can come forward to the lectern
here or you can raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor
Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry?
Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion
passes unanimous. Thank you. Next up is item G from the Highway Department. Council, I move to approve
the Highway Department's request and fund 1135-0000 human bridge for an additional appropriation of
$75,000 in the services category. Second.
All right, and we have Ms. Ridge joining us virtually. Please go ahead. Hello, can you hear me? Yes,
we can hear you. So this first item is creating two new lines, one for Rockport Road Bridge 308 and
the second is for the Eagleton Avenue Bridge 922. We wanted to put this into our cumulative bridge
as a count line. So if there are any items that are not covered under the grant, it will be paid strictly
from the local funds. Okay, thank you. Are there any questions or comments from council on this item?
Seeing none. If there's public comment, 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 Wilkes? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor
Iverson? Yes. Councilor Pytel? Yes. Councilor Hock? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. And still sticking
with the Highway Department is item H. Council, I move to approve the Highway Department's request and
fund 1197-0000 Stormwater Management.
to create new accounts as outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation
of $922,704.22 in the services category. Second. Okay. Ms. Ridge, what would you like to add to this?
So when we did budgets last July, when we started setting them up, we were hoping that these two projects
would be done in the fall and they were not. So we have a 2026 construction season for Redbud and then
finishing up
So we were appropriating what was left in those two accounts in 2025. Any questions or comments from
council on this item? Councilor Wilts. So the projects are ongoing, is that correct? Could you kind
of give us an update? Yeah, correct.
actually we didn't start that because of the fall but it has been awarded and Stip Road we're just doing
the finishing we need to wait for erosion and control and everything for the spring and then we'll close
that project out I think but both of these amounts are the contract amounts that for the awarded contractor.
Any other further questions or comments from council?
Seeing none. If there's public comment, you can come forward to the lectern here, or you can raise your
hand via zines. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor
Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk?
Yes. Councilor Wills? Yes.
Motion passes unanimous. Next up, item I. Council, I'm going to be combining items I and J into one
motion. I move to approve the Highway Department's request and fund eighty one ninety one dash zero
zero zero zero old State Road thirty seven and Dillman intersection to create a count line three seven
four one six design, approve an additional appropriation of five hundred thirty nine thousand six hundred
fifty dollars in the services category.
and simultaneously approve a fund to fund transfer of cash of fifty eight thousand one hundred fifty
dollars from fund eleven sixty nine dash zero zero zero zero local rodent street to fund eighty one
ninety one dash zero zero zero zero old state road thirty seven and dillman intersection okay miss ridge
um so this is um a project that is ninety ten
federally funded, it's called a H-SIP project, Highway Safety Improvement Project. It is for
the reconstruction of the old State Road 37 and Dillman Road to improve that intersection with a roundabout.
This is for the design stage of it. Then the local match for design would be the 58,150. That's what
we're requesting to move from cash to cover our part of the 10 percent for design.
And I'll move on next to questions and I see Councilor Decker has a question. I'll just be really quick.
I was exploring Dilman Road about three hours before the storm and just all the work already happening
around that area is making that a hundred times more safer. So I was excited to see this on our agenda
and I just appreciate it a lot. Any other questions or comments for Ms. Ridge on these items?
and seeing none, we'll take public comment. You can raise your hand via Teams or you can come forward
to the lectern here in the room. And may we please have a roll call vote. Councillor Crossley? Yes.
Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Hawk? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor Henry?
Councillor Deckard. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Next up are items K and L. Council I move to approve
the highway department's request and fund 8192-0000.
Two thousand twenty six at two thousand twenty nine bridge inspection to create account line three seven
four one six design approve an additional appropriation of six hundred forty seven thousand six hundred
sixty nine dollars and seventeen cents in the services category and simultaneously approve a fund to
fund transfer of cash of one hundred twenty nine thousand five hundred thirty three dollars and eighty
three cents from fund eleven thirty five dash zero zero zero zero cumulative bridge
to fund 8192-00002026-2029 bridge inspection. Second. Okay, Ms. Ridge. So we are required to do a four-year
cycle for our bridge inspections. Our compliance month is the month of March. This is an 80-20 federally
funded program, so the
grant creation is to be able to start that process in 2026. And the fund to fund transfer is what we
anticipate our match to be. Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council on these items?
Seeing none, we'll move to public comment. If you have public comment, you can come forward to the lectern
here in the room or you can raise your hand via Teams.
and still seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes.
Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor
Iverson? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. We appreciate it. Thank you, Ms. Ridge.
All right, next up is item M from the Board of Commissioners. Council, I move to approve the commissioner's
request and fund 4900-0000 employee morale to create account line 30185 employee promotion and simultaneously
approve an additional appropriation of $4,972.24 in the services category. Second. Okay, we got a motion
and a second and looks like Ms. Angie Purdy is
Attendant virtually, please go ahead. It's pretty, it looks like you're muted. Oh, yeah, there we go.
I just got a little notification thing that could speak.
So this particular item, you had actually approved late in 2025. However, by the time we actually received
products and the invoice, the budget was closed for 2025. So we're now asking to just have
it re-appropriated, but to give a little bit more background.
We went ahead and paid for this for 2025 using a credit card thinking that this would have been heard
by council at the first meeting of the year, but that's not, it didn't happen that way. And so the auditor
went ahead and used it as an encumbrance and went ahead and paid that. So I'm hoping
I didn't catch the amount, but it should be $2,632.78 is the request now. Go ahead.
I believe that what we need to do is change the motion. So I'm going to move to amend the motion on
the table to change the amount requested to $2,632.78. Second. Okay, we got a motion and a second to
change or to amend the
amount there to the $2,632.78. Is there any questions or comments on this motion? Seeing none. Okay.
Can we please get a roll call vote? This is on the amendment to change the amount to $2,632.78.
I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. But I think Angie was coughing while I was saying this. Councilor Wilts?
Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes.
Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, thank you. And now we'll come back to the overall.
I'll go to Councilor Henry first and then I'll see Councilor Hawke has their hand raised.
Thank you, Madam President. Ms. Mote, I have some questions about this process here. I know Ms. Gregory
is not here tonight. So there was a credit card expense before council approves the expense. So I'm
trying to get a sequence of events here. Did we spend money before council authorized spending money?
Did the county? It was appropriated in, like you guys approved it in 2025.
However, the credit card statement didn't come until January of 2026. So to not incur credit card fees
and stuff, we went ahead and appropriate or encumbered the amount from what you guys had approved last
year into this year so that we could get that paid. And then we're just amending the amount of what
we actually need to appropriate.
encumber funds like this anymore, right? We usually do this for bonds only at this point as a county.
Yeah, we're, we're sticking to bonds, but since this was kind of tricky and that we didn't want interest
fees and stuff, they went ahead and moved it forward since it was just approved in December, I believe of 2025.
And it just kind of missed that mark. OK, so that piece. So we appropriated it, but we missed the claims
window for the end of the year. Yes. And what commissioners missed the window for the end of the year.
And then we put on a credit card and the bills due Monday. And that's why we need to decide today. What's
the due date for the credit card with the. I'm not sure when exactly.
I don't do claims. I'm sorry. I know you're in the hot seat. I don't know the exact when credit cards
are due, but I know that in order to not get fees with those credit cards, we had to pay it pretty quickly.
Thank you. I'm only just drilling on this to say. It's a standard of how we spend money. This seems
like a small thing because it's a box of fudge through the employee morale fund, but if it is a process where
We saw a lot of this last year where something was expended and then there's a council asked to fix
it on the back end to bring it into compliance with things. It's just new year, new opportunity to not
do this moving forward. I mean, we know the holiday is coming for 12 months. I presume we can get ahead
of that next time. That's not for you, but that's it. Thank you, Madam President. All right, thank you
very much. Councilor Hawk. Yes.
Many of us remember when we used some of those dollars for that marvelous Christmas luncheon we used
to have, and many of us miss it. That ship has sailed, I believe. But I'm wondering if there's a group
that might be able to give some suggestions about what we might do for employee promotion. That's the
kind of thing where you might have
a picnic out at one of the parks for the employees or something. To pass around donuts at Christmas
time, that's lovely, but not everybody's there, not everybody eats donuts. It's just not up to par to
what's most done. Nobody's expecting the commissioners to be able to come up with money for this marvelous
banquet we used to have.
but there might be something other than passing around donuts that might be better appreciated. Just
my thoughts. Appreciate that. Thanks, Councilor Hawk. Is there any other questions or comments?
I see Ms. Purdy has her hand raised. Ms. Purdy? Yeah, I just wanted to respond.
to Councilor Henry's statements and that is we didn't fail to process anything. This was purely a timing
issue that caused the problem between the close of the 2025 budget, which happens before the end of
2025, and then the use of the 2026 budget. We did everything in compliance with time,
The problem was by the time we were going to get that invoice, the budget was going to be closed for
2025. I spoke with the auditor's office at that time to come up with a potential solution. And so that's
how we ended up with the credit card. And so that's why we paid it on the credit card. And we would
not have had to encumber anything had this been on
the first council meeting, but it wasn't. Okay. Why wasn't it? I'm sorry, Madam President. Was that
because the request for the agenda wasn't put in an entirely manner? Walk me through that. You chose
not to put it on there. I was told that there would be no additional appropriations on the January 6th.
I believe you have that just as a organizational type meeting.
It wasn't that I forgot to do anything. And that's typically how first meetings of the year usually
are. Okay. It made sense to me at the time. Okay. All right. Any other questions or comments from council?
All right. Seeing none, I'll go to public comment. You can come forward to the lectern here in the room
or you can raise your hand via
and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor
Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. Councilor Feidl?
Yes. Motion passes unanimous.
Okay, next up is item in. Council I move to approve the commission's request in Fund 4933-0000 PSAP
lit for an additional appropriation of $156,607 in the services category. Second. Okay, Ms. Perry, please
proceed. Yeah, this was another this was a situation where during budgets, it was brought to our attention
that the amount submitted in Lau
was off $156,607 from what the anticipated revenue is gonna be from the rate that's established for
the PSAP. And so a bunch of us were talking and we thought it was gonna get taken care of on the October
8th meeting, but budgets were crazy and things didn't happen to no one's fault. So I just wanna put
that out there.
And so then given this is a 26 budget, I just had to wait till the beginning of the year to request
this additional appropriation. And yes, the previous city controller and the current city controller
is aware. Thank you very much for that explanation. Is there any other questions or comments from council
on that item? Yes, Councilor Decker. I just have a quick one.
So who submits this into Lau? I know there's multiple whatever. Who does that? You do it with me. Yeah,
I do it. Yeah, I put it in there and and I don't know. I get the verse. So getting the final number
is sometimes not the most easy. Due to different timings between the city and the county and when the
rates come out, actual amounts come out. So that's what happened is.
I thought that was the number initially appropriated was correct, but there's clearly going to get 156,000
more. But between everything at the county and everything at the city, really nobody really noticed
until more recently, right? Yeah, well, um, Jessica noticed it during the budget. That's how, cause
we thought we could fix it. You know, it was, it was before the budgets were done.
and the original plan was to just correct it during the budget process, but it kind of got dropped at
that time with, I don't know, everybody. The virtual pups are back. All right. Any other questions or
comments from council? Seeing none.
public comment. Public comment. If you got something to say on this item, you can come forward to the
lectern here in the room or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, can we please have a roll call
vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes.
Yes. Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Hawk. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. We appreciate it. Thank you.
All right. Next up is item O from the sheriff's office. Council, I move to approve the sheriff's request
and fund 1156-0000 firearms training to create account line 21060 training supplies and simultaneously
approve an additional appropriation of $100,000 in the supplies category.
All right welcome thank you. So this is just what we have to do annually to be able to spend the firearms
training fund. We're just asking for more this year than previously so that we don't have to come back.
All right any questions or comments on this item from council? Self-explanatory. All right so if there
is public comment you can come forward to the lectern here raise your hand via Teams.
Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor
Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes.
Motion passes unanimous. All right, next up is PE.
Council, I move to approve the sheriff's request and fund 4009-0000 Sheriff's Sale Administration to
create new account lines as outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation
of $50,973.67 in the supplies category and $4,000 in the services category for a total appropriation
of $54,973.67. Okay.
So these funds come from the tax warrants and the share of sales. And we are wanting to be able to utilize
with the increase in postage. We can use funds from this account to pay for postage, envelopes that
we use to mail out the mailings, paper, everything related to those two things. Any questions or comments
from council on this item? All right.
Seeing none, we'll go to public comment. Raise your hand via Teams or come to the podium here in the
room. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley?
Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry?
Motion passes unanimous. All right. Next up is Q. Council, I move to approve the sheriff's request and
fund 4107-0000 donation sheriff's department to create account lines outlined on the agenda
and simultaneously approve additional appropriations of $4,000 in the supplies category and $10,613.02
in the services category for a total of $14,613.02. Again. Okay.
Like when I came in December, this is just funds that have been donated to the sheriff's office that
the sheriff is allowed to use for either specific purposes or whatever he feels is necessary. Any questions
or comments from counsel on this item? Seeing none. Public comment, you can come forward to the lectern
here or you can raise your hand via Teams.
I'm still seeing none. Maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson?
Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor
Deckard? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Okay next up item R.
I move to approve the sheriff's request and fund four one zero eight dash zero zero zero zero donation
sheriff canine to create account lines outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve additional
appropriations of three three million three thousand five hundred twenty nine dollars and eighty eight
cents in the supplies category and one thousand dollars in the services category for a total of four
thousand five hundred twenty nine dollars and eighty eight cents
same as with the donations. This is specifically for anything related to the canines. Okay. Any questions
or comments from council on this item? Seeing none. We will go to the public. If you have public comment,
you can raise your hand via Teams or come to the podium. And still seeing none, may we please have a
roll call vote? Councilor Iverson.
Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker?
Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right, thank you. Next up, we got items coming
from the Health Department, starting with items S and T.
Council, I move to approve the health department's request and fund 8112-9626 STD strengthening prevention.
Today appropriate $58,835 in the personnel category and simultaneously amend the 2026 salary ordinance
and remove account line 10142 disease intervention specialist. All right, we got a motion and a second.
It looks like Ms. Kelly is joining us virtually and you may proceed.
Good evening, counsel. Sorry about that. I was trying to get access. So this request is just
to be appropriate grant funding. So this was originally provided by the Indiana Department of Health
for an additional disease intervention specialist due to the hiring freeze and not being able to recruit
and fill this position. The Indiana Department of Health did ask for this funding back.
Okay, thank you for that. Any other questions or comments from Council on this item? Seeing none. If
there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here or raise your hand via
Teams. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote.
I'm sorry, I stepped away. Councilor Will? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor
Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Okay. Next up is item U.
Council I move to approve the health department's request and fund 1161-9625 local public health services
grant to create account lines as outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve additional appropriations
of $831,306.80 in the personnel category.
one hundred thirty thousand three hundred seventy six dollars and seventeen cents in the supplies category
and one hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred forty six dollars and thirty six cents in the services
category for a total appropriation of one million one hundred seventy four thousand five hundred twenty
nine dollars and thirty three cents. Okay Miss Kelly. So what we've actually been working on doing is with
our state funding, we are required to submit budgets and all of our financial reporting based upon the
year that we received the state funding. So it was recommended that we created location numbers just
to be able to help us better keep track of what funds, what year they're budgeted for, and for our reporting
purposes. So this is basically just creating those new account lines with those locations for tracking purposes.
Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from almost at the county, the county council?
Anybody got questions or comments on this item? Lost my brain. All right. And seeing none, we'll go
to public comment. If you have public comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams or come
forward to the podium. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote. Councilor Wilts.
Yes. Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Councillor Crossley. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes.
Councillor Feidl. Yes. Councillor Hawke. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Next up is item V.
Council I move to approve the health department's request and fund 1161-9626 local public health services
grant to create account lines as outlined on the agenda and simultaneously approve additional appropriations
of six hundred twenty nine thousand fifty three dollars and twenty cents in the personnel category seventeen
thousand nine hundred forty four dollars and eighty three cents in the supplies category and one hundred
seventy nine thousand thirty eight dollars and sixty four cents in the services category and
for a total appropriation of $826,036.67. Second. Okay, Ms. Kelly, what would you like to add to this
item? So pretty much same thing. So this just allows us to submit to use a portion of those funds from
2026 for salary and expenses, and then we will submit to use 2025 funds since we're getting those locations
for our remaining expenses.
Thank you. Any questions or comments from Council on this item? Seeing none. Public comment, if you
would like to have a comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams or come forward to the
podium. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Council Henry? Yes. Council Decker? Yes.
Council Crosley? Yes. Council Iverson? Yes.
Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Oh, Councilor Hogg, you're muted. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Thank you.
Councilor Wilts? Yes. Motion passes, unanimous. All right, next up we will go to item W as in winning.
Let's go council. I move to approve the health department's request and fund 1161 dashes zero zero zero
zero local public health fund a deappropriation of one million four hundred sixty thousand three hundred
and sixty dollars in the personnel category one hundred forty eight thousand three hundred twenty one
dollars in the supplies category and three hundred ninety one thousand eight hundred eighty five dollars
in the services category for a total deappropriation of two million five hundred sixty six dollars Okay,
miss Kelly
I think this is really just housekeeping again. So since we've created those locations, this is just
de-appropriating it from where it was previously. Thank you. Any questions or comments from council
on this item? Seeing none, we'll move to public comment. Raise your hand via Teams or come to the podium
here in the room. Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote?
Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor
Hawke? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Item X.
Council, I move to approve the Health Department's request to amend the 2026 salary ordinance and fund
1161-0000 Local Public Health Services
to remove location number 0000, and to allow for multiple location designation for grant year periods,
which is the current practice for other departmental grant funds. Second. All right, we got a motion
and a second. Miss Kelly. Again, I think this is just housekeeping so that we update the salary ordinance
with these changes. Thank you. Any questions or comments? I saw a hand.
Ms. Kelly, I really applaud this move. I know this probably comes from other places, but I think this
is going to be much easier to track the different grant funds. So congratulations on taking this move.
Any other questions or comments from council? Seeing none, we'll move to public comment. You can come
forward to the lectern here or raise your hand via Teams.
and seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson?
Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Hock? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor
Decker? Yes. Motion passes unanimous.
Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Next up, we already went through the clerk's office information.
Next up, we are at the Youth Services Bureau with items AB.
Council, I move to approve the YSB's request, Youth Service Bureau's request, and fund 4100-0000 donations,
youth shelter, to create account lines outlined on the agenda and to simultaneously approve additional
appropriations of $2,500 in the supplies category. Second. Okay. And I am looking... Hello. Hi. Welcome.
So the only reason that
they're requesting these donation ones are because they used to be able to carry forward. And with our
updated SBOA guidance, they need to be approved by you guys and were budgeted in the future. So the,
I don't know what these values are, right?
double check the values really fast.
Well, that's what I want to see is what's at the very end of 2025.
supply line there might be an issue or like a the value might be off a little bit I think that the unexpended
from last year that would we would normally carry forward into the new year would be $989.54 and not
a full thousand dollars
but I don't want to miss. We could table this to February 10th and get some clarification. Council,
I move to table this item to the February 10th meeting. Second.
OK, we got a motion and a second to table this item until February 2nd pending further clarification.
Totally fine. It's OK. Any further questions or comments on this motion? All right. Public comment,
come forward to the lectern here in the Nattie Hill room or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none,
may we please have a roll call vote?
Councilor Wilts is not present. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. Motion passes six to zero. All right.
Next up is item AC.
I move to approve the Youth Service Bureau's request and fund 4106-0000 donation safe place to create
account line 36050 miscellaneous expenses and to simultaneously approve an additional appropriation
of $6,467.71 in the services category. All right. Same thing. They just historically they would have
been carried forward, but we're just aligning with
the SBOA guidance and having them appropriated, hopefully budgeted in the future. Okay, thank you. We
appreciate that. Is there any other questions or comments, whether that's virtual or in person here?
Seeing none. If there is public comment, you can come forward to the lectern here or raise your hand
via Teams.
being none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor
Wilts? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke?
Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right, next up is item AD.
Council I move to approve the Youth Service Bureau's request and fund 4110-0000 donations prevention
general to create account lines outlined on the agenda and to simultaneously approve an additional
appropriation of $1,218.11 in supplies category and $276.66 in the services category for a
total appropriation of $1,494.77. Second. Okay.
It was a donation fund and now we gotta go through. Okay, so it seems like a lot of cleanup. Yeah, we're
just doing a lot of cleanup housekeeping. Okay, all right, sounds good. Any questions or comments on
this item from council? And seeing none, we'll go to public comment. Raise your hand via Teams or come
to the podium here. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote.
Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor
Hawke? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Next up
is item AE.
Council, I move to approve the Youth Service Bureau's request and fund 4111-0000 donations BTCC to create
account lines outlined on the agenda and to simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of $1,600
and $12,600 in the services category for a total appropriation of $14,200. Second. All right. Again,
just housekeeping.
Get it approved. Thank you. Any questions or comments from council on this item? Seeing none, is there
any public comment? Raise your hand via Teams or come to the podium. And seeing none, may we please
have a roll call vote. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Councillor Crossley. Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hogg? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry?
Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Next up is item AF. Gosh. Council, I move to approve the Council Office
Request and Fund 4116-0000. Donations, Council,
to create a count line three zero zero three one Sophia Travis and to simultaneously approve an additional
appropriation of three thousand dollars in the services category. Thank you Michelle. Yes we had a prop
we council appropriated this fund at the back in twenty twenty five but due to some
the agencies. There were several that didn't come in and sign their agreements accordingly. So we couldn't
distribute those funds until then. So we are coming back to reappropriate this so that we can get the
checks out to everyone. Thank you for that. Any questions or comments from council on this item? Seeing none.
If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the night in the
room or raise your hand via teams. And seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Deckard.
Yes. Councilor Crossley. Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor
Hawk. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes.
Motion passes unanimous. Seeing that we don't have any presentations or county council business, we
are next up at council liaison updates and comments. I'm gonna go virtually to Councilor Hawks and she's
there first and then we will go wrap around from councilors, Henry on. I'm not sure Mike, that's gonna
let me say anything.
First of all, I wanted to say that after being requested, having to do with the highway issue, and I
did put that on Facebook because I thought maybe if we could all put our minds together, we could come
up with a solution. I hope that we understand no way in any way did I ever want to fault the highway
department. This is not their purview to
work around how we're going to pay for this or what we might do to make this work. I know that in the
past, we've had county legal work with the developers, come up with a plan, come up with the solution
so that it can all be worked out. Now, this was a long time ago when we had people like Kirk White and
others on the county commissioners, a lot's changed since then.
But surely we can do something that we don't leave people out there without a way to get out for their
public safety. But I think we've also got to do a better job of staying in touch with the people that
this affects to let them know how our legal department, how we're working forward, where we are on each
of these cases, because it's, I think,
more information is better than none. And there's so many that they just think nothing's being done.
So I would like to see the commissioners and the legal department and the planning department sort of
let us know where we stand, how many situations like this we might have and what we can do to resolve them.
Appreciate that, thank you. Councilor Henry. Thank you, Madam President. Yeah, I would just put it on,
I wrote down at the top of this ticking clocks. There's a lot of ticking clocks, I think, this month
in the county. This is one of them. The weather, and just picking up on Councilor Hawk's comments from
what we've been talking about tonight, the likelihood that the snow melts in the next week is pretty
minimal, right?
sunlight temperatures that kind of thaw things and then freeze them at night. And this is gonna be back
and forth at least for five or six days in some of these neighborhoods. As I mentioned, and very briefly,
I called a few different folks today to try to figure out what the root cause is. And when it comes
to school closure, when we have, again, 60 developments in the county that have varying degrees of clearance
based on whether or not the developer did it or the HOA did it, it is delaying the reopening of the
public schools.
So there are second and third order impacts. Now, where does that happen? It happens at the planning
phase. This is stuff we should be talking about in July, not January. It means that our emergency management
agency needs to be pulled in on decision making. They're usually the second or third agency to get involved
when we have weather like this after the board of commissioners and highway. And I want to point out
tonight the ticking clock of the budget. We heard Ms. Ridge say that this was about a $297,000 activity.
I believe that the salt and sand resources have been drained a little bit and it's just this, you know,
we're third week of January. So if this is winter, we're probably going to be looking at this conversation
a few more times between now and March. So I'm hopeful and I presume maybe I'll make some time to try
to go to the commissioner's meeting on Thursday to raise some of this and the public comment there to
say it's not enough just to
point fingers or post on social media. The biggest challenge we have here is we do not still have after
the derecho, the cyclone bomb, the floods, the tornado, a public information officer where everybody
in the community can go to to know this is the official activities of the county. That is, I don't mean
to be doing an after action report in real time, but until that point, we don't know what's going on
as a body or a government, and these are things we really have to iron out.
Now it's an issue of safety, as it's been pointed out, you know, Councilor Deckard and others here.
I want to point out another ticking clock on my mind. We had a productive meeting with, I think, the
board of commissioners about the jail last week. We didn't get, you know, I think next steps, but we
do need to start getting next steps there. But I was hopeful that we would be able to address in that
meeting not only this question of what happened with the Sophia Travis grant program, which we didn't
get to at the end of the year about the
ping-ponging of donations, and we never really got that public conversation. I guess we sort of fixed
that tonight. But also, not April 15th is a deadline, but April 1st, because that's the deadline that
is still out there for the clearing of the encampment at Thompson. I had spoken with some of the mutual
aid partners that brought that to our attention this week, and they are muddling through. It is awfully cold.
But at the same time the community still doesn't know what the plan is I believe the Commissioner's
office has shared with me at this point the heading home plan as the plan but the people that are living
there do not have that information yet and so as the clock ticks towards April 1 and You know, it's
not on our mind right now, but it will be you know in a month or two I worry that we're gonna be right
back to where we were a few months ago when folks are filling the room and
haven't really communicated what we're doing to them at this point. So that's on my mind, too. Maybe
on a somewhat positive note, we haven't been in this room since the football Hoosiers did their thing.
And maybe that's why they're wearing burgundy down there, close to crimson, I don't know. But congrats
to the students. Hopefully, at this point in week three of the semester, they'll finally get their head
in my class instead of Memorial Stadium.
How exciting is all that? And I was thinking, as the trophy made its rounds to Kroger and Walmart, if
we could maybe get a request to get it in the rotunda just for an hour or two? I don't know who we have
to talk to about that. But it belongs in there for a day, don't you think? But anyway, that's it. Thanks.
It traveled. Not him? I mean, I did it. I like that idea. All right. Thank you, Madam President. I also
wanted to start off with congratulations to national champions, the Indiana Hoosiers.
I wanted to remark that as I was watching the game from home, I did not get to travel to Miami to watch
the game. I know it was really remarkable seeing the difference in ads from the different schools. IU
ran ads talking about the work on treating cancer.
You come here to Indiana University to overcome challenges. You come here to Indiana University to do
research. And it made me think a lot about all of the great things that are happening right here in
Monroe County. And a couple of things stood out. Way back in September, Indiana University announced
that we had surpassed the $1 billion mark in terms of research that's being done at Indiana University.
There are major,
initiatives happening here at Indiana that we are just so thankful.
that we are attracting and retaining researchers to do the work that needs to be done to meet needs.
I also wanted to point out that our alma mater, there's a couple of us here up on this dais, the O'Neill
School continues to be number one in the nation for masters of public affairs. So if you want to learn
how to do the things that we do up here,
There is no better place than to come to Indiana University right here in Monroe County. So go Hoosiers,
not only on the football field, but also in the lab and also over at the O'Neill School. Take that Harvard.
That's right. Kennedy School. Thank you very much. I also want to join. Congratulations to our football
Hoosiers. As I said on a
a comment among all the difficulties of the world. It's nice to have good news and just something that
you can look at and go, that's awesome. And what teamwork is as this year takes off and the weather
is just what it is. A lot of people told me this is about as bad as they've seen the snow. Some people
that remember the blizzard of 78 indicate that it's either feels like that or reminds them or they haven't shoveled.
at least like that since then. And the backside of me would agree with that very much. In fact, I'm
wearing boots tonight. I'm probably gonna keep them on till middle July. I do wanna say on this issue
that we have before us with developments and roads not getting clear, I appreciate what Councilor Henry
said that this is more of a July discussion. I just, you know, I sent a message off
meeting to our commissioners i appreciate them looking at i've heard back from two of the three on on
them and again this is not a county highway mess those the folks at county highway which went in worked
this time period have done a wonderful job as their lives went on for 48 hours as well as our first
responders
in the community, they all perform admirably. I think our task in county government, maybe city, maybe
township, definitely state and federal, if I may, our job is to kind of hit problems like those public
servants do, where they hit it for about 48 hours straight and they come out with solutions. I mean,
we still, I made a suggestion to the commissioners on a way to get geranium
moving. And I have to be frank, some of the things I've heard back are just more of the discussion on
why you can't do something. And I'm always reminded of the old LBJ, there's a quote, there's a million
reasons why you can't do something. And it takes extraordinary leadership to figure out how we get to
can. And I don't know, in every other emergency management situation,
people tornado flooding or whatever, people kind of put things to the side and go, I got to move this
along down the road. Here's what we've learned. But it seems on this one that we're just we're kind
of stuck in all this like patchwork of things that prevent us. I don't know, maybe a fleet of us got
to go over with shovels or something. But we can't just we can't just sit in the quagmire.
private sectors hat does have responsibilities. But often government does what others will not do or
cannot do or fail to do. And that's the reason it exists. So I'm going to keep pushing on that. But
I really it's these problems that we have don't go away. And we can't sit on a Monday night and watch
a football game of extraordinary ability and charm and leadership and other things and then not
figure out how we do that in our own sense. There's a lesson there among all that, both big and small.
I also do want to say that warming stations, it took a minute to get the warming stations going compared
to some of our previous responses. And I am grateful to the faith communities, including the place where
I worship First United Methodist Church. We're jumping in to fill in some gaps on that. Where in the
world would we be without our
of faith leaders who meet people, figure out things, and do it alongside our not-for-profit leaders.
So thanks to all those folks, and I'll be quiet. Thanks. We have four minutes until our mandatory stop
time, so I will talk quickly and be brief. It's OK. I have several things. But actually, I just want
to say that regarding
ticking clock of April 1st and the encampment at the Thompson property. I will be working with Commissioner
Madeira and others on hopefully that specific issue. I think that the commissioner's task force that
they're putting together is maybe a bit broader than that, but certainly I think pointing out the deadlines
that we've imposed on people's lives is of the utmost importance. And I hope to carry that torch a little
bit in those meetings. I haven't heard about anything being set up yet. I inquired last week. I will
inquire again. So I just, that's all I got. Thanks. So I've been a part of four
liaison assignment meetings. I won't delve into those. Nothing earth shattering any of those. But I
did want to say I really enjoyed the Martin Luther King ceremony the same night as the championship
game. The keynote speaker was about Coretta Scott King. And I really learned a lot about her life. And
it was really refreshing to see how much of a partnership they were in working together, her and Martin
Luther King.
Speaking of the championship game five of my family went so we were pretty invested in that All the
boys and my daughter went So and back to the Plow issue, you know, I live in a neighborhood been there
now me five years this spring and I'm one of the ones that doesn't have the county plow service because
the developer has not
committed his assignments and checked off the list or whatever they call that. But on the other hand,
it was really, the first couple of years was really rough in trying to convince the developer that yes,
he did have the responsibility to do the roads. And the last year or two has been phenomenally wonderful.
One of the years we had bulldozers plowing through the neighborhood. So that was an event I hadn't seen before.
But this year it's been terrific. So in some ways there are advantages, but on the other hand, I'd really
like to have the county doing my roads. I really would. I had a great experience today talking with
a county staff member about a plow issue that was clogging up one of the lanes on Centennial Drive near
where I live. And he put it out there for the supervisor to go investigate. And I was really happy with
that. But Centennial Drive is in the county road.
I wouldn't have gotten that, I think, with the developer. So there are advantages and disadvantages,
but I'd really like to see it happen for all those neighborhoods. I didn't realize there were so many.
Thank you for that. So a lot of y'all said a bunch of things that I was thinking. So again, major shout
out and thank you to public safety officials working around the clock this past week.
And as we clear out everything, we appreciate that.
and looking forward to the collaboration of trying to figure out this situation that we're in, because
it does pose a public safety risk. So that is a thing. Never have I ever in the 25 years that I've been
here, did I ever think in my undergrad years I would ever root for a football team that I never went
to a football game. And look at the tides have changed. I remember 24 years ago, it was in 2002 when IU went
to the national championship of Purdue, and I was a friend, or nope, Marilyn, went to the game, and we lost.
Major kudos and shout out to everybody involved in that. The biggest thing is when we come back, it
will be February 10th, which is the start of Black History Month. I want to definitely mention that.
I know a lot of erasures might be around, but that is something that is still going to be celebrated
no matter how much people try to take it away. Last but certainly not least, I have to say this because
Just thinking of public safety and a lot of different things. My heart's definitely out with the community
in Minneapolis. And that's all I have to say about that. If that can happen there, it can happen anywhere.
And so we have to look out for our neighbors. So with that being said, everybody please get home safe
and sound. And with that, I appreciate my colleagues sticking to the task and we are adjourned. Thank you.