WEBVTT 00:00:01.122 --> 00:00:09.980 - All right, we are gonna go ahead and get started because who do we think we are? We are the Monroe County 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:18.337 - Council. All right, so today is Tuesday, July 14th. The time is 5.02. And this is the Monroe County 00:00:18.337 --> 00:00:27.447 - Council. We will call this meeting to order. Present and then historic, Nattie Hill Rome. We have counselors 00:00:27.447 --> 00:00:29.118 - Hawk, Henry Decker, 00:00:29.858 --> 00:00:37.382 - Wilt and Fiddle and we do not have Councilmember Iverson. Oh okay so everything we do today, 00:00:37.382 --> 00:00:45.554 - thanks Peter, will be a roll call vote since we have a member participate in virtually. So with that 00:00:45.554 --> 00:00:53.726 - being said we will get to the Pledge of Allegiance so all those that are able to stand please stand. 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:27.133 - like a vacuum from up here, but it is very warm in here, and some of us are feeling the challenges of 00:01:27.133 --> 00:01:35.096 - life and heat at the same time, so we will go ahead and get started. All right. And I've had sugar, 00:01:35.096 --> 00:01:43.219 - so y'all are welcome. All right, so we will move to the adoption of the agenda. Is there anybody that 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:47.678 - would wish to make amendments to tonight's agenda? Yes. 00:01:49.122 --> 00:01:57.070 - So the auditor's office has requested that items H and I, ARPA appropriations and deappropriations be 00:01:57.070 --> 00:02:05.096 - pulled from the agenda as the commissioners approve the ARPA amendments as presented at their July 9th 00:02:05.096 --> 00:02:11.486 - meeting. Council, I move to table indefinitely the auditors item H and I. Second. 00:02:11.586 --> 00:02:20.657 - All right, we got a motion and a second to table items H and I. Are there any questions or comments 00:02:20.657 --> 00:02:29.728 - from council? All right, seeing none, are there any other amendments to tonight's agenda? Okay, and 00:02:29.728 --> 00:02:37.982 - seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Hawk? 00:02:41.762 --> 00:02:55.286 - she say? Yeah, we're we're mimicking. Okay. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor 00:02:55.286 --> 00:03:08.941 - Deckard. Yes. Councilor Iverson. And we need to see Councilor Iverson on the screen, please. Thank you. 00:03:08.941 --> 00:03:10.910 - Motion passes. 00:03:11.106 --> 00:03:17.291 - Unanimous, okay. All right. So we have adopted tonight's agenda as amendment as amended All right. Next 00:03:17.291 --> 00:03:23.417 - up is our public comment So if there's public comment on items that are not on the agenda You can come 00:03:23.417 --> 00:03:29.662 - forward to the lectern here in the room or you can raise your hand via teams Looks like everybody coming 00:03:29.662 --> 00:03:35.966 - in. So again, you'll sign your name or state your name for the record and you'll have up to three minutes 00:03:47.202 --> 00:03:51.863 - My name is Jamie Ford, and I'm a Monroe County resident. First, I attended yesterday's jail subcommittee 00:03:51.863 --> 00:03:56.480 - meeting, and I agree with the two choices that were selected. One is a remodel of the current jail with 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:01.097 - an expansion of the Curry Building, and the second is a building of a new jail on the Thompson property 00:04:01.097 --> 00:04:05.626 - as a backup. However, given the predicament the county is now in, I believe that the best way forward 00:04:05.626 --> 00:04:10.154 - is to work on them both simultaneously. Contract actual experts to conduct the necessary analyses and 00:04:10.154 --> 00:04:14.771 - studies in addition to updating the PUDs for each respective location concurrently. Do the work on both 00:04:14.771 --> 00:04:17.168 - until one or the other is no longer viable or needed. 00:04:17.168 --> 00:04:21.683 - Should it be determined that a remodel of the current facilities is in fact not feasible, work will 00:04:21.683 --> 00:04:26.288 - already be in progress on the Thompson property, thus preventing more delays. Plus, that work will at 00:04:26.288 --> 00:04:28.094 - least be something to present in court. 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:33.100 - If the remodel is doable, then the work on Thompson will give the answers the county lacks and will 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:37.958 - be valuable if the county wants to do something with the property or sell it. Second, I believe that 00:04:37.958 --> 00:04:43.104 - discussions about the jail need to continue. The current jail facility is the biggest issue, but according 00:04:43.104 --> 00:04:48.010 - to the new lawsuit documents and the criminal justice studies, it is not the only issue. For example, 00:04:48.010 --> 00:04:50.078 - inefficiencies in the court system leading 00:04:50.402 --> 00:04:55.529 - Sorry, I can't read my handwriting, is leading to longer jail stays need to be addressed. Additionally, 00:04:55.529 --> 00:05:00.803 - I remember seeing the before and after photos of Sheriff Marte's efforts in cleaning up the jail. Policies 00:05:00.803 --> 00:05:06.077 - and procedures need to be put in place to ensure conditions never get that bad in the future. I appreciate 00:05:06.077 --> 00:05:11.007 - the proactive work and collaboration that this council has done. And I've come to you first because 00:05:11.007 --> 00:05:15.985 - I trust you guys more than I do the current board of commissioners. So I hope that the collaboration 00:05:15.985 --> 00:05:18.302 - continues in the future. Thank you. Thank you. 00:05:19.842 --> 00:05:25.930 - If you can't read my handwriting, let me know, I can rewrite it. Okay, thank you. All right, is there 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:31.958 - any other public commenters that would like to make public comment on items not on tonight's agenda? 00:05:31.958 --> 00:05:37.986 - You can raise your hand via Teams or you can come again to the podium here in the room. We will move 00:05:37.986 --> 00:05:44.194 - forward. Thank you again for your comment. All right, next up we will have department updates and these 00:05:44.194 --> 00:05:48.670 - are usually set for 10 minutes for each department that would like to make 00:05:48.962 --> 00:05:55.361 - an update and these are for items that are not on tonight's agenda. So I see some department heads here 00:05:55.361 --> 00:06:01.576 - in the room. You are probably here for other things, but in case anybody has any updates, you can do 00:06:01.576 --> 00:06:05.022 - that at this time or you can raise your hand via Teams. 00:06:10.402 --> 00:06:19.617 - I want to note for the record, Jordan Miller is not here tonight, but I did forward your second quarter 00:06:19.617 --> 00:06:28.478 - commissary report to the entire council. Thank you very much, Michelle. Welcome. Hello, counselors. 00:06:28.738 --> 00:06:37.414 - everyone else who's here. My name is Amy Swain. I'm the Monroe County Recorder. I appreciate this time 00:06:37.414 --> 00:06:46.007 - because I wanted to let everyone know once again about the property monitoring system called Property 00:06:46.007 --> 00:06:52.830 - Watch that is offered free to property owners in Monroe County. It does not cost 00:06:52.994 --> 00:07:01.801 - the county anything or the property owners. It's done through our business partner, DocsPop. You can 00:07:01.801 --> 00:07:10.695 - go to the recorders page to visit that link. It's the first box that comes up underneath our hours of 00:07:10.695 --> 00:07:20.286 - operation. Again, it's called Property Watch. The reason I think this is so important is because I myself had 00:07:20.738 --> 00:07:27.847 - property transfer to me following my brother's death in another county. And I received the same letter 00:07:27.847 --> 00:07:34.748 - that one of our property owners in Monroe County called in a couple of weeks ago, wanting to charge 00:07:34.748 --> 00:07:41.995 - $285 for a similar property monitoring system. And I think it's important that people know that we offer 00:07:41.995 --> 00:07:43.582 - that service for free. 00:07:44.770 --> 00:07:52.056 - While I have the floor, I also wanted to let people know there are companies out there wanting to charge 00:07:52.056 --> 00:07:58.996 - more than $100 to get a copy of your deed. We have those in the recorder's office, and according to 00:07:58.996 --> 00:08:06.005 - state law, we charge $1 per image or page. Most deeds are three pages or less, so you can either pay 00:08:06.005 --> 00:08:10.654 - $1, $2, or $3 or you can pay more than $100 to an outside company. 00:08:11.650 --> 00:08:19.240 - There's one final thing that I wanted to talk about, and that's companies that are targeting our veterans. 00:08:19.240 --> 00:08:26.333 - They're wanting to charge, again, more than $100 to expedite the processing of getting their DD-214 00:08:26.333 --> 00:08:34.206 - or their military discharge papers. Those are available from the recorder's office at no charge to the veteran 00:08:34.370 --> 00:08:41.266 - or their immediate family. A lot of times the immediate family will need that documentation for scholarships 00:08:41.266 --> 00:08:47.656 - and other things, and as long as they show the proper ID, we will provide those. We will also record 00:08:47.656 --> 00:08:48.542 - their DD-214s 00:08:48.706 --> 00:08:55.514 - at no charge. We work together very well with the veteran service office here in the county, and we 00:08:55.514 --> 00:09:02.459 - always encourage people who go to you can go to either office to get your DD 214. If they come to our 00:09:02.459 --> 00:09:09.335 - office, we always encourage them to go and visit with their veteran service officer because they can 00:09:09.335 --> 00:09:11.582 - learn about updates like the new 00:09:11.842 --> 00:09:19.671 - property tax credit. So thank you for giving me this time so that I could let people know about these 00:09:19.671 --> 00:09:27.347 - important issues. Thank you very much. Real quick, does anybody have any questions? Yeah, thank you 00:09:27.347 --> 00:09:34.946 - very much for that. That was really helpful. All right. Any other department updates? Seeing none. 00:09:34.946 --> 00:09:41.086 - And again, thank you so much for that. We will move on to consent agenda items. 00:09:44.322 --> 00:09:53.161 - I move to approve the following consent agenda items for July 14th. The health department's request 00:09:53.161 --> 00:10:02.619 - and fund 8112-9626 STD strengthening prevention grant for a category transfer of $956.65 from the supplies 00:10:02.619 --> 00:10:12.254 - category to the services category. And the approval of the summary minutes as presented for June 11th, 2026, 00:10:12.386 --> 00:10:22.231 - joint special session of the County Council and City Council. Second. All right, we got a motion and 00:10:22.231 --> 00:10:32.270 - a second. Yes, Councilor Hawke. Yes, I'd like to split this vote because I have questions on the first 00:10:32.270 --> 00:10:39.678 - one with Health Department. So is that your motion Councilor Hawke? Second. 00:10:39.938 --> 00:10:50.250 - Okay. Okay. Do you want me to ask questions now? I'd be happy to. Yes. Go ahead. Since we... Okay. Well, 00:10:50.250 --> 00:11:00.955 - my concern is when you look at the fund cash balance, it shows they're in the negative $51,805.97. Remaining 00:11:00.955 --> 00:11:08.222 - cash, remaining balance available is in the negative of $52,612.47. Okay. 00:11:10.818 --> 00:11:19.563 - I mean, why are we considering moving money around when we're already in the negative? I mean, has everybody 00:11:19.563 --> 00:11:27.747 - looked at that? They say they're in the process of receiving grant amendments for additional funding. 00:11:27.747 --> 00:11:36.894 - But the process when it comes to getting grants is not a guarantee. You might be in the process of asking for it. 00:11:37.218 --> 00:11:44.212 - I mean, I don't want to put my name just saying, yes, we're going to let you go ahead and move around 00:11:44.212 --> 00:11:51.275 - and start spending when it's in the negative. I didn't pull up those budgets. I just am believing what 00:11:51.275 --> 00:11:58.476 - was put on there. Perhaps the auditor has some advice for us. Gregory? Yes, this is a reimbursable grant 00:11:58.476 --> 00:12:05.470 - fund. So it's typically in the red until reimbursements come through, making it whole to zero it out. 00:12:08.418 --> 00:12:15.738 - However, when they say it's in the process, have they approved, have they indicated or certain that 00:12:15.738 --> 00:12:23.204 - we are going to get a grant? They tell you what the grant's going to be, then you spend it, then they 00:12:23.204 --> 00:12:31.109 - send you the money. Yes. Correct? That's true. My team has been working closely with the health department, 00:12:31.109 --> 00:12:33.598 - though, and they are comfortable. 00:12:33.730 --> 00:12:41.775 - told me that the process has been completed. However, I don't have that documentation in front of me, 00:12:41.775 --> 00:12:49.505 - but there's communication back and forth establishing that this is okay to proceed. No documents. 00:12:49.505 --> 00:12:57.471 - Conversation. No, no, no. I stated my team has the documentation. I do understand that many of these 00:12:57.471 --> 00:13:02.046 - you have, you had to spend the money and then you get it. 00:13:02.722 --> 00:13:08.827 - Once you spin it, you get it reimbursed to you. But that's what the grant says you're going to do. But 00:13:08.827 --> 00:13:15.228 - if we don't have grant documents, this verifies that at this point. The verification necessary was approval 00:13:15.228 --> 00:13:21.214 - from the granting agency to spend it a different way. So you see that they're moving categories, and 00:13:21.214 --> 00:13:27.497 - that approval has been established. And we do have the documentation, however. I do not have it available 00:13:27.497 --> 00:13:31.646 - to provide to you right this second, but my team can forward that on. 00:13:34.242 --> 00:13:41.622 - So I guess, in essence, what you're saying is you feel comfortable with this because, in essence, it's 00:13:41.622 --> 00:13:49.002 - red right now until we get that reimbursement back. That's exactly right. So every agenda, the general 00:13:49.002 --> 00:13:56.454 - ledger and grant manager goes through in detail, asks these questions to the departments to ensure that 00:13:56.454 --> 00:14:01.470 - we are following our internal policy and procedure and best practice. 00:14:05.666 --> 00:14:14.120 - So the funding, the funder is the Indiana Department of Health, and the email in our packet from Darren 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:22.411 - Foltz, budget and contracts manager, saying you can move the funds accordingly, is the documentation. 00:14:22.411 --> 00:14:30.864 - That is thank you. I wasn't aware it got into the packet. Thank you, Michelle. You're welcome. I didn't 00:14:30.864 --> 00:14:32.734 - see it, but thank you. 00:14:33.378 --> 00:14:40.903 - Councillor Henry. Thank you. I would just say I did speak or communicate with Ms. Kelly about this particular 00:14:40.903 --> 00:14:48.086 - item and the second piece being the health department coming back to us with the appropriation in August 00:14:48.086 --> 00:14:55.064 - is the second turn of the key that I didn't flag this myself. So I was fine with knowing that we have 00:14:55.064 --> 00:14:58.142 - the proceeds are coming in our next meeting. 00:15:02.722 --> 00:15:09.451 - And I just, there was a lot of crosstalk when this, we're kind of going back and forth here. You say 00:15:09.451 --> 00:15:16.580 - that you got the documentation your office needs. And your office has, you know, been notoriously detailed 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:23.375 - about this, maybe more than any of your predecessors, which I'm sure a few department heads out there 00:15:23.375 --> 00:15:25.374 - could back me on that, right? 00:15:26.466 --> 00:15:33.051 - I think we ruffled a few feathers, but we're trying to be, to always err on the side of caution, always 00:15:33.051 --> 00:15:39.004 - have that documentation necessary to ensure we're following best practice. So yes, thank you. 00:15:39.004 --> 00:15:45.589 - And on this one, you got it. You're good. Yes. All right. Madam President, I want to make sure, because 00:15:45.589 --> 00:15:52.048 - there is, in the world of this county, there's a lot of talk out there, particularly on social media, 00:15:52.048 --> 00:15:53.694 - about trust and mistrust. 00:15:53.826 --> 00:16:00.211 - And I want to make sure that people watching understand that this is nothing extraordinary is going 00:16:00.211 --> 00:16:06.661 - on here. This meets the standards of this auditor, who's been extremely stringent on that, which has 00:16:06.661 --> 00:16:13.557 - made for easier days sometimes, and not as easy days on others. But this is meeting her thumbs up approval, 00:16:13.557 --> 00:16:20.198 - at least to be before us, as something for consideration. It's important right now that we kind of make 00:16:20.198 --> 00:16:23.710 - sure that trust is there. That's all I'm going to say. 00:16:23.906 --> 00:16:38.990 - questions on this item. Seeing none. Are we voting on the whole thing or the split? It's the split. 00:16:38.990 --> 00:16:53.470 - On the category transfer for the Health Department. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? 00:16:55.074 --> 00:17:07.955 - Yes. Councillor Fiddle. Yes. Councillor Hawke. No. Councillor Wilts. Yes. Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor 00:17:07.955 --> 00:17:17.854 - Decker. Yes. Motion passes six to one. Thank you. And next up we have item B which 00:17:17.954 --> 00:17:31.347 - is the summary of the approval of the summary minutes for the June 11th, 2026 meeting. Is there any 00:17:31.347 --> 00:17:46.750 - questions or comments on this item? Maybe please have a roll call vote. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? 00:17:47.330 --> 00:17:55.754 - Councillor Hawk? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor 00:17:55.754 --> 00:18:03.933 - Crossley? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Next up we have the hire and freeze review items 00:18:03.933 --> 00:18:07.614 - and first up is from the Highway Department. 00:18:09.346 --> 00:18:18.272 - I move to open for discussion and possible approval of the Highway Department's request to be exempt 00:18:18.272 --> 00:18:27.375 - from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1176-0000 Motor Vehicle Highway at 80% and fund 00:18:27.375 --> 00:18:36.743 - 1173-0000 Motor Vehicle Highway restricted at 20%, one full-time traffic control technician slash laborer 00:18:36.743 --> 00:18:38.334 - position. Second. 00:18:38.498 --> 00:18:46.246 - We got a motion and a second. We are joined here by Ms Lisa Ridge. Welcome. Good evening. So we had 00:18:46.246 --> 00:18:53.994 - a traffic control tech provide us his notice at the end of June to go to work for a Bedford utility 00:18:53.994 --> 00:19:01.897 - company. So we're just here to request to be able to open that position up and fill that vacancy. Any 00:19:01.897 --> 00:19:05.694 - questions or comments for Ms Ridge on this item? 00:19:09.090 --> 00:19:18.142 - Oh, I'm sorry. Councillor Williams. Yes. The position is split between the two accounts, right? 1173 00:19:18.142 --> 00:19:27.285 - is a sub account of 1176. So you are, you are, and so much of your fund, half of our funding is split 00:19:27.285 --> 00:19:37.054 - between the restricted and the 1176, 1173. And then you can spend a percentage of those expenses out to show 00:19:37.218 --> 00:19:46.698 - where you're using those funds at. Thank you. I didn't even get to ask the question. You answered it. 00:19:46.698 --> 00:19:55.993 - Thank you. Yes. Can you tell us where the insurance is paid from? Will it be paid from in this fund 00:19:55.993 --> 00:20:03.614 - or? It's paid from 1176. And have you heard any more about when we might get that 00:20:03.778 --> 00:20:10.426 - money back. The state is promising, and they're saying some people are saying, well, might not get till 00:20:10.426 --> 00:20:17.010 - next year. Do we know? Well, I, um, when I think it was the last time I was here, the governor had put 00:20:17.010 --> 00:20:23.657 - out that day and a timeline. I believe the state comptroller has also put out a news release. Um, their 00:20:23.657 --> 00:20:30.113 - specific dates mentioned in there in July and then that the local entities would be reimbursed those 00:20:30.113 --> 00:20:32.670 - funds from the gas tax by November 1st. 00:20:33.634 --> 00:20:40.505 - And I have not seen any changes since that. But I'm counting on you because this funding is set aside 00:20:40.505 --> 00:20:47.714 - from the other funding. And if something should happen that you're going to have to pull back on something 00:20:47.714 --> 00:20:54.585 - you're doing, we know you will do that. Correct. We do have a cash balance that we know we don't want 00:20:54.585 --> 00:20:57.886 - to touch. But we do have that in case we need to 00:20:58.274 --> 00:21:04.937 - to come back to the council for an additional to move funds around, or get additional and appropriation 00:21:04.937 --> 00:21:11.599 - to keep all of our resources going, all of our employees, and keep business as usual until we reimburse 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:18.262 - those funds. See any other questions or comments for Ms. Ridge on this item, so we'll move on to public 00:21:18.262 --> 00:21:24.796 - comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the room 00:21:24.796 --> 00:21:26.718 - or raise your hand via Teams. 00:21:31.202 --> 00:21:42.203 - Okay, please have a roll call vote. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Pytel? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. 00:21:42.203 --> 00:21:53.415 - Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Motion passes 00:21:53.415 --> 00:21:55.742 - unanimous. Thank you. 00:21:57.570 --> 00:22:06.500 - I just put up the email from the state Comptroller's office for the period of April 8th through May 00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:15.876 - 31 That gas tax amount will be presented to the State Board of Finance on July 21 for approval following 00:22:15.876 --> 00:22:24.895 - approval it will reach Government units five to seven business days after Okay, so August Up is from 00:22:24.895 --> 00:22:27.038 - the planning department 00:22:30.338 --> 00:22:38.749 - until I move to open for discussion and possible approval of the Planning Department's request to be 00:22:38.749 --> 00:22:47.160 - exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1000-0079 County General Planning, one 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:55.571 - full-time planner to position. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second, and we are joined by 00:22:55.571 --> 00:22:59.902 - Ellen virtually. Welcome. Hi. Can you hear me okay? 00:23:01.570 --> 00:23:14.202 - I'm gonna share my screen really quickly. Okay, thanks for hearing our request this evening. As I mentioned, 00:23:14.202 --> 00:23:25.906 - this is for a vacancy of the plan or two position in our office. Just some quick information. We did 00:23:25.906 --> 00:23:30.078 - have another vacancy late last year 00:23:30.530 --> 00:23:39.041 - for the same position. Both people that are leaving this position had received offers from the city, 00:23:39.041 --> 00:23:47.551 - and they have taken those positions for a lateral position move that's paying $18,000 more. But this 00:23:47.551 --> 00:23:56.315 - position that we are trying to fill is a Patsy classification that is 40 hours a week. We're requesting 00:23:56.315 --> 00:23:58.590 - the minimum salary, so the 00:23:58.914 --> 00:24:07.253 - Financial impact summary that was in the packet is showing a savings of about $8,500 in total. We do 00:24:07.253 --> 00:24:15.592 - have job duties based in the state statute. We deal with several different types of petitions. Those 00:24:15.592 --> 00:24:21.950 - include but are not limited to read zones, variances, conditional uses, etc. 00:24:22.594 --> 00:24:31.482 - And there's also been a lot of state law changes recently, including some requirements for our office 00:24:31.482 --> 00:24:40.283 - to approve permits in a certain number of days. So on average, our Plan R2s in our office receive or 00:24:40.283 --> 00:24:44.030 - respond to 510 calls or emails every year. 00:24:44.482 --> 00:24:53.239 - And in one instance in 2024, we looked at the case management of one of our plan or two's and they reviewed 00:24:53.239 --> 00:25:01.997 - and approved 28 cases in a year. These cases can include evening meetings. They include reports oftentimes, 00:25:01.997 --> 00:25:10.348 - reviewing technical drawings and surveys and communication back and forth with oftentimes an applicant 00:25:10.348 --> 00:25:12.862 - and their design professional. 00:25:14.946 --> 00:25:22.505 - We also, the reason that we cannot fill this position with a part-time position is because we're often 00:25:22.505 --> 00:25:29.918 - synthesizing complicated information. We take about six months of training to really get someone off 00:25:29.918 --> 00:25:37.550 - and running on their own. We do get questions from the public that require quick turnaround times, such 00:25:37.550 --> 00:25:40.926 - as I'm closing on this property in two hours. 00:25:41.090 --> 00:25:48.025 - Do you think I can use it as a tourist home? And we do try to respond to those questions as quickly 00:25:48.025 --> 00:25:54.960 - as possible. And then we're also helping people with their building permits and their locations for 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:02.103 - their sheds, garages, even their homes, things like that. As I mentioned, there are some state statute 00:26:02.103 --> 00:26:08.830 - changes that you need to be aware of. I think that there were some email correspondence as well. 00:26:09.250 --> 00:26:17.308 - one of the statute changes does limit our ability to charge a certain amount for residential construction. 00:26:17.308 --> 00:26:25.139 - However, we believe our fees are in line with that state code change and we're making even more changes 00:26:25.139 --> 00:26:32.896 - to be aligned. But these bills are requiring us to have faster timelines. They're limiting what we can 00:26:32.896 --> 00:26:33.950 - and can't do. 00:26:34.114 --> 00:26:41.534 - And they're also requiring, for instance, House Bill 1037, remove the ability for our stormwater team 00:26:41.534 --> 00:26:48.809 - to review things such as some grading and logging projects and brought that back to planning for us 00:26:48.809 --> 00:26:56.593 - to take that on. And our plan or two is helpful in that regard. And then we just have some sample agendas. 00:26:56.593 --> 00:27:02.558 - These are the types of cases that our plan or twos are taking. They split amongst 00:27:02.754 --> 00:27:10.864 - three different planner twos, and then we have a senior planner as well. But one planner two could take 00:27:10.864 --> 00:27:18.817 - up to three, maybe four cases in one evening on a long agenda. I've just highlighted one case just to 00:27:18.817 --> 00:27:26.771 - give you some insight on the depth of review that we have to do for certain cases. So this was a case 00:27:26.771 --> 00:27:31.294 - with several variances. And so we go out to the property, 00:27:31.394 --> 00:27:39.587 - We do aerial review comparisons. We also review surveys, as I mentioned, against the code. So the planner 00:27:39.587 --> 00:27:47.470 - too has to see what on the engineered survey or on the certified plot plan is different than what the 00:27:47.470 --> 00:27:55.199 - code requires and then apply those variances. So in this instance, for instance, a side setback was 00:27:55.199 --> 00:28:01.150 - required because there's only one foot of distance between the property line 00:28:01.314 --> 00:28:10.737 - in the building. So they would have to present to the public, to the applicant, and to the board of 00:28:10.737 --> 00:28:20.632 - zoning appeals what the person is asking for and present findings of fact to either support or recommend 00:28:20.632 --> 00:28:28.830 - denial for that. And then we have updated our fee schedule as of December 1st of 2025. 00:28:29.282 --> 00:28:39.177 - We did a quick calculation just to July 1st and we're seeing fees increased. We see an increase of $24,169.20 00:28:39.177 --> 00:28:48.982 - from last year and the CDO was adopted before that. So we're seeing as a good comparison just the difference 00:28:48.982 --> 00:28:55.998 - and we hadn't changed our fees in a very long time. So this was warranted and 00:28:56.194 --> 00:29:03.154 - The way that we assess our fees was to look at a labor analysis of the number of hours that we're reviewing 00:29:03.154 --> 00:29:09.727 - each case. So we did this with the plan commission's assistance and we believe the fees are much more 00:29:09.727 --> 00:29:16.365 - fair. And we haven't really heard any negative feedback from the public on this. So we do believe that 00:29:16.365 --> 00:29:23.454 - it was time and we can do so again under that state law. We're gonna review it again one more time this year. 00:29:23.586 --> 00:29:31.279 - before we aren't allowed to change it for, I think it was five years. So just a rehash of vacancy for 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:38.973 - our department, what that means, it can mean slower response times for our office. We would not wanna 00:29:38.973 --> 00:29:46.666 - not meet statutory timelines, but that's something that we consider when having multiple vacancies in 00:29:46.666 --> 00:29:52.926 - our office. The burnout of our remaining staff, so we only have eight people total 00:29:53.058 --> 00:30:01.047 - four planners, one of which is a senior planner position. So we do have a lot to do with a few people. 00:30:01.047 --> 00:30:09.113 - And we just want to have a good rapport with the public, keep up with the response in a timely fashion, 00:30:09.113 --> 00:30:17.025 - give people accurate and timely information, and also enough detail that they can make big decisions. 00:30:17.025 --> 00:30:20.670 - So with that, I'm happy to take any questions. 00:30:22.594 --> 00:30:30.734 - Thank you very much, Ms. Jelen, for that. Any questions for her colleagues? Yes, Councilmember Henry. 00:30:30.734 --> 00:30:36.958 - Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Director Jelen, for your presentation. 00:30:37.186 --> 00:30:42.806 - For those of us up here that don't get to hear from you often, you're always so thorough, and I appreciate 00:30:42.806 --> 00:30:48.059 - the work you bring in. This is what the Planning Commission looks like twice a month with the staff 00:30:48.059 --> 00:30:53.416 - doing the hard work. I think it's important to point out two things which the Director had mentioned. 00:30:53.416 --> 00:30:58.721 - First is, Director Jellin, correct me if I'm wrong, when was the last time we raised the fees in the 00:30:58.721 --> 00:31:02.398 - county prior to the Planning Commission doing that earlier this year? 00:31:03.394 --> 00:31:09.655 - It was, I believe it was 2011 or 2012. It was some time ago. And while some folks might look at that 00:31:09.655 --> 00:31:16.165 - and say, wow, the fees doubled, it had been the first time in 15 years we had touched the fee structure, 00:31:16.165 --> 00:31:22.550 - which has generated revenue to cover some of this cost here that the department is back into the fund. 00:31:22.550 --> 00:31:25.278 - So that's important. And thank you on that. 00:31:25.378 --> 00:31:31.194 - And then secondly, to your point that, yeah, the delays that add to the cost of construction in the 00:31:31.194 --> 00:31:37.416 - county, anything we can do to eliminate that through having a well-staffed department that doesn't require 00:31:37.416 --> 00:31:43.348 - things to go to appeals because we had things we had to do, like issuing a permit without the time to 00:31:43.348 --> 00:31:49.397 - investigate or the variances that are required, this is just one of those important positions. It might 00:31:49.397 --> 00:31:55.038 - not sound it on paper, but it really is. So I'm happy to support it. Thank you, Madam President. 00:31:55.170 --> 00:32:03.301 - Yes. This, along with the building department, these two departments have to be fully staffed if we 00:32:03.301 --> 00:32:11.839 - are going to encourage new growth in housing. Because if they have to mess around here to get an answer, 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:20.214 - these developers, the contractors, they're going to take it, oh, where did they take it just recently? 00:32:20.214 --> 00:32:23.710 - Out of county. A big subdivision going in. 00:32:23.874 --> 00:32:33.190 - out of county, and we don't want to be a part of sending the people away from this county to in order 00:32:33.190 --> 00:32:42.779 - to have. So I think that we do have to watch this very carefully. However, because if the merger happens 00:32:42.779 --> 00:32:52.734 - with Ellisville, then they're going to need more planners and we are going to need less because that's a big 00:32:53.218 --> 00:33:01.917 - You know, Richland Township is a big growth area. So those are just things that we'll look for in the 00:33:01.917 --> 00:33:10.531 - future. But right now, we don't know. Right now, we just don't know. So I want to do whatever we can 00:33:10.531 --> 00:33:19.998 - to encourage growth for people to have housing here in Monroe County. Anybody else? Any questions or comments? 00:33:22.274 --> 00:33:30.538 - Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward 00:33:30.538 --> 00:33:38.338 - to the lectern here in the room. Or raise your hand via teams. And seeing none, may we please have a 00:33:38.338 --> 00:33:46.293 - roll call vote. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. 00:33:46.293 --> 00:33:51.390 - Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crusley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? 00:33:52.130 --> 00:34:01.171 - Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Allen. All right. Next up is item eight, which is county 00:34:01.171 --> 00:34:10.655 - council business. Council, I moved to approve resolution 2026 dash 23 B part two approval of tax abatement 00:34:10.655 --> 00:34:19.518 - for. I'm not sure how to pronounce it. Is it Cynthia? Cynthia is is my understanding, but they. OK. 00:34:19.938 --> 00:34:30.312 - public hearing. We got a motion and a second and we'll have Mr Cockrell person. Yes and this meeting 00:34:30.312 --> 00:34:41.303 - has been noticed for a public hearing. So when it gets public comment if we could open that public hearing 00:34:41.303 --> 00:34:47.774 - and close it, that would be great. The presentation was pretty 00:34:47.906 --> 00:34:55.666 - Essentially, what we're looking at is the company that currently has 40 employees making $4.2 million 00:34:55.666 --> 00:35:03.731 - is looking to expand and add another 30 employees to make approximately $2.315 million. This is to expand 00:35:03.731 --> 00:35:11.567 - their capacity. They're expanding their building. So this is only a real estate tax abatement request. 00:35:11.567 --> 00:35:14.686 - And so they did the preliminary approval 00:35:14.818 --> 00:35:22.077 - two weeks ago, and this would be the final approval for the council to make on this. If you have any 00:35:22.077 --> 00:35:29.623 - questions, I'm more than happy to answer them, otherwise. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments 00:35:29.623 --> 00:35:36.881 - from council? Council member Henry. Thank you. Easy vote today. Last time I think we discussed this, 00:35:36.881 --> 00:35:42.846 - I abstained because I had to do some homework as a federal contractor to make sure 00:35:43.458 --> 00:35:49.944 - I've never met you before or had a relationship with this company, but I have no fiscal relationship 00:35:49.944 --> 00:35:56.493 - with the company or ownership interest and happy to support you in our county. So thank you for that. 00:35:56.493 --> 00:36:03.107 - I'm excited about the expansion. Is there anything that y'all wanted to add to anything before we move 00:36:03.107 --> 00:36:09.850 - on? You don't have to. I don't mean to put you on the spot. Just wondering if you wanted to add anything 00:36:09.850 --> 00:36:11.070 - since you're here. 00:36:11.234 --> 00:36:17.835 - I just wanted to thank you again for considering our request and I really appreciate the support that 00:36:17.835 --> 00:36:24.306 - you've provided us thus far. This will help make a viable project out of this and we've got all our 00:36:24.306 --> 00:36:30.777 - fingers and toes crossed that we will be able to achieve the growth that we're looking at. A lot of 00:36:30.777 --> 00:36:37.507 - that depends on how our government, it's the funding that we need to be able to do that but we are very 00:36:37.507 --> 00:36:39.966 - grateful for the opportunity here and 00:36:40.258 --> 00:36:49.431 - We're going to stay in Monroe County. Give us a lesson again on how to pronounce it. I want to get it 00:36:49.431 --> 00:36:58.425 - right. Well, the Latin pronunciation is actually Shencha. Oh. Only two syllables. But we figured in 00:36:58.425 --> 00:37:08.318 - southern Indiana, we couldn't probably get by with that. So we pronounce it Skientia. Thank you. Is this the? 00:37:09.506 --> 00:37:26.886 - I'm happy they're on the west side. Thank you. Yeah, I do. Thank you. All right. And, um, yeah, sounds 00:37:26.886 --> 00:37:30.430 - like colleagues are. 00:37:30.562 --> 00:37:35.796 - Very much excited about that, but we gotta get to the vote first. And before we do, I appreciate that 00:37:35.796 --> 00:37:41.184 - you are expanding. I wish that we can also expand in the county as which we talked about with affordable 00:37:41.184 --> 00:37:46.366 - housing to go along with that. Just the same so we can keep those dollars here in Monroe County too. 00:37:47.938 --> 00:37:54.455 - Again, like I always try to plug, I want to mention the BDC. Clark Griner is here and their partner 00:37:54.455 --> 00:38:01.038 - with us on all these things, on answering all the tough questions that we have, on answering all the 00:38:01.038 --> 00:38:07.685 - tough questions I'm sure that Scantia had as well, but also in keeping that look out there so that we 00:38:07.685 --> 00:38:14.398 - can say to our constituents that we are doing everything we can to bring as many jobs here as possible 00:38:14.398 --> 00:38:16.158 - that will do well by them. 00:38:16.418 --> 00:38:22.993 - And that's not always been the case in this community that we've had those, but we need those. So thank 00:38:22.993 --> 00:38:29.442 - you so much and make lots of jobs and success and we'll grow with you. No other comments. I don't see 00:38:29.442 --> 00:38:35.765 - council member ever since hand raise. Um, so we'll move on to public comment. If you'd like to make 00:38:35.765 --> 00:38:42.151 - public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the room or raise your hand 00:38:42.151 --> 00:38:42.846 - via teams. 00:38:44.482 --> 00:38:50.567 - Would it would it be possible for me to make a public comment from here. My name is Clark Greiner. I 00:38:50.567 --> 00:38:56.592 - am the interim CEO for the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation. First of all thank you for 00:38:56.592 --> 00:39:03.038 - taking a close look at this organization. I wanted to point out as you know Doug is an upstanding citizen. 00:39:03.266 --> 00:39:10.235 - of Monroe County. His employees go through a rigorous background check because of the security that 00:39:10.235 --> 00:39:17.343 - they're involved in and the organization as far as what they do for us on a broader national security 00:39:17.343 --> 00:39:24.451 - basis is very critical to our troops abroad. And so we hope that there is a favorable support of this 00:39:24.451 --> 00:39:31.838 - on the tax abatement request. So thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much for that. 00:39:32.258 --> 00:39:44.747 - Is there any other public comment on this item? See any more here in the room or hands raised? The public 00:39:44.747 --> 00:39:56.648 - comment is closed on that item. And next up, we will go to a roll call vote, please. Councilor Hawk? 00:39:56.648 --> 00:40:01.950 - Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Decker? 00:40:02.882 --> 00:40:12.193 - Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you very much. 00:40:12.193 --> 00:40:21.503 - Thank you. And is it Shinsha? Did I say that right? Scantia. Put the Latin first. Shinsha. Okay. 00:40:21.503 --> 00:40:30.814 - All right. We've got some practice in it. Thank you very much. All right. Next up is item eight. 00:40:30.946 --> 00:40:36.687 - public hearing, does she not have to announce the public hearing as they're closed? She did say the 00:40:36.687 --> 00:40:42.599 - public comment section of the hearing is closed. I don't know if she used the actual term hearing, but 00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:48.340 - I think the case law indicates as long as you provide the public with an opportunity to comment and 00:40:48.340 --> 00:40:54.654 - you announce when it's closed that that is sufficient. Remember what we used to be told. It had to officially 00:40:54.654 --> 00:40:58.558 - be closed. All right. Next up is item B from the recorder's office. 00:41:00.066 --> 00:41:07.248 - Council, I move to open for discussion and possible approval of the recorder's request to be exempt 00:41:07.248 --> 00:41:14.717 - from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1000-0004 County General Recorder, one full-time 00:41:14.717 --> 00:41:22.401 - recorder deputy position. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second. We are still joined by Recorder 00:41:22.401 --> 00:41:23.550 - Swain. Welcome. 00:41:24.322 --> 00:41:32.991 - Thank you, President Crosley. As you know, the recorder's office is a small office. So all of our positions 00:41:32.991 --> 00:41:41.339 - are kind of essential to daily operations. We stagger lunch hours so that we don't have to close during 00:41:41.339 --> 00:41:49.606 - that time when a lot of people can get off work to come over and to our office. Plus, we have to cover 00:41:49.606 --> 00:41:51.934 - vacation, illness, meetings, 00:41:52.226 --> 00:42:03.217 - It responds to assistance from people via email, electronic recordings, in-person, over-the-counter, 00:42:03.217 --> 00:42:06.046 - and mail. With it vacant. 00:42:06.466 --> 00:42:14.330 - We have been somewhat understaffed at some times. Just today, we had both counter computers working. 00:42:14.330 --> 00:42:22.350 - Another person came in that I was helping at one of the public computers. We had a phone call come in. 00:42:22.350 --> 00:42:30.370 - We had another person come in the door. We had a title searcher in the office. And that's not unusual. 00:42:30.370 --> 00:42:35.198 - So we have been busy. We are one of the few revenue producing 00:42:35.330 --> 00:42:42.697 - departments in the county, and I don't want anything to get in the way of serving the people who use 00:42:42.697 --> 00:42:50.282 - our office. I also wanted to make you aware that the most significant federal housing package in nearly 00:42:50.282 --> 00:42:58.013 - 20 years became law last week. It was the bipartisan 21st Century Road to Housing Act. It includes nearly 00:42:58.013 --> 00:43:04.286 - 50 individual housing measures that are designed to remove barriers, increase supply, 00:43:04.578 --> 00:43:12.183 - expand home ownership access, improve access to capital, and support veterans. And so I expect us to 00:43:12.183 --> 00:43:19.713 - be even busier, which is good for us, good for the county, good for the people of Monroe County. So 00:43:19.713 --> 00:43:27.469 - I would ask that you go ahead and allow us to fill that vacancy. The money is already appropriated and 00:43:27.469 --> 00:43:30.782 - it will actually be less because there will 00:43:30.978 --> 00:43:40.520 - be a new person. The previous person would have reached their one-year step increase. So with that, 00:43:40.520 --> 00:43:49.393 - I'm open for any questions. For that, any questions? I'll come back to you, Councilor Hawke, 00:43:49.393 --> 00:43:57.790 - here in a second. Councilor Wilks? How many deputy recorders do you have? We have four. 00:43:58.210 --> 00:44:07.618 - So this is one position out of those four. Got it. And also, on the fiscal impact statement, it says 00:44:07.618 --> 00:44:17.026 - fund cash balance $24,691. Is that right? It's probably the remainder of the year. Correct me if I'm 00:44:17.026 --> 00:44:19.262 - wrong, Auditor Gregory. 00:44:43.202 --> 00:44:51.390 - You're looking at the recorder's records perpetuation? No, this would be county general. Oh, apologies. 00:45:06.946 --> 00:45:16.012 - Okay, so the current cash balance as of today is $23,659,566. That's just a typo, or is it 00:45:16.012 --> 00:45:26.672 - not the information that I'm thinking it's supposed to be? I'm thinking that's a typo. Because the numbers 00:45:26.672 --> 00:45:35.838 - are kind of similar. Okay, but way off by order. By a decimal point. Okay, that's all cool. 00:45:36.418 --> 00:45:43.828 - Can I ask one more? Thank you. So it says that you'd like to allow for some overlap in the positions 00:45:43.828 --> 00:45:51.310 - so that there can be some onboarding. It looked like it was going to vacate later than you would hope 00:45:51.310 --> 00:45:58.647 - to have someone in. Is that correct? That would be an ideal for us to have time before the previous 00:45:58.647 --> 00:46:04.222 - person leaves if we know they're leaving. In this case, we did not. Oh, OK. 00:46:09.442 --> 00:46:18.113 - that. Okay, never mind. I misread it, I think. No, but if the council is ever open to that. We don't 00:46:18.113 --> 00:46:26.785 - usually do that. Thank you. Yeah. Councilor Hawke. Yes. First of all, I'd like to say that when I go 00:46:26.785 --> 00:46:35.542 - in and out of the different departments, yours is the department. I know you're always there. You are 00:46:35.542 --> 00:46:36.830 - there at work. 00:46:37.794 --> 00:46:45.319 - They're not expecting to be gone all the time. You are here and carrying the load as a person actually 00:46:45.319 --> 00:46:52.771 - working there. And that is something that we really need to expect from all department heads, because 00:46:52.771 --> 00:47:00.442 - when they come in and say, we're short staff, then I'm going, well, where were you when you go in there? 00:47:00.442 --> 00:47:04.606 - And I'm not just making this up, nor do I mean it to be. 00:47:06.626 --> 00:47:13.043 - Because always before, you know, elected officials, they don't have, they're not on a time card. They 00:47:13.043 --> 00:47:19.334 - really aren't. So I'm just saying kudos for you that you're doing that and you're carrying your own 00:47:19.334 --> 00:47:26.003 - fair share of the load of your department. And that's what I expect out of you because that's what you've 00:47:26.003 --> 00:47:32.734 - always given. And that's what I'd like to expect out of all department heads. Thank you, Councillor Hawke. 00:47:35.330 --> 00:47:44.025 - Any other questions or comments from Ms. Blaine on this item? Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. 00:47:44.025 --> 00:47:52.237 - If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern here in the room or raise 00:47:52.237 --> 00:48:00.530 - your hand via Teams. Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor 00:48:00.530 --> 00:48:04.958 - Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crossley? 00:48:05.186 --> 00:48:15.084 - Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. 00:48:15.084 --> 00:48:25.077 - Next up is item C, also from the recorder's office. Council, I'd like to move to approve the recorder's 00:48:25.077 --> 00:48:33.822 - request and fund 1189-0000 Recorder's Perpetuation Fund for a category transfer of $35,000 00:48:35.522 --> 00:48:44.490 - from the supplies category to the services category. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second. 00:48:44.490 --> 00:48:53.282 - Ms. Swain. So I'm coming to you again for phase two of our digital scanning project. We talked last 00:48:53.282 --> 00:48:58.206 - year about doing this. We still have about 300 books in 00:48:58.370 --> 00:49:05.330 - physically in the recorder's office with the rest being over in our archives. The fire suppression system 00:49:05.330 --> 00:49:12.093 - in the archives, just to remind you, is a dry system. The one in the recorder's office is water-based. 00:49:12.093 --> 00:49:18.725 - So even with a false alarm, should the sprinklers go off, the books would be affected. So we want to 00:49:18.725 --> 00:49:25.619 - make sure and get all of those documents scanned, at least, and have them accessible in a digital format 00:49:25.619 --> 00:49:27.326 - in a worst-case scenario. 00:49:29.282 --> 00:49:36.813 - The I want to. I'm sorry. I wanted to add. Um, I included the, uh, commissioner's packet so you could 00:49:36.813 --> 00:49:44.418 - see a, um, copy of the contract, which they did approve at a meeting earlier this month for that. Yes. 00:49:44.418 --> 00:49:52.023 - Councilmember Decker and two questions. Those records are going back 200 years, right? We have records 00:49:52.023 --> 00:49:56.158 - back to the beginning of the county in the 18 hundreds. 00:49:57.154 --> 00:50:05.542 - And then the second question, on this fund, and tell me if I got this wrong, this fund, what you do 00:50:05.542 --> 00:50:13.930 - in that, the recorder's, I never can say it. Perpetuation. Perpetuation fund. When we vote on that, 00:50:13.930 --> 00:50:19.550 - that's a courtesy, but really that, the recorder's got discretion. 00:50:19.650 --> 00:50:27.970 - You're being kind and coming to us. Yes, and it is a category transfer. The Council of Spoys requested 00:50:27.970 --> 00:50:36.049 - a proposed budget line item-wise so you can see how money is being spent. But the stated purpose of 00:50:36.049 --> 00:50:44.773 - that fund is to preserve those documents in perpetuity and also to increase public access, which digitizing 00:50:44.773 --> 00:50:47.358 - the records absolutely will do. 00:50:47.458 --> 00:50:54.675 - It meets both criterias. And so this is the perfect use of those funds. I always just like to say I 00:50:54.675 --> 00:51:02.180 - appreciate very much the ability, one lunch hour myself, I went into the recorder's office to get, like 00:51:02.180 --> 00:51:09.830 - most people, to get my grandfather's DD-214 because I needed it for joining something or doing something. 00:51:09.830 --> 00:51:13.150 - It's probably the VFW auxiliary at that time. 00:51:13.826 --> 00:51:20.727 - and out they come, they have this process, you go get that, there's other people getting those things, 00:51:20.727 --> 00:51:27.761 - but those records are precious to families at a time when they need them, and it's always pretty precise 00:51:27.761 --> 00:51:34.528 - when they do, recording the deeds for property, all sorts of things that come in there, so thank you 00:51:34.528 --> 00:51:41.630 - very much. Yes, we take our part in that process very seriously. Yes, Council Member Woods. Regarding the 00:51:42.114 --> 00:51:50.373 - hard copies themselves. You have room in that archived area. I think it's in the showers building, is 00:51:50.373 --> 00:51:58.470 - that right? It is. Do you have room for the remaining books to be kept there? It's not only used by 00:51:58.470 --> 00:52:06.730 - the recorder's office, it's also used by other departments within the counties. And one of the things 00:52:06.730 --> 00:52:11.102 - that is still on my to do list is to reorganize that. 00:52:11.298 --> 00:52:20.864 - And to, because there were some shelving units, there was a deep freeze, chest type freezer for a mold 00:52:20.864 --> 00:52:30.431 - mitigation project that had passed. So that is now out of there using the proper procedure. And so I'm 00:52:30.431 --> 00:52:40.926 - trying to find as much room as possible so that we can continue for historical records, the way things have gone 00:52:41.218 --> 00:52:49.888 - In recent years, even more so accelerated by COVID-19 is everything is now being entered digitally. 00:52:49.888 --> 00:52:58.559 - And so with the records retention guidelines by the Indiana Archives and Records Administration, if 00:52:58.559 --> 00:53:07.663 - the documents were born digital, they can remain digital. And we do have all of our even digital records 00:53:07.663 --> 00:53:09.310 - backed up as well. 00:53:09.730 --> 00:53:18.119 - So we're fast running out of room there, but maybe if we can reshuffle some things, the remaining records 00:53:18.119 --> 00:53:26.191 - that we do have in paper form for all of the departments can be accommodated a little bit easier. And 00:53:26.191 --> 00:53:34.105 - I'm welcome to have any of the counselors who would like come over and look at the archives at your 00:53:34.105 --> 00:53:35.134 - convenience. 00:53:42.114 --> 00:53:51.809 - the Jim Fielder room? It is. That's what I thought. It's the Jim Fielder archives. Seeing no other further 00:53:51.809 --> 00:54:01.141 - questions or comments on this item, we'll move on to public comment. You can raise your hand via Teams 00:54:01.141 --> 00:54:10.292 - or you can come here in the room and make your public comment. And seeing none, may we please have a 00:54:10.292 --> 00:54:11.742 - roll call vote? 00:54:14.274 --> 00:54:23.348 - Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor 00:54:23.348 --> 00:54:31.756 - Hawke? Yes. Councillor Willis? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. And we still have one more item for the 00:54:31.756 --> 00:54:40.163 - recorder's item or the recorder's office, which is item D. Council, I move to approve the recorder's 00:54:40.163 --> 00:54:42.078 - request and fund 1,000 00:54:42.178 --> 00:54:49.940 - for an additional appropriation of $400 in the personnel category. Second. All right. We got a motion 00:54:49.940 --> 00:54:57.779 - in a second. Miss Wayne, what would you like to add to this item? Just the fact that this budget, this 00:54:57.779 --> 00:55:05.389 - line item was under budgeted for 2026. I don't know if I didn't tab off of the cell that it was in. 00:55:05.389 --> 00:55:11.934 - I overlooked it. I don't have a good explanation, but I hope that the council will be 00:55:12.034 --> 00:55:20.663 - um, agreeable to making sure that this employee gets their longevity pay. Great. Any questions or comments 00:55:20.663 --> 00:55:29.211 - on this item? Yes, council. Is that for the whole year, the 400 for the whole year? It's just the balance 00:55:29.211 --> 00:55:37.840 - of what wasn't there. So yes, it's a one time payment. Okay. On their anniversary date. Thank you. Council 00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:41.630 - member. You have a heavy cash balance in that. 00:55:41.762 --> 00:55:53.457 - perpetuation fund. Could you, can you legally cover longevity out of there for, we used to have personnel 00:55:53.457 --> 00:56:04.932 - in there. We currently have three salaries in there of the eight in our office. Two part timers, I have 00:56:04.932 --> 00:56:09.566 - kept them in the budget in the hopes that 00:56:09.890 --> 00:56:20.234 - we're going to be able to do that. Um improvements in our software will allow access to the records 00:56:20.234 --> 00:56:30.785 - which we don't have remotely right now. So we have the two part timers. They're working on back files 00:56:30.785 --> 00:56:38.750 - as well as one full time deputy recorder in there. Everything else. For our. 00:56:39.138 --> 00:56:47.625 - including six-digit contracts, one of which you just approved. All of our software, all of our office 00:56:47.625 --> 00:56:56.112 - supplies, all of our printing, everything else comes out of perpetuation. I appreciate that. I'm just 00:56:56.112 --> 00:57:04.599 - thinking $400 if we could take it out of there, since you do have some personnel there. I don't think 00:57:04.599 --> 00:57:08.510 - we would be against regulation. I wasn't sure. 00:57:08.834 --> 00:57:17.669 - If you listen in at future meetings, you're going to see, we're not going to have to watch for every 00:57:17.669 --> 00:57:26.766 - $100 and every $400 we can find. And I don't think it would hurt your operations to do that. I wouldn't 00:57:26.766 --> 00:57:35.863 - want to take it in the general fund because you made it there in the general, but the remaining balance 00:57:35.863 --> 00:57:38.750 - of $1.4 million that we have not 00:57:40.354 --> 00:57:51.744 - appropriate, except this last $35,000. And that will continue to grow. I'm spending about $178,000 on 00:57:51.744 --> 00:58:03.134 - this scanning project, and that's just for phase two. Just as an example. Plus, I cannot spend beyond 00:58:03.134 --> 00:58:08.606 - the sworn statement of the total amount budgeted 00:58:09.026 --> 00:58:17.678 - for things other than the purpose of the fund by law. Other questions or comments on the item for Ms. 00:58:17.678 --> 00:58:26.244 - Wayne? Seeing none, we'll move on to public comment on this item. If there's public comment, you can 00:58:26.244 --> 00:58:32.606 - come forward to the lectern here in the room or raise your hand via Teams. 00:58:37.730 --> 00:58:46.501 - May we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Crosby? Yes. Councilor Iverson? 00:58:46.501 --> 00:58:55.099 - Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. I think we should take congratulations. I'm sorry, 00:58:55.099 --> 00:59:03.354 - I didn't hear you with everything going on. It's my fault. Councilor Hawke, what was your vote? 00:59:03.354 --> 00:59:05.246 - I said no. Thank you. 00:59:06.242 --> 00:59:17.230 - I already had the conversation why, so. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Motion passes, majority 00:59:17.230 --> 00:59:27.506 - 6-1. Thank you, Councilors. Thank you very much. All right. Next up, we have item E from the courts. 00:59:27.506 --> 00:59:34.526 - Council, I move to approve the court's department's request and fund 00:59:34.690 --> 00:59:41.877 - Court interpreters for an additional appropriation of $7,000 in the services category. Second. All right. 00:59:41.877 --> 00:59:48.725 - We got a motion and a second. We're joined by Ms. Chandler. Welcome. Hi. Hello. I just wanted to let 00:59:48.725 --> 00:59:55.845 - you know that the courts received a $7,000 reimbursable grant to help offset the cost of our interpreter 00:59:55.845 --> 01:00:03.710 - services needed for our court hearings. And we're just asking for those funds to be appropriated. Self-explanatory. 01:00:04.514 --> 01:00:11.161 - Congratulations on that. All right, any questions from Council on this item? Yes, Councilmember Decker. 01:00:11.161 --> 01:00:17.744 - I just always like to take the opportunity to thank departments for looking for outside grant dollars. 01:00:17.744 --> 01:00:24.136 - Those are dollars elsewhere that come home to help us do something, do a service. Probably not easy 01:00:24.136 --> 01:00:31.294 - to always go after, but I'm glad for them. We are not, if we have to replace them or if we lose them, we're not 01:00:31.522 --> 01:00:37.840 - always able to do all that. And that's a whole discussion on its own. But thank you for the courts for 01:00:37.840 --> 01:00:44.525 - going after this and being a model on how to do all those things. We appreciate it much. And congratulations 01:00:44.525 --> 01:00:50.843 - to you in your new role. It's good to have you here. Thank you. Council Member Henry. Thank you again. 01:00:50.843 --> 01:00:57.099 - Thank you. I echo Councilor Decker's sentiments there. So because the fund balance is in the negative 01:00:57.099 --> 01:00:59.614 - now, the 7,000 less, does that put us at 01:00:59.746 --> 01:01:05.140 - like roughly $4,600. Yes. Is there another increment or opportunity between now and the end of the year 01:01:05.140 --> 01:01:10.638 - that would come in, or is that? So we can pay that also from our special services line. Yeah. But anytime 01:01:10.638 --> 01:01:15.980 - we can get a claim turned in to the state and get those funds reimbursed, we're going to do that 100%. 01:01:15.980 --> 01:01:21.374 - Expect any more from the rest of the year, or is this? Oh, yes. In terms of the state? Oh, funding from 01:01:21.374 --> 01:01:26.924 - the state. They actually have contacted us, and they said they're willing to work with us on any emergency 01:01:26.924 --> 01:01:29.310 - funding that we might need. Great. Thank you. 01:01:29.634 --> 01:01:38.120 - we're excited about that. Well, you're required to have court interpreters. So if you got $7,000 to 01:01:38.120 --> 01:01:46.606 - help pay for it, I'm ready to say yes. Thank you. Besides, it's just hot in here. Yes, it is. Well, 01:01:46.606 --> 01:01:55.262 - before we say yes, we want to make sure that any other comments from council members are warranted or 01:01:55.262 --> 01:01:59.166 - necessary. And I don't see any, so then we'll 01:01:59.426 --> 01:02:08.063 - Also go to public comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can come forward to the lectern 01:02:08.063 --> 01:02:16.784 - here in the room or raise your hand via Teams. And now we will go to public or no, we already did that. 01:02:16.784 --> 01:02:25.253 - We will go to that roll call vote. Councilor Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? 01:02:25.253 --> 01:02:29.278 - Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. 01:02:29.762 --> 01:02:40.320 - Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Thank you. Next up 01:02:40.320 --> 01:02:51.188 - is item F from the Board of Commissioners. Council, I move to approve the Board of Commissioners request 01:02:51.188 --> 01:02:59.262 - and fund 1186-0000 rainy day for an additional appropriation of $1,605,464.84 01:02:59.362 --> 01:03:12.464 - in the capital category. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second. And I believe Ms. Purdy online. 01:03:12.464 --> 01:03:19.262 - Other is going to present. You can go ahead and do so. 01:03:31.778 --> 01:03:39.550 - I'm not sure this is terribly difficult to explain. I'm reading the summary. It looks like the insurance 01:03:39.550 --> 01:03:47.469 - has reimbursed us or fronted us $1,605,464.84 for expenses dealing with tornado damages that we're having. 01:03:47.469 --> 01:03:55.167 - And so this appropriation is to, or this request is to appropriate that amount so that it can be spent. 01:03:55.167 --> 01:04:00.126 - And then clearly the funds from that check will go into this fund. 01:04:01.474 --> 01:04:06.935 - Okay. All right. And that's something that we talked about a while ago and doing that, but I have to 01:04:06.935 --> 01:04:12.396 - go through commissioners first as the good old checks and balances the county government goes. Okay. 01:04:12.396 --> 01:04:15.262 - Any questions or comments from council on this item? 01:04:16.290 --> 01:04:21.797 - Yes, Councilmember Henry. Thank you. And I agree. It's been a few months since that happened. It's remarkable 01:04:21.797 --> 01:04:26.953 - that February wasn't that long ago when we had that happen. I just wanted to check in with the auditor 01:04:26.953 --> 01:04:32.159 - that this arrangement still matches what we all discussed back in February in terms of how we're moving 01:04:32.159 --> 01:04:37.316 - this money around. It does. It matches perfectly. They're following the procedure we put together. And 01:04:37.316 --> 01:04:42.622 - I think this is a really good process, a nice way to deal with emergency events that are bound to happen. 01:04:42.622 --> 01:04:45.726 - Thank you. Appreciate it. And thank you for that work, again, 01:04:46.050 --> 01:04:52.936 - her staff and county attorneys in the auditor's office and the airport. And I think the partridge in 01:04:52.936 --> 01:05:00.027 - a pear tree, we had everybody involved to get this tidy. So thank you for that effort. And I would just 01:05:00.027 --> 01:05:06.845 - note that Commissioner Administrator Purdy is online. She is having trouble on muting, which is why 01:05:06.845 --> 01:05:13.118 - I'm stepping in. That's what happens when. All right. So thank you, Mr. Cockrell, for that. 01:05:13.442 --> 01:05:22.609 - any other questions or comments on this item? Seeing none, we'll move to public comment. If there's 01:05:22.609 --> 01:05:32.143 - public comment on this item, you can come to the lectern here in the room or raise your hand via Teams. 01:05:32.143 --> 01:05:41.310 - And seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. 01:05:43.234 --> 01:05:52.575 - Councillor Wilkes? Yes. Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor Crossley? Yes. Motion 01:05:52.575 --> 01:06:01.737 - passes unanimous. Thank you. And on the Board of Commissioners train, we have item G. Council, I move 01:06:01.737 --> 01:06:10.449 - to approve the Board of Commissioners request and fund 8106-0000 world transit for an additional 01:06:10.449 --> 01:06:13.054 - appropriation of $1,706,000. 01:06:13.378 --> 01:06:22.379 - $1,814 in services category. Second. We got a motion and a second. And I see Ms. Purdy is, our video 01:06:22.379 --> 01:06:31.559 - is working. So are you able to talk to us? I think so. We can hear you. Yay. Wonderful. Wonderful. And 01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:41.630 - thank you, Jeff, for handling that first one. I was just like, I can't make anything work. I apologize for that. 01:06:42.210 --> 01:06:52.366 - This particular request is specific to the rural transit grant and it's just allowing us, if you approve 01:06:52.366 --> 01:07:02.039 - the appropriation, allows for the expenditure to be made when what happens is rural transit submits 01:07:02.039 --> 01:07:11.518 - a claim, they submit it to INDOT and then when INDOT receives that claim, they send us the funds. 01:07:11.938 --> 01:07:21.819 - And without the appropriation, we're unable to provide the funds to rural transit. Okay. Thank you very 01:07:21.819 --> 01:07:31.604 - much for that. Any questions from council on this? Councillor Hock. I mean, this is the way we've done 01:07:31.604 --> 01:07:39.870 - it for years with rural transit. And I'm always happy to see what we can do to support 01:07:40.130 --> 01:07:53.110 - transit for the rural areas. And this again is for a year, right? Am I? Yeah, this is, so it's going 01:07:53.110 --> 01:08:02.878 - to get a little bit difficult or confusing, but this is for the 2026 grant. 01:08:06.018 --> 01:08:12.431 - Is this a conversation that we'll have to revisit here in the next couple of months for budget to figure 01:08:12.431 --> 01:08:18.599 - out? Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Well, we appreciate this. 01:08:18.599 --> 01:08:24.829 - All right. If there's no other further questions or comments from council on this item, we'll move on 01:08:24.829 --> 01:08:31.486 - to public comment. If there's public comment, hi pups. You can come forward to the lectern here in the room. 01:08:35.458 --> 01:08:45.363 - nice to see little furry animals on teams. Oh, can you see him? Yeah, I have to hold him because otherwise 01:08:45.363 --> 01:08:55.360 - he will talk. All right, so we will move on to a roll call vote, please. Councillor Fiddle. Yes. Councillor 01:08:55.360 --> 01:09:04.894 - Hawk. Yes. Councillor Wilts. Yes. Councillor Henry. Yes. Councillor Deckard. Yes. Councillor Crossley. 01:09:06.402 --> 01:09:15.160 - for Iverson yes motion passes unanimous thank you thank you very much for that all right as we recall 01:09:15.160 --> 01:09:24.261 - items H and I were tabled and so we will move on to item J council from a recommendation from the auditor 01:09:24.261 --> 01:09:32.934 - I move to ratify the approval of additional appropriations for the waste reduction district that was 01:09:32.934 --> 01:09:35.166 - approved at the June 23rd 01:09:35.458 --> 01:09:44.753 - 2026 council meeting in fund 1215, cumulative capital, account line 44220, building improvements for 01:09:44.753 --> 01:09:54.599 - $45,199 and fund 8210, general operating account line 40450, machinery and equipment purchase for $69,000. 01:09:54.599 --> 01:10:03.802 - This is due to changes in the Department of Local Government Finance advertisement requirements for 01:10:03.802 --> 01:10:05.182 - binding units. 01:10:08.162 --> 01:10:14.776 - second all right we got a motion in a second miss Gregory what would you like to add yes this should 01:10:14.776 --> 01:10:19.294 - be very familiar to you you've recently approved this however due to 01:10:19.362 --> 01:10:28.456 - a glitch essentially with advertisement. We're asking you to re-approve, we re-advertise just to ensure 01:10:28.456 --> 01:10:37.813 - and to err on the side of caution that everything is done correctly. So as you noted as you were reviewing 01:10:37.813 --> 01:10:43.934 - this, the new advertisements go through Gateway and there's different 01:10:44.930 --> 01:10:50.605 - different areas for different units of government. So rather than being under the county umbrella, they 01:10:50.605 --> 01:10:56.117 - have the waste reduction district has their own area. So we have, there's probably a workaround that 01:10:56.117 --> 01:11:01.574 - the DLGF could assist with. However, they're consumed with other things at this time. So we're just 01:11:01.574 --> 01:11:07.031 - proceeding this route. Thank you very much for that. Any questions or comments from council? Yes. I 01:11:07.031 --> 01:11:08.286 - just wanted to kind of 01:11:09.154 --> 01:11:17.390 - Let everyone know that Mr. McGlassen offered to be here this evening, but since this was more of a auditing 01:11:17.390 --> 01:11:25.245 - kind of issue, I suggested that that was not necessary. Great. Any other questions or comments on this 01:11:25.245 --> 01:11:32.947 - item? Seeing none, I will move on to public comment. If there's public comment on this item, you can 01:11:32.947 --> 01:11:38.590 - come forward to the lectern here in the room or raise your hand via team. 01:11:42.498 --> 01:11:52.458 - Seeing none, maybe please have a roll call vote. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor 01:11:52.458 --> 01:12:02.417 - Crossley? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. 01:12:02.417 --> 01:12:10.366 - Motion passes unanimous. Thank you for that. We have no presentations and so, wow. 01:12:10.658 --> 01:12:18.535 - We will move on towards the end of our agenda. I do want to note for the record that Council Member 01:12:18.535 --> 01:12:26.964 - Hawke has given her resignation for the Long-Term Finance Committee. We appreciate her service and efforts 01:12:26.964 --> 01:12:35.550 - on that committee and Mr. Henry is going to be filling in and taking over the spot for the rest of the year. 01:12:36.002 --> 01:12:43.596 - So that is noted. And again, Council Member Hawke, we thank you for your service on that. And we look 01:12:43.596 --> 01:12:51.115 - forward to seeing Council Member Henry serve on the Long-Term Finance Committee. All right. And with 01:12:51.115 --> 01:12:58.634 - that being said, I'm going to go ahead and start off with Council liaison updates and comments to my 01:12:58.634 --> 01:13:02.654 - right, starting with Council Member Hawke. All right. 01:13:03.906 --> 01:13:16.063 - Recently, and I've sent out this message to some of you, and perhaps you've all remember receiving the 01:13:16.063 --> 01:13:27.985 - state review of our jail. They came back with glowing reports just a couple of months ago. If you go 01:13:27.985 --> 01:13:31.998 - through it, you're going to think 01:13:33.090 --> 01:13:43.029 - Were they someplace else other than here? We didn't see anything coming back from the sheriff or anybody 01:13:43.029 --> 01:13:52.589 - saying we disagree with this report. This report was a report from the state after they had reviewed 01:13:52.589 --> 01:14:00.446 - and gone through our jail. And they sent the report out as they're required to do. 01:14:00.706 --> 01:14:08.020 - I didn't hear anything from the commissioners saying, well, this report's all wrong. No one said the 01:14:08.020 --> 01:14:15.262 - report's wrong. But clearly, it says something very different from what's being presented as though 01:14:15.262 --> 01:14:22.577 - the council knew something different. I'm saying that simply because when you receive a report, they 01:14:22.577 --> 01:14:29.022 - send it to you. Many of us rely on what that report says. And I was really pretty proud. 01:14:31.490 --> 01:14:40.482 - So I think that's something, if you haven't looked at it, I would ask the auditor to please resend it 01:14:40.482 --> 01:14:49.650 - to everyone. Send it to the press so they can see it. Because it is time for us to look at what we were 01:14:49.650 --> 01:14:57.936 - told. And we need to do it now. And I know everybody says wait until you go to court. But no, 01:14:57.936 --> 01:15:01.374 - I think we, this is legal information. 01:15:01.986 --> 01:15:12.004 - public information that we received from the state. I think his name was Mr. Groh, G-R-O-H, with the, 01:15:12.004 --> 01:15:22.021 - with that Department of Corrections, and it's required by the state to do this. So either regulations 01:15:22.021 --> 01:15:28.798 - changed drastically in the two or three months, that they say, okay, 01:15:29.922 --> 01:15:38.757 - Things changed as of July 1. Okay, send us proof of how it changed. But some of the other things, we've 01:15:38.757 --> 01:15:47.846 - all seen what the report said. So that is the report that is the official report that we should be relying 01:15:47.846 --> 01:15:56.766 - on. Or we need to ask the state why they made such an egregious error in sending us something like that. 01:15:57.506 --> 01:16:09.390 - Since we didn't hear that from anybody else, I think it perhaps was accepted as being truthful. There's 01:16:09.390 --> 01:16:20.817 - a lot more I could say about that, but I think that's something we all need to review. Okay, how do 01:16:20.817 --> 01:16:25.502 - I follow up? Thank you, Madam President. 01:16:25.666 --> 01:16:31.369 - I'd echo Councilor Hawke's sentiments on that. I think we're probably going to be talking more about 01:16:31.369 --> 01:16:37.297 - that in the weeks to come in terms of what constitutes an emergency and the state's view on that between 01:16:37.297 --> 01:16:43.339 - May and July, but thank you for your insight. I wanted to thank, and I'm sure we'll all do this eventually 01:16:43.339 --> 01:16:48.985 - this evening, Councilor Feidl for your leadership of the subcommittee and our community to evaluate 01:16:48.985 --> 01:16:52.542 - some different opportunities to keep the jail and city limits. 01:16:53.026 --> 01:16:58.160 - And all the members of that subcommittee, I don't think I've ever seen a group of people work harder, 01:16:58.160 --> 01:17:03.344 - faster to have that many public meetings in a five-week span and actually produce a result. And that's 01:17:03.344 --> 01:17:08.428 - not, that's uncommon. So we really need to celebrate that. Thank you for shepherding that through. I 01:17:08.428 --> 01:17:13.461 - look forward to when the council president here calls us all back together to talk about it. Again, 01:17:13.461 --> 01:17:18.494 - I'm sure we're going to be talking about that quite a bit, but thank you again for leading that up. 01:17:25.858 --> 01:17:32.583 - Councilmember Decker. I'm going to list of things here and I'll try to be pretty quick. Number one, 01:17:32.583 --> 01:17:39.509 - I want to congratulate the Monroe County Fair Board for running another successful, if not sweltering, 01:17:39.509 --> 01:17:46.368 - fair. I want to congratulate also the volunteers that were out there doing wondrous things, including 01:17:46.368 --> 01:17:52.286 - Kayden Smith back there being a judge for 4-H extension entries and including all those 01:17:52.610 --> 01:17:58.970 - different people in the community that submitted things into the fair to be judged. I had a kid do that 01:17:58.970 --> 01:18:05.085 - as well that's heading to the state fair. And I know that's an exciting time. So congratulations to 01:18:05.085 --> 01:18:11.200 - everybody involved. It was another great production during a holiday week. And with that, I want to 01:18:11.200 --> 01:18:12.606 - add congratulations to 01:18:12.738 --> 01:18:20.132 - the city for a tremendous Bloomington Fourth of July parade. Looks like the numbers were down a little 01:18:20.132 --> 01:18:27.383 - bit based on the weather, but that is just an awesome thing in our family. It was awesome also to be 01:18:27.383 --> 01:18:34.633 - with everybody at that. Earlier today, I had a chance to spend a little bit of time out at Cars Farm 01:18:34.633 --> 01:18:41.022 - Park as there was an official ribbon cutting on some of the new field area and lighting. 01:18:41.154 --> 01:18:49.692 - that was able to be put out there due to the county's use of ARPA dollars towards that project. As many 01:18:49.692 --> 01:18:57.983 - counselors that were here during that will recall, that was a use that was made possible due to ARPA 01:18:57.983 --> 01:19:06.192 - dollars and probably would not have been possible in that way without ARPA dollars. And already the 01:19:06.192 --> 01:19:09.886 - youth out there playing enthusiastic cutters 01:19:10.082 --> 01:19:17.357 - and the folks from downtown Bloomington or visit Bloomington pardon me that we're talking about things 01:19:17.357 --> 01:19:24.702 - that are booked there bringing again people doing business here interacting here enjoying our amenities 01:19:24.802 --> 01:19:31.763 - on the west side, east side, you name it, right? That's a good thing. And so congratulations to Kelly 01:19:31.763 --> 01:19:38.656 - Whitmer and all the folks at the Parks Board for getting that done and the cutters for already being 01:19:38.656 --> 01:19:46.164 - out there sweltering and practicing today. I also want to say that we had a dedication here at the courthouse 01:19:46.164 --> 01:19:52.988 - on Saturday, alongside some of the counselors were there, some commissioners were there in honor of 01:19:52.988 --> 01:19:54.558 - our Revolutionary War. 01:19:54.658 --> 01:20:01.482 - that are buried in the community. The Daughters of the American Revolution led that kind of 01:20:01.482 --> 01:20:09.048 - plaque dedication. You can all see it downstairs, including those buried in the county. But more than 01:20:09.048 --> 01:20:16.539 - that, over at the History Center, one block off, they had a real celebration of free press. And they 01:20:16.539 --> 01:20:19.358 - had a celebration of civil liberties. 01:20:19.554 --> 01:20:26.746 - And the one thing I've noticed about our history center, I want to really compliment them on this. 01:20:26.746 --> 01:20:34.083 - You know, for years they've had tremendous displays, but in tremendous contributions of folks in the 01:20:34.083 --> 01:20:41.348 - community. But I've noticed more and more increasingly, their displays are telling the story of the 01:20:41.348 --> 01:20:46.942 - community as it was, not as we often sometimes put with some rosier glasses. 01:20:47.074 --> 01:20:53.863 - they tell the story of our community really well. So a big shout out to them. Please go check out some 01:20:53.863 --> 01:21:00.455 - of their displays and support history center because as I said on Saturday, if we close the door to 01:21:00.455 --> 01:21:07.047 - our history, we will keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over. I do want to say kind 01:21:07.047 --> 01:21:13.902 - of my last item here and a lot of a lot of different things going on. I want to commend counselor Fidel 01:21:13.902 --> 01:21:15.550 - as well and every person 01:21:16.674 --> 01:21:23.513 - including our county folks, the city folks, every person contributing to that, I called the subcommittee, 01:21:23.513 --> 01:21:30.030 - and that's not its name. That's what I called it. You called the subcommittee? It was a lot shorter. 01:21:30.030 --> 01:21:36.482 - And they did move, Councilor Henry. They moved at a rapid pace. It reminded me a lot of the CIB, to 01:21:36.482 --> 01:21:42.935 - be honest with you, in having a goal and moving towards that. And here's the thing I love about it, 01:21:42.935 --> 01:21:43.838 - they're still 01:21:44.194 --> 01:21:50.068 - Lots of messiness. And I appreciate Ms. Ford's comments earlier that were strong advice. I appreciate 01:21:50.068 --> 01:21:55.942 - also that she's shown up to that and all the community members that keep showing up to things to say, 01:21:55.942 --> 01:22:01.759 - we're not letting this off the hook. Here are things to remember. Here's what I appreciate. You have 01:22:01.759 --> 01:22:07.633 - non-traditional folks sitting at some of these non-traditional desks collaborating towards the better 01:22:07.633 --> 01:22:08.382 - public good. 01:22:08.770 --> 01:22:14.956 - And I spent a long time talking about collaboration. Nobody wants to hear any more about that. But friends, 01:22:14.956 --> 01:22:20.799 - we're going to have to hear more on that, because it's the only way it's going to work in a community 01:22:20.799 --> 01:22:26.757 - with this many overlapping jurisdictions, this many problems and headaches. We'll be back talking about 01:22:26.757 --> 01:22:32.599 - the Street to Stability Program, which is going to require, it is going to require literally that the 01:22:32.599 --> 01:22:37.182 - city, the county, and everybody else and their sister hold hands towards goals. 01:22:37.282 --> 01:22:43.184 - All these projects will never get done unless we have that collaboration beyond our egos. And I truly 01:22:43.184 --> 01:22:49.145 - mean that. And I say that with all respect. And again, no one wants to hear me do the math of the four 01:22:49.145 --> 01:22:54.526 - in one body, two in the other. But that's the only way it gets done, at a table where people 01:22:54.526 --> 01:23:00.487 - start collaborating. Because as I tell my students, and every other instructor tells her, you know the 01:23:00.487 --> 01:23:04.190 - best idea in the world, if you can't get it done, that's great. 01:23:04.642 --> 01:23:10.494 - That's just copy paper. And so I want to salute Councilor Feidl for her patience on that and taking 01:23:10.494 --> 01:23:16.347 - all of our phone calls and the public phone calls and everybody's idea and moving the ball forward. 01:23:16.347 --> 01:23:22.257 - And now I think it falls to the rest of us to pick the ball up. But it also falls to everyone coming 01:23:22.257 --> 01:23:28.110 - to that table, whether or not that is the medicine that you want to give the community, you want to 01:23:28.110 --> 01:23:32.382 - take. For instance, that's the only way it gets done. It's the only way. 01:23:32.482 --> 01:23:42.177 - It's basic civics, it's basic how humanity operates, and I like the example that was set there. You 01:23:42.177 --> 01:23:52.163 - saw folks doing that together, and that's what we need. All right, I'll stop. No, no, no, no, no. That 01:23:52.163 --> 01:24:01.470 - was good. I appreciate that, because that is definitely something that is important and needed. 01:24:01.922 --> 01:24:11.033 - Yeah, I had just a couple of things, but most of them have been hit on. So I'll be very brief on those 01:24:11.033 --> 01:24:19.967 - topics. I was unable to attend the Karst Farm ribbon cutting today, and I was sorry to miss it. It's 01:24:19.967 --> 01:24:28.990 - an important project, and I'm excited for new things to come at Karst and on that side of the county. 01:24:29.858 --> 01:24:40.316 - Thank you to Liz for all the reasons already stated. And I was going to mention the street stability 01:24:40.316 --> 01:24:50.774 - program that was recently announced about how our community can work to address street homelessness. 01:24:50.774 --> 01:24:56.158 - And there have been so many great conversations and 01:24:56.354 --> 01:25:05.026 - whether or not it's the heading home organization, whether it's the advisory group that I think is heading 01:25:05.026 --> 01:25:13.292 - up that program. I've had conversations with other electeds as well as with faith-based community and 01:25:13.292 --> 01:25:21.397 - some of their interests in helping out. And this really is a time where I think the more we can sit 01:25:21.397 --> 01:25:25.854 - together and talk together, the more we will get done. 01:25:26.274 --> 01:25:34.965 - I'm not always feeling that. Sometimes I feel like we sit together and talk at each other, but I've 01:25:34.965 --> 01:25:43.657 - heard so much positive support and ideas and real practical thinking that I'm excited for what's to 01:25:43.657 --> 01:25:47.742 - come. So I just encourage everybody who's been 01:25:48.354 --> 01:25:57.900 - touched by these conversations to make sure you're reaching out beyond those normal channels to include 01:25:57.900 --> 01:26:07.079 - others who may be interested, because that, to Councilor Deckard's point, is what's going to get us 01:26:07.079 --> 01:26:14.238 - there. The last thing I wanted to say was a month or so ago, I heard from the 01:26:14.562 --> 01:26:24.964 - campaign treasurer for Cheryl Munson's campaign, who wanted to know if the family could request that 01:26:24.964 --> 01:26:35.264 - the remaining funds in her campaign account be donated to the Sophia Travis grant fund. And just as 01:26:35.264 --> 01:26:42.782 - of a couple weeks ago, that was done. So there's a little boost from the 01:26:42.914 --> 01:26:53.078 - close out of Cheryl Munson's campaign finances that you'll see in the Sophia Travis Fund. And I think 01:26:53.078 --> 01:27:03.442 - that's a fitting way to have spent that last bit of money. And I wanted to publicly thank both Cheryl's 01:27:03.442 --> 01:27:12.510 - family and her treasurer, Tina, for thinking of that and making that happen. So that's it. 01:27:12.674 --> 01:27:21.100 - Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. Who's cutting on it? Counselor Feil. Well, on that kind of touching note, since I 01:27:21.100 --> 01:27:29.948 - serve on that committee, it is really an honor to hope to try to fill some of her shoes in that capacity 01:27:29.948 --> 01:27:38.627 - and other capacities. I thank you for your encouragement and support leading the subcommittee. I'm not 01:27:38.627 --> 01:27:40.734 - going to the whole name. 01:27:40.898 --> 01:27:48.921 - It just got long. So we had six sessions and we worked very well together and did our homework in between. 01:27:48.921 --> 01:27:56.493 - That was just really rewarding and refreshing to work with folks who were committed to work together 01:27:56.493 --> 01:28:03.991 - to produce what we needed to produce in the timeline that we had. So I was just very impressed with 01:28:03.991 --> 01:28:08.190 - everyone who served on it and that we can come to terms 01:28:09.794 --> 01:28:18.657 - building something somewhere that we recommended, you know, the current building, the Curry Fiscus site. 01:28:18.657 --> 01:28:27.183 - I haven't heard from anyone who really doesn't want it there, ultimately. So I think that we're on a 01:28:27.183 --> 01:28:36.214 - roll, and I look forward to making that happen. I did also meet with the new HR director, Melissa Waddell, 01:28:36.214 --> 01:28:39.422 - I think is how you say her last name. 01:28:40.034 --> 01:28:46.519 - And I'm looking forward to getting to know her a lot better. We clicked. It was just really cool. And 01:28:46.519 --> 01:28:53.131 - so then the 4th of July parade, I was there. I got to be a judge. It was really a fantastic experience. 01:28:53.131 --> 01:28:59.934 - It was just lovely. I did the Ellisville Chamber Picnic in the Park last Friday evening. Marty, counselor. 01:29:00.130 --> 01:29:06.521 - was there with me, as well as former counselor and Commissioner Joyce Poling. We were all three there. 01:29:06.521 --> 01:29:12.787 - We all sat together. It was just a really lovely time. And we all won something. So that was kind of 01:29:12.787 --> 01:29:18.992 - cool in their drawing. I did also at the courthouse and went to the history center. That was just a 01:29:18.992 --> 01:29:25.197 - really nice ceremony. There's a new plaque downstairs, updated plaque, I should say. And so you can 01:29:25.197 --> 01:29:29.726 - see it all updated and everything. It was just a really lovely ceremony. 01:29:30.562 --> 01:29:39.584 - So I'm thankful that we got our sixth committee meeting done, and I look forward to not having those 01:29:39.584 --> 01:29:47.712 - for a little bit. Thank you all. Thank you. And I think some of the staff here does too. I 01:29:47.712 --> 01:29:56.734 - think Councilmember Iverson said he didn't have anything. So he has his, yep, he's shaking his head. 01:29:56.930 --> 01:30:04.839 - it does not have anything. So much has been said again, but I want to kind of reiterate because there's 01:30:04.839 --> 01:30:12.900 - a lot going on and happening in our community. But to the subcommittee, I just thank you, Mayor Thompson, 01:30:12.900 --> 01:30:20.505 - City Council Vice President Sydney Zulek, and of course, April Wilson, Karen Wernbrick as well, but 01:30:20.505 --> 01:30:21.342 - definitely 01:30:21.794 --> 01:30:29.218 - Councilmember Fiddle for doing the job. I think you were a little nervous at first on taking it on, 01:30:29.218 --> 01:30:36.715 - but you did fantastic and it did not show. And thank you to the staff that also put in some hours as 01:30:36.715 --> 01:30:44.288 - well. I know city council attorney, Mr. Leary Allen, also helped out Mr. King, Mr. Connor, all of you 01:30:44.288 --> 01:30:50.078 - all for your help on that. And so while I continue to drop my notebooks here, 01:30:50.274 --> 01:30:57.843 - you know, I've been thinking a lot about how things are going on and really kind of thinking about things 01:30:57.843 --> 01:31:05.269 - that have been said. Um, and you know, in this meeting and other meetings, um, and you know, what, what 01:31:05.269 --> 01:31:12.838 - have you, and I guess, you know, and thinking of the spirit of what, um, Councilmember Decker and Wilton, 01:31:12.838 --> 01:31:17.694 - others have said is it definitely takes all of us to come together. 01:31:17.986 --> 01:31:24.737 - and it would be really helpful for all of us to come into a room instead of speaking at a meeting at 10 a.m. 01:31:24.737 --> 01:31:30.993 - or speaking at a meeting here during this meeting. We have to get, I agree with you, I think we have 01:31:30.993 --> 01:31:37.310 - to get off of the way of talking at each other and talking to each other and talking with each other. 01:31:37.666 --> 01:31:44.308 - and I can really imagine what would happen if we stopped going out into the community and talking to 01:31:44.308 --> 01:31:51.016 - other groups, but really come in and that call and response and really do that together. Man, I think 01:31:51.016 --> 01:31:57.658 - we could do some really good stuff. I really like, I watch South Park a lot. I'm a little ashamed to 01:31:57.658 --> 01:32:04.958 - say that, but I think we have to get out of the mindset of the Cartman, respect my authority kind of approach. 01:32:05.410 --> 01:32:12.195 - and really move beyond that because we all have checks and balances and what it is that we do. So while 01:32:12.195 --> 01:32:19.110 - those that question, who do we think we are, I think we think that we are and we know that we are because 01:32:19.110 --> 01:32:26.156 - the folks elected us to do that, is we have checks and balances in this county government. So as I continue 01:32:26.156 --> 01:32:28.766 - to say and as our colleagues have said, 01:32:28.930 --> 01:32:35.163 - We appreciate the conversations, but you know the marathon and the work continues. Obviously we saw 01:32:35.163 --> 01:32:38.654 - what came to us as a Friday and the work does not stop. 01:32:39.074 --> 01:32:45.802 - I know that we have a commissioner that is watching virtually right now, and I will still request, like 01:32:45.802 --> 01:32:52.594 - I did back in May, to come to the table and to talk with us, because the public is asking that. We heard 01:32:52.594 --> 01:32:59.063 - from Ms. Ford earlier, you know, people are looking forward to having those conversations together. 01:32:59.063 --> 01:33:05.532 - It's always our group that continues to ask, can you please, can you please? And it's better for us 01:33:05.532 --> 01:33:08.766 - not to just plead, but just to do. And so I think 01:33:09.250 --> 01:33:16.173 - Yoder, somebody say that. So I'm full of quotes tonight. But I really wish that we can do that. So again, 01:33:16.173 --> 01:33:22.770 - that extension for the conversation, that will happen. I'll work with staff to kind of reconvene and 01:33:22.770 --> 01:33:29.694 - get the larger group together. But that invitation, Commissioner Thomas and anybody else that is watching 01:33:29.694 --> 01:33:36.356 - is still open. And we invite you to join our table to talk with us, because that's what folks elected 01:33:36.356 --> 01:33:39.230 - us to do, not just to talk, but just to do. 01:33:39.362 --> 01:33:47.180 - That being said, I thank you all. Stay cool. Major shout out to the fire protection districts for keeping 01:33:47.180 --> 01:33:54.851 - those cool. And there's one on our street that has also been utilized as well. So with that being said, 01:33:54.851 --> 01:33:56.990 - we are adjourned. Thank you.