WEBVTT 00:00:00.354 --> 00:00:07.397 - All right. Good evening, everybody. And welcome to what feels like spring. But it's still winter. Today 00:00:07.397 --> 00:00:14.372 - is Tuesday, March 10th, twenty twenty six. The time is five oh two. And I am calling the Monroe County 00:00:14.372 --> 00:00:21.212 - Council meeting to order. We have a quorum, so we will go ahead and get started. We have here in the 00:00:21.212 --> 00:00:26.494 - Natu Hill rooms. Council member D.G.H. David Henry, Decker, Wilts and Fiddle. 00:00:26.626 --> 00:00:35.749 - and we will go and it looks like we have Councilor Hawk that is also joining the building as well. So 00:00:35.749 --> 00:00:45.230 - all those that are able to please stand for the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 00:00:45.230 --> 00:00:54.622 - to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God 00:00:54.882 --> 00:01:05.247 - All right. Thank you so much for that. All right. Next up is item number three, which is the adoption 00:01:05.247 --> 00:01:16.222 - of tonight's agenda. Would anybody like to make any changes to tonight's agenda? I certainly yes. Go ahead. 00:01:16.706 --> 00:01:26.018 - I'd like to move to add item 10b, a discussion and approval of resolution 2026-02 renewing the manure 00:01:26.018 --> 00:01:35.329 - county council's commitment regarding a new jail facility. Are we doing that? I didn't think we were. 00:01:35.329 --> 00:01:44.550 - But okay. Okay. It's it's what's on here. I mean, I mean, that's up to all the rest of us here to do 00:01:44.550 --> 00:01:46.558 - that. And I'm getting 00:01:46.754 --> 00:01:53.678 - glances at the table here. Oh, okay. All right. Um, so I think already have voted. I wasn't sure if 00:01:53.678 --> 00:02:00.671 - we're not going to do it. Okay. That's cool. Okay. I was just following up from last time. Okay. Um, 00:02:00.671 --> 00:02:05.310 - then there's the second, the request. You want me to do that? Yes. 00:02:06.530 --> 00:02:14.787 - We had a request to move the probation department's additional appropriation up on the agenda. So I 00:02:14.787 --> 00:02:23.293 - moved to have item seven H moved to follow immediately after item seven A on the agenda. Second. Okay. 00:02:23.293 --> 00:02:31.550 - We got a motion and a second to move the item seven H to seven A on the agenda. Are there any other 00:02:31.550 --> 00:02:34.110 - agenda amendments for tonight? 00:02:36.898 --> 00:02:43.260 - Seeing none, since we have a quorum and there's nobody participating virtually, all those in favor of 00:02:43.260 --> 00:02:49.310 - approving tonight's agenda as amended, signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. 00:02:50.434 --> 00:02:56.776 - Okay, motion carries. All right, next up, we see some friendly faces here in the Net-U-Hill room. And 00:02:56.776 --> 00:03:03.180 - so this is the items for public comment. And so public comment are for items that are not on tonight's 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:09.584 - agenda. So those that are wishing to speak, you have the right to do so. But those again are for items 00:03:09.584 --> 00:03:15.801 - not on tonight's agenda. So if you've never spoken here in the Net-U-Hill room before or virtually, 00:03:15.801 --> 00:03:18.910 - you could come up to the lectern here in the room 00:03:19.010 --> 00:03:24.877 - You'll have up to three minutes and it'll be displayed on the TV monitors here. State your name for 00:03:24.877 --> 00:03:30.979 - the record. And again, you'll have up to three minutes. And if I didn't say so, there's a sign in sheet 00:03:30.979 --> 00:03:36.670 - there that you'll just need to sign in and write your name in. For those that are participating, 00:03:37.090 --> 00:03:48.446 - rather virtually, you can raise your hand via Teams, and then we will acknowledge you. So if there are 00:03:48.446 --> 00:03:59.581 - any takers here in the Night U Hill Room that would like to make public comment for items not on the 00:03:59.581 --> 00:04:05.534 - agenda, please go ahead and do so. Welcome. Hi, guys. 00:04:05.666 --> 00:04:14.533 - My name is Bryce. I am a member of DSA and a friend of some community members who are facing the loss 00:04:14.533 --> 00:04:23.226 - of their homes. I'm sure you all know about the Seminary Square issue. My main point here is to ask 00:04:23.226 --> 00:04:32.353 - why the county feels that it is unable to serve the affordable housing crisis in Monroe County. It seems 00:04:32.353 --> 00:04:33.918 - that if they were 00:04:34.114 --> 00:04:40.254 - interested in doing that, then these people wouldn't be being kicked out of their houses. At the very 00:04:40.254 --> 00:04:46.455 - least, I know Councillor Henry mentioned at an event recently that it would be a great opportunity for 00:04:46.455 --> 00:04:52.655 - the county to explore alternative models of building and expanding affordable housing by keeping these 00:04:52.655 --> 00:04:58.796 - houses under county control and keeping these people in their homes. Alternatively, different ways of 00:04:58.796 --> 00:05:03.070 - handling this would be to allow the people who are at that property to 00:05:03.202 --> 00:05:09.643 - or allow the property to be sold to an entity that would be willing to continue housing these people 00:05:09.643 --> 00:05:16.084 - and keeping them in their homes. So to my knowledge, there hasn't been any public reason given as to 00:05:16.084 --> 00:05:22.781 - why that's not an option. And I think that if members of the council are really interested in affordable 00:05:22.781 --> 00:05:29.285 - housing, as many of your constituents are, then I think that this issue would be at the forefront and 00:05:29.285 --> 00:05:31.390 - would be something that would be 00:05:31.586 --> 00:05:38.845 - Uh, seriously pursued and keeping these people in their houses would be a priority. Uh, that's all. 00:05:38.845 --> 00:05:46.249 - Thank you. Thank you. Excuse me. What is your last name for the record? Uh, green green with the knee 00:05:46.249 --> 00:05:53.870 - at the end. Thank you. I'll write it down here as well. Of you or anybody? Yes. I'm just just to clarify 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:57.790 - the property that this person is talking about is not 00:05:58.242 --> 00:06:06.472 - Seminary Square, the park. It's right. It's very, very point. Right. Is it is a name? It's down south. 00:06:06.472 --> 00:06:14.542 - It's the one right next to my sister's closet. And the if I'm mistaken, that is the like a furniture 00:06:14.542 --> 00:06:23.331 - place, antique furniture place. It's very, very nice little place and has a lot of our friends. We appreciate 00:06:23.331 --> 00:06:27.806 - that. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up, please. 00:06:36.098 --> 00:06:43.161 - Hi, I'm T. Randall. I'm a resident of one of the buildings set to be destroyed. I'm here to urge the 00:06:43.161 --> 00:06:50.293 - County Council not to displace residents who destroyed the Seminary Point apartments at the corner of 00:06:50.293 --> 00:06:57.426 - South College and Second Street. Mineral County is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis, and 00:06:57.426 --> 00:07:05.118 - every step should be taken to preserve and expand meaningfully affordable housing. If the county is unwilling 00:07:05.314 --> 00:07:14.421 - or unable to maintain the block, they should give it to someone who would be, whether that's a community 00:07:14.421 --> 00:07:23.614 - land trust, a cooperative, or some other structure. There's no shortage of funds available in this county 00:07:23.614 --> 00:07:29.598 - to preserve affordable housing for those who are willing. Thank you. 00:07:32.514 --> 00:07:40.788 - and I'm trying to log into Teams and I wanted to come back to Teams to see if there's anybody that wanted 00:07:40.788 --> 00:07:48.906 - to raise their hand to make public comment. Again, for items not on the agenda, you can raise your hand 00:07:48.906 --> 00:07:57.024 - via Teams. Seeing none, I'll go back to the room here to see if there are any takers for public comment 00:07:57.024 --> 00:07:59.678 - on items not on tonight's agenda. 00:08:10.050 --> 00:08:15.394 - My name is Barry Herbers, as you probably just heard. Everyone in the Seminary Point apartments just 00:08:15.394 --> 00:08:20.844 - found out that they are being forced out of their homes in July. And I mean just found out, like maybe 00:08:20.844 --> 00:08:26.400 - what, two, three weeks ago. This is a college town. That's bad enough on its own. But the Seminary Point 00:08:26.400 --> 00:08:31.691 - apartments are also the most affordable housing in their area. There are all kinds of people living 00:08:31.691 --> 00:08:36.664 - there, families with young children, recovering addicts trying to stay off the street, people 00:08:36.664 --> 00:08:38.622 - with disabilities on a fixed income, 00:08:39.234 --> 00:08:45.125 - They're struggling, but they're working hard and they're doing their best. The county, you guys, the 00:08:45.125 --> 00:08:51.133 - people in this room, are forcing these people out of their homes. This is not an annoyance. You're not 00:08:51.133 --> 00:08:57.082 - just making them move around. If you go through with this, it's gentrification. In the brief snippets 00:08:57.082 --> 00:09:02.390 - of communication we have been able to get from the county, each part of the government has 00:09:02.390 --> 00:09:06.590 - denied responsibility and pointed the finger everywhere but themselves. 00:09:08.354 --> 00:09:15.393 - I understand that nothing about running a county is simple, but you are failing at your most basic task, 00:09:15.393 --> 00:09:22.097 - which is taking care of your people, every single one of you. The county claims it is helping these 00:09:22.097 --> 00:09:28.801 - people find homes. The tenants I've spoken to disagree. One I spoke to, a father, told me he has no 00:09:28.801 --> 00:09:36.510 - idea what his family is going to do, told me he was recently laid off and that the Seminary Point apartment he has 00:09:36.930 --> 00:09:43.748 - has been a lifeline for his family in hard times. Why is the county forcing these people out of their 00:09:43.748 --> 00:09:50.500 - homes? This is not a rhetorical question. What are you going to do with this property? Why won't you 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:57.251 - tell us when we've been asking for months? Why are you destroying the most affordable housing in our 00:09:57.251 --> 00:10:04.203 - downtown area? Because until you give us an answer, I'm going to assume it's so you can build a parking 00:10:04.203 --> 00:10:06.142 - lot for the subsidized hotel 00:10:06.242 --> 00:10:13.563 - that you're going to cost us millions of dollars. Maybe that's not true. So maybe you should tell us. 00:10:13.563 --> 00:10:20.811 - Who have been asking for months whether their leases would be renewed, whether their leases would be 00:10:20.811 --> 00:10:28.060 - renewed. What will you do to make these people whole? What will you do to help them decide their own 00:10:28.060 --> 00:10:32.510 - future? Their leases. And if you don't want to be a landlord, 00:10:33.058 --> 00:10:40.108 - then how about we think about letting these tenants decide the futures of their homes instead of destroying 00:10:40.108 --> 00:10:46.636 - what little tiny bit of affordable housing we have left. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Are there 00:10:46.636 --> 00:10:53.295 - any other takers? OK. And if there are more people that want to speak on items not on the agenda, you 00:10:53.295 --> 00:10:55.710 - can please start to line up as well. 00:10:56.226 --> 00:11:04.460 - Hi, my name is Louis Schwartz and I'm a member of the DSA and also someone who's looking for affordable 00:11:04.460 --> 00:11:12.456 - housing. I wanted to tell you that the county government shouldn't displace the residents or destroy 00:11:12.456 --> 00:11:19.582 - Seminary Point Apartments at the corner of South College Avenue and Second Street Monroe. 00:11:20.226 --> 00:11:27.525 - Midwell County is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis and every step should be taken to preserve 00:11:27.525 --> 00:11:30.526 - and expand meaningfully affordable housing. 00:11:30.690 --> 00:11:37.802 - If the county is unwilling to maintain the block, they should transfer to a grassroots partner and allow 00:11:37.802 --> 00:11:44.779 - residents to democratically control their own futures. Community land trusts demonstrate a model which 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:50.334 - can guarantee permanently affordable housing through direct democratic processes. 00:11:50.466 --> 00:12:00.600 - Therefore, I urge the county to transfer ownership of the block to local organizations like Avalon Community 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:10.082 - Land Trust or at the very least to the city. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sarah Mosher and 00:12:10.082 --> 00:12:20.030 - I wanted to ask the members of the council not to destroy the seminary point apartments and I think it's a 00:12:20.194 --> 00:12:26.602 - good area right there, especially it has Artisan Alley and Friendly Beasts, Barbershop and the shops 00:12:26.602 --> 00:12:32.946 - and other businesses. It's a good place for the community to gather and replacing it with a parking 00:12:32.946 --> 00:12:39.290 - lot doesn't quite seem like the same kind of payout. And I'd also like to state just that my family 00:12:39.290 --> 00:12:45.888 - who has been in here for many generations, at one point my great grandparents, they didn't have a place 00:12:45.888 --> 00:12:49.758 - to live because they also struggled with affordable housing. 00:12:50.018 --> 00:12:56.069 - And when they finally did find some, they're able to settle down and build their business, which turned 00:12:56.069 --> 00:13:02.177 - into May's Greenhouse. It has been a small business implemented for a long time. And the more affordable 00:13:02.177 --> 00:13:08.054 - housing that we shut down, those are more families, like my family was, that were pushing out of the 00:13:08.054 --> 00:13:14.046 - county, whereas since they were able to finally find some affordable housing, they were able to settle 00:13:14.046 --> 00:13:15.326 - down, and now there's 00:13:15.746 --> 00:13:21.576 - dozens of my family who have been able to live here for generations and contribute to the county and 00:13:21.576 --> 00:13:27.637 - pay taxes and start businesses and contribute in that way so hopefully we can think of some alternative, 00:13:27.637 --> 00:13:33.928 - whether that's transferring it to a grassroots partner like has been mentioned, whether it's the Bloomington 00:13:33.928 --> 00:13:35.198 - Housing Collective or 00:13:35.330 --> 00:13:41.181 - the Bloomington Housing Authority that has a Summit Hill Land Trust, for example, if we could somehow 00:13:41.181 --> 00:13:47.031 - find a way to transfer it to a land trust that could preserve it and preserve that affordable housing 00:13:47.031 --> 00:13:53.054 - that could lead to other generations that continue to contribute to the county. So thank you. Thank you. 00:14:02.690 --> 00:14:09.281 - This is Lily Malcolm, first time resident here at Bloomington, just moved here two weeks ago and first 00:14:09.281 --> 00:14:15.680 - time participant here at a council meeting. When I first came to Bloomington, the brain draw, there 00:14:15.680 --> 00:14:22.655 - are many draws of this community, but one of the highest draws of Bloomington was the community's commitment 00:14:22.655 --> 00:14:29.310 - to one another to uplift each other's hopes and dreams and aspirations and support many businesses that 00:14:29.310 --> 00:14:32.382 - I simply never had access to where I came from. 00:14:32.802 --> 00:14:39.829 - I think when I think of the city I think of how quickly and earnestly I was welcomed I think about the 00:14:39.829 --> 00:14:46.788 - trials I faced also trying to attain affordable housing of my own and for my own family It should not 00:14:46.788 --> 00:14:53.610 - take as long as it surely did to obtain Affordable housing for myself and it certainly shouldn't be 00:14:53.610 --> 00:14:55.998 - as difficult as it is for my newly 00:14:56.194 --> 00:15:02.403 - my new neighbors that I have just met, and it should not be made any more difficult by projects such 00:15:02.403 --> 00:15:08.734 - as the Convention Center Hotel Project. Destroying the few buildings that exist for affordable housing 00:15:08.734 --> 00:15:15.004 - in Bloomington, which is facing an undeniable affordable housing crisis, and destroying the buildings 00:15:15.004 --> 00:15:21.581 - on a block that support local businesses is the antithesis of what I believe this city is about. I implore 00:15:21.581 --> 00:15:24.286 - you to transfer this block to a land trust. 00:15:24.386 --> 00:15:31.207 - what makes up the fabric and the heart of what Bloomington is. Take care of your neighbors and do not 00:15:31.207 --> 00:15:38.295 - succumb to a greed filled project. I implore that the council utilize the two properties that are already 00:15:38.295 --> 00:15:44.982 - being retained by this project. And I urge the county once again to transfer ownership of the block 00:15:44.982 --> 00:15:51.870 - to a local organization like a community land trust. Thank you. Thank you. And welcome to Bloomington. 00:16:03.426 --> 00:16:08.561 - My name is Hugh Farrell. I'm a long time Bloomington resident and I wanted to really focus on the ways 00:16:08.561 --> 00:16:13.647 - the communication around this project has been chaotic. That has been extremely unclear what the plan 00:16:13.647 --> 00:16:16.638 - is for these buildings and how this affects both residents. 00:16:16.738 --> 00:16:22.265 - I think others have already spoken to the ways that having an extremely short timeline, especially given 00:16:22.265 --> 00:16:27.635 - how structured the rental market is here, most people are signing leases September, October, November 00:16:27.635 --> 00:16:33.004 - these days, and it's what it means to have this short of a runway. And that there's then additionally 00:16:33.004 --> 00:16:38.110 - been very chaotic communication with the residents and assurances that people are being rehomed. 00:16:38.242 --> 00:16:43.858 - I mean, the kind of language that's been used is mostly how we talk about rehoming animals, but this 00:16:43.858 --> 00:16:49.586 - language is going around that residents are going to be rehomed, that it isn't going to have an impact 00:16:49.586 --> 00:16:55.202 - on them if there's a certain level of temporary subsidy to move into more expensive units elsewhere, 00:16:55.202 --> 00:16:57.982 - but that really there's huge amounts of research. 00:16:58.082 --> 00:17:03.653 - that show that displacing people from their long-time communities has decisive permanent impacts. And 00:17:03.653 --> 00:17:09.333 - when there's long-term residents here that are on fixed incomes who have been excluded from other forms 00:17:09.333 --> 00:17:14.467 - of housing, where you have elderly folks, cancer patients who've depended on walkable housing 00:17:14.467 --> 00:17:19.983 - in Bloomington's core, who are now going to be displaced and displaced from people they've known for 00:17:19.983 --> 00:17:22.878 - decades, that that is something that's going to have 00:17:23.074 --> 00:17:27.957 - you know, not just public health, but health impacts on these individuals, and that they've not received 00:17:27.957 --> 00:17:32.608 - clear communication at any point. And likewise, there's not been clear communication with the small 00:17:32.608 --> 00:17:37.119 - businesses, and this is just a total disaster, you know, for any of these businesses to survive. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:41.816 - You know, businesses that have been told that they will have until the end of the season are instead 00:17:41.816 --> 00:17:44.606 - being told now that they have to be out July 1st, you know, 00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:51.482 - I think season implies October, November already. This is very unclear, but again, it goes hand in hand 00:17:51.482 --> 00:17:57.844 - with a lack of clarity that's been displayed around this project, and now that's being moved up till 00:17:57.844 --> 00:18:04.207 - July 1st. This is the way that you successfully kill a local small business, is to take away beeline 00:18:04.207 --> 00:18:09.310 - fronting and replace it with uncertainty, replace it with quick turnarounds, and 00:18:09.506 --> 00:18:15.264 - damage the ability to communicate with their customer base. And so I just would really, really, really 00:18:15.264 --> 00:18:20.910 - appeal for clear communication from the county ASAP to figure out what is going on, who the decision 00:18:20.910 --> 00:18:26.500 - makers are, why is it that it seems as though one of the small businesses will be allowed to remain 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:32.090 - until next February? Why is everyone else being forced out earlier? So given these inconsistencies, 00:18:32.090 --> 00:18:34.270 - just to have clear communication ASAP. 00:18:34.402 --> 00:18:39.600 - And I just really think in the next weeks, because otherwise people's lives are really going to be affected, 00:18:39.600 --> 00:18:44.417 - businesses will be destroyed, and it will be really clear that it will be on the county's hands that 00:18:44.417 --> 00:18:49.472 - this will have happened. So thank you all for your attention. I'm sure we can count on you all to deliver 00:18:49.472 --> 00:18:54.241 - that communication as well as real solutions. And I think real solutions mean not displacing people 00:18:54.241 --> 00:18:57.150 - and not destroying affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you. 00:19:01.506 --> 00:19:09.952 - I want to pop back to teams to see if there's still anybody that hasn't had a chance to speak. If so, 00:19:09.952 --> 00:19:18.895 - you can raise your hand and you'll have state your name for the record and you'll have up to three minutes. 00:19:18.895 --> 00:19:21.214 - And still seeing no takers. 00:19:21.634 --> 00:19:30.164 - We got one. Okay, so the name is Rowan. So if you are able to unmute, officially state your name for 00:19:30.164 --> 00:19:39.369 - the record and you'll have up to three minutes. Yeah, hi, I'm Rowan Morse, lifelong resident of Bloomington. 00:19:39.369 --> 00:19:48.574 - I just wanted to join in and have my support on the record for transferring it into a land trust. Thank you. 00:20:00.706 --> 00:20:08.835 - My name is Graham Baker. I'm also here to voice my support for keeping the apartments or transferring 00:20:08.835 --> 00:20:16.885 - them to a land trust. I'm a student at IU and ever since I've gotten here, the Bloomington community 00:20:16.885 --> 00:20:24.934 - is just, it's really something special. There are so many amazing people here and it's been honestly 00:20:24.934 --> 00:20:27.166 - kind of a safe space for me 00:20:27.362 --> 00:20:34.521 - In a way that I really it's invaluable and the reason that I I care so much about these apartments I'm 00:20:34.521 --> 00:20:41.889 - from Culver and We've seen something kind of similar go on there. There's not a lot of affordable housing 00:20:41.889 --> 00:20:48.979 - in Culver Because we have we have a big private school and we have the lake there's a lot of a lot of 00:20:48.979 --> 00:20:53.150 - tourists and what we've been seeing in the past is a lot of 00:20:53.506 --> 00:21:00.419 - like housing for people, for residents in the town that are maybe middle class or lower class has over 00:21:00.419 --> 00:21:07.467 - time been bought up, it's been renovated, and then it's been sold. And so a lot of the remaining housing 00:21:07.467 --> 00:21:14.380 - in the town has been turned into housing for people to rent out during the school year and then leave. 00:21:14.380 --> 00:21:21.226 - I grew up in Culver. My dad grew up in Culver, my grandparents, my grandma lived in Culver for a long 00:21:21.226 --> 00:21:23.038 - time, and her parents too. 00:21:23.202 --> 00:21:30.058 - I think they had stories about this town, about Culver, about buildings that no longer exist. It was 00:21:30.058 --> 00:21:36.915 - a completely different place. And I think allowing affordable housing and space for small businesses 00:21:36.915 --> 00:21:44.246 - is the lifeblood of a town. And I still love Culver now, but it's completely different. A lot of businesses 00:21:44.246 --> 00:21:51.646 - only make it through the summer because there's no one around in the winter. I know this isn't the same, but 00:21:52.002 --> 00:22:00.577 - I've seen something like this before, and that's why I wanted to voice my support for making sure that 00:22:00.577 --> 00:22:09.318 - there's affordable housing in Bloomington. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hello. Hello. My name's Jessie. 00:22:09.318 --> 00:22:17.726 - I've lived in Bloomington for about six years, and most of what I want to say has already been said. 00:22:17.858 --> 00:22:24.716 - But I just think it's really important to preserve this very affordable housing that's in a really excellent 00:22:24.716 --> 00:22:31.196 - place in Bloomington. I mean, you don't have to have a car. You could walk to the grocery store across 00:22:31.196 --> 00:22:37.487 - the street. You can walk downtown. You can bike up and down the beeline. I just think that's really 00:22:37.487 --> 00:22:43.967 - important to think about. What are we prioritizing? Is it this affordable housing for people who don't 00:22:43.967 --> 00:22:47.742 - need to have cars, who can easily get around town, or is it 00:22:48.002 --> 00:23:00.193 - you know, a hotel that's going to have to be subsidized for its entire existence. Yeah, so I support 00:23:00.193 --> 00:23:12.384 - really not preserving the Seminary Point apartments. Thank you. All right. Any other takers for? Oh, 00:23:12.384 --> 00:23:16.126 - OK. Thank you for remembering. 00:23:16.482 --> 00:23:25.971 - Any other takers for anybody who hasn't had an opportunity to speak on items not on the agenda? 00:23:25.971 --> 00:23:35.954 - It's okay. Thank you for remembering. And as you all are doing that, I'm just gonna go back to teams 00:23:35.954 --> 00:23:44.158 - here to see if there is anybody else that would like to make comment for items on, 00:23:44.642 --> 00:23:54.569 - or make public comment for items not on the agenda. Raise your hand if you'd like to do so. All right. 00:23:54.569 --> 00:24:04.399 - Still seeing none. I'll pop back here one last time to see if there's anybody here that would like to 00:24:04.399 --> 00:24:08.158 - get their three minutes to speak here. 00:24:16.706 --> 00:24:24.603 - and seeing no more, we will move on. But before we move on, I just wanna say thank y'all for you all 00:24:24.603 --> 00:24:32.579 - to come out and speak. And I am going to ask my pro tem, Councilor Iverson to take over at this point 00:24:32.579 --> 00:24:40.867 - because T, I believe that you said, I actually wanna meet you out in the hallway to get some information. 00:24:40.867 --> 00:24:45.950 - So we will move on for here and I'll just pop out. So thank you. 00:24:47.586 --> 00:24:56.509 - We are going to move on. Before we move forward, and I want these folks to hear, is I'd like to hear 00:24:56.509 --> 00:25:05.344 - from our county attorney. Yeah. So that they have the ability to know who, the one of you asked who 00:25:05.344 --> 00:25:13.118 - has the ability to change this. So I'd like for our attorney to make sure we understand 00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:21.217 - That's actually a good point and so that's kind of another reason why I was going to try to pop out 00:25:21.217 --> 00:25:28.928 - here and get information because we all like you know the public is asking us and we need to be in the 00:25:28.928 --> 00:25:31.998 - know of making sure like we need to like 00:25:32.610 --> 00:25:39.856 - direct the question because in government, there's so many times that people get the run around. We've 00:25:39.856 --> 00:25:46.890 - got the run around when it came to the Thompson site and trying to figure out who's responsible for 00:25:46.890 --> 00:25:54.276 - what for the encampment that I want to remind people that's coming up around the corner here soon. April 00:25:54.276 --> 00:26:01.592 - is coming. So I think we deserve to know who's responsible for what. And I hate to put you on the spot, 00:26:01.592 --> 00:26:02.366 - but smile. 00:26:02.882 --> 00:26:09.804 - As far as whether the property is transferred out of county's name into a land trust or any other entity 00:26:09.804 --> 00:26:16.462 - that would require approval of both the commissioners and the council because the property is valued 00:26:16.462 --> 00:26:18.110 - over a thousand dollars. 00:26:18.210 --> 00:26:26.043 - In regards to whether the leases are renewed that would be a decision of the commissioners as the county 00:26:26.043 --> 00:26:33.801 - executives So the council would not have any way in on whether leases are extended or what happens with 00:26:33.801 --> 00:26:41.336 - the leases They would only have council would only have a way in on disposition of the property Yes, 00:26:41.336 --> 00:26:46.110 - yes, I'd like also to make it clear one of the reasons why this 00:26:46.370 --> 00:26:54.127 - was so delayed is because the city who removed the ability to place some of the development for the 00:26:54.127 --> 00:27:02.194 - Convention Center on some ground that they owed. And so this was a part of the delay and the confusion. 00:27:02.194 --> 00:27:09.951 - And believe me, I have a daughter going through the same thing right now. I spoke with Sarah just a 00:27:09.951 --> 00:27:13.054 - minute ago about that. So I understand. 00:27:13.282 --> 00:27:21.988 - you want to know and you want to have enough time to make decisions. But this ground was paid for, if 00:27:21.988 --> 00:27:30.609 - I recall correctly, with dollars that is tied to tourism dollars. And so that property must continue 00:27:30.609 --> 00:27:39.144 - to be used for that purpose. Now, if that's not correct, I hope somebody will correct us. But these 00:27:39.144 --> 00:27:42.558 - good people need to know whether or not 00:27:42.914 --> 00:27:50.526 - we could suddenly turn it over to Land Trust. I don't think we legally could do that, but then I'm not 00:27:50.526 --> 00:27:57.990 - a lawyer, so that's why I tried to get legal advice from others. But that property, all the property 00:27:57.990 --> 00:28:05.897 - that was paid for with a combination of innkeeper's tax, food and beverage tax, whatever, has requirements 00:28:05.897 --> 00:28:11.070 - set for it that I don't think we can just turn it over to Land Trust. 00:28:11.458 --> 00:28:18.847 - But if there's a way that somebody legally can figure that out, that's one thing. But they asked for 00:28:18.847 --> 00:28:26.382 - who the decision makers were. I do not believe it's the county council at this point. I think it would 00:28:26.382 --> 00:28:33.844 - be up to the board, the Convention and Visitors Bureau. It would be up to the commissioners. It would 00:28:33.844 --> 00:28:39.038 - be up to the people who represent the legal ownership of that property 00:28:39.458 --> 00:28:49.101 - and what we must use it for. So that's not an answer anybody wanted to hear, but I think it's better 00:28:49.101 --> 00:28:58.743 - to hear what we can and cannot do. So if we can do it, if you can find a way to do that, but I don't 00:28:58.743 --> 00:29:09.054 - think we do have. Sometimes it's following the laws, not much fun, but you know, that's what we have to do. 00:29:09.762 --> 00:29:17.358 - We would you like to respond to that? Counselor Hawk is correct. I do believe in keepers tax funds were 00:29:17.358 --> 00:29:24.736 - used for the properties and then there is statutory restrictions on what those funds can be used for 00:29:24.736 --> 00:29:32.259 - and I can look up the statute if you'd like right now, but I don't have it right in front of me. Well, 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:39.198 - the question that I would have because somebody in their public comment made the comment about 00:29:40.514 --> 00:29:48.623 - the individual is Hugh, made the comment about a business being able to stay until February. But these 00:29:48.623 --> 00:29:56.733 - folks are having to be moved out as of July 1st. Who would be the decision maker who gets to stay, who 00:29:56.733 --> 00:30:05.157 - gets to say, rather, that the business gets to stay until February, but they got to go? The commissioners. 00:30:05.157 --> 00:30:09.566 - Ah, OK. Right. And when are the commissioners meetings? 00:30:09.986 --> 00:30:18.727 - I believe they have one this Thursday at 10 a.m. So, okay, yes, sure. All right, Councilor Decker. Call 00:30:18.727 --> 00:30:27.385 - me anything. Thanks for everyone that has come in here and spoken today. I not to try anything splashy 00:30:27.385 --> 00:30:35.454 - or anything. I've tried to get pretty solid answers on this, and I'm not getting solid answers. 00:30:36.418 --> 00:30:43.740 - I think if I'm not getting solid answers and the public's definitely not getting solid answers, particularly 00:30:43.740 --> 00:30:50.525 - the vested public, I think somebody at that decision-making board of commissioners, I think somebody 00:30:50.525 --> 00:30:57.310 - needs to come talk to individuals about this and also that there be parity on that between how we're 00:30:57.310 --> 00:31:04.766 - treating one affected individual and one affected business. This is what any human would expect given to them. 00:31:04.898 --> 00:31:11.816 - and the county doesn't need to add to misery or woe on this. But I am a little bit frustrated that I 00:31:11.816 --> 00:31:19.281 - hear, well, this, but I don't know about that, and if not about that. And when people want to live somewhere 00:31:19.281 --> 00:31:26.336 - or we're making a decision about it, how they're treated doesn't come down to a legal decision as much 00:31:26.336 --> 00:31:32.158 - as a safety. I mean, there's a whole ring of research on this, and I just think that 00:31:32.290 --> 00:31:38.283 - that the folks having those conversations with all these entities, the commissioners it sounds like, 00:31:38.283 --> 00:31:44.336 - that there needs to be a representative or somebody or them or whoever that is making this more clear 00:31:44.336 --> 00:31:50.566 - because I sitting here today, having made numerous inquiries on this, am not getting consistent straight 00:31:50.566 --> 00:31:55.966 - answers on this. And I get why people would be frustrated because I am too. I'm extremely. 00:32:01.410 --> 00:32:09.859 - I actually have a question that is probably best answered by an attorney. If you have an answer, Molly, 00:32:09.859 --> 00:32:18.390 - great. If not, I do understand that I'm just throwing out legal questions. The one question that I asked 00:32:18.390 --> 00:32:20.990 - when I did hear about this was, 00:32:22.722 --> 00:32:31.718 - whether or I guess why would we have to terminate leases just to transfer a property? I mean I've lived 00:32:31.718 --> 00:32:40.628 - in a property that ownership was transferred and the lease was transferred too. So why is that a thing 00:32:40.628 --> 00:32:49.451 - for this situation? It might just end up pushing, I get that it's just pushing the buck. Like the new 00:32:49.451 --> 00:32:51.614 - owner or it might make a 00:32:51.746 --> 00:32:58.837 - horrible decision for these folks. Or they might not. I don't see that we don't have all the information 00:32:58.837 --> 00:33:05.658 - either. But that was the question I asked a while back. And I can research it more. But I think that 00:33:05.658 --> 00:33:12.546 - would be indicative of both parties agreeing to the transfer of the lease. So if the new owner is not 00:33:12.546 --> 00:33:15.518 - willing to assume that responsibility, then 00:33:20.098 --> 00:33:26.269 - Council Henry and then Iverson next. Thank you Madam President again. Thank you for your public comment. 00:33:26.269 --> 00:33:32.205 - The only way we get sunshine on these things is to hear about them in this room. And so sometimes we 00:33:32.205 --> 00:33:38.141 - go down this path of revelation and I it is a one of many stories in the county government on how we 00:33:38.141 --> 00:33:44.077 - find out about stuff like this from across the hall. I have just the only information I can offer in 00:33:44.077 --> 00:33:47.486 - the room that I asked for today from county legal is that 00:33:47.650 --> 00:33:54.354 - My understanding is that the oldest lease is from 2019, one's from 2021, one's from 2022. I only thought, 00:33:54.354 --> 00:34:00.804 - and it may be the questions that one, if I were in your seats out there to bring to County Commission 00:34:00.804 --> 00:34:07.508 - on Thursday, would be to ask for all the documentation that's been allegedly communicated to you, because 00:34:07.508 --> 00:34:14.149 - what I'm being told at this point is that there has been communication to the lessors on an annual basis 00:34:14.149 --> 00:34:17.374 - about the nature of the lease. Now, if that's not, 00:34:17.506 --> 00:34:24.237 - your shared understanding, I think that's what I would like to know. And short of asking for documentation 00:34:24.237 --> 00:34:30.841 - in our packet of what these leases look like, so we have an understanding. If you don't have that shared 00:34:30.841 --> 00:34:37.258 - understanding, that would be my first question for all of you that you're to ask. And Ms. Turner, can 00:34:37.258 --> 00:34:43.422 - I just make it crystal clear on this, that the lease relationship is solely handled at the board. 00:34:43.778 --> 00:34:49.287 - But in theory even if the council had an interest in say preserving the land for other purposes We couldn't 00:34:49.287 --> 00:34:54.796 - issue new leases from here the property. It's there's the difference between the contract and the property, 00:34:54.796 --> 00:35:00.050 - correct? Correct. The leases would be the board of commissioners. So it sounds like Thursday It should 00:35:00.050 --> 00:35:03.774 - be an interesting day. But I mean I have information that says that that 00:35:04.034 --> 00:35:10.667 - The county, sorry, the way it was put is informed of the annual nature of the leases. So I don't know 00:35:10.667 --> 00:35:17.301 - what that term means, but there's clearly confusion at public comment about what the leases mean that 00:35:17.301 --> 00:35:23.804 - we just heard. I think that's just worth sharing what little I know at this point. I agree. Anybody 00:35:23.804 --> 00:35:29.982 - else that have any? Oh, sorry, I told you I was coming back to you. Sorry, Councillor Iverson. 00:35:30.498 --> 00:35:38.880 - with what we said here, and I've been very vocal about this, we need more housing in our community, 00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:47.765 - and the term affordable housing has been made absolutely meaningless by the inflationary nature of what's 00:35:47.765 --> 00:35:49.022 - been happening 00:35:49.122 --> 00:35:56.664 - And so we do need to have more housing in this community and it needs to be made available to folks 00:35:56.664 --> 00:36:04.358 - at a number of different income levels. I completely agree with what the commenters have been saying. 00:36:04.358 --> 00:36:11.900 - Now in what my understanding has been is that as folks have been notified of this change and a date 00:36:11.900 --> 00:36:15.294 - by which they needed to leave there has been 00:36:15.682 --> 00:36:24.769 - a number that folks can reach out to to seek advice on other areas of housing. Do we have, is that a 00:36:24.769 --> 00:36:34.396 - contract that the commissioners have? Do we have that number that we can display publicly in this meeting? 00:36:34.396 --> 00:36:42.494 - For folks who are really nervous about finding a place to go in July, can we at this time 00:36:43.778 --> 00:36:49.932 - that information? Ms. Muller-Turner-King, do you have that? Ms. Kimschel, do you have that? I don't 00:36:49.932 --> 00:36:56.086 - have the contact number. I do know that the county is working with Heading Home to create a list of 00:36:56.086 --> 00:37:02.609 - comparable properties and I think that's the number or the Heading Home contact that residents or tenants 00:37:02.609 --> 00:37:07.902 - had been provided and I can try to find that number but I don't have it really handy. 00:37:08.002 --> 00:37:14.209 - I would really encourage the county commissioners, and I know there's a couple that are watching here 00:37:14.209 --> 00:37:20.416 - today, you have robust, and I'm talking to the commissioners right now, you have robust social media. 00:37:20.416 --> 00:37:26.623 - Put this number out on your social media. There are people who are really scared right now and really 00:37:26.623 --> 00:37:33.134 - encourage you to get this information out there. Thank you. Madam President, I have a point of information 00:37:33.134 --> 00:37:37.150 - or question for the county. Mr. King, I think we talked about it, 00:37:38.018 --> 00:37:44.970 - And I remember in public reporting with CIB that the intention of the development was to move north. 00:37:44.970 --> 00:37:51.991 - I mean, that was the property the city was going to contribute. And so the process, the idea that the 00:37:51.991 --> 00:37:59.287 - southern parcels would be used any time soon, I think, was was not being considered. But with the city's. 00:37:59.287 --> 00:38:04.862 - The bunger property off off the menu for now, that that's the abrupt change that 00:38:05.346 --> 00:38:11.232 - perhaps triggered this communication to the current tenants? Because if we weren't using the property 00:38:11.232 --> 00:38:17.234 - many times soon, and then now the city has changed the position about how to go north on it. So I guess 00:38:17.234 --> 00:38:23.467 - what I'm really asking is, it seems like what there has been reporting, we weren't going to have a southern 00:38:23.467 --> 00:38:29.411 - movement of development, and now we are talking about those properties. Do we know if letters went out 00:38:29.411 --> 00:38:30.046 - to tenants 00:38:30.306 --> 00:38:36.928 - in the past few months on this that would have changed their perception about the nature of their leases? 00:38:36.928 --> 00:38:43.301 - I mean, or is it just July 3 is always the renewal date and it's just the options not being extended? 00:38:43.301 --> 00:38:49.548 - I'm not sure what letters or what information was communicated to the tenants. I mean, I'm happy to 00:38:49.548 --> 00:38:56.045 - check with the Commissioner's office. I just don't know that information. I know for settling that here 00:38:56.045 --> 00:38:59.294 - today, but I mean, clearly that's going to come up. 00:39:00.194 --> 00:39:13.424 - So thank you for indulging Yeah, well I Always like to say I'm shocked sometimes but it also doesn't 00:39:13.424 --> 00:39:22.462 - surprise me about the lack of communication because we don't yeah, I 00:39:22.562 --> 00:39:31.752 - I just, this is really frustrating, and I'm sorry that you all are having to see us process through 00:39:31.752 --> 00:39:40.943 - all of this at the same time, because we're also realizing all of this at the same time. So I just, 00:39:40.943 --> 00:39:45.630 - yeah, I don't know what else to say at this point. 00:39:46.242 --> 00:39:53.532 - So to kind of go back, Ms. Turner-King, and to kind of recap, basically what you're saying to us, we 00:39:53.532 --> 00:40:01.111 - the fiscal body, seven members of the county council, if we wanted to say, let's go with the land trust, 00:40:01.111 --> 00:40:08.401 - if that's what we, like, I'm just saying, just hypothetically speaking, if we wanted to do this, and 00:40:08.401 --> 00:40:10.206 - we didn't get the, like, 00:40:10.754 --> 00:40:18.981 - the green light or we would have to communicate that with the commissioners. Commissioners would have 00:40:18.981 --> 00:40:27.449 - to be in agreement with us, but ultimately they're in control of this. Is that what I'm hearing? I would 00:40:27.449 --> 00:40:36.079 - have to check whether transfer to a land trust would be applicable under the innkeeper's tax restrictions. 00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.870 - If it was an acceptable use of innkeeper's tax 00:40:40.386 --> 00:40:48.579 - Which I'm not saying it is because I have not looked up that law just to be clear Transferring the property 00:40:48.579 --> 00:40:56.164 - to a land trust require approval both the commissioners and the council Okay, but I'm still kind of 00:40:56.164 --> 00:41:03.750 - stuck on the fact that um a Business was okay with getting until February, but they were not I Just 00:41:03.750 --> 00:41:05.950 - want to know how that worked 00:41:06.050 --> 00:41:14.319 - I'm not saying that that's something that you, of course, can answer because you can't. But there are 00:41:14.319 --> 00:41:22.669 - folks that sit right behind us at 10 a.m. on Thursday that I'd like to have answered that as well. So, 00:41:22.669 --> 00:41:30.776 - yeah, so. OK, well, I'm still going to meet with you here, T, and I'm going to have Council Iverson 00:41:30.776 --> 00:41:32.478 - take over from here. 00:41:32.994 --> 00:41:38.803 - All right, that means we are moving on to section number five of tonight's agenda, which you can find 00:41:38.803 --> 00:41:44.953 - online, which is department updates. There will be a time limit of 10 minutes per Monroe County Department. 00:41:44.953 --> 00:41:50.819 - And I'm wondering if any of our department heads here in the NatU Hill Room or on Teams wishes to give 00:41:50.819 --> 00:41:56.514 - a department updates. Let's start with Bree Gregory, the Monroe County Auditor. Thank you, counsel. 00:41:56.514 --> 00:41:59.646 - Good evening. I just have a very brief update for you. 00:42:00.258 --> 00:42:07.097 - The financial team and I have submitted the AFR, that's the annual financial report. This is an annual 00:42:07.097 --> 00:42:14.268 - report available on the Indiana Gateway. It's available to the public. Because this AFR has been completed, 00:42:14.268 --> 00:42:20.907 - we were able to close the 2025 financials, and that means I will soon be able to provide you with a 00:42:20.907 --> 00:42:26.750 - reversion report, which will be very helpful with budgetary planning that we need soon. 00:42:27.714 --> 00:42:33.837 - Additionally it's reporting season for us. We are also working on completion of our gap report. So the 00:42:33.837 --> 00:42:39.841 - entire financial team contributes to this process. We work with an outside compiler as well and it's 00:42:39.841 --> 00:42:46.558 - kind of all hands on deck until we submit that end of May. So we'll keep you posted on progress related to that. 00:42:47.330 --> 00:42:54.931 - On the other side of my office, the property team is hard at work on finalizing the abstract for submission 00:42:54.931 --> 00:42:58.942 - to the DLGF, the Department of Local Government Finance. 00:42:59.522 --> 00:43:06.355 - The due date is coming up on the 15th here. So we've had a lot of statutory changes, as we're all aware. 00:43:06.355 --> 00:43:12.863 - So we've been working with vendors on LAO, for example, as our financial and property vendor. We've 00:43:12.863 --> 00:43:19.436 - been working with them on updates necessary in our software. We're also working with another outside 00:43:19.436 --> 00:43:22.430 - consultant on some TIF questions and changes. 00:43:22.658 --> 00:43:29.824 - But that will be completed shortly and submitted. Just for the public, the abstract is kind of like 00:43:29.824 --> 00:43:37.635 - a snapshot of 2025 payable, 2026 excessive values, TIFFs, and taxes. And then regarding taxes, the treasurer 00:43:37.635 --> 00:43:40.286 - is graciously allowing us to include 00:43:40.418 --> 00:43:47.791 - a little slip of paper for the public that will kind of describe all of the statutory changes that affect 00:43:47.791 --> 00:43:55.095 - taxpayers. We're also including contact information, so if they have further questions, they are welcome 00:43:55.095 --> 00:44:02.677 - to reach out for clarification. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Gregory. Are there any other departments 00:44:02.677 --> 00:44:07.198 - online or here in the NatU Hill Room? All right, I'm going to go 00:44:07.426 --> 00:44:15.857 - I saw a council member down here. First I'll go to my right and then I'll go to my left. I wanted to 00:44:15.857 --> 00:44:24.289 - comment on the auditor's report and congratulations for getting as far along as you have. But for us 00:44:24.289 --> 00:44:33.054 - to understand, that abstract is everything. And that is one of the things that our advisor from the AIC, 00:44:33.378 --> 00:44:42.189 - Jamie had suggested that we don't move forward with these plans to meet with the city and so forth having 00:44:42.189 --> 00:44:50.751 - to do with the changes from Senate Bill 1 from 2025 until we get further information and this abstract 00:44:50.751 --> 00:44:51.998 - was a big part 00:44:52.098 --> 00:44:59.809 - of that further information. So we're not ready right now, as we said today, to make any long-term plans 00:44:59.809 --> 00:45:07.594 - until we all understand what the abstract is going to tell us and the other figures that we put together. 00:45:07.594 --> 00:45:14.938 - We just simply would be making a huge mistake to be doing anything large right now because we don't 00:45:14.938 --> 00:45:21.694 - have the numbers. Boring as it may be. Thank you for that reminder. I saw Mr. Deckard next. 00:45:22.178 --> 00:45:27.775 - I was just going to ask the auditor, can we get a copy of that little slip that's going out? I think 00:45:27.775 --> 00:45:33.539 - it will be helpful for us to stay on the same page on the language we use as what you all that actually 00:45:33.539 --> 00:45:36.254 - have a counter and interactions with the public. 00:45:36.802 --> 00:45:42.877 - Absolutely. We just kind of finalized and had legal approved today, just the consolidation. 00:45:42.877 --> 00:45:49.480 - We had information that was too large to go with the tax bill. And we have the consolidated version 00:45:49.480 --> 00:45:55.951 - that I can send to you all later today, even during the meeting. Thank you. All right, Mr. Henry. 00:45:55.951 --> 00:46:02.752 - Thank you, Mr. President. So, Bree, if you can remind us how last year's opinion was on how well we're 00:46:02.752 --> 00:46:03.742 - doing with the 00:46:04.258 --> 00:46:10.801 - It generally accepted accounting principles or gap. There's an extra a in there. But would you mind 00:46:10.801 --> 00:46:17.409 - reminding us how great we are. I would love to share the county had an excellent audit no reportable 00:46:17.409 --> 00:46:24.148 - findings and we are in wonderful shape as far as our reporting. Sorry I got excited about gap with two 00:46:24.148 --> 00:46:30.494 - ways. Thank you very much. Anybody else want to nerd out. All right. Seeing no hands. Are there. 00:46:30.818 --> 00:46:38.457 - I'll go back here. Any other departments? Seeing none, let's move on to our consent agenda items. I'll 00:46:38.457 --> 00:46:46.096 - start with A, with the clerk's office. Mr. Deckard, would you mind reading the motion? Absolutely, Mr. 00:46:46.096 --> 00:46:53.661 - President. Council's reminder, this item was tabled from the February 24th council meeting. I move to 00:46:53.661 --> 00:46:58.334 - open for discussion and possible approval the clerk's request. 00:46:58.434 --> 00:47:05.531 - in Fund 1000 0001 County General Clerk to create a count line 16800 transitional temporary training 00:47:05.531 --> 00:47:12.700 - position. Second. We have a motion and a second and I think Kim Schell or Molly King you're going to 00:47:12.700 --> 00:47:19.868 - walk us through this. So this is a request that was originally presented at the last council meeting 00:47:19.868 --> 00:47:26.398 - at that meeting. The clerk's office was approved as an exemption to hire a new chief deputy 00:47:26.594 --> 00:47:33.786 - there was a question as to when the exiting chief deputies last day was. And so after the council meeting, 00:47:33.786 --> 00:47:40.776 - we were able to confirm that the exiting chief deputies last day will be March 27th and that there will 00:47:40.776 --> 00:47:47.699 - not be any cross training between incoming and exiting chief deputies. Excellent. Anything to add, Ms. 00:47:47.699 --> 00:47:55.294 - Kim Schell? No. All right. I think in that case, are there any questions from council I see down here, Ms. Hawk? 00:47:55.554 --> 00:48:03.906 - Yes, can you remind us, since the one that's exiting on March 27th, I think you said, when does the 00:48:03.906 --> 00:48:12.760 - new one start? Will that be starting like 28th or when? Unless the transitional training line is approved 00:48:12.760 --> 00:48:19.358 - by council today, the two people cannot be paid out of that same account line. 00:48:19.522 --> 00:48:25.975 - the incoming chief deputy would start on March 30th because the exiting chief deputy's last day is on 00:48:25.975 --> 00:48:32.492 - a Friday. So it would be the following Monday. Thank you very much. Any other questions, comments? Mr. 00:48:32.492 --> 00:48:38.882 - Henry. Thank you, Mr. President. I think given that this has been overcome by events a little bit, I 00:48:38.882 --> 00:48:45.272 - would recommend in motion that we table the item indefinitely. Second hearing a motion and a second. 00:48:45.272 --> 00:48:47.486 - Is there any further conversation? 00:48:48.226 --> 00:48:55.413 - public comment all right I think we need a we can do a voice vote on this can't we all right all those 00:48:55.413 --> 00:49:02.529 - in favor please say aye aye all those opposed the ayes have it unanimously all right we're gonna move 00:49:02.529 --> 00:49:09.716 - next into council business and we're gonna start with our technical services department mr. Greg Crone 00:49:09.716 --> 00:49:12.158 - can someone please read the motion 00:49:13.090 --> 00:49:19.068 - Council, I moved open for discussion and possible approval of the technical service department's request 00:49:19.068 --> 00:49:25.104 - to be exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund one thousand zero one zero six county 00:49:25.104 --> 00:49:30.968 - general technical services, a part time sport technician position. Second. All right. And we have with 00:49:30.968 --> 00:49:36.832 - us Greg Crone, chief technology officer and director. It's a nice title. Tell us what's going on here. 00:49:36.832 --> 00:49:42.526 - Good evening, everyone. And I appreciate you taking the consideration and hearing me on my request. 00:49:42.850 --> 00:49:48.727 - So I won't read you the whole summary that I have here, but I will start out by explaining a little 00:49:48.727 --> 00:49:54.840 - bit what our part-time positions are responsible for. In our office, part-time does not mean half work. 00:49:54.840 --> 00:50:00.776 - They actually are performing the same duties that our full-time employees are expected to carry out. 00:50:00.776 --> 00:50:06.771 - Their primary focus is the day and night meeting coverage. One example is sitting above you right now 00:50:06.771 --> 00:50:12.766 - in the choir loft carrying out the meeting. When they are not covering meetings, they are expected to 00:50:13.410 --> 00:50:20.328 - with the other full time techs. They're building computers. They're deploying equipment. They're handling 00:50:20.328 --> 00:50:27.116 - themselves and conducting themselves in the same fashion. When we interview we actually expect the same 00:50:27.116 --> 00:50:33.708 - skill set and we only take those employees that show that same skill set as our full time employees. 00:50:33.708 --> 00:50:37.950 - In 2025 we were averaging 65 hours out of our full time staffing 00:50:38.114 --> 00:50:44.503 - But due to some personal changes for some of our staff and the availability of others, that number has 00:50:44.503 --> 00:50:50.706 - been reduced about 44 hours now. I'm merely seeking to recoup those 21 hours that we've lost in the 00:50:50.706 --> 00:50:56.909 - last several months. The funding is already there for the for those hours paid. Our part time money 00:50:56.909 --> 00:51:03.422 - comes out of one pool out of county general. So this wouldn't come at any additional cost to the county. 00:51:05.506 --> 00:51:12.147 - All right. Council, do we have any comments or questions? Mr. Cronin. Mr. Henry. Thank you, Mr. President, 00:51:12.147 --> 00:51:18.664 - and thank you, Greg, for coming in. As liaison to TSD, we had a good conversation about this, and really 00:51:18.664 --> 00:51:22.078 - it's one of those slow accumulation of things that get 00:51:22.402 --> 00:51:27.403 - You can kind of get behind, you know, in terms of what happens when you just don't have those hours. 00:51:27.403 --> 00:51:32.503 - Could you maybe describe a little bit what's happened in terms of anything that's been delayed in your 00:51:32.503 --> 00:51:37.603 - office as a result of having the extra part-time or is it just getting things, it's really spread thin 00:51:37.603 --> 00:51:42.654 - or can you help us understand that a little bit? Well, you should understand when part-time positions 00:51:42.654 --> 00:51:47.655 - aren't available to cover these meetings, that's pulling full-time staff off of that. The county has 00:51:47.655 --> 00:51:49.982 - over the years since I've taken over increased 00:51:50.146 --> 00:51:55.834 - staffing loads in other departments. So we've had an increased volume that we have to support. What 00:51:55.834 --> 00:52:01.579 - we're seeing is delayed response time, sometimes of a couple of days just because of availability of 00:52:01.579 --> 00:52:07.495 - staffing to do it. So that's created some issues for probation department. It's delayed computer setups 00:52:07.495 --> 00:52:13.183 - for voter edge by a few days, things like that. So we're seeing a buildup of that. You have to also 00:52:13.183 --> 00:52:18.814 - understand that my full time staff are required to do 24 seven on call rotations. So you have that 00:52:19.042 --> 00:52:25.833 - comp buildup. So whenever the part-time staff isn't available, we really feel that impact even greater 00:52:25.833 --> 00:52:32.822 - because then I'm out a full-time tech who's had to comp or flex out and I don't have the full-time people 00:52:32.822 --> 00:52:36.382 - to cover that difference. Thank you for sharing that. 00:52:36.834 --> 00:52:43.974 - Yes, due to the fact that so many of these hours are spent covering meetings, of course it wouldn't 00:52:43.974 --> 00:52:51.399 - be as many hours if our meetings didn't last so long, but also because every time you add another board 00:52:51.399 --> 00:52:58.825 - or commission, and by that I mean it's the ones that we choose to put together, not one that's required 00:52:58.825 --> 00:53:04.894 - by law, but if we choose to have a board or commission, whatever, and they meet here 00:53:05.250 --> 00:53:12.894 - or in one of the meeting rooms where we feel like we have to cover it with your staff and other staff. 00:53:12.894 --> 00:53:20.464 - And if it's after 5 o'clock, then there's other staff that has to cover it. So there's meeting rooms, 00:53:20.464 --> 00:53:28.182 - many available, if I understand correctly, at the library and other places where those different groups 00:53:28.182 --> 00:53:30.334 - could meet, and it would not 00:53:30.498 --> 00:53:39.556 - the county, the kind of money it costs to cover these different. So I think it would be good if we saw 00:53:39.556 --> 00:53:48.438 - a list of the commissions of boards that were required by law to cover, like the Board of Health and 00:53:48.438 --> 00:53:57.408 - those, and see if there's any way we can reduce some of the expenses. But that's not up to you to do. 00:53:57.408 --> 00:54:00.222 - That's up to the commissioners. 00:54:00.354 --> 00:54:07.658 - They're the ones who put together how many boards and commissions we're going to have. But just throwing 00:54:07.658 --> 00:54:14.685 - that out there is a suggestion as we're going through trying to make sure that we're working as most 00:54:14.685 --> 00:54:21.850 - cost effectively as we can. But in the meantime, you're stuck with what you're given. I would say many 00:54:21.850 --> 00:54:23.102 - of the boards and 00:54:23.202 --> 00:54:29.153 - It's been with the help of the commissioner's executive. We've reached out to some of the boards and 00:54:29.153 --> 00:54:35.340 - where they can self-support on these meetings, they have done so. We've given them training. We've given 00:54:35.340 --> 00:54:41.409 - them access. We've given them the ability to do it. So there's been a lot of work to try to reduce the 00:54:41.409 --> 00:54:47.478 - number that we are having to cover, absolutely. All right. Way down on the left here. So I'll just say 00:54:47.478 --> 00:54:49.246 - for the public record, I hear 00:54:49.346 --> 00:54:56.442 - Talk about the other location like the library, but they've had to cut back also their hours and open 00:54:56.442 --> 00:55:03.537 - times and they are open only now I think until 7 p.m. So if something goes past that that wouldn't be 00:55:03.537 --> 00:55:10.703 - a viable location either. I just want to get that out there Excellent point. All right, mr. Dickie one 00:55:10.703 --> 00:55:16.894 - thing I always appreciate thinking about when TSD comes in here is how much this all the 00:55:16.994 --> 00:55:23.281 - the things you all have to manage on behalf of the county that I'm not sure anybody in life picked those 00:55:23.281 --> 00:55:29.448 - things to come up, but technology, other things that change over time that now take more hours for you 00:55:29.448 --> 00:55:34.896 - all. I mean, I look in this room since 2019, even with the pandemic in there, the way this 00:55:34.896 --> 00:55:41.422 - room is configured, the way that all this is available, that we were able to literally take team's testimony 00:55:41.422 --> 00:55:43.518 - today, we once had Zoom testimony, 00:55:43.650 --> 00:55:51.146 - That is additional hours and services that we did not do that we currently do, and that the people in 00:55:51.146 --> 00:55:58.715 - this community truly value and expect. They want to be able to weigh in on that. And the other example 00:55:58.715 --> 00:56:06.063 - I always give, it's not necessarily tied directly to you, although I know you have to deal with it, 00:56:06.063 --> 00:56:13.118 - is the body cams. Any political stripe wants a body cam on an officer, a jailer, they want that 00:56:13.634 --> 00:56:20.017 - of all different beliefs, literally our predecessors did not have any of that consideration. That's 00:56:20.017 --> 00:56:26.528 - something that it all will evolve. Five, 10 years, it'll be something else and 25 more things. And we 00:56:26.528 --> 00:56:32.976 - know a couple of years ago, you were also dealing with external things I won't talk about, but these 00:56:32.976 --> 00:56:39.678 - things are just coming to it. So as people always want to talk about how we cut, cut, cut the demands of 00:56:40.290 --> 00:56:47.137 - society keep increasing, and we're only skimming past it. So it's just something that I think people 00:56:47.137 --> 00:56:53.983 - in our roles have to talk about, because back in the day when this all started, it was not like that 00:56:53.983 --> 00:57:00.830 - at all. But everything changes. People expect more, and you got to deal with more demands, too. So I 00:57:00.830 --> 00:57:01.982 - appreciate that. 00:57:02.370 --> 00:57:08.492 - My office has done very well. The staff in my office have been very diligent to try to find ways to 00:57:08.492 --> 00:57:14.736 - streamline processes, automate processes, do anything we can do to improve service without increasing 00:57:14.736 --> 00:57:20.980 - costs to the county government. So we're looking at every nook and cranny we can to try to find a way 00:57:20.980 --> 00:57:27.224 - to make things flow better, but there's only so much you can do. Councilmember Wilts. Yeah. I haven't 00:57:27.224 --> 00:57:31.326 - seen your department come up on the comp time reports that we get. 00:57:31.586 --> 00:57:39.531 - And so that says to me that you don't have comp time overage. But I'm not sure, like, can you tell me, 00:57:39.531 --> 00:57:47.399 - like, how would I know how much comp time you all have been using? Well, I can provide those numbers. 00:57:47.399 --> 00:57:55.267 - We do our best to keep everyone under the 40-hour cap. Now, we've had, have been contacted by HR that 00:57:55.267 --> 00:58:01.438 - we've got people coming, going over that 40-hour mark. So that's where we keep, 00:58:01.698 --> 00:58:07.944 - I've even put myself on the on-call rotation to take some of my staff. Otherwise, they'd be on call 00:58:07.944 --> 00:58:14.190 - every third week for my full-time people. So to try to give them some breathing room and lower that 00:58:14.190 --> 00:58:20.624 - comp time, I've picked up an on-call rotation myself. So they're flexing out, they're comping out, and 00:58:20.624 --> 00:58:26.932 - we just keep getting a little bit further behind with our tickets and things because we're trying to 00:58:26.932 --> 00:58:30.430 - cover that and stay under that 40-hour comp time limit. 00:58:34.210 --> 00:58:42.074 - just so you know, you're only seeing reports of departments where they're over the 40 hours. So if they're 00:58:42.074 --> 00:58:49.498 - staying under, then you're not gonna see that. We blade around a lot with that. All right, any other 00:58:49.498 --> 00:58:57.950 - comments or questions? And let's see, do we do public comment on hiring freeze? Yeah, is there any public comment? 00:58:59.202 --> 00:59:09.213 - I don't see any on teams, none in and at U-Hill. In that case, can we please have a roll call vote? 00:59:09.213 --> 00:59:19.724 - Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Filion? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor Hogg? Yes. Councillor 00:59:19.724 --> 00:59:28.734 - Henry? Yes. Councillor Deckard? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. It's very much appreciated. 00:59:29.026 --> 00:59:37.963 - We'll see you up in the loft. All right. Next, we have a slew of highway department items. Let's go 00:59:37.963 --> 00:59:47.347 - ahead and start with. Sorry. I'm sorry. We moved the probation. Sorry. We amended the agenda. I'm sorry. 00:59:47.347 --> 00:59:56.373 - I wasn't here for the beginning. That's my fault. Are then moving to the probation department, which 00:59:56.373 --> 00:59:57.982 - is item number H. 00:59:58.658 --> 01:00:09.197 - As Council I move to approve the Probation Department's request and fund 81609626 Justice Partner SIM 01:00:09.197 --> 01:00:18.909 - 93.788 for the creation of account lines 30006 Contractual Services and 30028 Training Travel 01:00:18.909 --> 01:00:28.414 - and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of $40,000 in the services category. 01:00:28.546 --> 01:00:33.919 - Second. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Anthony Williams here with us today. Tell us what we need 01:00:33.919 --> 01:00:39.292 - to know. Thank you. I think many of you are aware that we've been receiving a grant from the Indiana 01:00:39.292 --> 01:00:44.824 - Office of Court Services since around 2019 to provide some services. Over the last few years we've been 01:00:44.824 --> 01:00:46.846 - bringing Centerstone into our office. 01:00:46.946 --> 01:00:53.648 - to complete intakes with our clients, whether than sending them off to Centerstone. That helps increase 01:00:53.648 --> 01:01:00.221 - the attendance rate on that. So we're continuing to do that. This year, they did reduce the amount of 01:01:00.221 --> 01:01:06.730 - funds that we are receiving, but we're grateful that we're still getting some funds. We have $30,000 01:01:06.730 --> 01:01:13.303 - to continue to pay Centerstone. They've been gracious to continue doing this project while we awaited 01:01:13.303 --> 01:01:16.912 - the grant money. And then we have an additional $10,000 01:01:16.912 --> 01:01:24.697 - to spend in travel and training to help save in some of the other budgets and spending. Great. This 01:01:24.697 --> 01:01:32.560 - sounds wonderful. Are there any comments or questions from council going over to my right? Yes. When 01:01:32.560 --> 01:01:40.890 - I was going over these numbers, I was trying to figure out that it said that there was no matching dollars 01:01:40.890 --> 01:01:45.950 - and that you received 30,000, but you're asking to spend 40,000. 01:01:46.338 --> 01:01:55.637 - So where did the other 10,000, what fund did the other 10,000 come from? So there's 40,000 total, 30,000 01:01:55.637 --> 01:02:04.582 - of that is in contractual and 10,000 is in travel training. Oh, then what we have here is incorrect. 01:02:04.582 --> 01:02:09.630 - I have it correct on my sheet. It says, I mean, read it. 01:02:13.154 --> 01:02:19.162 - says in no circuit court received $30,000 in grant funding. And so then when I looked at it, it says, 01:02:19.162 --> 01:02:25.052 - OK, but you want to spend $40,000. So I wondered if maybe the $10,000 was dollars left over, or did 01:02:25.052 --> 01:02:31.060 - you really receive $40,000? No, I think maybe there's just a typo in the summary section. It's a typo 01:02:31.060 --> 01:02:35.006 - in the summary, yes. Yeah, it just was omitted from the narrative. 01:02:35.298 --> 01:02:42.510 - And in the request for the creation of new count lines, the math is correct It does show the $30,000 01:02:42.510 --> 01:02:49.722 - in contractual $10,000 returning travel in the packet and that is on page 103 And point information, 01:02:49.722 --> 01:02:55.934 - please understand there's a difference when when When it says that you're receiving 30 01:02:56.066 --> 01:03:01.960 - And you must spend 40 and I would have liked to have been told that this was a mistake and it would 01:03:01.960 --> 01:03:08.266 - save me a great deal of time today. Thank you very much. All right. We're recognizing Mr. Deckard, please. 01:03:08.266 --> 01:03:12.510 - So the point of information just for the public watching the packet was 01:03:13.122 --> 01:03:23.355 - item or lines 3006 contractual services, $30,000 as a new account line. And then also line 30028 training 01:03:23.355 --> 01:03:33.106 - travel, $10,000 for a total appropriation of 40,000. And then my motion I read also matches that for 01:03:33.106 --> 01:03:41.022 - the creation of account line 3006 contractual services and 30028 training travel. 01:03:41.442 --> 01:03:49.581 - and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of $40,000 in the services category. Thank you, 01:03:49.581 --> 01:03:57.800 - Mr. Decker. And Ms. Kim Schell, would you like to weigh in quickly? Yes. So yes, the narrative, Anthony 01:03:57.800 --> 01:04:06.334 - says $30,000, but the, if you can look on the screen, do what I asked it to do. One moment. Say this again. 01:04:08.706 --> 01:04:18.482 - So on the screen, you have 30,000 and 10,000. So what is correct? 40,000. 40,000 is correct, with 30,000 01:04:18.482 --> 01:04:28.072 - being contractual, 10,000 being training travel. Correct. Thank you. All right, Ms. Kate Wilts. So the 01:04:28.072 --> 01:04:37.662 - entire grant is 40,000. Correct. Thank you. Ms. Kate Wilts. No wonder. Okay, I think I understand now. 01:04:39.010 --> 01:04:48.235 - I just want to reiterate, what's in our packet is an MOU for that 30,000. We don't have documentation 01:04:48.235 --> 01:04:57.370 - of the actual award, which is fine as long as it's gone through the right channels to arrive here in 01:04:57.370 --> 01:05:06.686 - front of us. But I think that's where the confusion kind of came. But it is legit, according to y'all. 01:05:07.010 --> 01:05:13.392 - that there's a $40,000 award. Our auditor is raising her hand. And I will recognize Ms. Brie Gregory. 01:05:13.392 --> 01:05:19.712 - Thank you. Could you please confirm there's been a completed grant contract? Yes, there have seen it 01:05:19.712 --> 01:05:26.032 - come through. I just want to confirm the money's already came through as well. OK, I see the account 01:05:26.032 --> 01:05:32.289 - has a $20,000 balance of the rest is reimbursable, right? Correct. All right. And does anybody have 01:05:32.289 --> 01:05:35.230 - last minute clarifications on this? All right. 01:05:35.554 --> 01:05:44.069 - We'll then go to the public. Do you have any questions or comments on this agenda item? Seeing none, 01:05:44.069 --> 01:05:52.921 - we welcome Councilmember Crossley back to us. All right. I think this can we then have a roll call vote? 01:05:52.921 --> 01:06:02.110 - Can I just one clarification from Ms. Gregory? There's a $20,000 balance because they only drop the money in 01:06:02.306 --> 01:06:10.188 - So the additional money will come later. It's not necessarily reimbursable. That makes sense. I knew 01:06:10.188 --> 01:06:18.227 - there was a another piece missing. OK, we've got a motion, a second public comment. Council questions. 01:06:18.227 --> 01:06:26.109 - Can we have that vote? Yes. Councillor Crossley, would you like to vote on this idea? Cause I did my 01:06:26.109 --> 01:06:31.806 - homework on this and so I'm going to say yes. Thank you. You're welcome. 01:06:31.970 --> 01:06:45.267 - Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I'm backing in like 01:06:45.267 --> 01:06:57.790 - a bad sequel. Okay. Next up is item B, which will be a lot of items from the highway department. 01:06:58.018 --> 01:07:06.524 - Council I move to approve the Highway Department's request for the creation of a new account line 31255 01:07:06.524 --> 01:07:14.702 - sample road in fund 1169-0000 local road and streets. Second. All right and Ms. Ridge you're in for 01:07:14.702 --> 01:07:23.208 - a marathon so welcome. What can you tell us about this? This is actually we're going to have some costs 01:07:23.208 --> 01:07:27.134 - possibly to finish out this project so and that 01:07:27.682 --> 01:07:33.020 - there's a chance that it will not be some of the change orders will not be participating items that 01:07:33.020 --> 01:07:38.518 - would be reimbursement through the grant. So we're creating the line in the local road and streets and 01:07:38.518 --> 01:07:43.910 - we'll be able to pay those costs out of that fund. Thank you very much. I'm looking to my colleagues 01:07:43.910 --> 01:07:47.486 - here to see if anybody has any questions or comments on this item. 01:07:52.770 --> 01:07:58.761 - All right, and so we'll go to public comment. If there's public comment, you can come forward to the 01:07:58.761 --> 01:08:04.752 - lectern here in the room or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, Councilor Iverson, thank you 01:08:04.752 --> 01:08:10.920 - for taking over while I was out. My pleasure. We could do a voice vote. You can do a voice vote because 01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:16.971 - this is a new account line only. Oh, that's right. Okay. So all those in favor of approving this item 01:08:16.971 --> 01:08:21.182 - as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. 01:08:21.794 --> 01:08:28.977 - Okay. Motion carries. Next up item C. Council, I want to note for the record that the fund on the agenda 01:08:28.977 --> 01:08:36.024 - is incorrect for the request submitted by the department, which can be found in the packet. Therefore, 01:08:36.024 --> 01:08:42.933 - I move to open for discussion and possible approval by the highway department's request to be exempt 01:08:42.933 --> 01:08:49.775 - from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire in fund 1197-0000 stormwater management two part-time 01:08:49.775 --> 01:08:51.006 - intern positions. 01:08:51.938 --> 01:09:00.703 - Ms. Ridge. So we have been participating in this program for many years now. We usually have the interns 01:09:00.703 --> 01:09:09.135 - from May to August when school starts. They will be no more than the 28 hours a week that is allowed 01:09:09.135 --> 01:09:17.566 - at $18 per hour. I attached a brief job description of what we post, of what some of the duties are, 01:09:17.566 --> 01:09:19.486 - updating our counties, 01:09:19.778 --> 01:09:26.184 - online permitting portal, open gov, assisting with implementation of countywide storm drain marking 01:09:26.184 --> 01:09:32.655 - program, water quality monitoring, updating public education and outreach materials. So they're just 01:09:32.655 --> 01:09:39.190 - great assistance to the full-time staff in the department. So we're just requesting to participate in 01:09:39.190 --> 01:09:45.788 - that program and hire the two part-time interns for the summer. Okay. Thank you. Questions or comments 01:09:45.788 --> 01:09:47.518 - from council on this item? 01:09:50.210 --> 01:09:59.893 - Yes, I'm happy to support this for this year, but we have to keep a close eye on this budget because 01:09:59.893 --> 01:10:09.769 - we know if portions of this county is no longer if it joins another municipality, we will not have the 01:10:09.769 --> 01:10:17.822 - revenue from that. As a reminder, the revenue for storm water comes only from those 01:10:18.114 --> 01:10:25.565 - properties that sit outside of municipalities. So we would not receive that stormwater. So we want to 01:10:25.565 --> 01:10:32.286 - make sure that we're not trying to do any of the stormwater projects inside the city or any 01:10:32.286 --> 01:10:39.810 - other municipality, which would be Ellitsville, because they have their own way of providing for that, 01:10:39.810 --> 01:10:46.750 - and they charge it in a different way. Ours is charged through the tax system. It's not a tax. 01:10:46.914 --> 01:10:56.879 - really, but we have to put it on the tax bills because that's our only method of charging the folks 01:10:56.879 --> 01:11:06.844 - since we don't operate utilities. Just as a reminder, if we start losing any major portion of where 01:11:06.844 --> 01:11:12.126 - that revenue comes from, then this revenue would not 01:11:14.946 --> 01:11:21.301 - and we would always look at that. This is just two part time, so it's nothing that's permanent. So if 01:11:21.301 --> 01:11:27.532 - we have to make adjustments in the future, we will do so. Are there any other, excuse me, questions 01:11:27.532 --> 01:11:34.199 - or comments from council on this item? All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. If there's 01:11:34.199 --> 01:11:40.554 - public comment on this item, you can raise your hand via Teams or come forward to the lectern here in 01:11:40.554 --> 01:11:44.542 - the room. And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? 01:11:46.402 --> 01:11:55.719 - Councillor Hawke? Yes. Councillor Wilk? Yes. Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor 01:11:55.719 --> 01:12:04.856 - Cross? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Next 01:12:04.856 --> 01:12:06.846 - up are items D and E. 01:12:07.266 --> 01:12:14.685 - Council, I will be combining items D and E into one motion. I move to approve the Highway Department's 01:12:14.685 --> 01:12:16.702 - request and fund 8168-0000. 01:12:16.802 --> 01:12:27.880 - 2022 to 2025 bridge inspection to approve an additional appropriation of $42,669.19 in the services 01:12:27.880 --> 01:12:39.955 - category and simultaneously approve a fund to fund transfer of cash of $8,534 from fund 1135-0000 cumulative 01:12:39.955 --> 01:12:46.270 - bridge to fund 8168-0000 2022 to 2025 bridge inspection. 01:12:47.522 --> 01:12:55.442 - So we are wrapping up our 2022 to 2025 bridge inspections. We're appropriating what's left on the contract, 01:12:55.442 --> 01:13:03.068 - not that we will be spending the full amount and then the cash to cash transfer is our 20% of our local 01:13:03.068 --> 01:13:10.914 - responsibility to finish out those bridge inspections. Okay. Thank you for that. Any questions or comments 01:13:10.914 --> 01:13:12.894 - from council on this item? 01:13:16.226 --> 01:13:25.723 - Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. You can raise your hand via Teams or come forward to the 01:13:25.723 --> 01:13:35.772 - lectern here in the room. Seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor 01:13:35.772 --> 01:13:45.822 - Deckard? Yes. Councillor Crosby? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Hawke? Yes. 01:13:46.082 --> 01:13:53.661 - Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Item F. Council, I'll be combining items F and G into one motion. 01:13:53.661 --> 01:14:00.745 - Therefore, I move to approve the Highway Department's request and fund 9106-0000 community crossing 01:14:00.745 --> 01:14:08.537 - grant program or CCMG to create a count line three zero zero zero six contractual services and simultaneously 01:14:08.537 --> 01:14:14.558 - approve an additional appropriation of one million dollars in the services category. 01:14:15.010 --> 01:14:25.110 - Plus a fund to fund transfer of cash of $1 million from fund 1112-0530 economic development lit highway 01:14:25.110 --> 01:14:35.016 - to fund 9106-0000CCMG. Second. Okay. Would you like to tell us about this one? So this is part of the 01:14:35.016 --> 01:14:42.494 - CCMG grant. It's moving over everything into that grant fund. So it is good. 01:14:42.754 --> 01:14:48.815 - easy for tracking. We did just receive the million dollars from in dot this week. So I think it's on 01:14:48.815 --> 01:14:54.876 - the April meeting I just turned in to come and appropriate that million to put it into the line. The 01:14:54.876 --> 01:15:00.937 - projects have already been awarded to a contractor. We're prepping the roads so we're ready to go as 01:15:00.937 --> 01:15:06.938 - soon as the plants open to release the roads and get the work done. Congratulations. All right. Any 01:15:06.938 --> 01:15:10.238 - other questions or comments from council on this item. 01:15:12.546 --> 01:15:21.513 - none. We will move on to public comment. If there's public comment, you can entertain us by doing so 01:15:21.513 --> 01:15:30.835 - by raising your hand via Teams or coming forward to the lectern here in the room. And seeing none, maybe 01:15:30.835 --> 01:15:40.068 - please have a roll call vote. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. 01:15:40.068 --> 01:15:42.110 - Councillor Hawke? Yes. 01:15:42.434 --> 01:15:52.162 - Yes. Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you. 01:15:52.162 --> 01:16:02.085 - May I ask the question? It's on an item back, but it's about what was in our packet. Sure. So I think 01:16:02.085 --> 01:16:11.230 - this is neither here nor there, but in the packet you have the inspection contract, which I'm 01:16:11.330 --> 01:16:19.353 - Guessing is almost concluded, is that right? Is it almost complete? Yeah. Yeah, so the remainder of 01:16:19.353 --> 01:16:26.734 - that is that $42,000. It's a four-year contract. We are required to do a four-year cycle on 01:16:26.734 --> 01:16:34.918 - bridge inspections. So this, go ahead. There's a significant typo in the contract itself, but if it's 01:16:34.918 --> 01:16:37.886 - a contract term, it probably doesn't 01:16:41.474 --> 01:16:48.277 - It just has the wrong county at one point, not obviously up top. And maybe I pulled it, maybe it was 01:16:48.277 --> 01:16:55.552 - corrected after that. I think our financial manager had put this together and it could have been a contract 01:16:55.552 --> 01:17:02.558 - overlap and we had it corrected. I can double check though too. It's page 12 of the 15 of the contract. 01:17:10.498 --> 01:17:18.229 - I just wanted to make sure that you were aware, but I couldn't tell. I don't know. It might not happen. 01:17:18.229 --> 01:17:25.812 - All right. Any other questions or comments for Ms. Ridge before she leaves? Okay. Yes, Ms. Hall. Yes. 01:17:25.812 --> 01:17:33.543 - And I'm only mentioning this to you now since you'll probably be leaving and not hearing the discussion 01:17:33.543 --> 01:17:35.550 - about the jail, et cetera. 01:17:35.810 --> 01:17:44.585 - But just for you to know, and some of the information you sent to me, and I started looking some things 01:17:44.585 --> 01:17:53.107 - up, what Allen County did, when we're saying, well, look, what Allen County did, whatever, they took 01:17:53.107 --> 01:18:01.545 - away, they took away their Cunebridge fund and used the money that would have come in to Cunebridge 01:18:01.545 --> 01:18:04.414 - and put it to their jail project. 01:18:05.506 --> 01:18:13.760 - because a court said they had to build something. And then they tied all those expenses that would normally 01:18:13.760 --> 01:18:21.402 - be paid from Kuhn Bridge over into Major Bridge. Now, that's a part of the legislation that was all 01:18:21.402 --> 01:18:29.045 - tied to Allen County. But we have to recognize when we say, oh, well, look, Allen County did it and 01:18:29.045 --> 01:18:35.006 - whatever, but not saying how they did it to hurt the rest of the departments. 01:18:35.234 --> 01:18:41.764 - I wanted you to hear that now. I didn't want you to hear it from me later. I didn't want you to hear 01:18:41.764 --> 01:18:48.422 - it by accident. We have discussed, there's only approximately, I believe, six to eight counties in the 01:18:48.422 --> 01:18:55.017 - state of Indiana that have a major bridge fund that meet the criteria to have a major bridge fund. We 01:18:55.017 --> 01:19:00.318 - started out with six bridges over that 200 foot length. Now we will probably have 01:19:00.898 --> 01:19:07.949 - at least 10 bridges of that length in the next four years. We have, I think, two of them under design. 01:19:07.949 --> 01:19:14.864 - It would be great if the restriction was moved for all those six counties to meet and be able to use 01:19:14.864 --> 01:19:21.778 - those funds like Allen County. How you have to get that through legislative, I'm not. That's way out 01:19:21.778 --> 01:19:28.350 - of my realm. But do what I support that? Absolutely, I would support it. Bridges get expensive. 01:19:28.802 --> 01:19:35.652 - more expensive every single day to maintain. I don't think the funds should be tied just to the length 01:19:35.652 --> 01:19:42.636 - of the bridge. I think it should be available to be used to make all your bridges safe for the traveling 01:19:42.636 --> 01:19:49.486 - public, whether it be major bridge or cum bridge. And again, the cost and what DNR requires you on the 01:19:49.486 --> 01:19:55.006 - length of bridges to be built in certain areas, that plays a big factor into that. 01:19:56.706 --> 01:20:03.504 - I am aware of the Allen Allen County and that, but I don't know how to get that restriction moved off 01:20:03.504 --> 01:20:10.236 - there. So I think that we should work with the state to make sure that we're using that major bridge 01:20:10.236 --> 01:20:17.168 - revenue to its highest and best use. And if there's more dollars there right now, you can only use that 01:20:17.168 --> 01:20:24.100 - outside of Allen County in the construction of a of a new bridge. You cannot use it for anything that's 01:20:24.100 --> 01:20:25.566 - overhead or anything. 01:20:26.050 --> 01:20:34.261 - towards anything else. It just has to be for construction. So it's very restricted fun. The reason we 01:20:34.261 --> 01:20:42.312 - had this conversation to begin with was because one of the positions that needs to be paid for, for 01:20:42.312 --> 01:20:45.854 - the highway department, I was trying to see 01:20:46.050 --> 01:20:53.299 - Could we perhaps get it out of that major bridge fund? And by the way, for everybody who thinks I hate 01:20:53.299 --> 01:21:00.407 - new taxes, guess who did the research to get the major bridge fund to begin with? We used to call it 01:21:00.407 --> 01:21:07.796 - the Marty Hawk tax on the people of this county. But I'm telling you, everybody who lives in this county 01:21:07.796 --> 01:21:15.326 - will eventually go across bridges. And our school buses do, and so forth. So we have to have safe bridges. 01:21:15.458 --> 01:21:22.547 - and grateful for the leadership we have in our highway department to make sure we're all staying as 01:21:22.547 --> 01:21:29.990 - safe as we can. Of course. And on that note, we are going to give you back your time so you can go forth 01:21:29.990 --> 01:21:37.150 - in the evening. Thank you, Miss Ridge. All right. Next up, we are going to jump back. We move. We've 01:21:37.150 --> 01:21:42.750 - already done item H. And so next up is item I with the board of commissioners. 01:21:42.850 --> 01:21:51.009 - Council I move to approve the commissioner's request and fund that forty nine thirty two dash zero zero 01:21:51.009 --> 01:21:59.482 - zero zero food and beverage tax county to create a count line for two five zero two parks dash improvements 01:21:59.482 --> 01:22:07.328 - and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of nine hundred and five thousand dollars in 01:22:07.328 --> 01:22:09.054 - the capital category. 01:22:09.154 --> 01:22:15.841 - Okay, we got a motion and a second. We are joined here by Ms. Kelly Whitmer and virtually Ms. 01:22:15.841 --> 01:22:23.168 - Angie Purdy. Welcome. Thank you. This is the commissioner's line, so if Angie needs to speak, I'm just 01:22:23.168 --> 01:22:28.574 - here to answer any questions that are in my area. Okay, Ms. Purdy, proceed. 01:22:29.346 --> 01:22:37.765 - All right, thank you. This is kind of a housekeeping, if you will, type situation from last year during 01:22:37.765 --> 01:22:45.941 - the whole bond process and trying to determine the best use of county funds for the various projects 01:22:45.941 --> 01:22:54.117 - that needed to be completed. And at that time it was agreed by, I believe, both boards that the food 01:22:54.117 --> 01:22:57.598 - and beverage funds would be the, you know, 01:22:58.178 --> 01:23:08.969 - There's not been a word out of that dog all night. I'm sorry till I start talking. Um, and so this is 01:23:08.969 --> 01:23:20.077 - just to help ensure, um, Kelly's able to do what she needs to do with her, um, with the, with the nature 01:23:20.077 --> 01:23:25.790 - preserve. All right. Is that it? Okay. All right. Um, 01:23:26.050 --> 01:23:32.249 - And I'm gonna look to my colleagues here to see if anybody has questions. Councilor Iverson has his 01:23:32.249 --> 01:23:38.571 - hand raised first, so proceed. This is a question for Ms. Whitmer, as I'm pecking towards you that no 01:23:38.571 --> 01:23:44.770 - one else can see. I don't know what I'm doing. It says in the narrative here that the Monroe County 01:23:44.770 --> 01:23:51.217 - Parks and Recreation Department will act as a general contractor and provide labor with the engineering 01:23:51.217 --> 01:23:55.742 - firm. And so my question to you is, what is the timeline of all of this? 01:23:55.874 --> 01:24:02.430 - pending the approval, what can the public be expected to see out there? My question is more about the 01:24:02.430 --> 01:24:08.986 - timeline and when things are going to get going. Our goal is to have it open to the public next year. 01:24:08.986 --> 01:24:15.927 - What month? I don't know. We have a very important meeting with NDOT in a few weeks and that will determine 01:24:15.927 --> 01:24:22.483 - where our entrance is going and that will determine how fast we can go. But our staff is ready to go. 01:24:22.483 --> 01:24:24.990 - We have everything lined up as soon as 01:24:25.090 --> 01:24:35.354 - Hopefully you approve this. And we are going to move as fast as we possibly can. And we have our engineer 01:24:35.354 --> 01:24:45.036 - on board. We'll go through planning and building and storm water and get all of our permits. And we 01:24:45.036 --> 01:24:50.846 - will move fast. Good to hear. Thank you. Yes, DGH. Madam P. 01:24:50.946 --> 01:25:00.699 - Kelly, can you maybe just remind me how the selection process for the firm works? So BRCJ, is that a 01:25:00.699 --> 01:25:10.453 - contract that supports the entire parks department or were they selected for the nature reserve? How 01:25:10.453 --> 01:25:11.998 - does that work? 01:25:12.162 --> 01:25:20.476 - Has all of our maps and all of our engineering for all of our parks So it makes sense to us to continue 01:25:20.476 --> 01:25:28.711 - working with them. They have given us Extremely good service at a very reasonable price As I would say 01:25:28.711 --> 01:25:36.865 - I can't afford Lisa ridges Engineers, so this is a local group who uses our parks So they care deeply 01:25:36.865 --> 01:25:41.662 - about what they do and sometimes they've worked for free so 01:25:42.338 --> 01:25:50.639 - We can't do better. We really can't. Thanks for sharing that. I appreciate it. Yes, Councillor. Yes, 01:25:50.639 --> 01:25:59.023 - of course, the folks are not here now, but the ones who were here earlier, very upset that some other 01:25:59.023 --> 01:26:05.598 - friends were being told they had to be out by a certain time frame. And we know 01:26:05.826 --> 01:26:14.407 - that the same thing has happened here on this property where a lovely couple who'd lived there in that 01:26:14.407 --> 01:26:23.155 - house for so long and they were told, you know, it's time for you to move on. Just as a reminder, that's 01:26:23.155 --> 01:26:31.903 - not a decision the county council makes. So I just wanted to bring it back to how we started the meeting 01:26:31.903 --> 01:26:35.486 - and where we are now. So, and to be clear, 01:26:35.714 --> 01:26:44.166 - We cannot, because of the way we accepted the ground, we cannot build low income housing, affordable 01:26:44.166 --> 01:26:52.534 - housing there. We can't turn it over to a land trust to build housing. I want to make sure that I'm 01:26:52.534 --> 01:27:01.153 - repeating that correctly. That's correct. Thank you. Yes, Councillor Wilts. I'm interested in the ways 01:27:01.153 --> 01:27:03.998 - in which you've been working with 01:27:04.098 --> 01:27:11.141 - other entities both in the county and external to kind of bring in all kinds of expertise on this because 01:27:11.141 --> 01:27:17.985 - I've heard snippets here and there. And anyway, if you could just enlighten us. We are so excited that 01:27:17.985 --> 01:27:24.630 - we're working with Monroe County Soil and Water, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Department of 01:27:24.630 --> 01:27:31.540 - Agriculture, the Indiana Department of Agriculture, Purdue University, the watershed for Monroe County, 01:27:31.540 --> 01:27:32.670 - Clear Creek, and 01:27:33.730 --> 01:27:41.216 - We call her the pheasant and quail gal. I can't remember what organization she's with. But we all meet 01:27:41.216 --> 01:27:48.628 - every two weeks, and we are going forward with an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful plan that will bring 01:27:48.628 --> 01:27:55.678 - tourism to this particular park. We'll be having prairies, trees, wildflowers, some cover crops. 01:27:56.418 --> 01:28:05.305 - things that we actually don't have in this community. And we also will show things of like how farming 01:28:05.305 --> 01:28:14.020 - was done and talk about corn and beans. And we're really melting it in to nice to the community. And 01:28:14.020 --> 01:28:21.182 - all these people who are helping us with all these expertise plans, it's all free. 01:28:21.410 --> 01:28:29.805 - And we are so excited because what this is going to give the community in the future will be drop dead 01:28:29.805 --> 01:28:38.201 - gorgeous. And it's not like any of the other parks or places, Pain Town, it's not going to be like any 01:28:38.201 --> 01:28:46.270 - of that. It's going to be our own little goose pond without the pond. So, you know, we want color. 01:28:46.466 --> 01:28:54.414 - We want beautiful things out there that people can see. We will have wildlife like you wouldn't believe. 01:28:54.414 --> 01:29:02.059 - Wild turkeys and deer and every little creature that you can think of lives on this 400 acres. So it 01:29:02.059 --> 01:29:09.931 - will be unique because it's right next to the city of Bloomington. You know how fortunate that is? It's 01:29:09.931 --> 01:29:12.126 - not yonder, it's right here. 01:29:12.834 --> 01:29:20.337 - that you can go into a different world and experience with your family and your kids and come back and 01:29:20.337 --> 01:29:27.841 - go home and probably talk about what you saw out there. So it takes time, but we have a great plan and 01:29:27.841 --> 01:29:35.344 - we're going to work the plan. You know, we're also coming with money to help us. I mean, they're like, 01:29:35.344 --> 01:29:39.934 - they're so excited because they've never had 400 acres to work 01:29:40.930 --> 01:29:50.219 - Usually it's like five acres, 10 acres. So they're like, this is special. This will be for decades, 01:29:50.219 --> 01:29:59.693 - will be for generations to come. So Nancy Huntington, who owned the land, she just had one provision, 01:29:59.693 --> 01:30:09.075 - recreational purposes. That's it. So no condominiums, no apartments, no this or that, recreation. So 01:30:09.075 --> 01:30:10.654 - a lot of trails. 01:30:11.266 --> 01:30:17.809 - going to have what I call an ADA patio where if you don't have mobility, I want you to be able to get 01:30:17.809 --> 01:30:24.544 - on this patio, you know, to have and look at the birds and everything. You can do everything your family 01:30:24.544 --> 01:30:31.087 - can do. If you can't move around, you'll have some beautiful place to sit and look at everything. So, 01:30:31.087 --> 01:30:37.566 - you know, we're very conscientious about that to make sure it is enjoyed by people of all abilities. 01:30:40.066 --> 01:30:46.130 - So I really like this plan a whole lot. And so I intend to take my family there when it arises. But 01:30:46.130 --> 01:30:52.255 - I also wanted to know, you mentioned 400 acres. I wanted to know if the whole 400 acres is dedicated 01:30:52.255 --> 01:30:58.319 - to this, or what portion would be dedicated to this whole morphing of it? The whole what? The whole 01:30:58.319 --> 01:31:04.262 - turning into whatever this is going to be. Is it the whole 400 acres? The whole 409 acres. Great. 01:31:04.262 --> 01:31:09.598 - Thank you. And there's already an established woods there. That's a very healthy woods. 01:31:09.922 --> 01:31:17.593 - Oh yeah, the whole, every inch of it. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from council? I'll 01:31:17.593 --> 01:31:25.954 - go to Councilor Decker and then I'll turn back to Councilor Hawke. I'll be quick, Councilor Hawke. Sometimes 01:31:25.954 --> 01:31:33.625 - I pick up from constituents an interest in trailage that matches what we see on the west side, kind 01:31:33.625 --> 01:31:39.838 - of over on the east side. Councilor Iverson probably could write a book on that. 01:31:40.034 --> 01:31:47.195 - Do you ever see a time way down the lane, I suspect, where that might be a source of heading into that 01:31:47.195 --> 01:31:54.356 - property, where trails might coming from the nearby community, nearby area, similar to what we see out 01:31:54.356 --> 01:32:01.308 - like at Karst? Like trails connecting to the preserve? Oh, yes, I'm glad you asked about that. NDOT 01:32:01.308 --> 01:32:07.774 - has a property from Brewster's Ice Cream to this property. We already have another sidewalk. 01:32:07.906 --> 01:32:15.026 - right at our property border that we will hook up to. And then we'll, by Hyde Park, there's also a trail 01:32:15.026 --> 01:32:22.484 - there that we're going to probably hook up to. So you can walk into this park from four different directions, 01:32:22.484 --> 01:32:29.400 - most likely. You don't have to bring a car. You know, you don't have to have a bike. You can walk in. 01:32:29.400 --> 01:32:32.926 - So very fortunate. I think that's a, just my little 01:32:33.090 --> 01:32:40.539 - opinion and 25 cents will get you not much. I think that is a message that people should hear out there 01:32:40.539 --> 01:32:47.701 - on this property because they're getting it in their head for the first time whereas something like 01:32:47.701 --> 01:32:55.006 - cars we've lived with all our lives so we see that and I just think it's awesome. So thanks. And this 01:32:55.006 --> 01:33:02.526 - is different. I can't emphasize how different this is going to be. You have me at Brewster's. All right. 01:33:02.786 --> 01:33:10.572 - As a reminder, I mentioned this briefly at the last council meeting. But who knows? Might be somebody 01:33:10.572 --> 01:33:18.129 - else listening. Our next thing we're going to be talking about is money coming out of the economic 01:33:18.129 --> 01:33:25.915 - development tax, which is the same thing as it's coming out of the county general. And that has to do 01:33:25.915 --> 01:33:27.518 - with transportation. 01:33:28.674 --> 01:33:36.901 - State Representative Peggy Mayfield had worked on legislation to encourage the use of this food and 01:33:36.901 --> 01:33:45.211 - beverage tax, the portion of it that would have been collected in the town of Ellsville, would go to 01:33:45.211 --> 01:33:54.097 - the town of Ellsville for which they could use it for transportation projects. And the county commissioners 01:33:54.097 --> 01:33:55.742 - refused, refused to 01:33:55.970 --> 01:34:05.194 - accept that or support it in any way, they just said no. And so I just, I mean, there's ways we can 01:34:05.194 --> 01:34:14.418 - work better together than we did. And so I'm just saying, I know that this park, that's lovely, the 01:34:14.418 --> 01:34:23.642 - parks are lovely, but rural transit would have also been a great thing to assist with that food and 01:34:23.642 --> 01:34:25.118 - beverage money. 01:34:25.346 --> 01:34:33.615 - and we did not get any support from across the hall. All right, is there any other questions or comments 01:34:33.615 --> 01:34:41.805 - on this item? Yes, Councilor Pio. So just one other question about what will be at the facility itself. 01:34:41.805 --> 01:34:49.759 - Will there be like benches to kind of sit and relax if you want to do that and enjoy the space? Yes. 01:34:49.759 --> 01:34:54.878 - Okay, all throughout the space or? Yes, we've actually bought 40 01:34:55.170 --> 01:35:02.918 - benches from Penitentiary I think I remember it's the suicide prevention. Well, yes, we liked them so 01:35:02.918 --> 01:35:10.742 - much we put in another order of 40 Okay, so there's gonna be so many trails We will be putting benches 01:35:10.742 --> 01:35:18.110 - around. Thank you. And like I said, there's gonna be an ADA patio. That's You can do a lot there 01:35:23.490 --> 01:35:32.828 - on. We'll move on to public comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to 01:35:32.828 --> 01:35:42.166 - the lectern here in the Nattie Hill room or raise your hand via Teams. And seeing none, maybe please 01:35:42.166 --> 01:35:51.689 - have a roll call vote. Councillor Fiddle? Yes. Councillor Hawk? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor 01:35:51.689 --> 01:35:52.798 - Henry? Yes. 01:35:53.314 --> 01:36:04.066 - Yes. Councillor Crossley. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. All right. 01:36:04.066 --> 01:36:07.198 - Thank you. Next up is item J. 01:36:07.490 --> 01:36:16.630 - Council, I move to approve the Council's office's request and fund 1112-0068 Economic Development Lit 01:36:16.630 --> 01:36:25.591 - Commissioners to create a count line 33113, Bloomington Transit Line 13, and simultaneously approve 01:36:25.591 --> 01:36:34.820 - an additional appropriation of $195,000 in the services category. Second. All right. And we still have 01:36:34.820 --> 01:36:37.150 - Ms. Purgey from or sorry. 01:36:37.250 --> 01:36:45.331 - Ms. Purdy from the commissioner's office and then Michelle as well. So one of you ladies will be able 01:36:45.331 --> 01:36:53.412 - to take it away. I'll go ahead and start. It was mentioned at the last council meeting maybe February 01:36:53.412 --> 01:37:01.652 - 10th or somewhere along through there to have this amount advertised to be brought forth to the council 01:37:01.652 --> 01:37:03.870 - for approval. So the amount 01:37:04.066 --> 01:37:19.845 - that I discussed originally with the Commissioner's office was 195,000. Ms. Herdy has sent me an email 01:37:19.845 --> 01:37:32.254 - and that amount needs to be adjusted to 184,104. Yes, Councillor Iverson, sorry. 01:37:32.386 --> 01:37:43.000 - Council, I move to amend my agenda to that number $184,104. Okay. Proceed. Is it appropriate to ask 01:37:43.000 --> 01:37:53.933 - why now? Why would that need to change? Angie, can you answer that? I think it's due to the interlocal 01:37:53.933 --> 01:37:59.134 - or something. I'm not sure what the question is. 01:37:59.522 --> 01:38:12.055 - So what is the, so from 195 to 184, is that the question? Can you give me? Just in general, right? I 01:38:12.055 --> 01:38:26.078 - think there might've been some feedback and so I don't know if she was able to hear. Yes, that was the question. 01:38:26.178 --> 01:38:36.513 - question why from 195 to 184 something it's not unusual for us to do that kind of situation we don't 01:38:36.513 --> 01:38:47.052 - know the amount so we did not know the amount of the so just everybody wants to advertise high so that 01:38:47.052 --> 01:38:48.382 - it's covered 01:38:48.802 --> 01:38:55.253 - So this is the actual amount then what's being asked to change now? Yes, that is on the new interlocal 01:38:55.253 --> 01:39:01.767 - that will be heard by the commissioners on Thursday. And I see the auditor has her hand up. But I think 01:39:01.767 --> 01:39:08.344 - my understanding is you always want to advertise higher because in the event that we do get the official 01:39:08.344 --> 01:39:09.534 - number, therefore, 01:39:09.698 --> 01:39:16.689 - Like if we advertise at a lower rate, we wouldn't be able to discuss it. And we'd have to have, what, 01:39:16.689 --> 01:39:23.338 - like 10 days for this to have to be advertised if we got the rate. So I'm still going to go, oh, 01:39:23.338 --> 01:39:30.260 - look at me. I'm learning. You're learning. Oh, no. OK. Anybody? Yes. Councilor, I'm so sorry. So for 01:39:30.260 --> 01:39:37.388 - those of us on the east side who don't pay a lot of attention to west side bus routes, what, guys, Dave 01:39:37.388 --> 01:39:39.102 - just left us weird, what 01:39:39.618 --> 01:39:48.006 - Can someone please explain to me that the reason why this is coming to the council office now and the 01:39:48.006 --> 01:39:56.558 - budget, the packet information only suggests that this needs to support the continuation of the transit 01:39:56.558 --> 01:40:05.111 - line. So is this money supporting the continuation for a year? Is it supporting it for five years? What 01:40:05.111 --> 01:40:07.742 - exactly are we approving today? 01:40:08.802 --> 01:40:17.248 - This is a one-year interlocal agreement. And my understanding is why it's coming here is despite numerous 01:40:17.248 --> 01:40:25.615 - conversations, I know that the commissioners tried to bring it up during the budget session that council 01:40:25.615 --> 01:40:33.583 - needed to consider the appropriation of funds for this particular route. I know there was something 01:40:33.583 --> 01:40:37.886 - in December on the council's agenda got removed after 01:40:38.082 --> 01:40:46.362 - rural transit received their funding that they needed from the state. And I think also given the fact 01:40:46.362 --> 01:40:54.966 - that there was no point in getting appropriation for the Bloomington Transit in December of 2025, because 01:40:54.966 --> 01:41:03.327 - we just have to come back in in 2026. And so I believe that my understanding is Mr. Thomas and Council 01:41:03.327 --> 01:41:04.382 - Member Trent 01:41:04.546 --> 01:41:15.217 - have been involved in these communications with Bloomington Transit. And this is a continuation of last 01:41:15.217 --> 01:41:25.887 - year's program for line 13. Yeah, I agree with the assessment that was given there on this. And I think 01:41:25.887 --> 01:41:31.838 - where this got problematic is that we just didn't have it 01:41:32.066 --> 01:41:40.628 - budget time, and then the Council's not kind of used to scheduling that sort of a scheduling that sort 01:41:40.628 --> 01:41:48.942 - of an appropriation out for something like this that's not coming from the department. And probably 01:41:48.942 --> 01:41:57.338 - that's a lesson moving forward that it just always needs to be coming from the department because we 01:41:57.338 --> 01:41:59.998 - will miss the gaps, the cues or 01:42:00.354 --> 01:42:07.433 - Bloomington Transit communicated very clearly we have to be paid to run a line that you all support 01:42:07.433 --> 01:42:14.796 - That's when we've gone to work here to offer this remedy and get this reinstated I will say also I have 01:42:14.796 --> 01:42:21.875 - heard from several different constituency groups about the importance on this I communicated that a 01:42:21.875 --> 01:42:27.326 - little bit last time that we talked about it, but I've always said this that 01:42:27.906 --> 01:42:36.582 - what we're doing on transportation in this community is probably not really gonna go backwards, meaning 01:42:36.582 --> 01:42:45.257 - that needs that you have, particularly for that west side life sciences corridor, the west side IV tech 01:42:45.257 --> 01:42:53.933 - location, all of this is probably not going backwards. And even for Councilor Iverson in the east side, 01:42:53.933 --> 01:42:57.854 - people have to keep their eyes to these things 01:42:58.082 --> 01:43:05.168 - as everything changes with how things are funded, et cetera, because again, our constituents are looking 01:43:05.168 --> 01:43:11.983 - for ways to get to work. And as we heard from a constituent, or at least I did in particular on this 01:43:11.983 --> 01:43:18.731 - route, this is something that they rely on and ridership increases over time when something becomes 01:43:18.731 --> 01:43:25.885 - reliable. So I wanted to kind of add that to that discussion. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Councilor Henry. 01:43:25.885 --> 01:43:27.774 - Thank you, Madam President. 01:43:28.354 --> 01:43:33.432 - Well, I find that to be clear as mud. So maybe there's some things that were obvious to some folks at 01:43:33.432 --> 01:43:38.759 - the table here over the past six months, but I don't have that narrative in front of me. What I understand 01:43:38.759 --> 01:43:44.086 - was during the October budget process, I believe a comment was made at the table during the commissioner's 01:43:44.086 --> 01:43:49.065 - presentation that we may need to address this. Of course, that presentation occurred at a time when 01:43:49.065 --> 01:43:49.662 - we were not 01:43:49.794 --> 01:43:55.211 - considering the economic development lit for any funding of anything, it would have been a general fund 01:43:55.211 --> 01:44:00.784 - at that point, contribution at least. And then the next I heard about it was in our February 10th meeting. 01:44:00.784 --> 01:44:06.097 - And so to the extent that there were conversations going on that were not shared with the totality of 01:44:06.097 --> 01:44:09.118 - the body or the public, it puts us in that place where we 01:44:09.602 --> 01:44:15.434 - We're doing transportation policy by firefighting where, you know, a bus line is going to run out of 01:44:15.434 --> 01:44:21.208 - funding. We have only so many meetings to meet to decide how we're going to fund it. And, you know, 01:44:21.208 --> 01:44:27.270 - I got to say, I mean, we do fund other things through the commissioner's office. So I guess my question, 01:44:27.270 --> 01:44:33.217 - as I'm prefacing here, is this account line as part of the economic development, is it being, is this, 01:44:33.217 --> 01:44:34.430 - is the owner of the, 01:44:35.650 --> 01:44:41.048 - Relationship in the board of commissioners office the same way. We'd have a center stone contract or 01:44:41.048 --> 01:44:46.445 - something else at this point Like who's the owner like is it is it the board of commissioners? Okay, 01:44:46.445 --> 01:44:52.057 - that would have been the presentation we ought to have had in October or November or December or January 01:44:52.057 --> 01:44:57.561 - or February, okay I'll yield back in a moment You know, I mean I support the goal We got a patch where 01:44:57.561 --> 01:45:03.226 - we got a patch, but I think to counselor Hawks comment earlier It's an inconsistent message to the county 01:45:03.226 --> 01:45:05.310 - about how we're doing regional transit 01:45:05.410 --> 01:45:11.463 - And I do think of the town of Ellsville who had a similar issue with rural transit where the county 01:45:11.463 --> 01:45:17.759 - went to Ellsville and said we need a 60 40 match in order to continue your line. And now we're offering 01:45:17.759 --> 01:45:23.873 - 100 percent funding for the route 13 line. I don't really care about the particulars of it. It's how 01:45:23.873 --> 01:45:26.718 - we're building a regional transit approach. So 01:45:26.946 --> 01:45:32.719 - If this is a short-term fix, great. We all know that it has a lifetime, a short lifetime as well. It's 01:45:32.719 --> 01:45:38.324 - about the same time the ARPA funding was frankly at this point. So we're going to be back here in a 01:45:38.324 --> 01:45:44.041 - few years trying to figure out how to do a long-term sustainable regional transit approach. Sounds to 01:45:44.041 --> 01:45:49.086 - me like that might belong to the MPO or the Metropolitan Planning Organization as a home. 01:45:49.826 --> 01:45:54.909 - I mean of course we're going to support people to get to their work. Of course we're going to support 01:45:54.909 --> 01:46:00.143 - the public trying to rely on public bus services that they're building into their lives. But the process 01:46:00.143 --> 01:46:05.176 - is important to protect the public so they know that the bus is literally going to run on time month 01:46:05.176 --> 01:46:10.160 - after month year after year. So I mean so I don't I don't think it's fair to say well this is known 01:46:10.160 --> 01:46:15.343 - to the public or this was a known thing. And clearly we don't have a regional transit approach so we're 01:46:15.343 --> 01:46:18.782 - approaching it. But it sounds like we need to start working on that. 01:46:20.642 --> 01:46:31.412 - That's my opening thoughts on that matter, President. Okay. Councillor Wilks. Yeah, I want to say that 01:46:31.412 --> 01:46:42.181 - the timeline from budget sessions in the fall through now, I agree. We heard briefly, didn't know, but 01:46:42.181 --> 01:46:48.350 - we're working with a lot of moving parts here, and I guess 01:46:48.866 --> 01:46:58.299 - I'm really excited that we're able to just help facilitate the continuing public transit in this part 01:46:58.299 --> 01:47:07.547 - of the county that is critical to our economic development right now and frankly has been discussed 01:47:07.547 --> 01:47:15.038 - in the public and by the public for years. I mean this has been in the works for 01:47:16.866 --> 01:47:25.507 - almost a decade at least that I've been involved. So I, you know, I was not privy to any conversations 01:47:25.507 --> 01:47:33.981 - that brought this agenda item to us this evening, but I'm thankful that it was here and I appreciate 01:47:33.981 --> 01:47:42.707 - those who were in those conversations and I'm happy to support this. I agree that we have a lot of work 01:47:42.707 --> 01:47:46.398 - to do in being strategic about our regional 01:47:46.786 --> 01:47:55.653 - public transit. Agreed. Okay. All right. Yes, Councillor Hawke. Yes. Can you tell us, tell the public 01:47:55.653 --> 01:48:04.346 - what it is we're getting for our money? Do you have a map to show us exactly where this line is? Is 01:48:04.346 --> 01:48:13.039 - it where we thought it was before? Is it coming back and going down Vernal? I mean, is it going out 01:48:13.039 --> 01:48:15.038 - and then back and then 01:48:15.362 --> 01:48:22.439 - Coming back out Vernal, where is the map for? It's on their website, Councilor Hotpoint information. 01:48:22.439 --> 01:48:29.586 - This is not a new route. I want to see it here. I'm not going to be looking at that. Do you have your 01:48:29.586 --> 01:48:36.594 - computer? It's on the left. But what I would like to suggest is that in future, that we take a look 01:48:36.594 --> 01:48:43.741 - at the different groups that will benefit by this. If I was looking at a map, I might be able to tell 01:48:43.741 --> 01:48:44.862 - you which ones. 01:48:45.954 --> 01:48:54.650 - For instance, the larger residential areas, apartment buildings, something where maybe they want to 01:48:54.650 --> 01:49:03.694 - assist, or maybe even with some of the nursing homes that's out that direction, maybe Ivy Tech, so that 01:49:03.694 --> 01:49:09.694 - there'd be a consortium of folks who might want to assist with this. 01:49:09.858 --> 01:49:18.082 - because this is actually just saying this is coming out of County General because we know it's all going 01:49:18.082 --> 01:49:26.070 - to be melded together before we get turned around. There is special money set aside unless, you know, 01:49:26.070 --> 01:49:34.216 - unless changes were made. But this is last minute changes, by the way, of what we thought we were doing 01:49:34.216 --> 01:49:37.662 - with the DLJF bill. But at that point, too, 01:49:37.858 --> 01:49:46.449 - that was supposed to, one of the things we could cover with that was assistance for Bloomington Transit. 01:49:46.449 --> 01:49:54.631 - So we don't know what's gonna happen with that, but there's really not gonna be money available for 01:49:54.631 --> 01:50:02.894 - that for, what, two, three years? So we need to figure out how we're gonna get from point A to point 01:50:02.894 --> 01:50:06.494 - B. And so, I mean, I want to make sure that 01:50:07.138 --> 01:50:16.510 - as we continue to grow the need for it. And people know they can rely on it. So then they won't be thinking 01:50:16.510 --> 01:50:25.274 - about, well, I have to have two cars because my partner's going one direction, the other one another 01:50:25.274 --> 01:50:34.038 - for their family. So I think it's something that we need to try. But I do not think it should be for 01:50:34.038 --> 01:50:35.774 - more than one year. 01:50:35.970 --> 01:50:44.045 - And then we'll see where we are with the rest of our revenue. What can we afford to do? Because as the 01:50:44.045 --> 01:50:51.886 - commissioners keep trying to push us, make a decision, make a decision about the jail, and yet this 01:50:51.886 --> 01:50:59.804 - is a part of the money. They want to spend a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. It's like, what 01:50:59.804 --> 01:51:05.214 - is it you want? Oh, you want it all. I get that. I want it all, too. 01:51:06.626 --> 01:51:13.394 - So a couple of things, and I see hands raised, and so I'll go to Councilor Decker, and I see the auditor 01:51:13.394 --> 01:51:19.968 - has her hands up. One, from my understanding, and reading the packet, and I thought it was mentioned, 01:51:19.968 --> 01:51:26.736 - this is just a one-year term. So this isn't a multi-year, this is just a one-year, and this is something 01:51:26.736 --> 01:51:28.734 - that we could talk about, too. 01:51:29.058 --> 01:51:35.914 - The other thing is from my understanding and looking at the Bloomington Transit website, nothing has 01:51:35.914 --> 01:51:43.042 - changed with this route. So there's nothing new or nefarious or anything with that. It's the same route. 01:51:43.042 --> 01:51:49.898 - Bloomington Transit dot com and I believe it is route 13 that it is. And again, thankful as a mom of 01:51:49.898 --> 01:51:51.934 - a child who goes to Ivy Tech. 01:51:52.098 --> 01:51:58.715 - This is another thing if she doesn't have her parents car that she could go to one of these stops in 01:51:58.715 --> 01:52:05.659 - and going over to the west side. So I'll go to Councilor Decker and then I'll circle back to the auditor. 01:52:05.659 --> 01:52:12.407 - I appreciate the opportunity to bring us back to the public good and talk about this route. And I just 01:52:12.407 --> 01:52:18.238 - want to note this is the second year of this route and this is a one year appropriation. 01:52:18.594 --> 01:52:25.402 - for this, so let's take this. If we were taking, let's say we're downtown at our transit center, and 01:52:25.402 --> 01:52:32.209 - I'm not able to share my screen because I'm not hooked up for that, but if someone on the bench over 01:52:32.209 --> 01:52:39.286 - there wants to do it, it's fine, I'll walk you through it. So this route departs from the transit center 01:52:39.286 --> 01:52:46.296 - and it goes to Walnut Street and 14th Street here in Bloomington. It then goes to its next stop at Will 01:52:46.296 --> 01:52:48.318 - Detmer Park before heading on 01:52:48.610 --> 01:52:55.414 - past that to Ivy Tech, which is located on the west side, of course. It goes then to Simtra at Curry 01:52:55.414 --> 01:53:02.286 - Pike, an employer that we've worked with here a couple of times, I think, at least, then on to Garden 01:53:02.286 --> 01:53:09.091 - Hill at Vernal Pike, then goes to 17th Street and Lismore Drive before heading to College Avenue and 01:53:09.091 --> 01:53:16.097 - 11th Street and then back at the Transit Center. Now, if there's any change to that, Transit would need 01:53:16.097 --> 01:53:17.310 - to speak to that. 01:53:17.538 --> 01:53:24.141 - I'd heard some rumblings about some tightening on it, but that is literally the route. I saw the Ivy 01:53:24.141 --> 01:53:30.743 - Tech Chancellor today. He wanted to encourage this council to support this. My understanding is that 01:53:30.743 --> 01:53:37.542 - some of the life sciences employers also are greatly concerned about it. And I've spent the better part 01:53:37.542 --> 01:53:44.079 - of two to three weeks trying to calm fears on that. And I would really urge all counselors in their 01:53:44.079 --> 01:53:46.302 - dialogue and in their discussions 01:53:46.562 --> 01:53:52.851 - about this issue and a lot of others, let's try to return maybe, maybe, I don't know, maybe it's not 01:53:52.851 --> 01:53:59.141 - time, but to calming the public around resources and trying to direct them to them with information. 01:53:59.141 --> 01:54:05.492 - And so this one is, this area is well known, there's more TIFs out there than you could shake a stick 01:54:05.492 --> 01:54:11.782 - at, and the focus of this county has been off and on for 20 years there. Some of us think we need to 01:54:11.782 --> 01:54:13.214 - get back to that area. 01:54:17.602 --> 01:54:25.835 - Thank you. Ms. Gregory? President Crosley, you once again covered my notes, so thank you. Sorry. 01:54:25.835 --> 01:54:34.662 - All right. Any other? Yes, Councillor Henry. Thank you. I guess the question I have then moving forward 01:54:34.662 --> 01:54:43.998 - is so the cost model for Bloomington 13 moving forward is going to be 100% funding, I guess, for this fiscal. 01:54:44.258 --> 01:54:51.512 - this council were asked to consider reviving, like if I were in the town of Ellsville right now and 01:54:51.512 --> 01:54:58.984 - I wasn't calm but concerned that we didn't have that offer of 100% funding, are we pursuing other cost 01:54:58.984 --> 01:55:06.383 - models for other modes of transit, urban to urban, urban to rural, outside of the city limit? Now I'm 01:55:06.383 --> 01:55:10.590 - asking it to the ether, but if Ms. Purdy, is it still on, 01:55:10.946 --> 01:55:18.329 - I mean, what prevents us from reconsidering funding rural transit at the same 100% that's being asked 01:55:18.329 --> 01:55:25.857 - to do here out of economic development? Do you see any obstacle to that? Well, the fact that they don't 01:55:25.857 --> 01:55:33.530 - need it because they're being funded from INDOT. Sure. And they negate that need. So after rural transit, 01:55:33.530 --> 01:55:38.814 - Eltsville couldn't afford the match. They went to attempted legislation. 01:55:38.914 --> 01:55:44.922 - And then got a grant from the state so they couldn't rely on their home county in the same generous 01:55:44.922 --> 01:55:48.286 - way. So my concern is equity across the county for for. 01:55:48.418 --> 01:55:53.799 - transit outside of limits. And this is why, again, I think it's a competence question, and I get calm 01:55:53.799 --> 01:55:59.180 - when I know things are working well. And so I think our community deserves that conversation, that we 01:55:59.180 --> 01:56:04.930 - can handle the big boy conversations of this table, frankly. But my concern here is that we have a community 01:56:04.930 --> 01:56:10.258 - that was told one thing two years ago about how to fund transit, and we are working on this solution 01:56:10.258 --> 01:56:15.533 - here. And of course, again, I'm very much for keeping the Ivy Tech line running. I'm just trying to 01:56:15.533 --> 01:56:17.854 - work on how we get to a place where there's 01:56:18.466 --> 01:56:24.162 - consistency in how we're doing county transit. So I guess I'll just come back to the question. We're 01:56:24.162 --> 01:56:29.802 - considering fully funding one route. We've tried other models in the past two years to fund transit 01:56:29.802 --> 01:56:35.555 - outside of the city of Bloomington or Bloomington to Ellsville. Would the commissioners be open to an 01:56:35.555 --> 01:56:41.534 - opportunity to revisit funding other transit once that grant runs out in Ellsville next year? Definitely, 01:56:41.534 --> 01:56:47.230 - I think that they would have that conversation about what the need would be for Ellsville next year. 01:56:47.426 --> 01:56:58.079 - But at this point in time, they don't have the need this year. And then I would like to note that the 01:56:58.079 --> 01:57:08.627 - county did, through ARPA funds, support the rural transit, urban to urban route through ARPA solely. 01:57:08.627 --> 01:57:15.102 - And initially, the town of Bellisville did do some assistance 01:57:15.586 --> 01:57:23.808 - But then they elected, I believe, not to follow up with that the following year and maybe losing track 01:57:23.808 --> 01:57:31.949 - of time. But I do want to note that this county has funded that urban to urban route of rural transit 01:57:31.949 --> 01:57:38.814 - up until this point when it was made known to us that they did not need that funding. 01:57:39.042 --> 01:57:44.510 - It's possible that, you know, in 23, we weren't using edit for those types of things. Now that edits 01:57:44.510 --> 01:57:50.032 - on the table is a resource that maybe there's a whole new opportunity to reimagine what rural transit 01:57:50.032 --> 01:57:55.608 - is for economic development in the county. I'd be very open to discussing that as other parties in the 01:57:55.608 --> 01:58:00.318 - county see an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Bloomington Transit today. So. 01:58:01.122 --> 01:58:08.619 - Thank you, Madam President. I would recommend having a conversation with Chris Myers because the rural 01:58:08.619 --> 01:58:16.044 - transit, the only part that's not funded is the urban to urban. They do have their 5311 and the other 01:58:16.044 --> 01:58:23.396 - one granting that they get from INDOT every year that provides the rural transit routes. If you want 01:58:23.396 --> 01:58:30.238 - to expand that, I think that would be a conversation that you should have with rural transit. 01:58:30.594 --> 01:58:37.853 - My conversation derives from the town of Elksville Town Council, but thank you for that anyway. 01:58:37.853 --> 01:58:45.415 - Thank you, Madam President. Okay, all right. Miss Purdy, did you have something else to add to that 01:58:45.415 --> 01:58:53.280 - or? No. Okay. All right. All right. I think we are going to move on a public comment now. So if there's 01:58:53.280 --> 01:58:59.934 - public comment. Oh, I'm so sorry. Okay. I'm so sorry. We need to vote on the amendment. 01:59:01.282 --> 01:59:08.943 - And then we can come back for the overall. Okay. All right. So let's vote on the amendment first and 01:59:08.943 --> 01:59:16.604 - then I'll come back to that here. Okay. Okay. So this is on the amendment to lower the appropriation 01:59:16.604 --> 01:59:24.265 - amount from one hundred and ninety five thousand to one hundred eighty four thousand one hundred and 01:59:24.265 --> 01:59:27.678 - four dollars. Correct. Councilor Wilts. Yes. 01:59:30.434 --> 01:59:41.004 - Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor Decker. Yes. Councillor Lee. Yes. Councillor Iverson. Yes. Councillor 01:59:41.004 --> 01:59:51.472 - Hock. Yes. Motion passes unanimous on the amendment. Okay. Thank you, Michelle, for reminding us about 01:59:51.472 --> 01:59:58.078 - that. And Councillor Decker. Just one thing that I would welcome 01:59:58.850 --> 02:00:05.916 - folks from transit or legal or really anyone to clarify if I say this incorrectly but my understanding 02:00:05.916 --> 02:00:12.777 - on this route is that while and this is from the original inception of it while that it that bus is 02:00:12.777 --> 02:00:19.294 - in the city that's not the portion that we're paying for correct so when when that transit bus 02:00:19.554 --> 02:00:27.414 - leaves the city and goes out into the county which is something a transit bus traditionally and by tradition 02:00:27.414 --> 02:00:34.841 - I mean historically all the time has not done that county that that transit bus is leaving that's what 02:00:34.841 --> 02:00:42.340 - we're paying for friends and so I don't I appreciate counselor Henry's commitment to opening up transit 02:00:42.340 --> 02:00:48.830 - discussions with Elton I will join you in that I'm sure along with most of the folks here 02:00:49.474 --> 02:00:57.589 - but we're only picking up that bus going out into the county as the constituents, industries, economic 02:00:57.589 --> 02:01:05.547 - development leaders have demanded of us, not to mention the residents, for about 20 years or so I've 02:01:05.547 --> 02:01:14.686 - heard this. So I want that to be out there because I don't want there to be a myth that transit's getting something 02:01:15.010 --> 02:01:25.113 - that we couldn't enter into a discussion with Elstville as well as we did with rural transit when we 02:01:25.113 --> 02:01:35.416 - made several trips out there to keep that going when that service was threatened from loss. All right. 02:01:35.416 --> 02:01:44.318 - Yes, Councillor Hawke. Before we vote on the final issue, just as a matter of curiosity, 02:01:44.898 --> 02:01:53.152 - Where are the county commissioners? I mean, it says here that the council is requesting this on behalf 02:01:53.152 --> 02:02:01.406 - of the commissioners, on behalf of the board of commissioners. The county council office is requesting 02:02:01.406 --> 02:02:09.580 - this. Well, I guess they just don't have enough to do and or maybe they have too much to do and can't 02:02:09.580 --> 02:02:10.622 - be bothered. 02:02:12.450 --> 02:02:19.489 - but this is kind of a big issue and I think they can reset through this meeting. I'd like to address 02:02:19.489 --> 02:02:26.947 - that. Yes, Ms. Purdy. Yeah, thank you. The reason it was done that way is my understanding is that Council 02:02:26.947 --> 02:02:34.195 - Member Deckard brought it up during a council meeting the need to have the appropriation put into place 02:02:34.195 --> 02:02:41.374 - and as a result of that Ms. Schell did the agenda request and things of that nature. The commissioners 02:02:42.050 --> 02:02:50.605 - Once they have the appropriation, we'll sign an interlocal agreement, which I believe is on their agenda 02:02:50.605 --> 02:02:58.834 - for Thursday. Okay, there's a major confusion here from somebody. This council does not put together 02:02:58.834 --> 02:03:07.308 - an appropriation request from any other budget than from our own budget. That's the way it works. Don't 02:03:07.308 --> 02:03:09.182 - do this again, period. 02:03:10.402 --> 02:03:18.072 - There's ways it's supposed to work. We don't put in an appropriation request from us that the money 02:03:18.072 --> 02:03:25.741 - is coming out of some other fund. We just don't do it. It's not the way it works. No wonder I had a 02:03:25.741 --> 02:03:33.794 - question. OK. So at this time, I'm going to move on to public comment. And so if there's public comment, 02:03:33.794 --> 02:03:36.862 - you can please raise your hand and come 02:03:37.730 --> 02:03:48.767 - Raise your hand via teams, or you can come forward to the lectern here. And seeing that no one is left 02:03:48.767 --> 02:03:59.590 - here in the room and no hands are raised, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Henry? Yes. 02:03:59.590 --> 02:04:07.198 - Decker? Yes. Councilor Cross? Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? 02:04:07.490 --> 02:04:18.955 - Yes, sir. Hawk. Yes, sir. Well, motion passes unanimous. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 02:04:18.955 --> 02:04:26.334 - All right. All right. Next up is item 10. Oh, no. Sorry. Item K. 02:04:26.754 --> 02:04:33.128 - Council, I move to amend the twenty twenty six salary ordinance at account line one seven eight zero 02:04:33.128 --> 02:04:39.692 - one part time hourly to fund one thousand dash zero zero zero seven county general coroner with a range 02:04:39.692 --> 02:04:46.507 - rate of fourteen dollars to thirty five dollars seventy two cents hourly with an effective date of February 02:04:46.507 --> 02:04:52.945 - the eighth twenty twenty six. Second. All right, Michelle, I notice we are looking to you because the 02:04:52.945 --> 02:04:54.270 - coroner is not here. 02:04:54.530 --> 02:05:03.525 - Correct. This is a housekeeping item with regards to you approved the corner having a part time hourly 02:05:03.525 --> 02:05:09.726 - person within our salary ordinance. We normally have part time hourly. 02:05:10.146 --> 02:05:17.081 - lines already established but with his department he's never had this before and so this was missed 02:05:17.081 --> 02:05:24.363 - when the request came to add this to the budget. So this is just to allow him to have this in the salary 02:05:24.363 --> 02:05:31.853 - ordinance so we can pay that part-time hourly person out of the budget. All right any questions or comments 02:05:31.853 --> 02:05:33.726 - for Michelle on this item? 02:05:40.002 --> 02:05:50.014 - Seeing none. We'll move on to public comment. So if there's public comment you can come forward to the 02:05:50.014 --> 02:05:59.734 - lectern here in the room or you can raise your hand via teams. And seeing none. Maybe please have a 02:05:59.734 --> 02:06:08.094 - roll call vote. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Eikerson? Yes. 02:06:09.634 --> 02:06:18.448 - Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Crosley? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. 02:06:18.448 --> 02:06:28.087 - Thank you. All right. Next up is now item 10. Council, I move to open a discussion of the hiring freeze. 02:06:28.087 --> 02:06:36.350 - Second. Okay. I want to look at Michelle for this item because we all in front of us have 02:06:36.802 --> 02:06:45.677 - a very colorful chart and I'm sure she's gonna display it on the screen here momentarily. Right, so 02:06:45.677 --> 02:06:54.906 - I was tasked, requested to put together a summary of the duration of positions that are out there, that 02:06:54.906 --> 02:07:04.136 - are vacant, that have been gone through the hiring freeze and that kind of thing. So I'm gonna go ahead 02:07:04.136 --> 02:07:05.822 - and put it on the, 02:07:06.530 --> 02:07:19.060 - display I Gave it to you a copy because I know it's going to be kind of tiny and hard to see all the 02:07:19.060 --> 02:07:32.830 - way across as well, so The hiring freeze was established and approved by the council on September the 30th and 02:07:36.322 --> 02:07:48.894 - And so I had to have a starting date with regards to the like where to start with. So I did a September 02:07:48.894 --> 02:08:01.225 - 1st date and so this is a reflection of what I received from the HR department of any terminations as 02:08:01.225 --> 02:08:06.302 - of September 1st as well as any new hires 02:08:06.658 --> 02:08:20.060 - as for September 1st. And so you see that we have several departments that have come to council, requested 02:08:20.060 --> 02:08:33.086 - a position, and then I gave you a duration of how long that that position was vacant. So on some of it, 02:08:33.218 --> 02:08:42.576 - You can see here at the very beginning, for example, the auditor's office had the internal auditor. 02:08:42.576 --> 02:08:52.307 - It was vacant for three months and 24 days. And this is with regards to it was filled in-house. So when 02:08:52.307 --> 02:09:00.542 - someone slid into that position and finally took it over, it was three months, 24 days. 02:09:00.706 --> 02:09:10.996 - There's some others down here where the TSD had come in and asked for a support technician and it was 02:09:10.996 --> 02:09:21.589 - for a full-time position. That position, when it was finally the person terminated in September, council 02:09:21.589 --> 02:09:29.054 - approved it in October the 8th, that position was only vacant seven days. 02:09:30.274 --> 02:09:38.177 - Um, we have another one that was, you know, that was well over a year and that was in the health department. 02:09:38.177 --> 02:09:45.862 - Um, so another one that was less than 30 days, um, is, was one of the mechanics in the highway and where, 02:09:45.862 --> 02:09:53.184 - um, with regards to Lisa Ridge is always real good as soon as some, she knows somebody's going to be 02:09:53.184 --> 02:09:53.982 - moving on. 02:09:54.146 --> 02:10:04.133 - She's here and asking. So those two positions, one was 11 days, another one was 10 days. The majority 02:10:04.133 --> 02:10:13.923 - of everyone that you have approved thus far has been at least a month or more. So like I said, I've 02:10:13.923 --> 02:10:21.854 - highlighted there, there's only three of them where they were less than 30 days. 02:10:23.362 --> 02:10:31.331 - This is just kind of giving you an idea. This is where we're at. Does it capture every vacant position? 02:10:31.331 --> 02:10:39.147 - No, because I started with September, which was when we put this hiring freeze into that. So is there 02:10:39.147 --> 02:10:47.269 - any questions with regards to this? Yes, Councilor Iverson. Kim Schell, as you were putting this together 02:10:47.269 --> 02:10:53.246 - and as we're trying to answer the question of, is this hiring freeze working? 02:10:54.562 --> 02:11:04.125 - Which columns are you looking at to help answer that question? I'm looking at where it would be columns 02:11:04.125 --> 02:11:13.687 - J and K. Why? Well, maybe just this whole section right here. Because you're going to see the date that 02:11:13.687 --> 02:11:22.974 - was terminated and the dates that they were filled. You can see where we have several still that are 02:11:23.266 --> 02:11:38.758 - still vacant. If they have not, like this one right here, which is a clerk's position, it was vacated 02:11:38.758 --> 02:11:49.086 - back in August, and then it was approved to be filled in September. 02:11:52.354 --> 02:12:01.783 - Let's throw one, sorry. It was the front counter clerk. That one was vacated in October. You chose as 02:12:01.783 --> 02:12:10.380 - a council to deny this, and it's still vacant. So there are, you know, several that we have. 02:12:10.380 --> 02:12:20.734 - What is it? Did we come up with 17, I think, on this that are still vacant? Departments are not, I want to say. 02:12:21.154 --> 02:12:30.141 - Not all departments are rushing here to get things filled. So and like I said this is just a snapshot 02:12:30.141 --> 02:12:39.305 - of from September on. So I guess to put a finer point on this that the hiring freeze is working in that 02:12:39.305 --> 02:12:48.292 - vacancies are not being filled quickly or immediately and that and that is giving folks at least this 02:12:48.292 --> 02:12:50.142 - council some idea of 02:12:50.370 --> 02:13:00.106 - of where we are not having to fill these positions quite as quickly as we otherwise would have? Yes. 02:13:00.106 --> 02:13:09.843 - And the ones that are vacant are generally the full-time. What we're seeing vacant are the full-time 02:13:09.843 --> 02:13:20.350 - positions. I don't have time right at this moment to go and do a deep dive with regards to part-time hourly. 02:13:21.794 --> 02:13:29.478 - you know, because that's a whole different animal because people do tend to come and go a lot with the 02:13:29.478 --> 02:13:37.385 - part-time hourly. So I concentrated mostly on the full-time where I think you're going to see the biggest 02:13:37.385 --> 02:13:44.994 - impact with regards to, you know, are we saving money? And I think that's what you guys wanted to see 02:13:44.994 --> 02:13:49.470 - was, you know, people need to, you know, reallocate duties. 02:13:49.922 --> 02:13:56.215 - with regards to, you know, these positions or, you know, just leave it vacant so that, you know, can 02:13:56.215 --> 02:14:02.633 - you live without this position? Because I know that you guys are going to be, you know, having to make 02:14:02.633 --> 02:14:08.988 - hard decisions later on. So with regards to positions. And, Madam President, let me just conclude. As 02:14:08.988 --> 02:14:15.780 - PAC President, I know we're not meeting right now, but if you had asked me if there were this many vacancies 02:14:15.780 --> 02:14:19.518 - still, I would have not guessed it was this many. So, yeah. 02:14:20.002 --> 02:14:27.637 - Hi, I'm the problem. It's me. I was the one that made the comment at one of the meetings about maybe 02:14:27.637 --> 02:14:35.953 - this isn't freezing like we thought it was. And so this gives a clearer picture with the full-time vacancies. 02:14:35.953 --> 02:14:37.918 - It just feels like a lot. 02:14:38.082 --> 02:14:45.103 - Um, you know, because every agenda now, um, because of that pack pause, uh, we are having consistent 02:14:45.103 --> 02:14:52.124 - requests. However, I will say I appreciate, um, once again, like the court reporters that were going 02:14:52.124 --> 02:14:59.422 - down into the full-time and the part-time, um, and it looks like departments are trying to really figure 02:14:59.422 --> 02:15:07.486 - out what they need versus what they, you know, could manage before coming to the council for those particular asks. 02:15:08.930 --> 02:15:18.506 - So any other questions or comments on this? So thank you, Michelle, for giving us an opportunity to 02:15:18.506 --> 02:15:28.466 - take a look at it. And my question is, do you want me to continue keeping this updated and maybe report 02:15:28.466 --> 02:15:36.510 - back again in like another three months or so where we're at? Along that same line, 02:15:38.306 --> 02:15:49.617 - up with a form that I hope will help you with regards to the hiring freeze. As we've gone through this, 02:15:49.617 --> 02:16:00.602 - we have, and I say we loosely, the council has been asking certain questions and this kind of thing. 02:16:00.602 --> 02:16:07.454 - So we don't technically have a request form for hiring freeze. 02:16:08.130 --> 02:16:15.208 - what the departments are doing is they send in an email to the council office saying, hey, you know, 02:16:15.208 --> 02:16:22.497 - we have this position. So I've come up with this form to maybe help facilitate some of those questions. 02:16:22.497 --> 02:16:29.575 - So the department will fill this out. It's going to, you know, ask what is the position, what is the 02:16:29.575 --> 02:16:35.742 - status if it's a full or a part-time kind of thing. They will ask, you know, is this a, 02:16:35.842 --> 02:16:42.475 - Permanent part-time is a comment with the classifications, how many hours per week, and then the fund 02:16:42.475 --> 02:16:49.043 - and that kind of thing. And then give a brief narrative with that. So then also with that, I thought 02:16:49.043 --> 02:16:55.740 - these are the questions that you have asked several times is like, when will this position be vacated? 02:16:55.740 --> 02:17:01.983 - So that would be one of the questions. Requested effective date for this position to be filled. 02:17:01.983 --> 02:17:03.934 - You're always, you're asking, 02:17:04.226 --> 02:17:10.354 - Can you hold off as long as possible? And if this is not a permanent part-time position, which we have 02:17:10.354 --> 02:17:16.483 - run into, what is the duration timeline for this position? So if it's a seasonal, what are you looking 02:17:16.483 --> 02:17:19.934 - at? If it's temporary part-time, what are you looking at? 02:17:20.578 --> 02:17:27.627 - Do you anticipate a period of cross-training? This has come up a couple times. If yes, how long is that 02:17:27.627 --> 02:17:34.811 - cross-training going to last? Is this a grant-funded position? That's been asked a few times by different 02:17:34.811 --> 02:17:41.182 - counselors. Yes or no. Does the grant cover self-insurance? Okay. If no, what fund will cover 02:17:41.182 --> 02:17:47.824 - the self-insurance? Have you attempted to distribute these duties among current office personnel? 02:17:47.824 --> 02:17:49.790 - Yes or no. That has come up. 02:17:49.922 --> 02:17:56.543 - Could you utilize part-time personnel to cover these duties? That one I just recently added because 02:17:56.543 --> 02:18:03.561 - we had one department come in. They have a full-time position, but they chose to fill it with a part-time 02:18:03.561 --> 02:18:10.182 - position instead. So also, do you have a part-time hourly line in your budget? This is just to make 02:18:10.182 --> 02:18:16.869 - sure that we're covering all our bases. Do you have a part-time hourly line in the salary ordinance? 02:18:16.869 --> 02:18:18.590 - And then the last one is, 02:18:19.042 --> 02:18:26.689 - If this is approved or with regards to part-time hourly and this kind of stuff, can in-house or category 02:18:26.689 --> 02:18:34.118 - transfers supply the appropriation if needed? If you guys think of any other questions that you would 02:18:34.118 --> 02:18:41.474 - like to see on this, I would like to start utilizing this, but this was just what I've seen you guys 02:18:41.474 --> 02:18:46.718 - have asked several times over the course of this hiring freeze process. 02:18:46.882 --> 02:18:54.788 - This is something I would like to start using when those requests come in. So I, to help you along in 02:18:54.788 --> 02:19:02.617 - the meetings. Hopefully, you know, answer some questions before we get to this point in the meeting. 02:19:02.617 --> 02:19:10.601 - I saw some hands down to the left, so I will go to Councilor Pfeiffer and we'll see. So, I don't know, 02:19:10.601 --> 02:19:14.942 - can we go back to the other chart that you already did? 02:19:16.226 --> 02:19:22.801 - I'd be interested if there's a way to figure out how much we have saved. Is that data available somehow? 02:19:22.801 --> 02:19:29.125 - How would we figure that out? That would probably have to come from HR to see, we would have to know 02:19:29.125 --> 02:19:35.637 - what classification or level that person was at and where the, and the new ones are mostly, unless it's 02:19:35.637 --> 02:19:42.211 - a transfer, will be, you know, at the minimum. So yeah, I mean, that would take me, or maybe HR a little 02:19:42.211 --> 02:19:45.342 - bit to do, you know. The auditor has her hand up. 02:19:45.794 --> 02:19:51.906 - Yeah, I believe you had the account lines noted. I think what I could do is pull one of those reports 02:19:51.906 --> 02:19:58.137 - that say, like, percents unused, which would give us an idea. And that's fairly simple. And I'm willing 02:19:58.137 --> 02:20:04.189 - to do that for you. I would like that very much. Thank you. Sure. Of course. And by the way, this is 02:20:04.189 --> 02:20:10.480 - really good. I like efficiencies, and this will help. OK. Dream work makes the dream work. OK. Councilor 02:20:10.480 --> 02:20:14.974 - Wilts. I need to pass because I got distracted. I had something in my eye. 02:20:15.266 --> 02:20:27.185 - Okay, anybody else have any other questions or comments on this item? You still need to pass council 02:20:27.185 --> 02:20:40.638 - will tour. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Okay. It's beautiful. Thanks for providing it. Okay. Oh, sorry, Councillor Hawk. 02:20:41.186 --> 02:20:50.490 - Right, as hearing this reviewed, I do think one of the biggest things we have to look at, because we 02:20:50.490 --> 02:21:00.439 - saw how we struggled, how we were going to pay for that huge increase in health costs. And so this business 02:21:00.439 --> 02:21:08.638 - is this position covered with insurance, with what we call county general, or elsewhere. 02:21:08.738 --> 02:21:17.002 - I think that there needs to be and should be available a list of how many positions that we have that 02:21:17.002 --> 02:21:25.428 - are grant funded or funded in some other way other than local property tax that we are actually picking 02:21:25.428 --> 02:21:33.611 - up the expenses of the health, whether we moved it to economic development, whatever it was, because 02:21:33.611 --> 02:21:37.662 - that was a gigantic increase in our expenditures. 02:21:38.146 --> 02:21:46.711 - If there's been a report such as that, I guess I missed it. And I would like to see it if there is one 02:21:46.711 --> 02:21:55.443 - that says this is how many grant positions we have and how many. And for some people to say, well, we're 02:21:55.443 --> 02:21:59.518 - not allowed and Monroe County must pay for this. 02:21:59.746 --> 02:22:06.984 - Must because there's not enough room in the grant or must because the state says or whoever's giving 02:22:06.984 --> 02:22:14.509 - us this grant says you cannot pay any benefits out of this. No insurance, nothing. And if they say that, 02:22:14.509 --> 02:22:21.675 - then show me. Show me what says that in grant. Don't expect us to just here say I'm going to see it 02:22:21.675 --> 02:22:24.542 - in the grant that says you can't do it. 02:22:25.378 --> 02:22:32.956 - because I'm just saying if you've got X dollars in a grant, then you reduce some of your other expenses 02:22:32.956 --> 02:22:40.462 - in some way and cover that health insurance in that grant. Because every time you're looking at around 02:22:40.462 --> 02:22:48.040 - at another county employee whose job may not be able to be funded if we keep going down a track we were 02:22:48.040 --> 02:22:51.902 - going, we need to make sure we're being responsible. 02:22:52.034 --> 02:22:59.471 - with these dollars. And of course, we really don't know where we are until we get all of the updates 02:22:59.471 --> 02:23:06.909 - on that DLGF bill and any other bills that were all of that last minute stuff. Didn't I say when FSG 02:23:06.909 --> 02:23:14.346 - was here before, we're not at the finish line yet and we weren't. So we've got a lot that we have to 02:23:14.346 --> 02:23:21.342 - go through. I understand. All right. Is there anybody else that has any questions or comments? 02:23:22.818 --> 02:23:32.964 - All right. And I'm looking for some. OK, so again, thank you, Michelle, for putting that together and 02:23:32.964 --> 02:23:43.308 - helping us get a clearer view of what that all entails here. And. OK, I was looking for something else, 02:23:43.308 --> 02:23:47.486 - but I realize we are at item 11, which is 02:23:47.810 --> 02:23:56.543 - council ladies on updates and comments. So I am going to start over to my left here. And I know Councillor 02:23:56.543 --> 02:24:04.869 - Fiddle already has her paper out and I saw her at another event this past weekend and I'm sure she'll 02:24:04.869 --> 02:24:13.194 - make comment about that. So proceed. Okay. So my update is the things that I think were important and 02:24:13.194 --> 02:24:17.438 - relevant to our work here and things that I thought 02:24:18.082 --> 02:24:24.610 - were worth reporting on that I've done since we last met here. So did the beam signing event at the 02:24:24.610 --> 02:24:31.137 - Convention Center, which I thought was just lovely. There were several of us there for that. And so 02:24:31.137 --> 02:24:37.991 - that will be visible. I think somehow I haven't quite figured that all out yet, but I guess we'll figure 02:24:37.991 --> 02:24:44.062 - that out when they get the whole building put together. County Fair Association met recently 02:24:44.162 --> 02:24:50.544 - And I just wanted to highlight that they did work with the Red Cross and Monroe County Emergency Management 02:24:50.544 --> 02:24:56.926 - Services about the most recent tornado. So I thought that was worth mentioning right now. They're currently 02:24:56.926 --> 02:25:02.895 - looking for fair sponsors for this year and announced that they received their county appropriations 02:25:02.895 --> 02:25:05.022 - for this year and are appreciative. 02:25:06.402 --> 02:25:13.694 - I've been going to the Ellisville, almost all of them, if not at least listen to the Ellisville Richland 02:25:13.694 --> 02:25:20.778 - reorganization meetings. And at the last one on March 4th, numerous citizens had questions. So it was 02:25:20.778 --> 02:25:27.792 - good to see people coming forward and giving their concerns and getting things clarified right there 02:25:27.792 --> 02:25:34.737 - in person. I like that. The five subcommittees that were put together, they had given their reports 02:25:34.737 --> 02:25:36.126 - about their finding 02:25:36.418 --> 02:25:43.587 - One of them was finance. One was planning and zoning one parks, wrecks and cemeteries. One was public 02:25:43.587 --> 02:25:50.755 - safety. One was local governance and all of those reports now are on the Ellisville Richland info.org 02:25:50.755 --> 02:25:57.854 - subcommittee draft report section. I'm going to be meeting weekly now on Wednesdays at six until the 02:25:57.854 --> 02:26:01.438 - end of May or June when the public hearings begin. 02:26:02.690 --> 02:26:10.967 - I went to the fire protection territory meetings. They're having a series of three of those I went on 02:26:10.967 --> 02:26:19.325 - February 18th, but the 25th of February and March 11th are all the same as the 18th or 25th So they're 02:26:19.325 --> 02:26:28.414 - all three the same so you don't need to go to all three there. It's gonna be at 7 March 5th I attended the BEDC 02:26:28.834 --> 02:26:38.130 - annual meeting, and there were 115 members. They have 115 members now, and 54 are sponsors, 54 are general, 02:26:38.130 --> 02:26:46.823 - and their special membership are seven. And the annual meeting drew 160 attendees, so more than just 02:26:46.823 --> 02:26:53.278 - the membership, so that was good to see. The facial meeting met, did that. 02:26:54.050 --> 02:27:01.092 - And then the other thing I think that I was really impressed with that I attended was the IU Health 02:27:01.092 --> 02:27:08.346 - Open House for Electeds, which others attended as well on Miller Drive. A whole host of services there 02:27:08.346 --> 02:27:15.529 - that I think are worth repeating and mentioning, including car seat fitting, which is free, cribs for 02:27:15.529 --> 02:27:19.262 - kids, which is free. They do outreach on things like 02:27:19.490 --> 02:27:26.273 - blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular, and those are on Monday and Tuesday, 8 to 4.30. The Safe Sister 02:27:26.273 --> 02:27:33.184 - classes for young teens, grades six through eight happens. The Stop the Bleed is a free training workplace. 02:27:33.184 --> 02:27:39.583 - You can have that done in your workplace or a collaborative organization. They also do vaccinations 02:27:39.583 --> 02:27:45.982 - and safe sleep, and I think that they do more things, but those are the things that really stuck in 02:27:45.982 --> 02:27:47.902 - my mind and I made a note of. 02:27:48.322 --> 02:27:59.254 - The other thing they handed out at that event was a chart, or actually a handout, which highlighted 02:27:59.254 --> 02:28:10.951 - the community benefit that IO Health does in this area. And it's a total of $55,656,698. And that includes 02:28:10.951 --> 02:28:15.870 - financial assistance, unreimbursed Medicaid, 02:28:16.450 --> 02:28:25.143 - community health improvement services, community benefit operations, health professions, subsidized 02:28:25.143 --> 02:28:34.183 - health services, community building activities and unreimbursed Medicare as well as bad debt. So that's 02:28:34.183 --> 02:28:43.398 - occupying my time. Thank you. Councillor Williams. Thank you. As usual I cannot compete with my neighbor. 02:28:43.398 --> 02:28:45.310 - But I have been busy. 02:28:45.698 --> 02:28:55.006 - this weekend. I attended the Soil and Water Conservation District annual meeting. Several of my colleagues 02:28:55.006 --> 02:29:04.226 - were there. Councilor Iverson and Councilor Deckard specifically. It was a raucous good time as it always 02:29:04.226 --> 02:29:10.750 - is. It was out at the fairgrounds and we heard about all the good work and 02:29:10.914 --> 02:29:19.735 - Projects going on throughout the county and this is the same organization or one of the organizations 02:29:19.735 --> 02:29:28.382 - that our parks department referred to tonight in terms of collaboration and Providing free services 02:29:28.382 --> 02:29:37.635 - because soil and water conservation districts are landowner connectors to federal funding for conservation 02:29:37.635 --> 02:29:38.846 - practices, so 02:29:39.522 --> 02:29:49.511 - Close to my heart, but also nice to see all the work going on with the government and with our landowners. 02:29:49.511 --> 02:29:58.940 - Another thing that we did, I also attended the open house portion of the IU health clinic, community 02:29:58.940 --> 02:30:07.902 - health clinic and learned a lot. I won't go into that because you covered that level very well. 02:30:08.098 --> 02:30:16.935 - I did want to say that we received, all of us on council have received an email from Mary Morgan of 02:30:16.935 --> 02:30:26.125 - heading home referring to the beginning of our meeting. So I just wanted to pass along some information 02:30:26.125 --> 02:30:34.962 - from her saying that they have indeed been working with the landlord there for those apartments at, 02:30:34.962 --> 02:30:37.790 - is it called, what's it called? 02:30:38.306 --> 02:30:48.247 - Seminary Point, yes. And they are standing ready to help in any way that they can. There are resources 02:30:48.247 --> 02:30:58.091 - listed on the Heading Home Guide website, which is headinghomeguide.org. And if you don't have access 02:30:58.091 --> 02:31:01.566 - to a computer, you can always call. 02:31:02.210 --> 02:31:14.247 - to ask for some assistance and that number is 812-955-0538. But yes, they are involved and heading home 02:31:14.247 --> 02:31:26.052 - is a great resource for anyone who is concerned about their housing stability. So hopefully folks can 02:31:26.052 --> 02:31:30.334 - be connected with resources and have 02:31:30.434 --> 02:31:39.988 - alternatives as we work from the opposite side on these same things. Speaking of heading home, they're 02:31:39.988 --> 02:31:50.099 - having a housing summit in this community on April 14th and it's gonna be a day long event at the convention 02:31:50.099 --> 02:31:59.838 - center with lots of different sessions across various sectors all working in various aspects of housing. 02:31:59.970 --> 02:32:11.017 - And I would encourage anyone interested in housing solutions in our community to attend. And that again 02:32:11.017 --> 02:32:21.746 - is April 14th. And I'm sure they have information on the Heading Home website. The last thing I want 02:32:21.746 --> 02:32:29.182 - to say is that Perry Township precincts have been doing meetings that 02:32:29.698 --> 02:32:37.915 - I'm going to be speaking at one of them coming up here. And I didn't even know they were going on. So 02:32:37.915 --> 02:32:45.972 - I'm learning more about it. But they're at the Southwest branch of the library. And I would love to 02:32:45.972 --> 02:32:54.431 - tell you when the next one is. I believe it is March 10th. But I'd love it if somebody wanted to correct 02:32:54.431 --> 02:32:58.942 - me. Well, that's today. That's today? Yeah. April 12th. 02:32:59.842 --> 02:33:08.515 - I don't even know what time of day it is. I'm sorry. I don't have much information on that, but I thought 02:33:08.515 --> 02:33:16.778 - it was really cool that they were doing informational meetings to focus in on people at that kind of 02:33:16.778 --> 02:33:25.123 - like that that township level. So I'm interested to go just to hear what what they want and what they 02:33:25.123 --> 02:33:28.478 - want to talk about. So that's all I got. 02:33:29.954 --> 02:33:37.824 - Thank you. Councilor Decker. Thank you very much. I'm trying to keep up with the first two reports here, 02:33:37.824 --> 02:33:45.619 - and I may add a little bit to some of those. But first, I just want to start and congratulate Vam Buren 02:33:45.619 --> 02:33:53.489 - Township Trustee Rita Barrow on a tremendous Saturday cleanup. I'm also losing track of dates, Councilor 02:33:53.489 --> 02:33:56.862 - Wilts, but my record is telling me the 28th. 02:33:56.962 --> 02:34:05.934 - the Saturday morning of the 28th, she had a tremendous cleanup, 125 people came out, and it was just 02:34:05.934 --> 02:34:15.084 - for as bad as our aftermath of the tornado has been, it was awesome to see neighbors and folks getting 02:34:15.084 --> 02:34:23.967 - together and assisting, and Rita was just absolutely masterful working with the COAD, Randy Rogers, 02:34:23.967 --> 02:34:25.566 - United Way there, 02:34:25.666 --> 02:34:34.912 - in making that happen. I also want to congratulate the city of Bloomington on a beautiful Black History 02:34:34.912 --> 02:34:44.158 - Month gala that concluded Black History Month. There is a video out there of sponsors accepting sponsor 02:34:44.610 --> 02:34:51.703 - designations and to do that, sponsors had to dance. There's a video out there somewhere of me dancing 02:34:51.703 --> 02:34:59.004 - up to accept it. If that gets loose, my heaven's in the community. I'm excited about Sophia Travis Grant 02:34:59.004 --> 02:35:06.028 - season. We have our new member that was added last meeting for us, Katie Hopkins, and she is already 02:35:06.028 --> 02:35:12.286 - hitting the ground running already with our other community member. And so I'm excited to 02:35:12.610 --> 02:35:19.353 - that we're just going to be doing this, and I'll let others say more on that. I also had a chance to 02:35:19.353 --> 02:35:26.429 - attend the IU Health Open House, and I'll add to that discussion, my gosh, the patients and the questions 02:35:26.429 --> 02:35:33.306 - we all were asking between Counselor Iverson, Counselor Feitel-Wilts, everybody. They asked tremendous 02:35:33.306 --> 02:35:36.510 - questions in the amount of care that was there. 02:35:36.642 --> 02:35:43.124 - Sometimes when these jobs get hard to hear that other people are also worried about the things we're 02:35:43.124 --> 02:35:50.056 - worried about and to give you a really good example of that I had an offer I don't know if other counselors 02:35:50.056 --> 02:35:56.730 - did but I have an opportunity to hold a baby or a simulation of a baby that was experiencing withdrawal 02:35:56.730 --> 02:35:58.014 - symptoms and it was 02:35:58.114 --> 02:36:03.268 - I said at the time I said if everyone in the county could hold this baby for a second there's a lot 02:36:03.268 --> 02:36:08.473 - of things we'd understand and I was really impressed with how the nurse the nursing and professional 02:36:08.473 --> 02:36:10.174 - staff that are walked us through 02:36:10.306 --> 02:36:16.451 - Now here's what's happening. This is what this means in a home. This is what this means. And it was 02:36:16.451 --> 02:36:22.780 - an eye on on experience in the community that I think really benefited all of us. I want to add to the 02:36:22.780 --> 02:36:29.171 - soil and water conservation annual meeting district discussion just to say I was very proud to be there 02:36:29.171 --> 02:36:33.534 - with other counselors and particularly I was very proud that this year 02:36:34.146 --> 02:36:41.672 - In addition to all the tremendous things that Martha and friends do there and the gathering of neighbors 02:36:41.672 --> 02:36:48.983 - that were there, they gave out the first annual Sheryl Munson Friendly Conservation Award. And it was 02:36:48.983 --> 02:36:56.437 - a beautiful opportunity to remember Sheryl, but also to honor Kevin McConnell, the recipient. And Kevin 02:36:56.437 --> 02:37:03.390 - McConnell has been involved in soil and water conservation efforts on that board of supervisors. 02:37:03.618 --> 02:37:10.096 - and working with Cheryl directly since at least 1987. And I had the privilege to present the award out 02:37:10.096 --> 02:37:16.511 - on behalf of the other counselors and Commissioner Madera that were there. What I didn't say was when 02:37:16.511 --> 02:37:22.990 - Kevin started that, I was 10. But as I was up there and thinking about that, that's a tremendous thing 02:37:22.990 --> 02:37:29.468 - that someone who loves the community has done that long. Some of us, we get mad an hour into a meeting 02:37:29.468 --> 02:37:31.166 - and we just don't go back. 02:37:31.362 --> 02:37:39.564 - Kevin has stuck it out over the years with us and Martha as well has been patient in all that. So a 02:37:39.564 --> 02:37:48.012 - lot happening, a lot going on. I'm starting to believe that March is the new April with activities and 02:37:48.012 --> 02:37:56.625 - various things, but here we go. Thank you. And I'm going to just roll on down the train here. All right. 02:37:56.625 --> 02:38:01.054 - Thank you, Madam President. I have five things today. 02:38:01.186 --> 02:38:09.517 - I wanted to note that at the soil and water meeting that has been discussed today, we talked a lot about 02:38:09.517 --> 02:38:17.531 - the agricultural benefits to the Indian economy. And I don't think that can be overstated that there 02:38:17.531 --> 02:38:25.783 - were a lot of cattle farmers in the room. And we're just so thankful that folks are here in this county 02:38:25.783 --> 02:38:26.814 - who continue 02:38:27.042 --> 02:38:33.744 - to provide the economic benefit of producing the food that we rely on. So thanks to Soil and Water for 02:38:33.744 --> 02:38:40.512 - having that meeting. The IU Health Community Health meeting was very eye-opening. I think there's going 02:38:40.512 --> 02:38:46.238 - to be a bunch of meetings that come from that, in particular around ways that IU Health 02:38:46.434 --> 02:38:55.137 - and the Monroe County Health Department can find synergies in providing healthcare for people here in 02:38:55.137 --> 02:39:03.754 - Monroe County. That was really eye-opening. I did want to also refer folks to the third item is that 02:39:03.754 --> 02:39:13.054 - if you are indeed experiencing an eviction, particularly from Monroe County government or from, or any other 02:39:13.314 --> 02:39:22.687 - folks that there is a resource, a referral resource on Heading Home's website. It's on the top banner. 02:39:22.687 --> 02:39:31.787 - It says referral. Click on that. You can make a self-referral and that'll get you the help that you 02:39:31.787 --> 02:39:38.430 - need. You can also call Heading Home directly at 812-955-0538. So again, 02:39:38.530 --> 02:39:46.444 - If you're needing help finding a new place because of this eviction crisis, you can go to the Heading 02:39:46.444 --> 02:39:54.202 - Home website, click on that referral form, or call that number. The fourth item that I want to talk 02:39:54.202 --> 02:40:02.349 - about is a huge thank you to Jennifer Crossley. President Crossley has been taking on the helm of trying 02:40:02.349 --> 02:40:05.918 - to find ways to make progress with this jail. 02:40:06.818 --> 02:40:14.244 - We're not there yet. We're not anywhere close to there yet, but we could not be making the progress 02:40:14.244 --> 02:40:21.892 - that we were making without her leadership, and that needs to be recognized. Here here. The fifth item 02:40:21.892 --> 02:40:29.466 - that I want to to bring up is a huge thank you to Molly Turner King. The upcoming Recovery Summit was 02:40:29.466 --> 02:40:36.446 - in danger of losing its keynote speaker. And Ms Molly Turner King stepped up. She stepped in. 02:40:36.642 --> 02:40:41.894 - and she made something that seemed impossible happen. So thank you. I don't have enough credit for all 02:40:41.894 --> 02:40:47.196 - the work that you do behind the scenes. And this is one instance where the Recovery Summit that's going 02:40:47.196 --> 02:40:52.499 - to happen on September 1st and 2nd, right here at our Convention Center, is now going to have a keynote 02:40:52.499 --> 02:40:57.598 - speaker. A few people are going to be able to get their CEUs. They're going to be able to get their 02:40:57.598 --> 02:41:02.901 - credits. And it's because of people like Molly Turner King, who's doing this good work. So lots of good 02:41:02.901 --> 02:41:05.246 - things happening in Monroe County. Thank you. 02:41:08.002 --> 02:41:14.722 - Thank you, Madam President. Just some notes on some liaison stuff. So first is related to emergency 02:41:14.722 --> 02:41:21.576 - management. I had the good fortune to join Newton Edition. I was the 27th, I think, for their show on 02:41:21.576 --> 02:41:28.565 - the tornado. I'm joining Mr. Krebs from the Humane Association and Steve Higgs, who had co-written Karp 02:41:28.565 --> 02:41:35.486 - Combs' assessment of the May tornado of last year. And it was a good program to really help the public 02:41:36.354 --> 02:41:42.625 - kind of what happened with tornadoes in February. One of the positives of that was mentioning the Van 02:41:42.625 --> 02:41:48.834 - Buren cleanup and getting calls after I was on to where is that happening and sending people in that 02:41:48.834 --> 02:41:52.830 - direction which was I guess folks listen to WFIU which is great. 02:41:53.314 --> 02:41:58.991 - I would raise to the council's attention that aviation was working through their assessment with insurance 02:41:58.991 --> 02:42:04.350 - on the damage to the airport. I would anticipate that not only aviation but maybe other parts of the 02:42:04.350 --> 02:42:09.762 - county may be reaching to us for a rainy day fund support. And so we might want to start wrapping our 02:42:09.762 --> 02:42:15.067 - mind around what appropriations from rainy day might look like as we start to see those assessments 02:42:15.067 --> 02:42:16.606 - come in in the coming weeks. 02:42:17.346 --> 02:42:22.689 - I think, you know, I think I'll leave it with those two. Of course, we did have a statewide tornado 02:42:22.689 --> 02:42:28.033 - drill today, followed by actual severe weather coming in, so stay dry, everybody. And I'll just say 02:42:28.033 --> 02:42:33.590 - on a maybe personal note that for the past year, I've signed every form that's come down this desk with 02:42:33.590 --> 02:42:39.094 - my full name, including Junior. And it was the first night I've done that since my dad had passed away 02:42:39.094 --> 02:42:43.582 - this past week. And, you know, it's those things that appear every once in a while. 02:42:43.746 --> 02:42:52.071 - And that was one that snuck up on me tonight as I sign these things that we do up here hour after hour 02:42:52.071 --> 02:43:00.234 - So, um, thank you for that indulgence and have a good evening everybody Counselor Henry, I just want 02:43:00.234 --> 02:43:08.558 - you on you to know that our thoughts and well wishes are with you and your family and Having been down 02:43:08.558 --> 02:43:13.246 - that road just a couple of years ago two years next month 02:43:13.730 --> 02:43:22.066 - I know you've been dealing with a lot. And so I just wanted to say that we appreciate you and your work 02:43:22.066 --> 02:43:29.439 - that you're doing here and that our thoughts are with you on the loss of your dad. It's OK. 02:43:29.439 --> 02:43:37.374 - On that note, it sounds like all of us really went to this health fair. And I won't indulge a lot. 02:43:37.506 --> 02:43:45.518 - because a lot of it has been said, but the one thing that I will say that stuck out to me the most is 02:43:45.518 --> 02:43:53.373 - a program where there are nurses that are literally going to homes of pregnant women, and I believe 02:43:53.373 --> 02:44:01.150 - it starts at 28 weeks, and they see them all the way up to two years. Oh my God. That was the most 02:44:01.730 --> 02:44:08.009 - that I spent I think and I saw the former health administrator Penny Cottle and she was also walking 02:44:08.009 --> 02:44:14.226 - with me in the rooms too and we were sitting there talking and I think that's the room that I spent 02:44:14.226 --> 02:44:20.318 - the most in and that room touched me so much because as a mom and have you know had some you know 02:44:21.890 --> 02:44:29.610 - We all know the struggles of being a mom. Well, I'm not going to say we all, but those of us that are 02:44:29.610 --> 02:44:32.638 - very fortunate and blessed to be there. 02:44:33.186 --> 02:44:40.513 - There there was a lot with that and the fact that we actually have people who you know have you know 02:44:40.513 --> 02:44:48.202 - down on their luck they serve women that are in shelters substance use disorders those women who wouldn't 02:44:48.202 --> 02:44:52.990 - really seek help they literally come to them and again have that. 02:44:53.186 --> 02:44:59.085 - service provided to them until the child reaches two years. And I believe her name was Camille. That 02:44:59.085 --> 02:45:05.218 - was one of the nurses that I spoke to. She was very touched by dealing with the clients that she's dealt 02:45:05.218 --> 02:45:11.292 - with. And in particular, there was one nurse, and I'm sorry I can't remember her name, but she actually 02:45:11.292 --> 02:45:13.278 - was a client and then turned into 02:45:13.378 --> 02:45:20.533 - being one of those individuals that help. So I just, man, I wish that that was something that we really 02:45:20.533 --> 02:45:27.619 - knew a little bit more about and that could be broadcasted, but that was the thing that touched me the 02:45:27.619 --> 02:45:31.678 - most out of being there on Saturday. So I appreciate that. 02:45:32.290 --> 02:45:38.198 - The other thing that I was going to say is, yeah, as Councillor Deckard and Fiddle are members of the 02:45:38.198 --> 02:45:44.222 - Sophia Travis grant committee meeting, there is one meeting tomorrow. It's our grant kickoff. And folks 02:45:44.222 --> 02:45:50.072 - are probably looking at us going, wow, you're doing a great kickoff now? Yes. As it was talked about 02:45:50.072 --> 02:45:53.374 - last year, we've kind of moved all that up so it doesn't 02:45:53.442 --> 02:46:00.800 - bump up against our most wonderful time of the year, budget season. And so tomorrow here in this historic 02:46:00.800 --> 02:46:07.950 - NatU Hill Room, we will be doing our grant kickoff meeting. And so all those that are able to, you can 02:46:07.950 --> 02:46:15.030 - come in person, or you can watch virtually via Teams, or you can watch it back via CATS once it airs. 02:46:15.030 --> 02:46:21.694 - But again, this is a really good season. I am very much excited. Our team met last week, and we 02:46:21.922 --> 02:46:28.067 - are probably going to see the same things that we've seen over the past couple of years with budget 02:46:28.067 --> 02:46:34.458 - cuts and restraints, and our food deserts that are happening, and our pantries that have been depleted, 02:46:34.458 --> 02:46:40.665 - and some of the after effects of those that have experienced issues related to the tornado. I'm sure 02:46:40.665 --> 02:46:46.871 - we're going to see a lot of that. So I'm really excited to see all this kick off. And again, that is 02:46:46.871 --> 02:46:49.022 - tomorrow at 5 PM here in the room. 02:46:49.122 --> 02:46:56.641 - The other thing that I would like to say, I wouldn't be remiss if I've been thinking about this because 02:46:56.641 --> 02:47:03.870 - I think I've mentioned this for the past couple of years and just like a bad scream cycle or sequel 02:47:03.870 --> 02:47:09.726 - rather. It has come back around again. And so the state has now passed into law. 02:47:10.946 --> 02:47:17.949 - You know putting the pressure on local municipalities and counties to do something with our unhoused 02:47:17.949 --> 02:47:25.091 - folks and You know, I know we keep hearing things that we can't just gel our way through this problem. 02:47:25.091 --> 02:47:31.262 - Yeah That's true. But what are we gonna do about it? And I'm just really disappointed in 02:47:31.362 --> 02:47:38.533 - why we are here last year and died. But again, it came back again. And they got the green light by the 02:47:38.533 --> 02:47:45.703 - Supreme Court. And they've seen other things happening in other states. And so now this is a challenge 02:47:45.703 --> 02:47:52.944 - that we will have. And I am definitely concerned and afraid that our jail is going to be filled up with 02:47:52.944 --> 02:47:59.070 - folks who cannot help themselves. I believe I read that this is a way for people to try 02:47:59.266 --> 02:48:08.816 - force themselves into treatment. Well, if I'm down on my luck, you know, my house forced me into jail. 02:48:08.816 --> 02:48:18.365 - And, you know, so I wish that, you know, I know the commissioners that did a body of folks and Council 02:48:18.365 --> 02:48:21.054 - votes, I believe is on that. 02:48:23.362 --> 02:48:30.509 - meeting where we're supposed to have a member of council and some other community stakeholders to talk 02:48:30.509 --> 02:48:37.864 - about this. And I really hope that this is a conversation that we are being had. I know folks are already 02:48:37.864 --> 02:48:45.081 - talking about what they will do and things like that, but I really wish we can have those conversations 02:48:45.081 --> 02:48:51.326 - as well and we be included in that too as it all relates to that. And yeah, without that, 02:48:52.706 --> 02:48:59.876 - That's all, folks, as Warner Brothers says. And so take your medicine. And allergies are real because 02:48:59.876 --> 02:49:07.187 - I am definitely affected by it right now. And it's super early. So without that being said, it's almost 02:49:07.187 --> 02:49:14.428 - spring break. Be safe wherever you go. TSA will have long wait lines, so be prepared. And without that 02:49:14.428 --> 02:49:17.310 - being said, we are adjourned. Thank you.