WEBVTT 00:00:04.834 --> 00:00:08.030 - is the Monroe County Council, I'd like all that meeting. 00:01:04.066 --> 00:01:10.872 - that pledge with us. I will move us to item number three on today's agenda, which by the way, our agendas 00:01:10.872 --> 00:01:17.549 - are available on the county's website at in.gov slash county slash Monroe. So you can follow along with 00:01:17.549 --> 00:01:23.969 - us and all of our packet information is included there. So you can get all of the detail that we're 00:01:23.969 --> 00:01:30.710 - seeing as well. Are there any, does anyone wish to amend tonight's agenda? Council member Feidl, I think 00:01:30.710 --> 00:01:33.086 - you have a- I'm getting there. Okay. 00:01:34.754 --> 00:01:46.132 - 8N, I believe, right? That's the one you're referring to? Mm-hmm. Okay. I move to table 8N, which is 00:01:46.132 --> 00:01:57.848 - the resolution 26 through 29, 2027, target fund balance resolution to the October 27th meeting. Second. 00:01:57.848 --> 00:02:04.382 - All right, we have a motion and a second to move item 8N. 00:02:04.834 --> 00:02:13.789 - the request to approve resolution 2026-29, the 2027 target fund balance resolution, to our next meeting, 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:22.660 - which is the 27th. We have a motion and a second. Any other further comments? Please. Ask why. We still 00:02:22.660 --> 00:02:31.615 - are awaiting some language, I think the legal office, on the impact of bonding. There's some interesting 00:02:31.615 --> 00:02:33.406 - things of that sort. 00:02:33.538 --> 00:02:41.470 - good stuff isn't that great yeah all right since we have everyone present all those in favor of amending 00:02:41.470 --> 00:02:49.101 - tonight's agenda please say aye aye all those opposed the ayes have it unanimously and so we have an 00:02:49.101 --> 00:02:56.655 - amended agenda next we'll move on to public comment for items that don't appear on tonight's agenda 00:02:56.655 --> 00:02:58.846 - there will be a three minute 00:02:59.202 --> 00:03:05.519 - per speaker time limits. Please come forward if you're here in the historic Notting Hill meeting room 00:03:05.519 --> 00:03:10.846 - to the podium or if you are on team simply raise your hand and we will recognize you. 00:03:28.290 --> 00:03:32.729 - could you please state your name for the record? Good evening council my name is Jamie Ford and I'm 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:37.346 - a Monroe County resident. I'm here because I am in support of Councilor Hawke's idea of the money going 00:03:37.346 --> 00:03:41.830 - to Beacon if it must go to Beacon to be set up as a grant contract. Yes this council are stewards of 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:46.447 - our tax dollars which includes your own tax dollars and I appreciate your hard work but it is our money 00:03:46.447 --> 00:03:51.197 - and it's we the people's money and we the people have a right to know where tax dollars are going. There's 00:03:51.197 --> 00:03:55.681 - also a sentiment that if someone questions an organization like Beacon that it's because of a hatred 00:03:55.681 --> 00:03:58.256 - of poor people or homeless people I can't speak for other 00:03:58.256 --> 00:04:03.092 - but for me that is inaccurate. I ask questions because I want to make sure that the people who need 00:04:03.092 --> 00:04:08.169 - help are in fact receiving help. The Crawford Apartments, which Beacon admits to directly being involved 00:04:08.169 --> 00:04:13.053 - with, appear to be a catastrophe. Out of 61 units, 32 are vacant. 32 individuals and or families are 00:04:13.053 --> 00:04:17.889 - experiencing homelessness despite housing being set aside specifically for them. We can argue about 00:04:17.889 --> 00:04:22.821 - the code, but either way conditions should not have deteriorated that badly. Multiple units and areas 00:04:22.821 --> 00:04:26.206 - are missing smoke detectors, which is putting people's lives at risk. 00:04:26.754 --> 00:04:32.087 - Yet, according to a B-Squared Bulletin article dated 7 August 2025, Beacon's executive director stated, 00:04:32.087 --> 00:04:37.369 - quote, for me, the focus is that we've done an amazing work. My Beacon team has done an incredible job 00:04:37.369 --> 00:04:42.702 - to help the property management fulfill their responsibilities, and we're sorry the property management 00:04:42.702 --> 00:04:47.933 - was not able to follow through, end quote. Beacon, an organization fighting homelessness in our area, 00:04:47.933 --> 00:04:52.958 - did work so, quote, unquote, successful that it directly contributed to homelessness in our area. 00:04:53.378 --> 00:04:58.717 - Throwing money at a problem does not automatically equate to a successful solution. For the sake of 00:04:58.717 --> 00:05:04.215 - those who need help, we need to be asking questions, finding out what went wrong, and establishing key 00:05:04.215 --> 00:05:09.607 - performance indicators to ensure that Beacon's future facility does not have the same outcome as the 00:05:09.607 --> 00:05:15.053 - Crawford Apartments. I look forward to reading your grant contract and working with Beacon on solving 00:05:15.053 --> 00:05:20.445 - homelessness. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else wish to speak for items not on the agenda this 00:05:20.445 --> 00:05:21.886 - evening? Looking at teams. 00:05:22.434 --> 00:05:29.669 - Looking in the NatU Hill Room. Seeing none. Let's move to department updates. We have two departments 00:05:29.669 --> 00:05:37.187 - that are going to be presenting at least tonight. There will be a time limit of 10 minutes per department 00:05:37.187 --> 00:05:44.421 - and I'd like to first invite up or have, excuse me, the statement from the Youth Services Bureau read 00:05:44.421 --> 00:05:48.606 - and I think that's going to happen from over here. Indeed. 00:05:48.770 --> 00:05:55.662 - There was an error with the location that was listed for the runaway and homeless youth grant that was 00:05:55.662 --> 00:06:02.353 - appropriated at the September 22nd, 2026 council meeting. The location should have been 9627 rather 00:06:02.353 --> 00:06:09.179 - than 9628. And so they just wanted that read into the record that they had, they're in the process of 00:06:09.179 --> 00:06:16.071 - fixing that. Thank you. Thank you for reading that. Council members, do you have any questions on this 00:06:16.071 --> 00:06:17.342 - department update? 00:06:18.978 --> 00:06:26.022 - Yes Mr. Deckard. I don't I just appreciate the conciseness and clarity around that kind of a correction. 00:06:26.022 --> 00:06:32.798 - I think sometimes we get really bogged down in a larger correction discussion on something like that 00:06:32.798 --> 00:06:39.642 - when really we just need that on the record and then we can move on down the road. Well thank you for 00:06:39.642 --> 00:06:46.686 - that. Seeing no other comments I think then we'll move to our next department update and this is I think 00:06:46.786 --> 00:06:53.892 - something I've been looking forward to. We have a bit to Dewees with an update from Stone Belt, and 00:06:53.892 --> 00:07:01.211 - I think Ms. Dewees has brought someone with her. And if you would like, you can sit at the table here. 00:07:01.211 --> 00:07:08.387 - Just make sure to get the microphone as close to your mouth as possible. Again, you have 10 minutes. 00:07:08.387 --> 00:07:15.422 - We'll leave that one. I did bring a few lead-behinds, too. I don't know if I can leave them there. 00:07:15.554 --> 00:07:22.973 - about the basics of our size and structure today. So thank you for having us. I think you all know I'm 00:07:22.973 --> 00:07:30.248 - Bitta Dewees and I want to introduce. I'm Keegan Burke. And we really are just here to say thank you 00:07:30.248 --> 00:07:37.595 - and give you an update of what's going on at Stone Belt. Our world can be quite challenging living in 00:07:37.595 --> 00:07:44.510 - about 90% of our funding comes from Medicaid and there's a lot going on in that world today. We 00:07:45.154 --> 00:07:51.640 - have a lot more regulations and rules we're having to follow in the efforts to weed out waste fraud 00:07:51.640 --> 00:07:58.191 - and abuse, which I very much support. But it leads to a whole lot more things we have to do to prove 00:07:58.191 --> 00:08:04.158 - that we're the quality provider that we are. And that makes the county tax dollars that you 00:08:04.418 --> 00:08:10.459 - to support stone belt so much more critical to our work. We were allocated in the last budget session 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:16.499 - at the state to receive 2% rate increases for the last two years. So we should have gotten 4%. We got 00:08:16.499 --> 00:08:22.658 - zero because you may have heard they predicted a billion dollar shortfall in Medicaid a couple of years 00:08:22.658 --> 00:08:28.580 - ago. So again, our main point is to say thank you. It's critical to us to have some of that outside 00:08:28.580 --> 00:08:34.384 - revenue that the county provides to keep services going. But then what we also want to do is talk 00:08:34.384 --> 00:08:41.216 - a little bit about the good work we're doing. So I'm going to start with letting Keegan talk. And Keegan, 00:08:41.216 --> 00:08:47.727 - why don't you tell the council a little bit about what makes a good life for you and maybe how Stone 00:08:47.727 --> 00:08:54.237 - Belt has supported you to be able to get to where you are today? The way Stone Belt or the way where 00:08:54.237 --> 00:09:00.682 - Stone Belt is getting me today is I live in SLP, which is a port of living, with two roommates. And 00:09:00.682 --> 00:09:03.454 - Stone Belt provides services through that. 00:09:04.514 --> 00:09:11.644 - And I also attend a day program, which is through Stone Belt, five days a week. And it's been an amazing 00:09:11.644 --> 00:09:18.571 - trip and journey for me. So Keegan, when you first got started with Stone Belt, you were still living 00:09:18.571 --> 00:09:25.565 - with your mom, right? Yes, I was still living with my mom. And you started in a program called Project 00:09:25.565 --> 00:09:30.590 - Search? Yes, Project Search is where I got to know Ms. Bitta Dewees from. 00:09:30.818 --> 00:09:37.945 - that. Project Search is basically they help individuals with disabilities look for jobs and also people 00:09:37.945 --> 00:09:45.072 - with disabilities to experience what it's like to work. And it's a partnership we do with Cook Medical, 00:09:45.072 --> 00:09:51.651 - Ivy Tech, Upland out on profile, Stone Belt. They get to do internships. It's for young adults, 00:09:51.651 --> 00:09:58.778 - 18 to 24. And you were once that young, Keegan. Yes, but I'm not young anymore. And then you moved into 00:09:58.778 --> 00:10:00.286 - a group home with us, 00:10:00.482 --> 00:10:06.408 - Yes, I used to live in a group home called Miller. It's on 713 East Miller Street. And still runs six 00:10:06.408 --> 00:10:12.393 - group homes here in Monroe County, serving about 50 individuals. And then you mentioned that you moved 00:10:12.393 --> 00:10:18.435 - into supported living, and that's where we support people in apartments. Some have roommates, most have 00:10:18.435 --> 00:10:24.303 - roommates, and they get varying levels of service. So Keegan, before, when you were in a group home, 00:10:24.303 --> 00:10:28.254 - you had to have staff with you all the time, right? And now do you? 00:10:29.026 --> 00:10:35.629 - I had to have staff with me all the time 24 seven, but now I don't. But there's still staff there to 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:42.166 - help give meds and help with meal planning. But other than that, I have six hours of alone time, so 00:10:42.166 --> 00:10:48.703 - it's been a pretty good deal for me. And he actually moved into the new switch our departments that 00:10:48.703 --> 00:10:55.436 - did take forever to get open, but they're finally open and they're beautiful. So it's a great location 00:10:55.436 --> 00:10:56.286 - in the city. 00:10:58.050 --> 00:11:04.398 - I think one other thing I was going to have you mention, Stonebolt supports self advocates of Monroe 00:11:04.398 --> 00:11:10.683 - County, which is open to any citizen who wants to join. What's your role? I am the president of the 00:11:10.683 --> 00:11:16.968 - Monroe County Self Advocacy. And then Keegan's talked about several of the programs in terms of how 00:11:16.968 --> 00:11:23.316 - he experiences them, but I was just going to add a few that Keegan didn't mention. I'm going to make 00:11:23.316 --> 00:11:26.270 - sure I don't forget a few because we do a lot. 00:11:26.914 --> 00:11:33.520 - serve over 1,200 individuals a year. We have a clinic where we have psychiatric nurse practitioners 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:40.721 - who do med management for people with a dual diagnosis. And in our world, that means intellectual disability 00:11:40.721 --> 00:11:47.393 - in a mental health condition. We also have therapists that provide support. We have behaviorists. We 00:11:47.393 --> 00:11:54.462 - have nurses. And we also have a partnership with Centerstone, where we provide skills development services 00:11:54.914 --> 00:12:01.654 - through their agency, but with our clients. So it's just a partnership and staffing and training that 00:12:01.654 --> 00:12:08.263 - we do. Anything else you want to add? Stone Belch has been a good place for me and it's been a good 00:12:08.263 --> 00:12:14.871 - place for me ever since I started. We'd just love to see if you have any questions for us before we 00:12:14.871 --> 00:12:17.118 - let you get to your meeting time. 00:12:17.218 --> 00:12:24.516 - Well, thank you so much for being here. And before I turn to my council colleagues, I just want to note 00:12:24.516 --> 00:12:31.674 - for the record that Councilmember Marty Hawk is now joining us in person. Council, who wants to start 00:12:31.674 --> 00:12:38.903 - off with the first question or comment? Councilmember Wilz. All right. First of all, thank you so much 00:12:38.903 --> 00:12:46.622 - for being here, both of you. It's good to see you both. And I don't really have a specific question, however, 00:12:46.978 --> 00:12:54.131 - I'm curious, and if you don't know, that's obviously perfectly fine, but I'm curious as to numbers of 00:12:54.131 --> 00:13:01.424 - people served. You said 1,200 per year? Yeah, so a lot of that number does run through the clinic. Each 00:13:01.424 --> 00:13:08.577 - program's different, and I'll leave these behind, but I have to look to get them about right. I think 00:13:08.577 --> 00:13:15.870 - people don't really realize how large we are. We have almost 500 employees, over 450 employees. We have 00:13:16.290 --> 00:13:23.013 - About 160, it's saying right now, in our residential programs. So that would be the group homes and 00:13:23.013 --> 00:13:30.072 - the supported living. We have 180 people or so in our day programs. That number used to be significantly 00:13:30.072 --> 00:13:36.997 - higher prior to COVID. We have over 200 in the employment program that are looking for jobs or finding 00:13:36.997 --> 00:13:42.174 - jobs or in various stages. And then over 800 are in those clinical services. 00:13:42.274 --> 00:13:49.992 - That is more than just Monroe County, though. We do cover Lawrence County and Bartholomew County as 00:13:49.992 --> 00:13:57.941 - well. But Monroe County is our by far largest county where we serve the most clients and where we have 00:13:57.941 --> 00:14:05.735 - our clinic. I think, oh, please, Mr. Dickens. I know it's as long as I've been alive, but how do you 00:14:05.735 --> 00:14:10.366 - know roughly how long has Stone Belt been in the community? 00:14:11.458 --> 00:14:18.157 - March 27, 1959. So 67 years this year. That's also my husband's birthday, so it's really easy for me 00:14:18.157 --> 00:14:24.790 - to remember. Same year or two. So it's really easy for me to remember. Thank you for saying that. I 00:14:24.790 --> 00:14:31.490 - think generationally, the example, probably we need to be looking more closely how to model anything 00:14:31.490 --> 00:14:35.934 - you're doing well for anything else we might be needing help with. 00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:41.275 - How am I doing on time? Do I have two minutes left? You've got three minutes. OK. I'll end with one 00:14:41.275 --> 00:14:46.126 - of the most incredible stories I heard. And I thought I knew Stone Belt's history, but when I took over 00:14:46.126 --> 00:14:46.686 - as the CEO, 00:14:46.786 --> 00:14:52.216 - About four years ago, I was contacted by someone whose mother had just passed away, and she asked if 00:14:52.216 --> 00:14:57.808 - I would write a letter talking about the impact her parents' generation made on the services for people 00:14:57.808 --> 00:15:03.346 - with disabilities back in the 50s. Her name was Carolyn Rhodes, and her mom was Mary Phillips, and her 00:15:03.346 --> 00:15:08.830 - dad was Dr. Gordon Phillips. They had a son named Timmy. None of us knew this story, not even Leslie. 00:15:08.898 --> 00:15:14.225 - We always knew we were founded by nine families. But they had a son named Timmy who had severe medical 00:15:14.225 --> 00:15:19.553 - disabilities. And they kept him at home as long as they could. And at about the age of two and a half, 00:15:19.553 --> 00:15:23.070 - he had to go to an institution. He passed away at the age of three. 00:15:23.138 --> 00:15:29.517 - That was in July of 58. They came home and reached out to Dr. Middleton, I think his name was was, way 00:15:29.517 --> 00:15:35.587 - before HIPAA. He gave them the names of every family in town that had children with disabilities. 00:15:35.587 --> 00:15:41.842 - They said, come to a meeting. We want to talk about services. Some parents were afraid of that. Some 00:15:41.842 --> 00:15:45.310 - wanted nothing to do with that. And nine families came. 00:15:45.570 --> 00:15:51.870 - That was again in November of 58 that this meeting was called. We were incorporated in March of 59. 00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:58.485 - That's how fast that happened when those parents got activated and the Phillips didn't even have a child 00:15:58.485 --> 00:16:04.784 - in the services. They did it for the rest of the folks of Monroe County. So that is one of the most 00:16:04.784 --> 00:16:11.084 - powerful stories I've heard in my recent past. And that's how we got started. I want to conclude by 00:16:11.084 --> 00:16:13.982 - saying that in a it seems like a former life. 00:16:14.338 --> 00:16:20.528 - I worked for you as one of those 450 employees. I remember hearing that last time I was here, Peter, 00:16:20.528 --> 00:16:26.718 - and that stuck with me. And I worked in the support of living spaces. And those are near and dear to 00:16:26.718 --> 00:16:32.908 - my heart. They're sprinkled all throughout this community. And I don't think folks really understand 00:16:32.908 --> 00:16:39.098 - how broad the footprint of that program is. So I have two questions for you. The first is these cuts 00:16:39.098 --> 00:16:44.062 - that are coming down the pike and the struggles that you're having with revenue. 00:16:44.194 --> 00:16:50.192 - How has that impacted those supportive living programs, those houses where one or two people live? And 00:16:50.192 --> 00:16:56.306 - then my second tangential question is, if folks want to support your mission, how can they do so? Great. 00:16:56.306 --> 00:17:02.128 - Thank you for that. They're impacting us greatly. The biggest issue Stone Belt has is staffing, and 00:17:02.128 --> 00:17:04.574 - that's based on what we can pay staffing. 00:17:04.770 --> 00:17:10.236 - We can't raise the price of our services. We're at the mercy of Medicaid. So when they give us rate 00:17:10.236 --> 00:17:15.921 - increases that don't come through, but the cost of everything else we do, everybody's feeling it. Every 00:17:15.921 --> 00:17:21.660 - cost has gone up for every one of us. We're struggling. And what we need to do is be able to raise wages 00:17:21.660 --> 00:17:27.291 - so we can keep staff. And if people want to go to donate or support Stone Belt, we would be incredibly 00:17:33.058 --> 00:17:39.427 - Thank you for that, Peter. You're very welcome, Ms. Dewees. Thank you for being here. And President 00:17:39.427 --> 00:17:45.797 - Keegan, thank you for your presence. Thank you very much, and I'm obliged. All right. We'll talk to 00:17:45.797 --> 00:17:52.357 - you soon. Can I leave these for you guys? I don't know what protocol is. And I'm over here. We're just 00:17:52.357 --> 00:17:53.822 - folks. Throw them out. 00:18:06.626 --> 00:18:16.792 - You know what? I can see this one fine. I'm fine. I can see it. It's fine. Do they need it? Because 00:18:16.792 --> 00:18:27.060 - I can see this one. All right. Well, we are arranging televisions. I think we're ready to move on to 00:18:27.060 --> 00:18:35.294 - item 6A. I move to approve the following consent agenda for item for October 13. 00:18:35.906 --> 00:18:44.066 - Court's request and fund 8 8 9 5 dash 0 0 0 0 County IV dash D incentive fund the creation of an account 00:18:44.066 --> 00:18:51.838 - line and simultaneously approve a category transfer of $2,835 from the capital category to services 00:18:51.838 --> 00:18:59.609 - category. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Are there any questions from council on 00:18:59.609 --> 00:19:01.630 - this consent agenda item? 00:19:03.778 --> 00:19:11.553 - Looking to my right, looking to my left, seeing none. All those in favor of today's consent agenda item, 00:19:11.553 --> 00:19:18.957 - please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously. Now move on to our sevens and 00:19:18.957 --> 00:19:27.028 - we'll start with item 7A. Council, I move to open for discussion and possible approval the park department's 00:19:27.028 --> 00:19:33.470 - request to be exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1-000-0803 00:19:33.890 --> 00:19:41.120 - General Parks the director position. Second. All right we have a motion and a second we have Justin 00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:48.929 - Roddy from County Legal and John Robertson here to tell us what's going on welcome. I'm actually presenting 00:19:48.929 --> 00:19:55.870 - the item but Mr. Robertson's here for any council questions. Excellent we are flexible tonight. 00:19:56.834 --> 00:20:02.616 - So this is a request from the parks department to hire the parks director due to the current due to 00:20:02.616 --> 00:20:08.398 - the recent announcement that the current director plans on retiring in November. So per the current 00:20:08.398 --> 00:20:14.469 - job description the director position in part is responsible for supervising and directing all the parks 00:20:14.469 --> 00:20:19.326 - department personnel and developing monitoring and executing the parks master plan. 00:20:19.426 --> 00:20:24.662 - The director position also prepares and administers the parks budget as well as negotiates and presents 00:20:24.662 --> 00:20:29.747 - contracts. And there's a whole bunch of other tasks in that job description, but those are just some 00:20:29.747 --> 00:20:34.932 - highlights of it. So this position plays a vital part in ensuring the county parks are well maintained 00:20:34.932 --> 00:20:40.219 - and accessible to the community. The parks board has not decided whether they will be hiring an internal 00:20:40.219 --> 00:20:45.354 - or an external candidate, but they will make that decision if they have permission to hire, but there 00:20:45.354 --> 00:20:46.814 - will be internal candidates. 00:20:48.770 --> 00:20:55.719 - Do you have anything to add to that? I don't think so. That was very well said. Thanks, Molly. All right. 00:20:55.719 --> 00:21:02.406 - Council, do you have any questions or comments about this? Start here, then move on all the way down. 00:21:02.406 --> 00:21:08.962 - Thank you, Mr. President. I'm here. Anyway, this question is more for table. I appreciate you being 00:21:08.962 --> 00:21:15.976 - here tonight. It caught my attention in the packet that this is just unbelievable to me that this position 00:21:15.976 --> 00:21:16.894 - was 35 hours. 00:21:16.994 --> 00:21:22.962 - Is that correct in the packet? I just want to make sure that... Yes, that's correct. Okay. I'm just 00:21:22.962 --> 00:21:29.049 - overwhelmed by that, given the service of the predecessor and the role. I just want to make sure. Has 00:21:29.049 --> 00:21:35.315 - there been a historical conversation about lifting that position to a full 40 a week? I don't know that. 00:21:35.315 --> 00:21:41.461 - It may have predated my time here, but I'm taking it back by it being a 35-hour week position as we're 00:21:41.461 --> 00:21:43.550 - putting it back out in the market. 00:21:44.866 --> 00:21:52.118 - I will say if it has been a conversation, it predates my time as well, which is about 10 years. And 00:21:52.118 --> 00:21:59.732 - I'm not aware of any conversation to move it to 40. Thank you, Mr. President. I think maybe I'm looking, 00:21:59.732 --> 00:22:07.273 - Councilor Wilts may have the answer or a comment. I don't know that I have the answer. But as you know, 00:22:07.273 --> 00:22:10.174 - a lot of departments, in fact, perhaps, 00:22:10.306 --> 00:22:21.133 - all of them were reduced from 40 to 35 as a budgetary measure many years ago. And since then, it has 00:22:21.133 --> 00:22:32.281 - been incumbent on the department to request an increase in those hours with the understanding that that 00:22:32.281 --> 00:22:39.678 - would increase costs. And I think that our current soon to be former 00:22:39.778 --> 00:22:50.916 - parks director has been incredibly mindful of costs and is probably someone who puts in more than what's 00:22:50.916 --> 00:23:01.842 - on paper and does so willingly. And it might, to your point, it might be something that we should talk 00:23:01.842 --> 00:23:09.374 - about because I'm not sure that's realistic for a director. Thank you. 00:23:09.858 --> 00:23:17.387 - that. Yes and I think before we start talking about that number of hours or whatever, I don't think. 00:23:17.387 --> 00:23:25.139 - And I think what we need to look at is what is the total salary? And of course, we've been blessed with 00:23:25.139 --> 00:23:32.743 - a really great parks director and she put in whatever hours it took to get the job done. And I expect 00:23:32.743 --> 00:23:37.886 - another parks director should do the same thing or we will be really 00:23:38.050 --> 00:23:46.027 - question is back to who has the legal authority to choose? Is it the parks board or is it commissioner? 00:23:46.027 --> 00:23:53.775 - Is the parks board? It's the parks board. Okay. And do we have a full compliment there? Is the parks 00:23:53.775 --> 00:24:01.982 - board completely filled out or do we have any vacancies? I believe there's there is one vacancy right now. 00:24:04.258 --> 00:24:11.355 - the reason why I'm just saying is, you know, if you have very many vacancies, we need to make sure we 00:24:11.355 --> 00:24:18.521 - have those filled so that the parks board is choosing who they want to represent the parks department. 00:24:18.521 --> 00:24:25.548 - And I didn't know the answer to that question or I wouldn't have asked it. But I really didn't know. 00:24:25.548 --> 00:24:32.158 - So how many on the parks board? Oh, gosh, I think we've got seven right now. And there's both. 00:24:32.290 --> 00:24:40.096 - Are you saying there's a total of seven in one of the seven is missing or we have a total of seven and 00:24:40.096 --> 00:24:47.902 - we need another one to make eight? Yes. Yes, supposed to be eight. I believe so. OK, I'm sorry. That's 00:24:47.902 --> 00:24:55.557 - all right. In looking at the website, I think there's seven with one vacancy. OK, that's right. With 00:24:55.557 --> 00:24:56.542 - one vacancy. 00:24:59.234 --> 00:25:08.130 - I'm not looking at it. Otherwise, I apologize for that. Mr. Deckard, yeah. Point of information on it. 00:25:08.130 --> 00:25:17.026 - It looks like it was, it's vacant from extension and that's because extension has had change there and 00:25:17.026 --> 00:25:25.749 - it's an ex officio with voting privileges. But the other citizens appointees from the commissioners, 00:25:25.749 --> 00:25:27.390 - the circuit court, 00:25:27.618 --> 00:25:35.618 - the council and the mayor are in their seats. Yeah. And thanks for pointing that out. So we have been 00:25:35.618 --> 00:25:43.461 - attempting to contact Purdue to get that filled, but we have not since their former extension agent 00:25:43.461 --> 00:25:50.206 - left. Are there any other comments or questions? Right. I think that we should really 00:25:50.626 --> 00:25:58.390 - put the feet to the fire under Purdue to get somebody on that parks board, because there's a lot of 00:25:58.390 --> 00:26:06.387 - things that's planned that it would be really important to have that person from Purdue there. I mean, 00:26:06.387 --> 00:26:14.385 - with what I've been seeing what your plan is, I think it would be essential that we get that expertise 00:26:14.385 --> 00:26:19.742 - on that parks board. So let's push for that. Let's make that happen. 00:26:20.354 --> 00:26:28.584 - Councilmember Wilts. Yeah, I think that we should talk to Adi specifically because I'm not going to 00:26:28.584 --> 00:26:36.896 - dig into the code, but it looks like it needs to be the extension director. Whereas some of these, I 00:26:36.896 --> 00:26:45.126 - know we've talked about their role on, is it plan commission? What's the other? Yeah. And that's an 00:26:45.126 --> 00:26:48.830 - appointment that they make versus the actual 00:26:49.282 --> 00:26:56.254 - I don't know if that's the director or. It says extension agent in one, but that's I think. Antiquated 00:26:56.254 --> 00:27:03.022 - kind of went back in the day, you know there was that the one agent per county. But yeah, we should 00:27:03.022 --> 00:27:09.926 - talk to audience and I would encourage you all to reach out. Yeah, I know. So Justin is has attempted 00:27:09.926 --> 00:27:16.830 - to contact her about the board seat a couple times, but we're still working on that. Yeah. All right. 00:27:17.058 --> 00:27:24.396 - I will just say that I agree with Council Member Hawke. You've got a lot of work ahead of you, including 00:27:24.396 --> 00:27:31.524 - a park on the east side, which I am very excited about. I try and say that every single time you guys 00:27:31.524 --> 00:27:38.792 - come out here. It's in Kate's district, but it's close to mine. All right. Is there any public comment? 00:27:38.792 --> 00:27:46.270 - Could we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. 00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:55.108 - Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Motion passes unanimous 6-0. 00:27:55.108 --> 00:28:02.961 - Thank you. Go forth and hire. All right, that concludes our hiring freeze reviews. Now it's time to 00:28:02.961 --> 00:28:11.286 - move into council business. We'll start with item 8A. Council, I move to open for discussion and possible 00:28:11.286 --> 00:28:15.134 - approval the health department's request in fund 00:28:15.234 --> 00:28:23.817 - 1161-9625 local public health services account line 10123 population health and outreach manager to 00:28:23.817 --> 00:28:32.915 - increase the work hours from 35 to 40. Second. All right we have Mr. Eric Gaus from the health department 00:28:32.915 --> 00:28:42.270 - here with us today welcome. Thank you so this request is being made to align the position with other manager 00:28:42.402 --> 00:28:51.137 - director level positions in the health department and also to reflect the actual hours the employee 00:28:51.137 --> 00:29:00.222 - has been working to ensure that the TV and other communicable disease investigation and case management 00:29:00.222 --> 00:29:06.686 - is completed per the department statutory requirements. I'd like to quote 00:29:07.522 --> 00:29:13.986 - I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's 00:29:13.986 --> 00:29:20.386 - a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. 00:29:20.386 --> 00:29:26.850 - I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's 00:29:26.850 --> 00:29:33.251 - a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. 00:29:33.251 --> 00:29:36.926 - I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. 00:29:37.090 --> 00:29:44.747 - position compared to other counties to see what the salary level is, because when we do that comparison 00:29:44.747 --> 00:29:52.258 - with other counties, and then we set a salary here, did we compare hours? Because if we had five more 00:29:52.258 --> 00:29:59.621 - hours, five more paid hours, then is that going to raise that salary much higher than what had been 00:29:59.621 --> 00:30:06.910 - compared to with the other counties? I'm just saying that's something we should look at as well as 00:30:07.714 --> 00:30:15.131 - the many, many benefits, which is a part of the compensation. So when we change anything from 35 to 00:30:15.131 --> 00:30:22.696 - 40 hours, that really puts up, then it starts doing this whole thing of, OK, here's the salary level. 00:30:22.696 --> 00:30:30.113 - And then you're looking at everything else, so we'd better bring that one up. And so it really does 00:30:30.113 --> 00:30:36.862 - mess with the whole salary schedule. I'm not saying this is the particular case with this. 00:30:37.026 --> 00:30:46.084 - I was not a part of. I don't recall how the salary was set for this particular position. Did they look 00:30:46.084 --> 00:30:55.054 - at other counties? I don't have the answer for that question at this time. I can work. I can get that 00:30:55.054 --> 00:31:03.848 - for you, though. All right. Any other questions? Yes, Councilmember Wilts. I am not adept enough to 00:31:03.848 --> 00:31:06.398 - find a organizational chart. 00:31:06.658 --> 00:31:15.241 - for this department, although I know one exists. And my question is, is there a director position above? 00:31:15.241 --> 00:31:23.580 - No, this position reports to the health administrator. Okay. All right. And I know that we had talked 00:31:23.580 --> 00:31:31.836 - pretty extensively last fall about making those all 40. And I feel pretty strongly that there should 00:31:31.836 --> 00:31:36.414 - be some parity there, especially at the director level. 00:31:37.154 --> 00:31:45.199 - within the department. All right, council members, any other questions or comments? Yes, Councilor Rivera. 00:31:45.199 --> 00:31:52.718 - Okay, when you look at that, depending between the 35 and 40, did you look at the salary between 35 00:31:52.718 --> 00:32:00.914 - and 40 to see what the difference was, or did you just think they all should be working 40 hours, regardless 00:32:00.914 --> 00:32:05.726 - of the salary? When we discussed it at council, my recollection 00:32:07.842 --> 00:32:19.721 - is that the discussion was not about salary. There were a bunch of new positions being created at the 00:32:19.721 --> 00:32:31.949 - time, a lot of reorganization and structure being added. And my thought at the time was if you're adding 00:32:31.949 --> 00:32:35.326 - a level of manager into your 00:32:35.618 --> 00:32:44.510 - your architecture there for the department that they presumably should be working, you know, similar 00:32:44.510 --> 00:32:53.577 - hours and especially my main concern at the time was should they end up supervising someone that works 00:32:53.577 --> 00:33:02.733 - more hours that would get complicated perhaps. But we're talking about conversations from a while back. 00:33:02.733 --> 00:33:05.374 - So that's all I remember. Mr. 00:33:05.826 --> 00:33:11.771 - Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Eric, for coming in again. I'll just, I think, restate what I've 00:33:11.771 --> 00:33:17.657 - been saying for the past few weeks regarding this department, that I'm taking it as a moment in time 00:33:17.657 --> 00:33:23.952 - where we're operating on budget assumptions, org charts, concepts that were installed by a former official. 00:33:23.952 --> 00:33:29.780 - We're in this kind of gray space where you all need to meet your day-to-day functions. And I highly 00:33:29.780 --> 00:33:32.286 - anticipate we're going to be having a much 00:33:32.418 --> 00:33:38.914 - larger conversation about that org chart over the next year with a new administrator or leadership in 00:33:38.914 --> 00:33:39.614 - that body. 00:33:39.906 --> 00:33:45.512 - It is still my impression from coming on years ago here and being in that department that I've never 00:33:45.512 --> 00:33:51.118 - understood the top heaviness of the director levels in these positions. That's not your fault, Eric. 00:33:51.118 --> 00:33:56.835 - You're trying to fund the spots right now. You know, I imagine when we go out on the market nationally 00:33:56.835 --> 00:34:02.663 - to find a new health administrator that the administrator's pay band is going to be interesting relative 00:34:02.663 --> 00:34:08.990 - to other counties of our size, right? To attract that kind of talent and expertise we may need to right the ship. 00:34:09.154 --> 00:34:15.422 - I guess what I'm saying is things have come before us week by week right now. I'm very open to just 00:34:15.422 --> 00:34:22.192 - getting over the hurdle. I anticipate this is going to be a much more complex conversation as we reevaluate 00:34:22.192 --> 00:34:28.774 - what this department is doing for our community. I also want to thank you for time you gave me on Monday 00:34:28.774 --> 00:34:30.654 - to talk through some of this. 00:34:30.786 --> 00:34:37.256 - I will say for the item in front of us and all the items that will be coming to us that it is essential 00:34:37.256 --> 00:34:43.476 - that frontline public health services continue to get delivered regardless of executive activities. 00:34:43.476 --> 00:34:49.946 - I'll put it that way and that has nothing to do with Eric on down right now. When I hear about vaccines 00:34:49.946 --> 00:34:54.238 - that are not getting in arms in this community because we don't have 00:34:54.434 --> 00:35:00.291 - staffing. I'm all about supporting what we got to do to get the job done in the interim so sorry for 00:35:00.291 --> 00:35:06.148 - consuming that much time on this but it is a highly moving target right now and I thank you for your 00:35:06.148 --> 00:35:11.947 - stress. Thank you for putting up with the stress. We're all feeling it too. Thank you. All right if 00:35:11.947 --> 00:35:18.268 - there are no other council comments let's go to the public. If you have a question for the Health Department 00:35:18.268 --> 00:35:21.342 - please raise your hand on Teams or come to the desk. 00:35:26.594 --> 00:35:27.198 - podium today. 00:35:36.578 --> 00:35:41.178 - I'm still Jamie Ford and I'm still a Monroe County resident. Something that might help with the health 00:35:41.178 --> 00:35:45.822 - department statutory requirements is to eliminate non statutory programs like the syringe program under 00:35:45.822 --> 00:35:50.378 - the population health and outreach. On 13 June 2026 I requested records for the syringe program after 00:35:50.378 --> 00:35:54.843 - reading some of the annual reports from the sheriff's department that listed the amounts of inmates 00:35:54.843 --> 00:35:59.577 - who voluntarily requested for help with their addiction. I was curious if there's any correlation between 00:35:59.577 --> 00:36:04.132 - those numbers and the amount of addiction help requested via the syringe program. The idea was to see 00:36:04.132 --> 00:36:06.544 - if there might be a need for separate services in our 00:36:06.544 --> 00:36:11.775 - area to help shield individuals who are trying to be addiction but are trapped in that cycle. Today, 00:36:11.775 --> 00:36:17.369 - 13 October 2026, is four months to the day since I made that request and I still do not have those records. 00:36:17.369 --> 00:36:22.704 - The Substance Use Disorder Awareness Commission just held the Monroe County Recovery Summit. I did not 00:36:22.704 --> 00:36:28.350 - attend unfortunately, but I did watch the recordings on the CATS YouTube channel. The purpose of the summits 00:36:28.482 --> 00:36:32.941 - The purpose of the summit was to, quote, innovate ideas and collaborate on compassionate solutions. 00:36:32.941 --> 00:36:37.534 - And the theme was, quote, drug trends in our community. That sounds like a perfect opportunity to talk 00:36:37.534 --> 00:36:42.172 - about the 10 years worth of data collected in a health department program directly related to substance 00:36:42.172 --> 00:36:46.676 - use in our community based on what I saw that did not happen. Solutions could have been brainstormed 00:36:46.676 --> 00:36:51.179 - and program successes could have been built on, but the syringe program data was ignored at a summit 00:36:51.179 --> 00:36:56.040 - on drug trends in our community. I'm aware that there are studies by researchers elsewhere on harm reduction 00:36:56.040 --> 00:36:58.448 - groups elsewhere that are proving that harm reduction 00:36:58.448 --> 00:37:03.723 - works elsewhere after a decade plus of the syringe program in Monroe county we should have proof that 00:37:03.723 --> 00:37:08.998 - the program is working here now in Monroe county because it is ignored even in the best circumstances 00:37:08.998 --> 00:37:14.169 - like the summit i have to question if that's because the program is a failure if i'm wrong prove it 00:37:14.169 --> 00:37:19.444 - by releasing the records with all the instability in the health department perhaps the best it's best 00:37:19.444 --> 00:37:24.667 - to scale back eliminate by non statutory programs etc and do the work required to improve the health 00:37:24.667 --> 00:37:25.598 - services that are 00:37:25.954 --> 00:37:32.998 - the basic core requirements, and then in the future build it back up as necessary or as beneficial. 00:37:32.998 --> 00:37:40.182 - And I look forward to the health of Monroe County improved and to quote Council Henry, the ship being 00:37:40.182 --> 00:37:47.437 - righted in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Are there others that wish to make public comment on this 00:37:47.437 --> 00:37:55.326 - health department item? Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? 00:37:58.466 --> 00:38:06.161 - Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Decker. Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Motion 00:38:06.161 --> 00:38:13.632 - passes unanimous 6-0. To the table. Hold just a second. A question please. Just a second. Thank you 00:38:13.632 --> 00:38:21.477 - very much for your time. Thank you for being here. A question. Did you have a financial impact statement 00:38:21.477 --> 00:38:27.454 - that was attached to this to tell us what the financial impact would be? Was it 00:38:27.554 --> 00:38:34.785 - it's in the packet. As you might know, I've not had an opportunity to review the packet. For 00:38:34.785 --> 00:38:43.493 - those interested, it is on page 26 of today's packet. And again, those packet and agenda can be found at in.gov 00:38:43.493 --> 00:38:51.269 - slash Monroe slash county slash Monroe or simply by searching for Monroe County. All right, I think 00:38:51.269 --> 00:38:55.934 - that means that we are ready for item number B or letter B. 00:38:56.930 --> 00:39:04.133 - Council I move to open for discussion and possible approval the Highway Department's request and fund 00:39:04.133 --> 00:39:11.831 - 1176-0000 motor vehicle highway the creation of a count line 16800 transitional temporary training position. 00:39:11.831 --> 00:39:18.893 - Second. We have a motion and a second and we are joined by our highway director Lisa Ridge. What do 00:39:18.893 --> 00:39:20.094 - we need to know? 00:39:20.226 --> 00:39:28.384 - evening. So we do have two people retiring this year so this is actually to make this line active so 00:39:28.384 --> 00:39:36.461 - that we can do some cross training in their departure. One is our financial manager is retiring and 00:39:36.461 --> 00:39:44.781 - then I have an item on here for Assistant Superintendent. Great. Council do you have any questions for 00:39:44.781 --> 00:39:46.558 - Ms. Ridge? All right. 00:39:46.754 --> 00:39:54.442 - there are none. We'll go to the public. Public, do you have any, is there any public comment on this? 00:39:54.442 --> 00:40:02.205 - Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Hock? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor 00:40:02.205 --> 00:40:10.495 - Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. And Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous, 00:40:10.495 --> 00:40:14.942 - six zero. Thank you for that. And that moves us to item C. 00:40:16.514 --> 00:40:23.448 - Council, I move to open for discussion and possible approval of the Highway Department's request to 00:40:23.448 --> 00:40:30.381 - be exempt from the hiring freeze and be allowed to hire and fund 1176-0000 Motor Vehicle Highway, a 00:40:30.381 --> 00:40:37.315 - full-time assistant superintendent. Second. All right, we still have Lisa Ridge with us. So what do 00:40:37.315 --> 00:40:44.318 - we need to know? So we do have one of our assistant superintendents retiring at the end of December. 00:40:44.450 --> 00:40:52.376 - So we would like to take the steps of posting the position and being able to do some cross train before 00:40:52.376 --> 00:41:00.074 - we're looking at maybe the first of December, the first two weeks of December by the time we post it 00:41:00.074 --> 00:41:07.315 - and everything. But also I anticipate that we will have applicants from within our department. 00:41:07.315 --> 00:41:14.174 - I know we will. We've had a lot of different positions showing interest in this position. 00:41:14.946 --> 00:41:22.548 - I'd like to be able to, if I move somebody, then that opens that position. That could open another position. 00:41:22.548 --> 00:41:29.593 - Am I gonna have to come back here every two weeks or something for that rippling effect? So I'm only 00:41:29.593 --> 00:41:37.055 - asking to fill the assistant. Okay, so if I have a foreman that I move into that, that becomes the foreman 00:41:37.055 --> 00:41:44.030 - becomes open. If I move a truck driver into a foreman position, a truck driver position comes open. 00:41:44.162 --> 00:41:51.144 - I didn't know how you wanted me to handle that rippling effect in this request. Mr. Decker. This is 00:41:51.144 --> 00:41:58.406 - less a question for Ms. Ridge, but is there a way we could just set the motion up for that just so that 00:41:58.406 --> 00:42:06.366 - we could get that? And do we need 30 seconds to figure out what that would look like? Or does that defy the odds? 00:42:07.106 --> 00:42:13.186 - of the way back and look, but it was approved in one other position that I anticipated somebody moving 00:42:13.186 --> 00:42:19.148 - up and I didn't have to come back to fill that second position, but it was over that it was probably 00:42:19.148 --> 00:42:25.641 - six months ago. And if you had to bet your mortgage, you would say this is likely a strong strong likelihood. 00:42:25.641 --> 00:42:31.603 - We're going to see this pattern. We encourage our existing employees that are looking at a promotion 00:42:31.603 --> 00:42:36.030 - to promote and we want to promote within if we have a qualified applicant. 00:42:36.354 --> 00:42:44.189 - Our personnel policy states that we encourage people to do that. So I anticipate that yeah, we will 00:42:44.189 --> 00:42:52.025 - have qualified applicants within our department that we would like to look at. But then again, that 00:42:52.025 --> 00:42:59.390 - could open one or two positions below that position over the next six to eight weeks. Please. 00:43:00.418 --> 00:43:07.921 - I think there have been other instances where the motion was to approve the requested position. So in 00:43:07.921 --> 00:43:15.719 - this case, the assistant superintendent and any subsequent positions that become vacant due to promotions 00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:23.296 - to the requested position. I would move to amend the underlying motion from counselor final to reflect 00:43:23.296 --> 00:43:26.974 - what council just said, the subsequent positions. 00:43:31.106 --> 00:43:37.996 - We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Council, do you have any questions on the amendment? 00:43:37.996 --> 00:43:44.955 - Mr. Henry. Thank you, Mr. President, and I have a question for Mr. Henry King. So we have at multiple 00:43:44.955 --> 00:43:51.777 - times over the past year amended the hiring freeze resolution for these kinds of nuances. What does 00:43:51.777 --> 00:43:56.894 - that do to the resolution? Because it is a variation on the freeze, right? 00:43:57.250 --> 00:44:03.731 - I'm just trying to understand it because my heartburn is that you know I'm not opposed necessarily to 00:44:03.731 --> 00:44:10.213 - this but if we find out at the end of the meeting we have to write a resolution amendment I just want 00:44:10.213 --> 00:44:16.694 - to know what's coming then. I don't think that particular situation is addressed in the amendment but 00:44:16.694 --> 00:44:19.998 - the plan is to present to council in early November 00:44:20.994 --> 00:44:26.744 - a resolution to address whether council wants to continue the pack pause, continue the hiring freeze, 00:44:26.744 --> 00:44:32.663 - and all of the overtime resolution. So in the November draft, I can account for this circumstance. Okay, 00:44:32.663 --> 00:44:38.582 - but we're not violating the resolution by creating the motion here? Because we've done this before where 00:44:38.582 --> 00:44:44.389 - we've done something up here and then we've had to rewrite the thing. And that's kind of, I appreciate 00:44:44.389 --> 00:44:49.406 - that there's a future draft coming. I'm talking about between now and November, I guess. 00:44:52.034 --> 00:44:58.133 - I'm pulling up the resolution to look, but I, from recollection, believe the resolution is silent on 00:44:58.133 --> 00:45:04.413 - the matter. And in practice, I think we did the same thing for the auditor's position and maybe another 00:45:04.413 --> 00:45:10.693 - highway position. Okay, then if it's that kosher at the table, I'm good. Councillor Hawke has been very 00:45:10.693 --> 00:45:16.732 - patient. This is something that I discussed at the last meeting and it was said that we can discuss 00:45:16.732 --> 00:45:21.502 - it at this meeting. I don't think it's going to be discussed, however, I think 00:45:21.762 --> 00:45:28.667 - Realistically, we know we don't have a hiring freeze. All we're doing is requesting the department heads 00:45:28.667 --> 00:45:35.375 - to come visit with us every time they turn around as if they have nothing else to do. Now, if we have 00:45:35.375 --> 00:45:42.149 - it in their budget and we don't intend to say no to anybody, let's just get rid of this hiring freeze. 00:45:42.149 --> 00:45:48.857 - Let the department heads run their departments. I wanted to do a pause before months ago to see where 00:45:48.857 --> 00:45:50.238 - we were going to be. 00:45:50.978 --> 00:45:59.296 - but we didn't, only thing we paused was making the meetings realistic because we say yes to everybody. 00:45:59.296 --> 00:46:07.453 - I mean, and I'm happy to say yes, you know, that's fine. But I just think we just need to get rid of 00:46:07.453 --> 00:46:15.690 - this ridiculous hiring first that we don't intend to freeze. All right, Council Member Wilts. I don't 00:46:15.690 --> 00:46:17.790 - disagree, Councilor Hock. 00:46:18.882 --> 00:46:27.246 - and I look forward to having the conversation. But regarding the amendment, and this is not directed 00:46:27.246 --> 00:46:35.610 - at you at all, but I do want to put out there that this is specific to the cascade that happens from 00:46:35.610 --> 00:46:44.057 - just this position. While we are still in the hiring freeze, again, not directed specifically at you, 00:46:44.057 --> 00:46:47.038 - but it is not carte blanche to fill 00:46:47.554 --> 00:46:55.122 - open positions in your department. I also want to clarify something that I recognize where the resolution 00:46:55.122 --> 00:47:02.334 - was we will reevaluate that here shortly just as we will reevaluate literally everything before this 00:47:02.334 --> 00:47:09.616 - body at some point in the next year including the budget which will adopt shortly the minute we do it 00:47:09.616 --> 00:47:16.542 - will be changing that but I would say if any other department had had a specific issue they come 00:47:16.706 --> 00:47:23.442 - here to this table under the current resolution, they tell us a little bit of their headache. And the 00:47:23.442 --> 00:47:30.179 - hope is always that we can take a little bit of that headache away in this. And that's what my motion 00:47:30.179 --> 00:47:36.849 - intends to do. And so piecemeal, I think that's what we do until that resolution is either sustained 00:47:36.849 --> 00:47:43.519 - or stricken as we do this. And I think we have a department head very clearly telling us the options 00:47:43.519 --> 00:47:44.510 - here that this 00:47:44.866 --> 00:47:52.673 - would do for that while also being open to a public hire if that comes forward, but she also knows her 00:47:52.673 --> 00:48:00.782 - processes and I trust that. All right, any other council comments or questions on Mr. Deckard's amendment? 00:48:00.782 --> 00:48:08.816 - Is there any public comment on Mr. Deckard's amendment? Seeing none, may we please? That one. Oh, please. 00:48:08.816 --> 00:48:12.606 - Yep, sorry. Welcome to the podium. Oh, yet again. 00:48:13.442 --> 00:48:22.654 - I do not have a highway, right? Yeah, shockingly, I don't have a prepared statement, but as someone who 00:48:22.850 --> 00:48:27.800 - like often drives around in the area. And while I'm thankful for the infrastructure improvements, it 00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:33.045 - is constant. So if having this kind of amendment that's just going to allow that flow to keep the projects 00:48:33.045 --> 00:48:38.142 - going, so we can hopefully at some point say like, hey, we've done a good job. We can take a break from 00:48:38.142 --> 00:48:43.191 - all the construction at some point. I'm all for it. Perhaps in a matter of transparency, Ms. Ridge can 00:48:43.191 --> 00:48:48.239 - come back and just say, hey, we filled this. We're working on this one. And this one's coming down the 00:48:48.239 --> 00:48:52.062 - line next. That makes sense to me, especially for this department. Thank you. 00:48:52.674 --> 00:49:00.201 - Thank you. Is there any other public comment on Mr. Deckard's amendment? Seeing none, may we please 00:49:00.201 --> 00:49:07.803 - have a roll call vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor 00:49:07.803 --> 00:49:15.480 - Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. And Councilor Hauk? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right, that 00:49:15.480 --> 00:49:20.222 - brings us back to the underlying motion, which is now amended. 00:49:21.314 --> 00:49:28.954 - Councilmembers, do you have any other comments on this? Is there any additional public comments? 00:49:28.954 --> 00:49:37.303 - Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote on the amended motion? Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor 00:49:37.303 --> 00:49:45.574 - Decker? Yes. Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Hock? Yes. And Councillor Wilts? 00:49:45.574 --> 00:49:48.094 - Yes. Motion passes unanimously. 00:49:49.442 --> 00:49:58.648 - Thank you so much. That brings us to item D. Council, I will be combining items D and E into one motion. 00:49:58.648 --> 00:50:08.030 - I move to approve the highway department's request for a fund to fund transfer of cash of $8,125 from fund 00:50:08.130 --> 00:50:22.318 - 1197-0000 stormwater management to fund 8959-0000 emergency watershed protection. The creation of account 00:50:22.318 --> 00:50:35.704 - lines 37411 construction and 37416 design and simultaneously and fund 8959-0000 emergency watershed 00:50:35.704 --> 00:50:37.310 - production. 00:50:37.506 --> 00:50:46.161 - approve an additional appropriation of $68,250 in the services category. Second. All right we have a 00:50:46.161 --> 00:50:54.817 - motion and a second. Ms. Ridge tell us about this. So due to the May 16, 2025 tornado we've received 00:50:54.817 --> 00:51:01.758 - numerous complaints of long from the residents along Clear Creek by Roger Street 00:51:02.434 --> 00:51:09.419 - that road, if you're familiar with that area. There's a lot of debris in the creek. The department, 00:51:09.419 --> 00:51:16.404 - Erica Pena, applied for a grant through USDA in the National Resources Conservation Service. Monroe 00:51:16.404 --> 00:51:24.088 - County was awarded that grant. She went through the process for the contracts, working with the commissioners 00:51:24.088 --> 00:51:30.654 - on the stormwater board to get everything in motion, getting a quote for the work to be done. 00:51:30.754 --> 00:51:36.766 - I just finished up today property owners letters for the right of entry to be able to enter onto the 00:51:36.766 --> 00:51:42.719 - property if we need to working with the city of Bloomington with an MOU to split the local cost. It 00:51:42.719 --> 00:51:48.969 - has to be done by November 16th for us to receive that grant reimbursement. So we're here to appropriate 00:51:48.969 --> 00:51:55.219 - those funds and hopefully this will be done in the next week or so, week or two. Excellent. Does anybody 00:51:55.219 --> 00:51:58.910 - have any questions or comments about this grant? Mr. Deckard. 00:51:59.170 --> 00:52:05.795 - Thank you for doing this. These little things add up. And when we get down the road into why did this, 00:52:05.795 --> 00:52:12.228 - why is this doing this? Why is this what these things can make a difference down the road? How long 00:52:12.228 --> 00:52:18.917 - is a project like this do you think take to do to work on and get done? The contractor is great to work 00:52:18.917 --> 00:52:23.870 - with. They have great equipment. I'm going to guess two to three days. Okay. 00:52:23.970 --> 00:52:29.378 - That's my guess. We meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. just so I can refresh myself on the project. Erica is out 00:52:29.378 --> 00:52:35.100 - on maternity leave until December so I'm just trying to keep it going so we can get that grant reimbursement 00:52:35.100 --> 00:52:40.088 - and get the project complete. Thank you. I'm gonna go to Mr. Henry then come back to the left. 00:52:40.088 --> 00:52:43.710 - Thank you Mr. President, thank you Lisa for that too. I mean this is 00:52:44.226 --> 00:52:49.808 - In on the plan commission side of things a notorious street corner in the county. This is a remarkable 00:52:49.808 --> 00:52:55.227 - I don't know if it's this the geography of the creek in proximity to the historic buildings and the 00:52:55.227 --> 00:53:00.158 - just the construction around there and the the stables on the other side of that with the. 00:53:00.610 --> 00:53:06.491 - kind of their own drainage ditch. I mean, there's a lot going on in that space. And for folks that don't 00:53:06.491 --> 00:53:12.260 - go through Clear Creek very often as the post office gets reopened and all that, you know, they should 00:53:12.260 --> 00:53:18.196 - take a drive in the countryside. I mean, so I appreciate the work and your youth counselor, Decker there, 00:53:18.196 --> 00:53:23.965 - but the number of times I've heard about the street corner in the past two years of just in the county 00:53:23.965 --> 00:53:29.790 - is remarkable. So it's a constant problem. Thank you for the effort. Council Member Wilts. Yes, thanks. 00:53:30.594 --> 00:53:38.384 - I just to clarify this particular project is it's a cleanup project. It's basically, yeah, they'll use 00:53:38.384 --> 00:53:46.023 - the equipment to get the tree, the trees that have been downed into the creek so they can remove it. 00:53:46.023 --> 00:53:53.889 - So the creek doesn't flood. It helps get the debris out. So the water can continuous to flow right now. 00:53:53.889 --> 00:53:59.486 - It's blocked. And the debris has been there since the May 16th, 2025 it's 00:53:59.682 --> 00:54:06.632 - It's a lot to work with. So, I mean, I commend Erica for taking this on. It's a lot when you're working 00:54:06.632 --> 00:54:13.382 - in a creek bed, the permits and everything that you need to do to be able to get in there, work with 00:54:13.382 --> 00:54:19.598 - the property owners. City of Bloomington has been great to partner with us on this. So yeah, 00:54:19.598 --> 00:54:23.006 - it takes a while. To Councilor Henry's point, this 00:54:23.298 --> 00:54:31.969 - this particular area has had a lot of stormwater issues, I guess. Correct. Not necessarily probably 00:54:31.969 --> 00:54:40.900 - strictly from this tornado. There's a lot broader issues in this area. Since the tornado, we just want 00:54:40.900 --> 00:54:50.005 - to help eliminate the impact the tornado had with blocking the creek bed. Absolutely fully support this. 00:54:50.005 --> 00:54:52.606 - I appreciate the work done to 00:54:52.770 --> 00:55:01.433 - bring grant money in for it 100 percent. I'm curious if there is anything that that is being worked 00:55:01.433 --> 00:55:10.270 - toward in terms of a more comprehensive solution. So right now we're also working on our updating our 00:55:10.270 --> 00:55:19.107 - long-range stormwater plan in the county. We're taking a little bit of a different approach than what 00:55:19.107 --> 00:55:20.926 - we did 10 years ago. 00:55:21.026 --> 00:55:27.960 - yesterday we met, I think there were 17 of us in the meeting and it's different departments around the 00:55:27.960 --> 00:55:34.692 - county that deal with the drainage issues around the county on a daily basis, whether it be through 00:55:34.692 --> 00:55:41.626 - playing commission petitions, our crews, the parks and rec department. So we're going through, we will 00:55:41.626 --> 00:55:48.628 - interview individually all of these departments. And this is gonna be a big area of how we put together 00:55:48.628 --> 00:55:50.782 - our long range stormwater plan. 00:55:50.946 --> 00:55:57.565 - the next round. Because these departments know the existing problems. They deal with it, especially 00:55:57.565 --> 00:56:04.449 - on Plain Commission. They know the problem areas. Our crews know the problem areas. We have a complaint 00:56:04.449 --> 00:56:11.134 - log from the citizens that are in this area and other areas that know where these issues are. So our 00:56:11.134 --> 00:56:18.084 - focus will be different areas and especially in these different watershed areas that have these drainage 00:56:18.084 --> 00:56:20.798 - issues. Looking forward to that. Thanks. 00:56:22.370 --> 00:56:29.433 - I will finish up then for oh wait I'm sorry thank you please. So thinking about the citizens and the 00:56:29.433 --> 00:56:36.845 - residents will you be getting updates on them at this point as well as all the departments you're talking 00:56:36.845 --> 00:56:43.838 - about or will it just be departments? So we will do also we'll have some public meetings too. Okay. 00:56:43.970 --> 00:56:50.409 - and we'll invite the public. We want to hear from the public. So, and this is going to be about a year 00:56:50.409 --> 00:56:56.660 - long process. We expect the plan to be done. Our target is August of 2027, but there'll be, I think 00:56:56.660 --> 00:57:03.098 - we put into the plan one or two public information meetings that we will encourage the public to come, 00:57:03.098 --> 00:57:09.412 - make sure that they see what, you know, that we have as an area that we haven't missed. So yeah, the 00:57:09.412 --> 00:57:12.350 - public will definitely be involved. Thank you. 00:57:13.730 --> 00:57:19.600 - I think we have to speak now. I have two questions for you. Number one, when the stormwater plan gets 00:57:19.600 --> 00:57:25.585 - kind of to the point where it can be unveiled, that would be great to hear in a department update. That 00:57:25.585 --> 00:57:31.628 - sounds really positive. My second question to you is, as the effects of climate change don't just impact 00:57:31.628 --> 00:57:37.729 - Monroe County, but they impact all of Indiana and surrounding communities. How competitive is this grant? 00:57:37.729 --> 00:57:40.894 - Are we up against a wall competing with our neighbors? 00:57:41.218 --> 00:57:47.668 - I'm sure we are. Every grant is competitive anymore. It just depends on if you want to take, if you 00:57:47.668 --> 00:57:54.183 - look at it, it took us a year and a half to get to this point. But I think there's grants out there, 00:57:54.183 --> 00:58:00.891 - but every grant is competitive anymore, especially with the storms that we've experienced over the last 00:58:00.891 --> 00:58:07.341 - two or three years, the climate change, it's just kind of changed everybody's day to day. So. Yeah. 00:58:07.341 --> 00:58:09.470 - All right. Thank you. All right. 00:58:10.306 --> 00:58:17.808 - There's no other council comments or questions. Let's go to the public. Do you have any questions or 00:58:17.808 --> 00:58:25.533 - comments for the highway department about this grant? Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? 00:58:25.533 --> 00:58:33.555 - Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor Harrison? Yes. Councillor Feigen? Yes. Councillor 00:58:33.555 --> 00:58:39.646 - Hock? Yes. Councillor Woods? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thanks for joining us. 00:58:40.930 --> 00:58:51.834 - All right. Next, we'll move on to item F. This is D. Oh, this is me. I'm sorry. There you go. Please 00:58:51.834 --> 00:59:02.847 - have a seat. I'm the one that's confused. I would now like to invite the Sheriff's Office to join us. 00:59:02.847 --> 00:59:05.438 - We knew what you meant. 00:59:06.658 --> 00:59:13.998 - present the required annual update regarding their pension plan. Sheriff Marte thank you for joining 00:59:13.998 --> 00:59:21.556 - us. Good evening council. I'd like to introduce to you Elaine. I'm so happy this year because the topic 00:59:21.556 --> 00:59:29.041 - she's going to talk about I really if I try to explain I'll probably get it backwards. But Elaine came 00:59:29.041 --> 00:59:31.294 - down from Indianapolis and she 00:59:31.490 --> 00:59:37.376 - She actually I was with for Gaza and then when she actually talks about what she's going to explain 00:59:37.376 --> 00:59:43.615 - to you and Give you the update when she does that with us with the board members the server board members 00:59:43.615 --> 00:59:49.618 - I'll tell you what she makes it easy for us to understand it. So so with that being said I Pass it on 00:59:49.618 --> 00:59:55.680 - the floor to relay. Thank you Elaine Beatty and I see familiar faces because we did this for the first 00:59:55.680 --> 00:59:58.270 - time last year I believe it was in December 00:59:58.402 --> 01:00:07.409 - And this is really just an update of that same format of the same type of information that is by statute 01:00:07.409 --> 01:00:16.502 - required to be reported. If you look at page three, it's just revisiting again that this is all reporting 01:00:16.502 --> 01:00:25.080 - requirements that became effective July of 2025. And the information has historically been prepared 01:00:25.080 --> 01:00:28.254 - and presented by the actuary for the 01:00:28.354 --> 01:00:36.410 - for the retirement and benefit plan, McCready and Keene. And they historically, and I mean presenting 01:00:36.410 --> 01:00:44.466 - it, they forward to the auditor's office information that is necessary for the reporting to the state 01:00:44.466 --> 01:00:52.522 - gateway reporting system. And a copy of that is in the back. What I did last year and have done again 01:00:52.522 --> 01:00:57.182 - this year is put it into a format that's a little bit more 01:00:57.282 --> 01:01:05.845 - conversational a little easier to understand than the way it's presented by the actuary to the auditor's 01:01:05.845 --> 01:01:14.245 - office. So just moving right along page number five again just to revisit this is the reporting of the 01:01:14.245 --> 01:01:23.134 - retirement plan and benefit plan that by state statute are for the sheriff and the sheriff's merit officers. 01:01:23.266 --> 01:01:31.972 - There is a sighting there of the reference that has been just the plan follows and adheres to Indiana 01:01:31.972 --> 01:01:40.763 - code 3681012. The vesting requirements are eight years of service with the department and the benefits 01:01:40.763 --> 01:01:49.384 - under this larger retirement plan are primarily to provide retirement incomes. There is a disability 01:01:49.384 --> 01:01:52.542 - benefit and a death benefit that are 01:01:52.834 --> 01:02:00.275 - smaller benefits but the primary again is for the retirement income. The plan administered by state 01:02:00.275 --> 01:02:07.938 - statute is the sheriff and the merit board. They make up a committee and one of their responsibilities 01:02:07.938 --> 01:02:15.230 - is choosing an actuarial firm, also choosing investment advisors, etc. The number of participants 01:02:15.362 --> 01:02:24.114 - covered by the program most recently active participants that are vested there were 26 and there were 01:02:24.114 --> 01:02:32.865 - 18 that were not yet vested and there were seven employees who had separated employment and are going 01:02:32.865 --> 01:02:40.158 - to receive a benefit when they hit that age the magic age of 55. There are though 28 01:02:40.290 --> 01:02:50.327 - retirees and beneficiaries in payment status as of when these calculations were made. So bottom line, 01:02:50.327 --> 01:03:00.659 - what is the contribution rate for the employer as a percentage of payroll? 25.6% of payroll. The members 01:03:00.659 --> 01:03:07.646 - are paying in 4% of their pay through payroll deductions and the total 01:03:07.874 --> 01:03:16.894 - annual covered payroll for those eligible members in the program, sheriff and the deputies is 4,144,186. 01:03:18.306 --> 01:03:26.585 - turning the page another item that is requested on that gateway reporting system is how is the portfolio 01:03:26.585 --> 01:03:34.628 - of monies that have previously been deposited how are they being invested just as a broad asset class 01:03:34.628 --> 01:03:40.542 - equities there's about 70 percent of the portfolio is invested in equities 01:03:40.866 --> 01:03:49.737 - 28, almost 29 percent in fixed income, and cash of about 2.1 percent being held at any given time. The 01:03:49.737 --> 01:03:58.349 - additional information that I think can be of certain importance to you folks as the fiscal body is 01:03:58.349 --> 01:04:06.014 - what's the funded percentage of the program, and based on a market value of assets, it's 01:04:06.338 --> 01:04:15.593 - over 80%, just a tick, but that's a great number to be at. Historically, that's been kind of a standard 01:04:15.593 --> 01:04:24.670 - or a gold standard of what is a well-funded program, 80% or higher. So you're in great company there. 01:04:24.898 --> 01:04:31.740 - The actuary when they prepare their calculations, they do assume that the bucket of money that's already 01:04:31.740 --> 01:04:38.713 - been deposited and is in the investing status is going to earn some future earnings on itself just because 01:04:38.713 --> 01:04:45.360 - of market performance. Six and a half percent is the assumed rate of return. Anything exceeding that, 01:04:45.360 --> 01:04:51.486 - that's great. Those are gains which reduce what the county must pay in. Anything shy of that, 01:04:51.586 --> 01:04:59.182 - bit of a shortcoming so that could certainly have implications on what the county's contribution levels 01:04:59.182 --> 01:05:06.777 - are. For the year 2025 the performance of the portfolio was 13.4 percent so again thank you for another 01:05:06.777 --> 01:05:12.766 - strong market performance that we've we've got going on in our markets right now. 01:05:12.866 --> 01:05:23.284 - And the annual benefits paid out during 2025 to those 28 pensioners and the retirees and beneficiaries 01:05:23.284 --> 01:05:33.601 - was $670,418. That's the ongoing commitment every year. On the next page seven, it shows a little bit 01:05:33.601 --> 01:05:35.422 - more detail about 01:05:35.586 --> 01:05:45.076 - Some of this, these are really terms that are frequently used by accountants in that government accounting 01:05:45.076 --> 01:05:54.212 - standards. So the actuarial present value of the future projected benefits is little over $22 million. 01:05:54.212 --> 01:06:01.662 - The service cost, and that is not for services necessary to administer the program. 01:06:01.826 --> 01:06:11.721 - Service cost is a term used in accounting to reflect the cost of people showing up for work and earning 01:06:11.721 --> 01:06:19.998 - one more year of benefit accrual or accumulation. So that is $729,000 and some change. 01:06:20.098 --> 01:06:27.984 - The actuary determines three different levels of contributions and I think that's something that had 01:06:27.984 --> 01:06:35.792 - been discussed briefly at the budget hearing. There is the actuarially determined minimum that's by 01:06:35.792 --> 01:06:41.726 - state standards being the minimum to keep the plan funded and that's pretty 01:06:42.050 --> 01:06:56.122 - very similar to what this for accounting purposes is determined to be the actuarial determined contribution, 01:06:56.122 --> 01:07:09.290 - $958,666. What employer contributions were budgeted and in fact paid this year, $1,030,893. The total 01:07:09.290 --> 01:07:11.614 - pension liability 01:07:11.842 --> 01:07:21.147 - is the overall net, pretty much of those numbers. And that's 16 million and some change. And then the 01:07:21.147 --> 01:07:30.452 - fiduciary net position, that's the market value of the portfolio at that given snapshot day and time. 01:07:30.452 --> 01:07:38.206 - That's the $13,232,563. So when you do a subtraction between those last two numbers, 01:07:38.402 --> 01:07:49.936 - there is an unfunded dollar amount of $3,200,145. And that's how it then determines that it's an 80.5% 01:07:49.936 --> 01:08:00.798 - funded, which is just a good place to be. Are there any questions about that, just the snapshot? 01:08:01.090 --> 01:08:07.905 - What is so important about this information, as it has been historically gathered and maintained by 01:08:07.905 --> 01:08:15.401 - the gateway reporting system that the state utilizes, is that it would be presented to the Pension Management 01:08:15.401 --> 01:08:22.489 - Oversight Committee, which is a summer study committee of legislators, every year by the state actuary, 01:08:22.489 --> 01:08:26.782 - and they would say, well, what does this mean? I mean, really. 01:08:26.882 --> 01:08:36.620 - What are we looking at here? And upon much further review and many discussions, part of Senate Enrolled 01:08:36.620 --> 01:08:46.358 - Act of 144 was some provisions that would say, okay, so let's just make sure that everybody is adhering 01:08:46.358 --> 01:08:53.662 - to what these county contributions are as have been developed by the actuary. 01:08:53.762 --> 01:09:02.151 - and let's monitor some things. So one of the provisions of it does state that for a five-year track 01:09:02.151 --> 01:09:11.127 - record has the unit that would be you here in Monroe County contributed at least that minimum contribution 01:09:11.127 --> 01:09:19.851 - that the actual developed. So on page eight just shows some bar chart there of saying for each of those 01:09:19.851 --> 01:09:23.710 - calendar years what was the minimum developed 01:09:23.874 --> 01:09:31.036 - by the actuary as necessary versus what actually was paid in. And what you'll see there is that the 01:09:31.036 --> 01:09:38.269 - amount paid in through the budgeting process by the county exceeded what the minimum was. And that's 01:09:38.269 --> 01:09:45.502 - a good thing. You know, you think about mortgaging your home, if you pay off, you wanna pay off your 01:09:45.502 --> 01:09:53.022 - loan a little bit faster, you make extra payments. And doesn't change the value of your home whatsoever, 01:09:53.154 --> 01:10:00.613 - But it does, in fact, just show that you're gaining some equity and you're doing a little bit better 01:10:00.613 --> 01:10:08.145 - in funding and getting rid of that unfunded obligation. The page nine then says, okay, so the General 01:10:08.145 --> 01:10:15.678 - Assembly is concerned that every year payments are being made that are at least equal to the minimum. 01:10:15.810 --> 01:10:24.954 - are the units making promises that might be beyond what realistically they're going to be able to afford. 01:10:24.954 --> 01:10:33.666 - And that's why this page here of a funded ratio is illustrated there because it is talking about the 01:10:33.666 --> 01:10:38.238 - health of the program itself in terms of the lighter 01:10:38.498 --> 01:10:45.875 - Larger mountain in the back there is the accrued liabilities. That's what the benefits are that the 01:10:45.875 --> 01:10:53.695 - members are earning every year, every day that they show up to work versus the darker or the gold smaller 01:10:53.695 --> 01:10:57.310 - mountain being what's happening with the assets. 01:10:57.442 --> 01:11:04.628 - in terms of the fair value, the market value. So this is just a five-year track record again, because 01:11:04.628 --> 01:11:11.815 - the General Assembly wants to make sure that over the course of the most recent five years, it's been 01:11:11.815 --> 01:11:19.353 - trending in the right direction. So what you're able to see there is that you have been doing just exactly 01:11:19.353 --> 01:11:25.342 - what you needed to do to move on the trend towards getting it closer to 100% funded. 01:11:25.442 --> 01:11:33.479 - noting that the 2023 number shows a bit of a dip, but that, if I may remind you, was January 1st following 01:11:33.479 --> 01:11:40.991 - 2022, which was a really rough year for both equities and fixed income, neither one having positive 01:11:40.991 --> 01:11:48.653 - returns. So although the liabilities didn't take a dip, the market value of the portfolio did. So for 01:11:48.653 --> 01:11:55.038 - the data that's in the charts that we're looking at, this is Monroe County specific. 01:11:55.586 --> 01:12:06.769 - Yes, yes. So the next section runs through the same type of information for the smaller benefit plan. 01:12:06.769 --> 01:12:18.828 - Just as a recollection, you receive from the sheriff in his budget one number that combines the contributions 01:12:18.828 --> 01:12:25.406 - needed for the larger retirement plan and the benefit plan. 01:12:25.666 --> 01:12:34.210 - combined. That one dollar amount is then put into the bank that does the balancing between how much 01:12:34.210 --> 01:12:42.755 - needs to be deposited into the larger fund and how much needs to go into the smaller. It's all done 01:12:42.755 --> 01:12:51.556 - by the actuary and calculation. This benefit fund is established within state statute to cover smaller 01:12:51.556 --> 01:12:55.486 - obligations and those smaller obligations are 01:12:55.746 --> 01:13:05.333 - a life insurance policy that provides the same amount of life insurance for all participating members, 01:13:05.333 --> 01:13:15.013 - a long-term disability insurance contract, which provides benefits to those who may by reason of health 01:13:15.013 --> 01:13:22.366 - or mental capabilities be long-term disabled. And then there is also a support 01:13:22.530 --> 01:13:29.941 - dependents benefit in the event of the death of an officer that is again the same amount for all people 01:13:29.941 --> 01:13:37.280 - regardless of how many years of service they have and it's just a much smaller number. So you know the 01:13:37.280 --> 01:13:39.774 - insurance premiums and the smaller 01:13:40.066 --> 01:13:47.473 - benefit just don't require as much money to fund on an annual basis. The same number of members are 01:13:47.473 --> 01:13:55.177 - covered in this program. And what you can see here is that everyone is always vested, meaning for these 01:13:55.177 --> 01:14:02.584 - benefits, a life insurance policy covers doesn't matter if you've worked here one week or if you've 01:14:02.584 --> 01:14:08.510 - worked here 35 years, right? Same thing for long-term disability. So that's why 01:14:08.610 --> 01:14:19.100 - all the employees are considered active. There are some separated employees that could be entitled to 01:14:19.100 --> 01:14:29.384 - these dependence benefits or widows benefits, but it is somewhat conditional in that they must have 01:14:29.384 --> 01:14:37.406 - been continuously married to the retiring deputy until the date of the death. 01:14:37.602 --> 01:14:46.747 - I know that's old school, it's old fashioned, but it's in the statute. So there are a few of those hanging 01:14:46.747 --> 01:14:56.064 - around there. And then there are five current beneficiaries that are dependents from the death of previously 01:14:56.064 --> 01:15:01.534 - employed and since retired officers that are in payment status. 01:15:01.730 --> 01:15:10.233 - The contribution rate for this program related as a percentage of payroll is only 1.5%. Again, it's 01:15:10.233 --> 01:15:19.162 - a small lift as far as benefits. Same covered payroll, 4,144,086, and the plan members don't participate 01:15:19.162 --> 01:15:27.665 - in paying for this benefit. Again, by state statute, just the design of the program. The portfolio, 01:15:27.665 --> 01:15:30.046 - albeit smaller, is invested 01:15:30.434 --> 01:15:39.255 - pretty much the same way as that larger retirement plan is in that the portfolio is broken down to 60% 01:15:39.255 --> 01:15:47.905 - in equities and 40% in fixed income. Again, just pretty much a rinse and repeat of what the previous 01:15:47.905 --> 01:15:56.640 - presentation was about. The one thing to note then where it states additional information is that the 01:15:56.640 --> 01:15:59.038 - funding percentage ratio of 01:15:59.170 --> 01:16:07.767 - this program is 137% funded. And what that really means is, again, the insurance premiums are 01:16:07.767 --> 01:16:17.005 - very predictable. They have not changed in a very long time because they are part of a master policy 01:16:17.005 --> 01:16:26.334 - that covers all 92 counties in the state of Indiana. So that has really not had much variation in it. 01:16:26.434 --> 01:16:35.476 - those dependents receiving benefits, survivors, there just haven't been as many as the actuary deems 01:16:35.476 --> 01:16:44.697 - could be entitled to receive based on their expectations on how they calculate things. And in a really 01:16:44.697 --> 01:16:46.846 - good position for that. 01:16:47.042 --> 01:16:55.316 - The same actuarial assumed investment rate is used, 6.5%, and the earnings for this portfolio for the 01:16:55.316 --> 01:16:57.182 - year 2025 was at 12.7. 01:16:57.346 --> 01:17:06.168 - So handily beat that again. And looking there at the actual benefit payments for the 2025 calendar year, 01:17:06.168 --> 01:17:15.073 - out of this portfolio, it was only $12,000. So earlier reference, there were five people drawing $12,000. 01:17:15.073 --> 01:17:18.686 - It's a very small in terms of being rather 01:17:22.210 --> 01:17:30.996 - On page 13, the same type of calculation is done showing what's the present value of projected benefits, 01:17:30.996 --> 01:17:39.363 - a little over 1.3 million. The service cost being, again, that's pretty much the insurance premiums 01:17:39.363 --> 01:17:48.149 - in combination with the possibility of a person passing and a widow or dependent children being entitled 01:17:48.149 --> 01:17:50.910 - to receive a payment is $82,000. 01:17:51.490 --> 01:17:59.843 - the actuarially determined contribution is certainly less than that just based on needs and premiums 01:17:59.843 --> 01:18:08.197 - that are in payment status for the premiums, premiums for the insurance policies that are in effect. 01:18:08.197 --> 01:18:16.468 - So total pension liability is about 697,000. The market value of the portfolio is 957,000. So doing 01:18:16.468 --> 01:18:21.182 - the subtraction, you can see that there's far more asset 01:18:21.314 --> 01:18:30.229 - than necessary to cover those benefit obligations. And that puts it at 137% funded. On page 14, the 01:18:30.229 --> 01:18:39.501 - same five-year look back of was the amount determined by the actuary paid in full through the budgeting 01:18:39.501 --> 01:18:47.614 - of the portfolio? Yes. And as you can see, it is matched line for line, dollar for dollar. 01:18:47.714 --> 01:18:55.168 - The way that the plans have historically been funded, as I stated, is one number, right? One dollar 01:18:55.168 --> 01:19:02.622 - amount in a budget. And then it's separated. And rather than going through a calculation of saying, 01:19:02.622 --> 01:19:10.374 - well, let's prorate it or something, historically, it has been fund the benefit plan first and whatever 01:19:10.374 --> 01:19:15.294 - is left over goes in to fund the retirement plan since that's the 01:19:15.458 --> 01:19:23.786 - a larger ticket item. So you can see that you certainly have not had any problems passing with all five 01:19:23.786 --> 01:19:32.115 - years meeting or exceeding that actuarially determined contribution. Page 15, this one is that mountain 01:19:32.115 --> 01:19:40.203 - chart of the funded status. And because the funded status is very high in excess of 100%, we sort of 01:19:40.203 --> 01:19:43.326 - had to flip our mountain chart to say, 01:19:43.522 --> 01:19:52.058 - in the background, the larger mountain is the value of the assets. And the darker mountain on top of 01:19:52.058 --> 01:20:00.678 - that and not covering the entirety are the accrued liabilities. So it's just the trend, it's just the 01:20:00.678 --> 01:20:09.382 - way they've been set up. The portfolio has remained well above 100% funded for a long time. And that's 01:20:09.382 --> 01:20:11.326 - all good news as well. 01:20:12.322 --> 01:20:19.682 - The remainder of what's in this report is just reference to the IC code of the office reporting and 01:20:19.682 --> 01:20:27.336 - what needs to be included in the reporting and then a copy of the information that the actuary prepared 01:20:27.336 --> 01:20:34.769 - for the auditor's office to use in 27 when they report this information for review by the state. Ms. 01:20:34.769 --> 01:20:39.038 - Beattie, thank you for such a comprehensive presentation. 01:20:39.202 --> 01:20:46.160 - Sheriff Marte, should we turn this over to the council or do you want to make a statement? No, 01:20:46.160 --> 01:20:53.850 - this is it. All right, great. Council, do you have any questions about the retirement or other benefits? 01:20:53.850 --> 01:21:01.320 - Please, Councilmember Welts. Thank you for walking us through that and I'm afraid that even with that 01:21:01.320 --> 01:21:07.838 - very gentle walk, I probably don't have a full grasp. So I'll just preface with that and 01:21:08.066 --> 01:21:19.075 - My first question has to do with the 25% that is the amount that says the employer is on page five. 01:21:19.075 --> 01:21:30.084 - Is that the thing that we just funded or talked about funding because we haven't signed it off yet? 01:21:30.084 --> 01:21:37.790 - We're off by a year. That is what had been handled with the budgeting 01:21:37.890 --> 01:21:46.305 - last year but it's equal or 26 but it's equivalent it's the same that's the amount of money so when 01:21:46.305 --> 01:21:54.719 - we talk about it and that's where it's going yeah yes that's where it's going but it doesn't remain 01:21:54.719 --> 01:22:03.386 - the same percentage every year um for just for reference indiana um in purse indiana public retirement 01:22:03.386 --> 01:22:05.406 - systems they set a rate 01:22:05.698 --> 01:22:15.479 - And they keep it in place as a percentage until the portfolio is more than 95% funded. They do that 01:22:15.479 --> 01:22:25.358 - because they can. This program and all 91 other programs in the state have been left up to the local 01:22:25.358 --> 01:22:34.846 - units to have a lot more control over. And one of the things that was adopted was practices more 01:22:35.138 --> 01:22:44.068 - aligned with what a corporation would be doing. That means recalculated every year and take 01:22:44.068 --> 01:22:54.163 - into consideration gains and losses that have been happening over the years, over that particular year. 01:22:54.163 --> 01:23:03.870 - So for last year's budget, which was then for this year, 2026, that was the rate that was approved. 01:23:04.802 --> 01:23:12.476 - I suspect that in the budget you recently submitted for the 2027 calendar year, it may be a different 01:23:12.476 --> 01:23:20.226 - number. I mean, it is, but I don't know. I mean, there were three contributions. It's directly related 01:23:20.226 --> 01:23:28.051 - to, we were given kind of that, I forget what you called it, the actuarial minimum. Yeah. We were given 01:23:28.051 --> 01:23:33.694 - the minimum and then like a standard and then a deluxe premium. Go for it. 01:23:33.794 --> 01:23:43.670 - That's right. And so I'm just making sure that I'm like connecting the same pieces. Right. Right. When 01:23:43.670 --> 01:23:53.354 - you referenced the three different amounts, they were the way or the reason for them to be different 01:23:53.354 --> 01:24:03.614 - is that the payment towards the unfunded obligation was amortized, spread out over a different time frame. 01:24:03.810 --> 01:24:13.727 - So the minimum contribution is spread out over 20 years. The recommended is spread out over 15. So that's 01:24:13.727 --> 01:24:23.270 - saying, you know, you pay it off a little bit faster, you save time, you save money and interest. The 01:24:23.270 --> 01:24:29.726 - accelerated deluxe is spreading the payments out only over 10 years. 01:24:30.242 --> 01:24:36.363 - so that in a 10-year time frame, all that unfunded obligation would be paid off rather than 20. And 01:24:36.363 --> 01:24:42.545 - it doesn't change the obligation. It just means you've paid it off faster. You paid less in interest 01:24:42.545 --> 01:24:49.217 - charges. All right. I'll go to Councilmember Decker, and then I'll come back over to the right. I appreciate 01:24:49.217 --> 01:24:55.338 - all this. And I guess I'm going to ask you for a bottom line question here on your judgment. Are we 01:24:55.338 --> 01:24:58.398 - doing everything we're supposed to be doing? Yes. 01:24:59.042 --> 01:25:05.856 - And the summer study committee, pension management oversight commission met in September and the most 01:25:05.856 --> 01:25:12.670 - recent reports were pulled together and presented. And I thought, well, how does the county stack up? 01:25:12.670 --> 01:25:19.484 - I mean, number one, yes, you are paying what you need to pay every year. That's obvious by those nice 01:25:19.484 --> 01:25:21.822 - little bars, right? But what about 01:25:21.986 --> 01:25:30.039 - your funded percentages. You're 80% funded. How does that stack up with the other county pensions in 01:25:30.039 --> 01:25:38.411 - the state of Indiana for their sheriff's departments? And the average, although it doesn't go into exact 01:25:38.411 --> 01:25:46.544 - numbers of what all of them are, the average is between 75% funded up to 95% funded. So you're at 80, 01:25:46.544 --> 01:25:51.966 - boom, you're right in the middle, which is a really strong position 01:25:52.802 --> 01:26:00.638 - Thank you. Council Member Hawke. Yes. When we look at a budget, and there's a budget line for this, 01:26:00.638 --> 01:26:08.788 - do you work with the Sheriff's Department to determine what that dollar amount should be? Because we're 01:26:08.788 --> 01:26:16.781 - just looking at budgets. We don't begin to have your knowledge, or at least I shall say, I don't. And 01:26:16.781 --> 01:26:20.542 - when we look at that, should we assume that you 01:26:21.058 --> 01:26:28.305 - help prepare that dollar amount to be included? Well we provide we do investing of the pool of assets 01:26:28.305 --> 01:26:35.480 - and we provide that information to the actuary and the actuary is McCready and Keene that they're in 01:26:35.480 --> 01:26:41.022 - Indianapolis they have been involved with your plan since it started in 1973. 01:26:41.890 --> 01:26:50.904 - and all the other counties in the state, aside from one, and it was 1973. And they have a code of standards 01:26:50.904 --> 01:26:59.583 - that the actuaries must use to calculate how much needs to be funded. The underlying theme here is that 01:26:59.583 --> 01:27:07.929 - these programs are intended to be prepaid arrangements, which means while people are employed, that 01:27:07.929 --> 01:27:11.518 - contribution money is going in to be there 01:27:11.618 --> 01:27:18.259 - in the fund so that when that person separates employment, they're paid for as opposed to the old school 01:27:18.259 --> 01:27:24.899 - pay as you go. The old city police and fire and the old teachers plans got into a bit of trouble because 01:27:24.899 --> 01:27:31.350 - they said, well, we're not going to pay for them until they're gone. Well, then you you're paying for 01:27:31.350 --> 01:27:37.674 - them and hired a new replacement. And it's just seemed to kind of compound a problem there that you 01:27:37.674 --> 01:27:38.686 - need to prepay. 01:27:38.818 --> 01:27:46.077 - And so the actuary does determine that, but utilizing all the information from the assets, as well as 01:27:46.077 --> 01:27:53.264 - locally here, how many folks working here, what is the experience, has anyone passed away, you know, 01:27:53.264 --> 01:28:00.380 - that kind of thing. So yes, they do those calculations and present them to the sheriff. And I think 01:28:00.380 --> 01:28:07.710 - they send a copy to you, the auditor's office as well, for use in going through the budgeting process. 01:28:08.802 --> 01:28:15.688 - So when we're looking at the number, then we should just look to the auditor's office and say, does 01:28:15.688 --> 01:28:22.573 - this look like the fair number? Because we're just looking at the number along with a zillion other 01:28:22.573 --> 01:28:29.596 - numbers when we're looking at budgets. And there's times that we look like we're going to have to cut 01:28:29.596 --> 01:28:36.826 - someplace. But we want to know that when somebody tells us this is the number, it needs to be that we're 01:28:36.826 --> 01:28:37.790 - voting on it. 01:28:38.210 --> 01:28:47.173 - Uh, to the editor, what do you think? Sure. I'm happy to share reports as received, but I can't answer 01:28:47.173 --> 01:28:55.962 - questions that are meant to be directed toward this other vendor. Uh, okay. Okay. Again, the actuary 01:28:55.962 --> 01:29:02.750 - provides a report that is in total 70, probably about 70 pages, but they do a 01:29:02.882 --> 01:29:10.064 - cover letter that says these are the contributions that have been developed in this report. There's 01:29:10.064 --> 01:29:17.461 - the actuarial minimum, the recommended contribution, again, which is accelerated payment, and then the 01:29:17.461 --> 01:29:24.930 - really fast accelerate. So those are given to you folks, or those are given to the local units for them 01:29:24.930 --> 01:29:32.542 - to choose one of those three. Just don't ever go below the minimum. I really appreciate your making this. 01:29:33.378 --> 01:29:40.979 - as understandable as possible. But I don't think that McCready and King, if I'm pronouncing it right, 01:29:40.979 --> 01:29:48.506 - and of course, I've been around forever, so most of those people are gone and been changed over. But 01:29:48.506 --> 01:29:56.182 - they don't often make it as clear as you have made it to understand. And actually, I don't even recall 01:29:56.182 --> 01:30:02.814 - seeing their letters routinely like we used to. It was like not coming through as often. 01:30:03.170 --> 01:30:10.494 - They do everything electronically now, so that's. So anyway, thank you. You're welcome. That's a great 01:30:10.494 --> 01:30:17.676 - segue to my question is this professional report that you produced, may we have this electronically? 01:30:17.676 --> 01:30:24.503 - Oh, of course, yes. Excellent. If we could just send it to the auditor, the counselor, whoever. 01:30:24.503 --> 01:30:29.694 - Next time. Yeah, I'll send it to them. Perfect. Yeah, we all have email. 01:30:29.826 --> 01:30:36.493 - Thank you so much for this presentation. Thank you so much. I think once we do get this to, you know, 01:30:36.493 --> 01:30:43.553 - the folks that want to see it, the it's all very understandable. And and really, I think for folks watching 01:30:43.553 --> 01:30:50.351 - here, this sounds like a great deal. So, you know, if you're watching and this sounds like a good deal, 01:30:50.351 --> 01:30:55.646 - apply to the Sheriff's Department. I mean, this so I'll say that now I will say, 01:30:55.842 --> 01:31:03.139 - Whenever I hear these presentations and we start talking about market values and it gets us to that 01:31:03.139 --> 01:31:10.437 - 80.5, man, I lose sleep over a jittery bond market inflation and stuff like that. I just, you know, 01:31:10.437 --> 01:31:17.880 - security. Oh, anyway. So these portfolios are invested for long-term provisions, meaning it's not the 01:31:17.880 --> 01:31:21.310 - same as you or I might have our investments in 01:31:21.474 --> 01:31:28.602 - it working for us because we know, hey, we're going to retire. But this program, again, started in 1973. 01:31:28.602 --> 01:31:35.459 - And so that's 50 years more than. And there are 28 people drawing. And they've served the community. 01:31:35.459 --> 01:31:42.520 - They've retired. And that portfolio needs to be around a lot longer than for all of us here. The intent 01:31:42.520 --> 01:31:49.377 - is that it's there to continually provide benefits for those people that have done public safety for 01:31:49.377 --> 01:31:51.006 - us. Right. Mr. Deckard. 01:31:51.170 --> 01:31:57.930 - I just had one follow-up question because we are on an island. I'm going to use a hypothetical situation 01:31:57.930 --> 01:32:04.626 - and you feel free to get back to me if you don't want to answer this. Let's say noble County. I'm going 01:32:04.626 --> 01:32:11.257 - to pick on them. Noble County is in a pool with us or what have it. And they screw this up. They don't 01:32:11.257 --> 01:32:17.438 - do what they should do. Right. Does that potentially ever hurt our people here? Absolutely not. 01:32:17.730 --> 01:32:25.947 - each one is operated completely independently. All right, well, thank you again. It's always a pleasure 01:32:25.947 --> 01:32:34.006 - to talk with you. See you next year. Yeah, we'll see you next year. All right, Council, that moves us 01:32:34.006 --> 01:32:42.223 - to item G still with the Sheriff's Office. Council, I move to open for discussion and possible approval 01:32:42.223 --> 01:32:46.174 - of the Sheriff's Office request in Fund 1000-005. 01:32:47.074 --> 01:32:56.044 - County General Sheriff and in-house transfer of $50,000 into the account line 17102 overtime from personnel 01:32:56.044 --> 01:33:04.683 - account lines that are outlined on the agenda per resolution 2025-41A. Second. All right, we are joined 01:33:04.683 --> 01:33:13.155 - by a whole bunch of folks from the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Marte, are you kicking things off or 01:33:13.155 --> 01:33:16.062 - are we? I'm here to support Jamie. 01:33:16.706 --> 01:33:24.954 - please we have exhaust or almost exhausted our overtime line and when I was here in July we had one 01:33:24.954 --> 01:33:33.449 - opening we now have five American Deputy openings so with that we've had to have overtime that there's 01:33:33.449 --> 01:33:42.192 - lots of other reasons but we need money so it's pretty simple all right counsel do you have any questions 01:33:42.192 --> 01:33:44.254 - about this overtime item 01:33:48.578 --> 01:33:57.416 - My question is you have vacancies I'm hearing and we were doing so well keeping those. So what can we 01:33:57.416 --> 01:34:06.167 - do or is it just a difficult time right now to be hiring or are our competition raising their prices 01:34:06.167 --> 01:34:15.178 - so much that we're just no longer competitive? If you remember and I can remember the month when I came 01:34:15.178 --> 01:34:16.478 - to the council 01:34:16.706 --> 01:34:26.110 - And I will share my concerns that we're losing people to other departments because of the pay. They 01:34:26.110 --> 01:34:35.984 - are paying better than we are. And my fear was that we get to this point, and here we are. But I believe 01:34:35.984 --> 01:34:46.046 - we're ranked number four right now of lowest pay. And we're just losing people, leaving us for better pay. 01:34:46.754 --> 01:34:56.973 - we did if you recall we did discuss this before in the past. I hope you do remember that. So hopefully 01:34:56.973 --> 01:35:06.894 - you'll send us an update like for instance our nearby competitors for what we'll be looking to fill 01:35:06.894 --> 01:35:10.366 - all those slots. I would thank you 01:35:10.498 --> 01:35:20.086 - talk about the county surrounding us as well as right here Monroe County. And have you done an update 01:35:20.086 --> 01:35:30.050 - on that recently? Well, the people that we're losing, we're losing right here. BPD, IUPD, even the state. 01:35:30.050 --> 01:35:39.262 - All right. We've got some other folks who want to ask some questions. I'll go to Councilor Feidl. 01:35:39.810 --> 01:35:47.081 - you mentioned number four is that for number four in what you know it was so it was a while back ago 01:35:47.081 --> 01:35:54.352 - I can't remember the actual do you remember Randy yes you know the the order in which we were ranked 01:35:54.352 --> 01:36:01.839 - within the departments within Monroe County the other law enforcement agencies that we were fourth down 01:36:01.839 --> 01:36:09.182 - on the list as far as the starting pay of the county okay with comparing compared to BPD in this case 01:36:09.410 --> 01:36:17.129 - Thank you. Just the obvious follow-up. That doesn't include the value of the benefits or does it? Let's 01:36:17.129 --> 01:36:25.070 - talk about how awesome your benefits are. Right. I mean, that would have been the salary. Just the salary. 01:36:25.070 --> 01:36:33.086 - You know, people our age, like Randy and I, yeah, that's great. But for the young folks that we're getting, 01:36:33.506 --> 01:36:40.184 - in the door, they're looking at dollar signs, they really are. And part of me can't blame because they're 01:36:40.184 --> 01:36:46.547 - trying to support their family. If it's, you know, if you pay more somewhere else, that's where they 01:36:46.547 --> 01:36:53.100 - want to go. What bothers me, concerns me, is after we train them and they leave somewhere else, we just 01:36:53.100 --> 01:36:59.400 - finish training them. So that means they don't have to go back to the academy and someone else gets 01:36:59.400 --> 01:37:02.046 - that benefit, if that makes sense to you. 01:37:04.258 --> 01:37:12.021 - Member Wilkes, do you want to finish the thought? I have one more ridiculous thought. And please take 01:37:12.021 --> 01:37:19.707 - this. You know how I am. I say things and I know they're half-baked. And I think I've mentioned this 01:37:19.707 --> 01:37:27.394 - kind of thing before, but it just seems like to me and I've read about it in other communities where 01:37:27.394 --> 01:37:33.406 - the various law enforcement agencies elaborate on their salary levels and they 01:37:34.242 --> 01:37:41.838 - they discuss and I don't know I mean I don't know how it's legal I don't get how that works but there 01:37:41.838 --> 01:37:49.434 - is I've read about it in other communities where they had this problem and this is how they addressed 01:37:49.434 --> 01:37:57.030 - it with a little bit more cooperation. You haven't mentioned that before and I can't remember exactly 01:37:57.030 --> 01:38:00.158 - how I responded. The issue for us is that 01:38:02.914 --> 01:38:13.342 - for us, we're ready on the staff as it is. The function of what we do will not, we handle the county, 01:38:13.342 --> 01:38:23.668 - BPD handles BPD. If something happens in the city and we're driving by we see we'll react to it. BPD 01:38:23.668 --> 01:38:29.598 - most likely will be a go to Lake Monroe where we are. ISP 01:38:31.138 --> 01:38:38.251 - sometimes I have one trooper for multiple counties so I like if it could work believe me we would do 01:38:38.251 --> 01:38:45.433 - it for us but right now we're ready so much in a area that is difficult for us right now because when 01:38:45.433 --> 01:38:52.898 - Randy makes a shift we got to have a certain amount of people out there just to make sure that our people 01:38:52.898 --> 01:39:00.574 - are safe among themselves so that's where the overtime is coming in and we and if someone is sick or someone 01:39:00.962 --> 01:39:08.988 - you know, uh, has a newborn. I mean, all that has to be considered as well. So this is something that, 01:39:08.988 --> 01:39:17.015 - that, that, uh, we get worse if it doesn't get better soon, because what happens is by the time we get 01:39:17.015 --> 01:39:25.041 - someone to train them, it takes time, six months. And then once we get them, it takes time to get them 01:39:25.041 --> 01:39:28.158 - to a certain level to be by themselves. 01:39:29.058 --> 01:39:35.215 - then by the way I have to I'm not concerned now that okay they might leave go somewhere else and that 01:39:35.215 --> 01:39:41.493 - has happened. To that point like the the five vacancies that we have we're looking at a year turnaround 01:39:41.493 --> 01:39:47.530 - once an individual's hired if they have no prior experience by the time they go to the academy have 01:39:47.530 --> 01:39:53.868 - field training you know it's a year before they're actually out on their own and benefit to our staffing 01:39:53.868 --> 01:39:56.222 - levels so it's not a quick turnaround. 01:39:59.938 --> 01:40:06.897 - Yes please. Councilmember Feidl. So the five vacancies I was trying to figure out from this information 01:40:06.897 --> 01:40:13.722 - or maybe just on my own. What percentage is that of your workforce that you're missing? The positions 01:40:13.722 --> 01:40:21.083 - that you'd like to have filled. What is the five vacancies? What percentage is that? I don't quite understand 01:40:21.083 --> 01:40:27.774 - the question. Let's say how many positions would you need to be full staffed? Oh was it 45 I think? 01:40:27.906 --> 01:40:36.482 - 45. So this five is nearly is right a little over 10% then. This five missing is a little over 10% no? 01:40:36.482 --> 01:40:44.975 - Yes I'm not that I'm not that good with the percentage. Okay yeah okay. Now but but also keep in mind 01:40:44.975 --> 01:40:53.801 - let's say I was fully staffed at 45. We are still under. Okay. So I mean the the population of the county 01:40:53.801 --> 01:40:56.382 - has grown you wouldn't believe 01:40:57.794 --> 01:41:05.366 - services that we we have to respond to and we don't have the people to actually do it and or the other 01:41:05.366 --> 01:41:12.865 - part that i think i mentioned before we can't even be proactive everything's reactive now which which 01:41:12.865 --> 01:41:20.364 - is it's not good yes please councilmember hawk yes uh i think i've heard you mention in the past that 01:41:20.364 --> 01:41:21.246 - many of the 01:41:21.474 --> 01:41:31.141 - people who work in the jail, jail staff, many times they'll start there and want to work up to being 01:41:31.141 --> 01:41:40.807 - a mayor and deputy. I hope I'm using the right terminology. But what concerns me is that recently we 01:41:40.807 --> 01:41:43.870 - were told, well, let's just put 01:41:44.258 --> 01:41:51.945 - some of those dollars over into one position, and you wouldn't fill the other positions. And so it just 01:41:51.945 --> 01:41:59.485 - seems to me that's sort of like working against what we need to be doing. If we're really training up 01:41:59.485 --> 01:42:07.172 - the people who work in the jail staff, if they want to then transition over into married deputies, then 01:42:07.172 --> 01:42:14.046 - to reduce the jail staff seems to me that was sort of backwards. But that's just my opinion. 01:42:16.098 --> 01:42:23.585 - Kate says it's something I'm just thinking about, so I'm just gonna spit it out there and say it. Okay, 01:42:23.585 --> 01:42:31.000 - I think if there's no other council comments, we'll go to the public. If you would like to make public 01:42:31.000 --> 01:42:38.415 - comment on this overtime item, please raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, may 01:42:38.415 --> 01:42:43.742 - we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? 01:42:46.050 --> 01:42:55.491 - me yes. Councilor Hawk yes. Councilor Wilts yes. Councilor Henry yes. Councilor Decker yes. Motion passes 01:42:55.491 --> 01:43:04.665 - unanimous. Thank you all. Thank you. That brings us to item H still with the sheriff's office. Council 01:43:04.665 --> 01:43:14.462 - I move to approve resolution 2026-37 an interlocal cooperation agreement with the town of Ellisville. Second. 01:43:14.754 --> 01:43:20.919 - All right, we have a motion and a second. Ms. Molly Turner-King, I think, is going to present on this. 01:43:20.919 --> 01:43:26.964 - So last year, after receiving the Traffic Safety Improvement Grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice 01:43:26.964 --> 01:43:33.429 - Institute, the Sheriff's Office and the Ellitsville Police Department formed the Major Crafts Investigation 01:43:33.429 --> 01:43:37.918 - Team, which consists of four deputies and two Ellitsville police officers. 01:43:39.106 --> 01:43:45.967 - If you remember, this is the team that provides specialized investigations to fatal and major crashes 01:43:45.967 --> 01:43:52.895 - within the county. I believe at the commissioners meeting, the data provided was there were 12 crashes 01:43:52.895 --> 01:43:58.814 - investigated this year, 10 within county jurisdiction and two within city jurisdiction. 01:43:59.010 --> 01:44:07.299 - What this interlocal does is continue the use of that team for a second year. The funding for the interlocal 01:44:07.299 --> 01:44:15.131 - and the team comes from the grant, which in this year is in the amount of $60,427.50. That's the grant 01:44:15.131 --> 01:44:19.390 - amount with the local match. The funding is $75,534.38. 01:44:19.522 --> 01:44:25.714 - The interlocal was approved by the commissioners on the 8th, as well as the grant. The grant appropriation 01:44:25.714 --> 01:44:31.790 - should come to the council on the 27th. And then last night at the town council meeting for Ellitsville, 01:44:31.790 --> 01:44:37.693 - they approved the interlocal as well. So this resolution is the final step in approval so that we can 01:44:37.693 --> 01:44:43.480 - get the interlocal to the sheriff and chief journal to sign and back in place. All right. Thank you 01:44:43.480 --> 01:44:48.862 - for that, Ms. Malaitre King. Anything to add, gentlemen? No. We're here to answer questions. 01:44:49.762 --> 01:44:59.125 - Okay. Council, what questions do you have about this inner local? Oh, please, Councilmember Wells. I 01:44:59.125 --> 01:45:08.396 - can always think of something. First of all, cool. Congratulations on getting funding for this type 01:45:08.396 --> 01:45:17.666 - of thing. I think it's important. Welcome. And I know that you're passionate about this work, and I 01:45:17.666 --> 01:45:18.686 - appreciate 01:45:19.202 --> 01:45:27.228 - I appreciate that. It says that, first of all, is the ratio that Ms. Turner King just mentioned, 01:45:27.228 --> 01:45:35.834 - is that, I think she said town versus city when she said city, that meant Bloomington. Is that correct? 01:45:35.834 --> 01:45:44.191 - Elisville. Town, town of Elisville, got it. That's what that was where I was getting a little thrown 01:45:44.191 --> 01:45:48.990 - off. Okay. And this does not cover major accidents within 01:45:49.442 --> 01:46:07.176 - the city of Bloomington police. But they declined to participate so they handle. Any crashes within 01:46:07.176 --> 01:46:18.526 - the city themselves. And is there a. Obviously haven't read the 01:46:18.690 --> 01:46:27.153 - ratio or based on historical data or population that is given to Ellitsville or is it all operated within 01:46:27.153 --> 01:46:35.137 - your office and as a service to Ellitsville? Does that question make any sense? It makes sense. The 01:46:35.137 --> 01:46:43.121 - nature of the team and the way it's structured, we operate based on the needs of any specific crash 01:46:43.121 --> 01:46:44.478 - as it comes out. 01:46:44.578 --> 01:46:51.962 - And the personnel that respond to a crash is based on the circumstances of the crash and not the location 01:46:51.962 --> 01:46:58.997 - of it. So just for example, one of the town of Ellisville crashes, one of the Eltsal police officers 01:46:58.997 --> 01:47:05.962 - was at training out of town at the time and wasn't able to respond to that crash. Sheriff personnel 01:47:05.962 --> 01:47:12.510 - still responded. It had nothing to do with it ultimately. At the same time also, there's been 01:47:12.962 --> 01:47:20.276 - you know, crashes in the county where Velitsville officers still come and help us out if we needed their 01:47:20.276 --> 01:47:27.521 - particular expertise with something. And so in terms of 10 and 2 and how it shakes out this year really 01:47:27.521 --> 01:47:34.557 - isn't going to matter for the way we operate. It's based on the specialty of the individual officer. 01:47:34.557 --> 01:47:41.662 - And it indicates just in the description here that it's specifically about overtime pay for officers. 01:47:41.890 --> 01:47:51.496 - Is the idea that these responses are going to take a lot of time and effort, so overtime will be accrued 01:47:51.496 --> 01:47:58.814 - and you'll apply that to whoever spent the extra time? Is that the logic there? 01:47:59.010 --> 01:48:04.755 - That's certainly part of it. The grant actually funds, overtime is the big one, and that's the subject 01:48:04.755 --> 01:48:10.555 - primarily of the interlocal. But the interlocal also covers, as well as the grant, covers some training 01:48:10.555 --> 01:48:16.132 - expenses, as well as some equipment for the team to operate. But the overtime is what gets a lot of 01:48:16.132 --> 01:48:22.044 - attention, is one of the biggest, well, they're all big helps, but one of the big ones is, and especially 01:48:22.044 --> 01:48:25.502 - in light of the previous discussion about the overtime costs, 01:48:25.666 --> 01:48:31.655 - These cases occur at all hours of the day. Sometimes the personnel with the expertise aren't at work 01:48:31.655 --> 01:48:37.882 - at the time, so this pays for them to come in and respond and be available. And for the follow-up, these 01:48:37.882 --> 01:48:43.871 - cases are pretty intensive. Even after the initial scene response, the roadway is cleared. There's a 01:48:43.871 --> 01:48:50.097 - lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes over the coming weeks and months to actually prepare 01:48:50.097 --> 01:48:54.782 - the final report on the investigation. We average, and it varies, but at least 01:48:54.914 --> 01:49:02.582 - for what's been billed to the grant. We've kind of averaged around approximately 22 hours of overtime 01:49:02.582 --> 01:49:10.326 - per crash. But there's additional work that gets done during the regularly scheduled duty shifts also. 01:49:10.326 --> 01:49:17.919 - So there's more time that that doesn't account for. Does this cover all of that? Yes. Excellent. The 01:49:17.919 --> 01:49:23.934 - funding for the coming year is actually, I think it's about a 36% increase over 01:49:24.066 --> 01:49:31.127 - the amount that we are awarded last year, um, in anticipation of, uh, us being able to grow and make 01:49:31.127 --> 01:49:38.189 - sure that we don't have any shortfalls, but the amount that we had last year just barely covered all 01:49:38.189 --> 01:49:45.390 - of our expenses. So it was good. It's good year. Thank you. Quick, quick follow up question. Feel free 01:49:45.390 --> 01:49:53.150 - to get back to me later if you need to. But, um, does this cut with this? If a crash happened near Unionville, 01:49:53.410 --> 01:50:02.517 - Would this cover that, or is this just Eltsville area? So it's all of Monroe County Sheriff's Office 01:50:02.517 --> 01:50:11.804 - jurisdiction as well as all of Eltsville jurisdiction. So for Unionville, that's an MCSO response that 01:50:11.804 --> 01:50:19.198 - the team will respond to if it's bad. We were talking earlier, a whole history of 01:50:19.458 --> 01:50:25.261 - crashes were kind of going up in my head and I thought, my heavens, this is awesome. Thank you. 01:50:25.261 --> 01:50:31.427 - Any questions? I'll conclude with one. I'm a firm believer that the Hoosier football team is going to 01:50:31.427 --> 01:50:37.896 - continue to win and that we are going to have increased traffic in our community. And this is the question 01:50:37.896 --> 01:50:43.941 - I asked earlier of another department. How competitive is this grant and can we continue to grow it 01:50:43.941 --> 01:50:47.326 - 36% a year? Well, I hope that we don't have to grow it. 01:50:47.522 --> 01:50:54.166 - because that would almost certainly mean that we're responding to more. I agree with you, but there's 01:50:54.166 --> 01:51:00.941 - the field is so complex that there's a lot of equipment and training and other things. This grant could 01:51:00.941 --> 01:51:07.651 - also help fund where increases, maybe not to the overtime, but some of those expenses, the grant could 01:51:07.651 --> 01:51:14.686 - help cover also, but it is a competitive statewide grant. Our project here is to my knowledge, the only one 01:51:14.850 --> 01:51:20.775 - being operated for a crash team using this grant in the state, but from what I'm hearing, it's starting 01:51:20.775 --> 01:51:26.587 - to draw attention. So I wouldn't be surprised if we have some other communities around the state that 01:51:26.587 --> 01:51:32.512 - try to model what we're doing right now. Wouldn't be the first time that other communities modeled what 01:51:32.512 --> 01:51:37.982 - we did here in Monroe County. All right. Thank you so much. All right. I think if that exhausts 01:51:38.210 --> 01:51:48.565 - council comments. Let's go to the public. If you have any questions about this innovative grant, please 01:51:48.565 --> 01:51:58.622 - come to the podium in the historic Notting Hill meeting room or raise your hand on teams. I just had 01:51:58.622 --> 01:52:00.414 - a quick question. 01:52:00.610 --> 01:52:05.732 - Chancellor Hawke, since you're wearing an Ellitsville shirt, I'm assuming that maybe you might know, 01:52:05.732 --> 01:52:11.310 - but I believe that there's potential for the town of Ellitsville and the Richland area to somehow reorganize. 01:52:11.310 --> 01:52:16.635 - I'm just curious if that will change the numbers, if there's a possibility of if that area grows larger, 01:52:16.635 --> 01:52:22.010 - could we go and be like, hey, reorganize, give us more money? That would be great. So I was just curious. 01:52:22.010 --> 01:52:23.582 - Thanks. May I respond to that? 01:52:24.258 --> 01:52:30.717 - I've been on a family emergency visit today, and I just threw on whatever I could get on quickly to 01:52:30.717 --> 01:52:37.822 - get out the door, and I didn't change clothes when we got back in. So if I need to take my shirt off, I will. 01:52:38.050 --> 01:52:44.187 - I think the cream and crimson is much appreciated. I mean, I love it. So, yeah, no, the shops and sales 01:52:44.187 --> 01:52:50.559 - street are great. I've been there multiple times. So, yeah, no, I just said that because I'm not a resident 01:52:50.559 --> 01:52:56.578 - of Ellisville. So I don't know. I just didn't know if you had more information on it or not. So I was 01:52:56.578 --> 01:53:02.596 - just curious. All right. Well, thank you for that public comment. Is there additional public comment? 01:53:02.596 --> 01:53:07.966 - Seeing none, when we please have a roll call vote. Those are vital. Yes. Councillor Hawke. 01:53:08.290 --> 01:53:16.658 - Yes. Councilor Wilkes? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. And Councilor Iverson? Yes. 01:53:16.658 --> 01:53:25.026 - Motion passes unanimous. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Councilor. That brings us to item I on 01:53:25.026 --> 01:53:33.311 - our agenda. Council, I move to approve the Board of Commissioners request and fund 1000-0068 County 01:53:33.311 --> 01:53:35.134 - General Commissioners 01:53:35.234 --> 01:53:43.458 - for an additional appropriation of $90,000 in the services category. Second. All right. And it looks 01:53:43.458 --> 01:53:51.764 - like we have commissioners folks here. Angie Pretty is here. So thank you. And can you tell us what's 01:53:51.764 --> 01:54:00.476 - going on here? OK. Well, what's going on is that this year has not been particularly good for this account 01:54:00.476 --> 01:54:04.222 - line in the sense that we have had additional 01:54:05.026 --> 01:54:13.192 - services that had to be obtained. We've got vets environmental who's we started off with a justice building 01:54:13.192 --> 01:54:20.753 - and then we have expanded that to all of the county buildings having them assessed by vets and then 01:54:20.753 --> 01:54:28.540 - doing monthly checks on the and then and responding as appropriate. So we have that we have litigation 01:54:28.540 --> 01:54:32.094 - counsel that has been negligible at this point 01:54:32.450 --> 01:54:43.078 - so far at this point, so it's not really a big cost. However, I think Vette and the, we had some work 01:54:43.078 --> 01:54:53.914 - done on, we had the hand replaced for the dove on the peace monument that came out of here. And so this 01:54:53.914 --> 01:54:55.998 - particular account, 01:54:56.898 --> 01:55:05.751 - is always somewhat difficult and usually, it's one of those, I won't say usually, but when Council asks 01:55:05.751 --> 01:55:14.435 - everybody to get their budget as minimal as possible, then we try to do that. However, by doing that, 01:55:14.435 --> 01:55:23.203 - it also puts us into a position where we are not always able to respond as we should. All right, thank 01:55:23.203 --> 01:55:25.246 - you very much, Council. 01:55:25.442 --> 01:55:33.135 - Do you have any questions or comments about this professional services line? Number Henry. Thank you, 01:55:33.135 --> 01:55:40.676 - Mr. President. And thank you for opening up this conversation. So I took a look at this because I'm 01:55:40.676 --> 01:55:48.218 - trying to understand the numbers behind the request because in our FY26 budget, this was an account 01:55:48.218 --> 01:55:50.782 - line that we budgeted for 60,000. 01:55:51.874 --> 01:55:59.077 - And in 27, we're sitting at a proposal for 75,000. But the activity in LAL is a lot more than that, 01:55:59.077 --> 01:56:05.704 - right? Correct. And you've managed that primarily through in-house transfers up to a point, 01:56:05.704 --> 01:56:13.195 - is that right? Correct, as per council's directives. You'd mentioned, now I was looking at LAL, today's 01:56:13.195 --> 01:56:21.118 - pool before the meeting, and the litigation council piece, my math's mathing, is around 28,000 at this point? 01:56:21.602 --> 01:56:28.557 - No, four thousand. Um, you had, um, I just want to make sure I got it. So I have, um, and maybe I'm, 01:56:28.557 --> 01:56:35.787 - am I on again? There we are. So ice dealer was a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight payments 01:56:35.787 --> 01:56:42.810 - at $3,500 each. Oh, that's not litigation council. That is the lobbyist. Um, it used to be called TAM 01:56:42.810 --> 01:56:49.214 - capital. Okay. So that's not okay. So that's the lobbyist in that fund. And then that's, uh, 01:56:49.474 --> 01:56:54.944 - the communications consulting, and that's the stuff you budgeted for at the beginning of the year that 01:56:54.944 --> 01:57:00.361 - you knew you were going into. And then there's the Thompson response, right? Through Thompson, right, 01:57:00.361 --> 01:57:06.097 - what we're doing out there, the 70,000 to the Indianapolis firm, right? How much more do we expect Thompson 01:57:06.097 --> 01:57:11.354 - to cost? Do you have a projection from the vendors of what's going on out there? It's over 100,000 01:57:11.354 --> 01:57:15.550 - right now. We anticipate it's going to be closer to 150 by the time it's done. 01:57:16.066 --> 01:57:24.332 - So is that from like their initial estimate or are they just discovering more to do? I'm just trying 01:57:24.332 --> 01:57:32.597 - to understand how that like ratchets and how it all grows. I do know that they have found other more 01:57:32.597 --> 01:57:40.126 - areas that had debris. It's a really large property with the 80 some acres and so it's been 01:57:41.762 --> 01:57:48.427 - It's been quite difficult to get in and to get out. Parks has been awesome with helping our staff to 01:57:48.427 --> 01:57:55.157 - get things cleared up around there. But yeah, it's an expensive endeavor. So in the items tonight, we 01:57:55.157 --> 01:58:01.756 - have three items kind of lumped together. Do you have a breakdown of the cost for VET, the cost for 01:58:01.756 --> 01:58:08.421 - litigation counsel, the cost for Thompson individually, like what those are? I mean, I guess the sum 01:58:08.421 --> 01:58:11.390 - is $90,000, but you couldn't say how much is 01:58:12.930 --> 01:58:19.974 - of the $90,000, how much is going to litigation? How much is going? Do you have that? I have that $90,000. 01:58:19.974 --> 01:58:26.885 - If you look at our current budget, which you say you have, you can see that we're currently in the whole 01:58:26.885 --> 01:58:33.468 - $54,000. At least, well, we're actually in the whole, let's see here, more like $90,000. OK. And so 01:58:33.468 --> 01:58:40.446 - I do see that. I'm not trying to be that critical here, but I am trying to understand the nature of that. 01:58:40.642 --> 01:58:46.689 - professional services line and how it works in the county. I'm in CATS, or I'm sorry, I'm in Teams right 01:58:46.689 --> 01:58:52.506 - now. I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen so everybody can see the numbers I'm looking at, because 01:58:52.506 --> 01:58:58.380 - it goes flat in a hurry. So I've got a breakout on that professional line that looks like this. I got 01:58:58.380 --> 01:59:04.427 - the FY26 budgeted at 60,000. I've got the FY to date, which is 138,409, which is your in-house transfers 01:59:04.427 --> 01:59:06.558 - that are covering additional things. 01:59:06.914 --> 01:59:14.350 - I had, you did about 69,000 in additional in-house today. You moved some stuff around today. And you 01:59:14.350 --> 01:59:22.080 - mentioned that in the packet, right, that you moved some stuff to cover things. I want to draw council's 01:59:22.080 --> 01:59:29.443 - attention to the percentage increases in column A. So if the house transfers you did today stay and 01:59:29.443 --> 01:59:35.038 - we do the additional 90,000, it's a 74% increase on top of the FY26 budget. 01:59:35.170 --> 01:59:41.940 - I presume you're going to transfer back what you're covering today if we approve the appropriation, 01:59:41.940 --> 01:59:48.846 - which gets us still to 62% over your budget amount of $60,000 for the year, because you have Thompson 01:59:48.846 --> 01:59:55.684 - and VET and all that. And then for FY27, when we go to budget approvals next week, that account line 01:59:55.684 --> 01:59:57.918 - right now is sitting at $75,000. 01:59:58.626 --> 02:00:05.484 - I'm only showing all this to say this fund, and you said it at the front end, does a lot of work, or 02:00:05.484 --> 02:00:12.749 - this line does a lot of work. Is there something we can do to get a better projection of what this account 02:00:12.749 --> 02:00:19.742 - line does in a given year? Because these are, there's a lot moving around here. I mean, it's not just, 02:00:19.742 --> 02:00:26.668 - I mean, if we go with 75,000 proposed for FY27, I would assume we're going to see a lot moving around 02:00:26.668 --> 02:00:28.094 - and coming back here 02:00:28.258 --> 02:00:35.363 - you know, and when we're at 62 to 74% increase in a year on an account line, I guess that's what I'm 02:00:35.363 --> 02:00:42.608 - looking at. So what can we do to project better on that professional services line so we know what our 02:00:42.608 --> 02:00:49.643 - expenses could be next year for that? Well, I did tell you during the budget session that I thought 02:00:49.643 --> 02:00:56.748 - $75,000 was probably not going to be enough, but that I was willing to give that a go for how things 02:00:56.748 --> 02:00:57.662 - normally go. 02:01:00.194 --> 02:01:07.032 - I cannot tell you there have been many years in which this this fund has been just this account has 02:01:07.032 --> 02:01:14.143 - been fine. This year has been exceptional in the sense of additional costs that are coming through that 02:01:14.143 --> 02:01:21.049 - were not originally planned. So I don't know. I don't know what you're saying, but I'm going to tell 02:01:21.049 --> 02:01:24.126 - you this. The 90,000 that we need right now. 02:01:25.154 --> 02:01:32.435 - is going into that line because it's already in the whole $94,776. Yeah, I get that. And it's how do 02:01:32.435 --> 02:01:39.716 - we get there, right? Because we had, and I'll yield in a minute. The Thompson encampment, we knew we 02:01:39.716 --> 02:01:47.069 - were going to be cleaning that up since January. And there was ample time, I think, to come to us and 02:01:47.069 --> 02:01:54.494 - budget out what a, if there was a new account line to deal with just encampment cleanup as opposed to, 02:01:54.594 --> 02:02:00.510 - you know, laboring this line. I just, I think these numbers are interesting. I just wanted to share 02:02:00.510 --> 02:02:06.722 - them. It's not, it's not meant as a negative or positive, but it is about how things move in the county. 02:02:06.722 --> 02:02:12.994 - I think sometimes the public asks what we buy around here. And, you know, I think this is just an example 02:02:12.994 --> 02:02:19.206 - of that, but I'll stop sharing my screen and yield back, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Henry. 02:02:19.206 --> 02:02:23.998 - Council Member Wilts. I just want to pick up on the, at least the expenses that, 02:02:24.322 --> 02:02:33.088 - that are showing up here, the nature that would be hard to predict year to year. And perhaps what we 02:02:33.088 --> 02:02:42.200 - want instead of predictive, I mean, we would love to be able to predict, don't get me wrong, but perhaps 02:02:42.200 --> 02:02:52.094 - what we can do is a different kind of tracking at some point in order to answer some of these questions at least. 02:02:52.642 --> 02:03:02.116 - I mean, you know, I think it's. Immediately following if not in real time. Um you know, I know there 02:03:02.116 --> 02:03:11.683 - have been. Other ideas tossed about in terms of requiring coming to council for more things, but that 02:03:11.683 --> 02:03:21.438 - really could hinder some emergency response if you know for some of these and I don't mean in the true. 02:03:21.730 --> 02:03:29.727 - taken care of. Is there an interest perhaps in maybe working with the auditor's office to identify a 02:03:29.727 --> 02:03:37.882 - way of accounting that would be more specific but not overly burdensome? Sure. I'm always happy to sit 02:03:37.882 --> 02:03:45.246 - down with Ms. Purdy so we can definitely work together. I'm happy to forward ledger reports. 02:03:45.378 --> 02:03:52.952 - or perhaps I could even give you a quick spreadsheet, just summarizing the different vendors and the 02:03:52.952 --> 02:04:00.750 - amount expended on each, maybe quarterly, or maybe Ms. Purdy could do that, but we can, I can help with 02:04:00.750 --> 02:04:08.399 - that, I'm happy to. Again, it's about finding that balance because it is something that is difficult, 02:04:08.399 --> 02:04:14.398 - it's opaque for us when we look at trying to budget for an account that we know 02:04:14.882 --> 02:04:22.627 - needs to be there for you to use. But at the same time, for transparency, we kind of would like to be 02:04:22.627 --> 02:04:30.523 - able to talk about it ahead of time or in real time and not retroactively. If I may? Yeah. I would love 02:04:30.523 --> 02:04:38.419 - to be able to come in and say, I would like to have a line created for the Thompson cleanup. But I have 02:04:38.419 --> 02:04:39.710 - always been told 02:04:40.034 --> 02:04:46.802 - I need to transfer my money. If I've got a line already that that money can be expended from, I need 02:04:46.802 --> 02:04:53.704 - to transfer it into there. And I have been before you and I have said, I don't think it's transparent. 02:04:53.704 --> 02:05:00.538 - I don't like this way of doing business. I would love to be able to come with everything that was not 02:05:00.538 --> 02:05:07.038 - planned on to you guys and ask, can I have this line made? I would not have a problem with that. 02:05:08.066 --> 02:05:14.546 - Mr. President? Please. I love this. Because the public needs to understand, for example, and I'm just 02:05:14.546 --> 02:05:21.090 - going to say it because both parts of the building are doing this, is we're absorbing litigation fees. 02:05:21.090 --> 02:05:27.633 - That should be pretty transparent to the public. When it's not in these lines, it's a challenge. We're 02:05:27.633 --> 02:05:34.558 - going to be cleaning up encampments probably for some time. I think Thompson is a big one, but I don't think 02:05:34.722 --> 02:05:39.877 - That's an endemic issue in our community. I mean, I don't think that's getting solved in the next two 02:05:39.877 --> 02:05:45.083 - fiscal years. Having an account line for that would just say, look, that's the account line we do that 02:05:45.083 --> 02:05:50.188 - work in probably makes sense. So absolutely. And to also then identify that you do have professional 02:05:50.188 --> 02:05:55.495 - services in here, I know our routine contractor communications work. You know, there's different avenues 02:05:55.495 --> 02:06:00.650 - that you've done there. I mean, Baker-Tilley's in there. I mean, so that stuff is the routine that we 02:06:00.650 --> 02:06:04.542 - know is coming year after year. So there's an opportunity here, isn't there? 02:06:04.802 --> 02:06:10.840 - But thank you, Mr. President. All right, let's look to the auditor who's showing some interest, and 02:06:10.840 --> 02:06:17.058 - then we'll come back to Mr. Deckard. One final thought. We often provide different analysis styles for 02:06:17.058 --> 02:06:23.277 - you. We could do a five-year average of these different expenses just to maybe give you a better idea. 02:06:23.277 --> 02:06:29.496 - But there's different ways of looking at things. So we can try to give you different tools to help you 02:06:29.496 --> 02:06:33.662 - make budgetary decisions as a whole, if that's helpful. Mr. Deckard. 02:06:34.018 --> 02:06:41.531 - I appreciate all these questions. I appreciate also your answers. One thing I will say is one year in 02:06:41.531 --> 02:06:49.045 - government, the ability to anticipate things moving forward has never been fully the way I would love 02:06:49.045 --> 02:06:56.558 - to have it in my planning mind. I can remember two months before the pandemic not seeing any of that, 02:06:56.558 --> 02:07:00.830 - despite the news basically telling us that it was coming. 02:07:01.090 --> 02:07:09.421 - solution idea for this, for Ms. Purdy and for commissioners are, I think, first an initial discussion 02:07:09.421 --> 02:07:17.752 - there about what are these things we see in the horizon that we roughly see in the year ahead? How do 02:07:17.752 --> 02:07:26.328 - we assist her with labeling that with our council liaisons and then the larger council to say, I'm going 02:07:26.328 --> 02:07:30.494 - to give you an example. Right now, Autumn is here. 02:07:30.722 --> 02:07:36.952 - But snow is coming, and we know we're going to be back to square one on a massive snowplow discussion 02:07:36.952 --> 02:07:43.181 - here that is not necessarily at least a ridge fix, but could be other people's fixes. And I think the 02:07:43.181 --> 02:07:46.174 - question becomes, how do we start thinking about 02:07:46.402 --> 02:07:52.453 - how that body of three elected officials with this administrator, how they want to start labeling those 02:07:52.453 --> 02:07:58.330 - things, planning for those things, throwing spaghetti at the wall to try to figure out what is maybe 02:07:58.330 --> 02:08:04.498 - a public health concern we'll have, et cetera. God forbid we have none, hopefully. But then the secondary 02:08:04.498 --> 02:08:10.782 - part to that is I think giving the attention and detail to that on how we not only manage it in the moment, 02:08:11.426 --> 02:08:18.073 - but manage the unintended consequences. For example, every counselor has had some thoughts about that 02:08:18.073 --> 02:08:24.719 - location, the Thompson location, and action being taken in some way. I know action's been taken maybe 02:08:24.719 --> 02:08:31.236 - different than what folks wanted, but we know that's going to cost either way. The Justice Building 02:08:31.236 --> 02:08:34.494 - is a good example. I think every single counselor 02:08:34.690 --> 02:08:40.728 - has yelled about the justice building. My active question is, how do commissioners and council start 02:08:40.728 --> 02:08:46.705 - figuring out ways to mitigate the unintended consequences of the remediation? I think they're doing 02:08:46.705 --> 02:08:52.683 - things right now. Everybody and their sister begged for things to be done. I think that doing it is 02:08:52.683 --> 02:08:58.780 - hard on the folks in there. Do we need to have a larger discussion about do we need to not have those 02:08:58.780 --> 02:09:03.742 - folks in those offices? And where the hell do we rent them? That is a commissioner 02:09:03.906 --> 02:09:10.394 - administrator council kind of fund option, that needs to kind of happen there. And friends, it's going 02:09:10.394 --> 02:09:16.756 - to cost. But I think for years, probably this bench and a few other benches has said, try to cut it, 02:09:16.756 --> 02:09:23.181 - try to cut it, try to cut it. And I think we need to proactively say, try to talk about where is this 02:09:23.181 --> 02:09:30.110 - going to go wrong? Because we are not the community of 1982 that says, we don't know how to spell encampment. 02:09:30.690 --> 02:09:38.006 - No, we have encampments. And we have buildings that have strange issues. And it's not just simply about 02:09:38.006 --> 02:09:45.674 - saving a courthouse. It's about managing a large campus that's spread out with aging buildings and important 02:09:45.674 --> 02:09:52.919 - employees and critical functions. And so I think that's a little bigger than this. But I think we need 02:09:52.919 --> 02:10:00.446 - to have that wholesale and avoid the ledger more to get it right by the policy that we need to do. Anyway. 02:10:01.282 --> 02:10:08.804 - I would just say 1982 was a fantastic year. Were you born then? Don't even. I was born in that August 02:10:08.804 --> 02:10:16.326 - year. All right. I just want to remind council that there is an underlying motion here. And while the 02:10:16.326 --> 02:10:24.069 - spirit of this conversation is fantastic, we do have other business to get to. But council member Wilts, 02:10:24.069 --> 02:10:30.558 - please. I have a question specifically about the, you mentioned about the vet services. 02:10:30.690 --> 02:10:38.121 - and that you were having testing and follow up in all of county buildings. I guess, I mean, I don't 02:10:38.121 --> 02:10:46.073 - have a problem with that in principle, but I'm curious as to what motivated that. Was it just an abundance 02:10:46.073 --> 02:10:53.579 - of precaution? Are you finding anything? I mean, we've we have found some and it gets mitigated when 02:10:53.579 --> 02:10:58.558 - we find it. But I mean, we have old buildings. It's humid. We have 02:10:58.658 --> 02:11:07.707 - people spill things. I mean, it's just mold is an issue no matter where you are. I mean, it's just part 02:11:07.707 --> 02:11:16.755 - of our environment. But we felt like it was important to give all the buildings and all the departments 02:11:16.755 --> 02:11:22.846 - the same kind of look as what we were giving to the justice building. 02:11:26.850 --> 02:11:36.164 - the the schedule of review be tapered for sites that maybe are not showing as much. And throughout for 02:11:36.164 --> 02:11:45.387 - those. So that's this is kind of in the first year. So we're still trying to get a rhythm I think for 02:11:45.387 --> 02:11:54.430 - that because each building has its own heartbeat. I don't know how else to describe it and need for 02:11:55.490 --> 02:12:03.461 - or needs for attention. So that's something that's coming out of the work that's being done this week 02:12:03.461 --> 02:12:11.666 - or this year. But yes, the intention is that we would be able to get to not having to do it every month, 02:12:11.666 --> 02:12:19.481 - not having to do it in every building every month, right? So that's the plan. That's the intention. 02:12:19.481 --> 02:12:25.342 - I don't know that we'll ever not be able to do it in the justice building. 02:12:28.226 --> 02:12:35.855 - to implode it. OK, thank you. All right. Again, that was a fantastic conversation. And I'm curious to 02:12:35.855 --> 02:12:43.783 - know whether the public has to weigh in. If you're here in the NatU Hill Room, please come to the podium. 02:12:43.783 --> 02:12:51.486 - If you're on Teams, please raise your hand. Welcome back. You have to stop meeting like this, I swear. 02:12:58.754 --> 02:13:03.757 - So again, Jamie Ford, Monroe County resident. I was just kind of struck by how vague this request is. 02:13:03.757 --> 02:13:08.809 - The other department, you know, I pulled up the agenda packet on my phone. I've been following through 02:13:08.809 --> 02:13:11.262 - and seen all of the paperwork they're submitting. 02:13:11.490 --> 02:13:16.857 - full grants, the financial impact, letters of support, et cetera, you know, listing out in the narratives 02:13:16.857 --> 02:13:21.921 - of, you know, we had this before the commissioners, they approved it on this date, after it went to 02:13:21.921 --> 02:13:26.985 - the board on this date. So you can see that kind of trail and see that, okay, this has been through 02:13:26.985 --> 02:13:32.251 - the various places, whereas this just, it's just, hey, we need $90,000 for all this stuff. And granted, 02:13:32.251 --> 02:13:37.517 - I've missed some meetings, I've tried to go back and kind of cross-reference all this, and some of this 02:13:37.517 --> 02:13:39.998 - stuff isn't exactly apparent, you know, so it's, 02:13:40.418 --> 02:13:46.048 - I mean, given the fact that I'm not one to just full-on blindly trust the government to begin with, 02:13:46.048 --> 02:13:51.677 - but especially with the... Your face is funny. But especially with how things have seemingly eroded 02:13:51.677 --> 02:13:57.307 - with the trust in the board of commissioners, it would be nice to see that breakdown that Councilor 02:13:57.307 --> 02:14:02.993 - Henry talked about, to see how much is going where, to see when stuff went before the commissioners, 02:14:02.993 --> 02:14:08.510 - just for transparency's sake. Because again, I did try to do my own research and find this stuff. 02:14:08.674 --> 02:14:15.747 - It was difficult to find. And that's not something you want to see from any part of your government, 02:14:15.747 --> 02:14:23.240 - but especially with your board of commissioners when other departments are being thorough and transparent. 02:14:23.240 --> 02:14:30.313 - So that's all I had to say. Thank you. Thank you for your public comment. Is there additional public 02:14:30.313 --> 02:14:36.126 - comment? Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Pounce. Hold on. Sorry. 02:14:38.210 --> 02:14:54.639 - Yeah. Lee, did you say something? All right. Council, thank you for letting me do this. Please, Lee, 02:14:54.639 --> 02:15:07.326 - if you want to unmute, you have three minutes. The floor is yours. All right. 02:15:07.810 --> 02:15:16.995 - My name is Lee Grunehaefer, I'm a resident in Monroe County. I also wanna applaud the conversation tonight 02:15:16.995 --> 02:15:25.751 - and all the hard work on getting these things right. I think some of these bills are hindsight bills. 02:15:25.751 --> 02:15:34.422 - Like if we could have thought about this, we would have thought about this. But I do think that more 02:15:34.422 --> 02:15:37.598 - planning in general is needed around 02:15:38.626 --> 02:15:47.224 - the long-term aspects of maintaining the campus. Thank you. Thank you for your public comment. All right, 02:15:47.224 --> 02:15:55.579 - last call on public comment. We love public comment in the county council. All right, seeing none, may 02:15:55.579 --> 02:16:03.691 - we please have a roll call vote. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor DeGrad? Yes. 02:16:03.691 --> 02:16:07.422 - Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. 02:16:08.418 --> 02:16:15.706 - And Councilor Hawk is not currently present. So motion passes unanimous, five zero. That is true. And 02:16:15.706 --> 02:16:23.208 - I do want to make that for the record that Councilor member Hawk has left the building. Like left, left. 02:16:23.208 --> 02:16:30.424 - Yes. All right. Let's move on to item J. Council, I will be combining items J and K into one motion. 02:16:30.424 --> 02:16:34.782 - I move to approve the board of commissioners request to fund 02:16:34.882 --> 02:16:44.465 - County General County Buildings for a category transfer of $27,000 from the personnel category to the 02:16:44.465 --> 02:16:53.860 - services category and simultaneously approve an additional appropriation of $90,000 in the services 02:16:53.860 --> 02:17:04.382 - category. Second. All right. Ms. Purdy, it seems like that motion was incorrect. Can you please guide us as to? 02:17:04.546 --> 02:17:18.052 - I just read what was here. A transfer of 27 and an additional of 35,000. I believe the transfer is from 02:17:18.052 --> 02:17:31.038 - the maintenance supervisor position to utilities. Or 27. This is a utilities issue. Is that the 27? 02:17:32.034 --> 02:17:39.752 - That's 27. And then I'm also asking for an additional of 35 in the utilities line. Yeah, apparently 02:17:39.752 --> 02:17:47.932 - I'm sorry. Would you update it just real quickly? So change the 90 to 35,000. Yes, please. And everything 02:17:47.932 --> 02:17:55.727 - else is the same. That's right. I'll just reread it. Council, I will be combining items J and K into 02:17:55.727 --> 02:18:01.438 - one motion. I move to approve the board of commissioners request and fund 02:18:01.570 --> 02:18:08.907 - one zero zero zero dash zero one six one county general county buildings for a category transfer of 02:18:08.907 --> 02:18:16.390 - twenty seven thousand from the personnel category to the services category and simultaneously approve 02:18:16.390 --> 02:18:24.167 - an additional appropriation of thirty five thousand dollars in the services category. All right is pretty 02:18:24.167 --> 02:18:30.110 - can you tell us what's going on with these two items. We are certainly expanding 02:18:31.362 --> 02:18:39.757 - than what we currently have for anticipated for the year in utilities. And so this request is utilizing 02:18:39.757 --> 02:18:47.910 - the ability to transfer between categories, thereby reducing the actual amount in additional that is 02:18:47.910 --> 02:18:56.467 - requested. Okay. Council, what questions or comments do you have? Mr. Deckard, lead us off. What's making 02:18:56.467 --> 02:18:59.454 - those utilities costs go up so high? 02:18:59.906 --> 02:19:07.999 - They're utilities. I don't know. I mean, just general, like, national stuff, local, state. I mean, I 02:19:07.999 --> 02:19:16.413 - can't answer that. I really can't. To give you an example, the Justice Building is about $29,000 a month 02:19:16.413 --> 02:19:24.666 - by itself. So the other ones are not near that bad, but others are five, seven, and we have a few that 02:19:24.666 --> 02:19:26.910 - are less. More than normal. 02:19:27.714 --> 02:19:35.925 - No, I don't know that this is normal. I think that there's an increase in utility costs that I haven't 02:19:35.925 --> 02:19:44.296 - been able to account for. I mean, sometimes, OK, so when things happen, so it's a 24-7 facility, there's 02:19:44.296 --> 02:19:52.427 - rates that increase when we don't know that the increases are going to happen or in time for budgets. 02:19:52.427 --> 02:19:56.094 - And it depends on the weather. It depends on. 02:19:56.386 --> 02:20:06.218 - the number of people who are going in and out. It depends on how many fans they have running because 02:20:06.218 --> 02:20:16.148 - there's water in it. So I'm sorry, I don't mean to be flippant. It's utilities and that also includes 02:20:16.148 --> 02:20:23.838 - internet. So if you've got internet somewhere, then that becomes another cost. 02:20:25.666 --> 02:20:32.929 - Are there any other comments or questions from Council? Add to that long list of reasons why utilities 02:20:32.929 --> 02:20:40.051 - are going up that anytime we started a new war and the Strait of Hormuz is closed, that makes things 02:20:40.051 --> 02:20:46.891 - a little more expensive. I thought that's what you were looking for. I'm just generally curious. 02:20:46.891 --> 02:20:54.366 - I'll say it. All right. If there are no other comments or questions from Council, let's go to the public. 02:20:54.786 --> 02:21:02.249 - public has any comment or wishes to raise their hand on teams that come to the podium? Seeing none, 02:21:02.249 --> 02:21:10.010 - may we please have a roll call vote? Councillor Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Councillor Iverson? 02:21:10.010 --> 02:21:17.622 - Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. And Councillor Wilts? Yes. Motion passes unanimous five zeros. Thank you. 02:21:17.622 --> 02:21:23.070 - Jesus Christ. All right. Thank you so much. Oh, that made it. All right. 02:21:24.450 --> 02:21:35.458 - Jesus. Council, do you need a break or do you move forward? I do. All right. A four minute break. Sorry, 02:21:35.458 --> 02:21:46.046 - Mr. Cockrell. We are going to be back here at seven twenty five. You won't even believe how fast we. 02:21:46.046 --> 02:21:49.086 - All right, cats, we're back. 02:21:50.018 --> 02:21:58.275 - Welcome back from our little break here. We're going to move on to item L in our agenda, which is the 02:21:58.275 --> 02:22:03.294 - 2026 general obligation bond or geo bond as we refer to them. 02:22:03.394 --> 02:22:08.510 - a lot of times. This is the first reading and public hearing of those. At this time I want to open the 02:22:08.510 --> 02:22:13.576 - public hearing for the 2026 general bond. We'll have the first reading of the general obligation bond 02:22:13.576 --> 02:22:18.593 - ordinance and the general obligation appropriation ordinance. Members of the public will be given an 02:22:18.593 --> 02:22:23.808 - opportunity to comment. Those present in the NatU Hill meeting room will be asked to come to the podium. 02:22:23.808 --> 02:22:28.924 - Those attending virtually are asked to use the raised hand feature on your computer. Participants will 02:22:28.924 --> 02:22:29.470 - be given a 02:22:29.826 --> 02:22:36.545 - time of three minutes to make comment you'll be given a 30 second remaining reminder as follows is there 02:22:36.545 --> 02:22:43.072 - a bell thank you your your comments need to be limited to the general obligation bond and or projects 02:22:43.072 --> 02:22:49.471 - please following the public comment council have an opportunity to also make comment on the general 02:22:49.471 --> 02:22:56.574 - obligation bond and or projects once council is finished with their comments the public hearing will be closed 02:22:56.962 --> 02:23:04.514 - So we're going to start with resolution 2026-35. I open for discussion that resolution 2026-35 general 02:23:04.514 --> 02:23:11.993 - obligation bond and I ask Councilor Deckard to read the now therefore be it resolved into the record. 02:23:11.993 --> 02:23:19.766 - Oh I'm sorry hold on one second. The resolution that's in the packet was for the commissioners to approve 02:23:19.766 --> 02:23:26.878 - that's exhibit A to ordinance 2026-35 and then ordinance 2026-36 is the appropriation ordinance. 02:23:27.234 --> 02:23:34.021 - Okay so we don't need 35. Ordinance 20-26-35 if I may. Please. Is an ordinance of the Monroe County 02:23:34.021 --> 02:23:40.809 - Indiana authorizing the issuance of general obligations bonds for the purpose of providing funds to 02:23:40.809 --> 02:23:47.732 - pay the cost of certain public improvements within the county providing for the payment of such bonds 02:23:47.732 --> 02:23:50.718 - from ad valorem taxes to be levied upon all 02:23:51.010 --> 02:23:58.036 - the taxable property located in the county providing for the safeguarding of interests of the owners 02:23:58.036 --> 02:24:05.340 - of said bonds other matters connected therewith including the issuance of notes in anticipation of bonds 02:24:05.340 --> 02:24:12.435 - and repealing ordinance inconsistent herewith. So that is the introduction of the bond as required of 02:24:12.435 --> 02:24:18.974 - the ordinance as required by statute for ordinance 202635 and again part of that includes the 02:24:20.770 --> 02:24:29.716 - Resolution 2026-35, which was approved by the commissioners at a previous meeting. Essentially that, 02:24:29.716 --> 02:24:38.751 - along with the appropriation ordinance, which I guess I could introduce that as well for you guys, if 02:24:38.751 --> 02:24:46.014 - you wish. Please. Which is an ordinance of appropriation by the Monroe County for 02:24:46.594 --> 02:24:51.913 - the purpose of and I'm just going to read the now therefore now therefore be it ordained by the county 02:24:51.913 --> 02:24:57.593 - council of the Murano county indiana that section one the council finds that all proceeds require proceedings 02:24:57.593 --> 02:25:02.912 - required before appropriation of the proceeds of the bond and if necessary bans have been accomplished 02:25:02.912 --> 02:25:04.926 - and completed um that's why this one's 02:25:05.314 --> 02:25:11.068 - after 35 for the purpose of paying the cost of the projects and incidental expenses necessary to be 02:25:11.068 --> 02:25:17.053 - incurred with the projects and the bonds and if necessary bans an amount not to exceed six million five 02:25:17.053 --> 02:25:22.750 - hundred thousand dollars shall be appropriated from the proceeds of the bond and if necessary bans 02:25:22.978 --> 02:25:29.632 - Section 3 is the auditor is directed to submit and certify this ordinance and the related proceedings 02:25:29.632 --> 02:25:36.155 - to the Department of Local Government Finance in accordance with Indiana Code 61.1 18-5 and Section 02:25:36.155 --> 02:25:42.678 - 4 this ordinance shall be in full force and effect after its passage. So that is the appropriation. 02:25:42.678 --> 02:25:49.202 - I think the list is included as Exhibit A to that which includes I believe everything that you guys 02:25:49.202 --> 02:25:51.550 - had discussed at previous meetings. 02:25:52.386 --> 02:26:03.182 - Thank you, Mr. Cockrell. So we think, Ms. Molly Turner-King, can we ask your guidance on something real 02:26:03.182 --> 02:26:13.770 - quick? So I think as we have it, as we've opened the public hearing, do we go one by one? Or I guess, 02:26:13.770 --> 02:26:16.158 - Mr. Cockrell, I guess, 02:26:16.834 --> 02:26:23.075 - The public hearing is only on ordinance 2026-36 because it is a public hearing of the additional 02:26:23.075 --> 02:26:29.702 - appropriation. I guess in either event they are ordinances although I would defer to council staff and 02:26:29.702 --> 02:26:36.265 - attorney because I think with additional appropriations there are different rules for an ordinance of 02:26:36.265 --> 02:26:43.149 - additional appropriation so you don't necessarily have to have unanimous approval of it. My recommendation 02:26:43.149 --> 02:26:46.302 - was to not approve an ordinance of appropriation 02:26:46.978 --> 02:26:54.342 - prior to approving the Bond Ordinance because of you've got to find that you've made all the necessarily 02:26:54.342 --> 02:27:01.495 - approvals prior to you approving the Appropriation Ordinance. So that would require a unanimous vote. 02:27:01.495 --> 02:27:08.649 - So Ordinance 2026.35 which is what I would call the Bond Ordinance requires unanimous approval at the 02:27:08.649 --> 02:27:14.750 - first reading or if it doesn't happen tonight it would come back at your next meeting. 02:27:15.042 --> 02:27:21.778 - it does get approved tonight then feel free to go ahead and vote on ordinance 2026.36 however if it 02:27:21.778 --> 02:27:28.648 - does not I think section one would prohibit you from approving that from a from a factual perspective 02:27:28.648 --> 02:27:35.519 - right so you have to approve 35 before you can approve 36 by the language of ordinance 2026.36. Thank 02:27:35.519 --> 02:27:41.918 - you for that guidance that's what I was looking for. Ms. Muller, can you give anything to add? 02:27:42.658 --> 02:27:52.351 - Okay, thank you so much. All right, so just as a reminder, we are still in that public hearing. And 02:27:52.351 --> 02:28:02.043 - what I'd like to do now is as we've heard from the, I think maybe we should go through the appendix 02:28:02.043 --> 02:28:09.022 - A and look at the list of projects as was, that is by the way, on page, 02:28:09.794 --> 02:28:24.567 - 138 of tonight's packets if you're following along at home. Do you guys have questions about these because 02:28:24.567 --> 02:28:30.366 - my understanding is that there was a nice 02:28:30.690 --> 02:28:37.575 - conversation between the council and the commissioners about these projects a couple weeks ago. So twofold 02:28:37.575 --> 02:28:44.203 - we're going to offer the public an opportunity to ask questions and then we are going to ask questions 02:28:44.203 --> 02:28:50.767 - as well. Would you be able or Ms. Purdy or Mr. Cockrell to present these or if we could even get them 02:28:50.767 --> 02:28:57.395 - up on the screen that would be helpful as well. Again that's page 138 of tonight's packet. Well I will 02:28:57.395 --> 02:28:59.390 - do my best. That's all we ask. 02:29:00.002 --> 02:29:05.866 - Well I think there are four different three to four different groups asking making requests for the 02:29:05.866 --> 02:29:12.023 - use of these geobahn proceeds or go towards four different three or four different departments depending 02:29:12.023 --> 02:29:17.945 - on you. One is the sheriff with the ink car and body cameras so some of this would go for cameras in 02:29:17.945 --> 02:29:23.926 - the car some of us go for body cameras tasers and then the sheriff within the jail would be the there 02:29:23.926 --> 02:29:29.086 - are issues with the showers in the jail and some of the floor needs repaired as well as 02:29:29.282 --> 02:29:40.100 - cameras for the jail facility and then the Parks Department is requesting funds for some blacktop including 02:29:40.100 --> 02:29:50.217 - parking and ADA parking at the splash pad and playscape as well as shelter 9 parking and the top lot 02:29:50.217 --> 02:29:55.326 - ADA parking and then parking at the dog park G lot 02:29:56.002 --> 02:30:02.741 - parking and ADA fields 9 through 12 which are the soccer fields that are kind of all the way in the 02:30:02.741 --> 02:30:10.086 - back and then the commissioners are asking for want to utilize some of these funds for prosecutor prosecutor 02:30:10.086 --> 02:30:16.825 - renovation that's their space in the justice facility courthouse dome repair elevator repair drones 02:30:16.825 --> 02:30:22.014 - and cameras vehicles and those would be non-law enforcement vehicles correct 02:30:22.178 --> 02:30:30.622 - highway equipment including salt spreader boxes as well as some siren replacements. Those are the that's 02:30:30.622 --> 02:30:38.905 - the list of projects. Okay and are are we able to project that list onto the screen? Do you see if you 02:30:38.905 --> 02:30:42.846 - can allow me to share my screen? I've got it up. 02:31:21.858 --> 02:31:29.317 - All right, what is projected onto the screen is the list that Mr. Cockrell just read into the record. 02:31:29.317 --> 02:31:36.996 - And we're gonna enlarge in that. There we go. All right. So as I read at the top, we're gonna give first 02:31:36.996 --> 02:31:44.310 - crack of questions to the public, and then we're gonna come back to council. So if you are a member 02:31:44.310 --> 02:31:48.990 - of the public and you wish to ask a question or make a comment, 02:31:49.410 --> 02:32:01.255 - about this list of items to be included into the general obligation bond, please come forward into that 02:32:01.255 --> 02:32:13.214 - you Hill room or raise your hand on teams. Hello, Jamie Ford Monroe County resident in a case, you know, 02:32:13.346 --> 02:32:18.686 - Anybody knew it's not following along? It hasn't seen me every time an item's come up. Anyway, I just 02:32:18.686 --> 02:32:24.182 - had a question about the prosecutor renovation. I'm not familiar with the prosecutor's office. If that's 02:32:24.182 --> 02:32:29.417 - inside the Justice Building, I thought that was a continuous thing about how we can't renovate that 02:32:29.417 --> 02:32:34.600 - part of the building. So I don't know. It'd be great to see some explanation there. And then also, 02:32:34.600 --> 02:32:39.678 - I mean, drones are cool, but is that really necessary? I don't know. I mean, I would assume that 02:32:39.874 --> 02:32:45.898 - We don't have a public affairs office or something like that that can do cool videos and edit and release 02:32:45.898 --> 02:32:51.581 - it. But there are different businesses here in town that they could probably be hired for temporary 02:32:51.581 --> 02:32:57.264 - things. I mean, how often are we going to use this drone? Is this a necessary expense? It seems no. 02:32:57.264 --> 02:33:02.946 - Why not just contract a vendor? You can support local with our tax dollars. That's a great idea for 02:33:02.946 --> 02:33:07.038 - me. You're investing in local companies that can do this kind of stuff. 02:33:07.746 --> 02:33:13.581 - And again, I don't remember what specifically that was for, but it seems a little necessary. And I think 02:33:13.581 --> 02:33:19.249 - that was it. Thank you. Great. Thank you for your public comment. We have someone on Teams with their 02:33:19.249 --> 02:33:23.806 - hand raised. Please state your name for the record. And you've got three minutes. 02:33:35.426 --> 02:33:43.351 - My name is Lee Grunhafer, resident of Monroe County. I just, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Yeah. 02:33:43.351 --> 02:33:51.520 - All right. I just wanted to impart this little bit of wisdom that my grandmother told me, don't buy 02:33:51.520 --> 02:33:59.853 - things on time. And, you know, in the GO bonds, you know, we're actually paying to borrow this money. 02:33:59.853 --> 02:34:04.510 - And is that really the best use of our funds? Thank you. 02:34:05.506 --> 02:34:13.996 - That's a lot. Thank you for your public comment. Is there additional public comment during this public 02:34:13.996 --> 02:34:22.320 - hearing of this first reading of the general obligation bonds? Seeing none, we're going to turn back 02:34:22.320 --> 02:34:30.316 - to council. Council, do you have any questions or comments about these general obligation bonds? 02:34:30.316 --> 02:34:33.118 - Councilmember Wilts. I'm going to 02:34:33.282 --> 02:34:44.284 - be brief because I've already shared my concerns. I do not think we should be bonding for this much 02:34:44.284 --> 02:34:55.727 - just because we can. I think that it will have repercussions, an increased debt load as we move forward 02:34:55.727 --> 02:35:02.878 - if we do this each year. And I don't want to start that pattern. 02:35:03.234 --> 02:35:14.958 - I'd be happy to support bonding for an amount close to half this, maybe a little bit more, but increasing 02:35:14.958 --> 02:35:26.018 - our ask this year sets a precedent for continuing to do that. And even though the length of time is 02:35:26.018 --> 02:35:30.110 - different, that actually costs more. 02:35:30.722 --> 02:35:38.464 - I've looked at it a few different ways. I know that there are a lot of really important projects here, 02:35:38.464 --> 02:35:46.055 - but I really can't support bonding for this amount. Okay. Mr. Cockrell. Yeah, I just want to make it 02:35:46.055 --> 02:35:53.571 - clear. The bond ordinance indicates that it's six and a half million dollars. I think in actuality, 02:35:53.571 --> 02:35:57.630 - what I think everybody has approved is closer to 4.1. 02:35:57.826 --> 02:36:04.855 - if you include. So I just kind of want to make sure that with your comments, if you're referring to 02:36:04.855 --> 02:36:11.955 - 6.5, I think actually through your conversations with the commissioners, that's already been knocked 02:36:11.955 --> 02:36:19.125 - down to a little over half or a little bit more than a little over half. Please, yes. So I appreciate 02:36:19.125 --> 02:36:26.014 - that and you're right, that is much more reasonable in my mind. I would like to see us keep it at 02:36:26.114 --> 02:36:35.065 - what we have traditionally aimed for, which was closer to three, and I know we've gone over with things, 02:36:35.065 --> 02:36:43.931 - but I'm just not comfortable increasing our debt load and setting that precedent. But I appreciate that 02:36:43.931 --> 02:36:52.286 - because 4.1 is a lot lower than 6.5. Why does this say 6.5 still? Is that because of advertising? 02:36:56.450 --> 02:37:03.337 - Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Wilts, because I think I don't want to repeat our conversation 02:37:03.337 --> 02:37:09.910 - from last week, but I appreciate you bringing it back because I share these concerns. I guess, you know, 02:37:09.910 --> 02:37:16.734 - when I think about the changes in state law have created the opportunity. It's kind of like, you know, being 02:37:16.834 --> 02:37:22.731 - You know young having a credit card your first real job and then hey your credit limits higher so you 02:37:22.731 --> 02:37:28.454 - know you've got this expansion of capability and of course there's a consequence of running it up. 02:37:28.454 --> 02:37:34.351 - As well, and I have that kind of feeling about this to say that you know if we did not have up to six 02:37:34.351 --> 02:37:36.606 - you know up to the six point whatever. 02:37:36.706 --> 02:37:43.404 - to use if we were still on the mindset of, well, we just spend the way we spend around here. The only 02:37:43.404 --> 02:37:50.103 - thing that's changed is legislation in the two-year period. Had that not happened two years ago, we'd 02:37:50.103 --> 02:37:56.670 - still be bonding the way we used to, right? Absolutely. So this is a long-term question, right? And 02:37:56.670 --> 02:38:02.974 - I appreciate, let me maybe restart my thought here. I appreciate that department heads bring us 02:38:03.458 --> 02:38:08.285 - capital things that they want to buy. They have the wish list, they have deferred maintenance, they 02:38:08.285 --> 02:38:13.161 - have things that they want to accomplish. And we get into that cycle where if we have the discussion 02:38:13.161 --> 02:38:18.181 - in one way, it is, boy, council doesn't want to buy an extra snowplow, council doesn't want to do these 02:38:18.181 --> 02:38:22.622 - things. And we talk about the objects rather than the credit card or the running up, right? 02:38:23.586 --> 02:38:29.343 - I do worry about what that long-term projection is on that debt service. I do wonder if we should be 02:38:29.343 --> 02:38:35.100 - tapping into other resources that we have accumulated already from the public, as I think the public 02:38:35.100 --> 02:38:41.198 - commenter made, to say, you know, if we've collected public taxes, like, and the dollars have been sitting 02:38:41.198 --> 02:38:46.898 - there, that that money is paid for in-house, doesn't require interest. I mean, we go out and buy it 02:38:46.898 --> 02:38:53.054 - tomorrow, and that kind of, you know, the money's here. And to really leverage those resources when we can, 02:38:53.410 --> 02:39:01.263 - I guess the question I have, Ms. Purdy and Jeff, do you forecast next year the things we didn't do coming 02:39:01.263 --> 02:39:08.746 - back? Are we already looking ahead to next year's bond? It might be too soon to say that, but are we 02:39:08.746 --> 02:39:16.303 - looking at $4 million next year, things that were deferred this year that we didn't wish list? What's 02:39:16.303 --> 02:39:18.526 - our future look like in this? 02:39:18.882 --> 02:39:26.584 - We do have the car cameras, which will be coming back, because that's ongoing. And I think the sirens 02:39:26.584 --> 02:39:34.513 - is a, I don't think that's a project that's completed. So those will be coming back. But I frankly think 02:39:34.513 --> 02:39:42.291 - if you guys just said, bring that maxes out at 3.1, we'll make it happen. I appreciate bringing up the 02:39:42.291 --> 02:39:48.030 - way we broke up some things over multiple bonds, because it kind of creates 02:39:48.674 --> 02:39:54.614 - almost a mandatory, that we must, because we've agreed at some point in the past that we're going to 02:39:54.614 --> 02:40:00.613 - break up a purchase over multiple bonds, it does tie the hands of, in my view, the public, especially 02:40:00.613 --> 02:40:06.554 - if they elect a whole set of new counselors, but they're still obligated to pay for decisions from a 02:40:06.554 --> 02:40:12.435 - bond discussion two, three, four, five years ago, right? And to be a little more cautious about how 02:40:12.435 --> 02:40:16.670 - much we are tying up the bond process with decisions that must be made, 02:40:16.802 --> 02:40:23.018 - like the nice-to-haves, the things we must pay for. These are, we're okay right now. I mean, but boy, 02:40:23.018 --> 02:40:29.296 - this could get, yeah, I mean, we may be on a path here where it does give me equal heartburn with some 02:40:29.296 --> 02:40:35.634 - of my colleagues. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Deckard. Are there any council members with, 02:40:35.634 --> 02:40:41.728 - oh, Mr. Henry. I was looking at, all right. Are there any other council members that have questions 02:40:41.728 --> 02:40:46.238 - or comments on this? Do I need to go again? No. I mean, you can, you can. 02:40:46.754 --> 02:40:57.175 - listen first. All right. Yes, please. I guess my. I feel like the discussion that we've had on all of 02:40:57.175 --> 02:41:07.494 - these items has been. Fairly decently articulated between both bodies. I would be much of course I'm 02:41:07.494 --> 02:41:13.726 - going to be happier with a the lowest bond that you can. And 02:41:13.826 --> 02:41:20.725 - to the taxpayer burden because I I mean I think about that literally all the time like how much how 02:41:20.725 --> 02:41:27.625 - much more can people take on and what's the unexpected things that are coming around the corner and 02:41:27.625 --> 02:41:34.800 - so I I guess what I would say is kind of to the spirit of what counselor wilts is saying something that 02:41:34.800 --> 02:41:40.734 - were more in the neck or in the neighborhood of four point one to lower that would be 02:41:40.866 --> 02:41:47.828 - make me a little bit happier if the commissioners can help us. Push that down and I know that with. 02:41:47.828 --> 02:41:54.861 - Bonds. At least in the past we've had a little bit of project management that gave us flexibility on 02:41:54.861 --> 02:42:01.823 - the back end to do things I don't most like that flexibility on the front end to say hey look it is 02:42:01.823 --> 02:42:08.785 - about the camera in the car it is about the shower the prosecutor prosecutor's office changes which 02:42:08.785 --> 02:42:10.526 - stop been updated. Since 02:42:10.722 --> 02:42:18.747 - Um, probably Carl Salzman or beyond Bob Miller was prosecutor. Um, I mean, we're talking, it's like 02:42:18.747 --> 02:42:26.852 - that way for some time and they're rolling around in chairs that they should be rolling. Anyway, all 02:42:26.852 --> 02:42:34.958 - that is to say going a little bit towards the lower end. I just don't know how we articulate that to 02:42:34.958 --> 02:42:40.254 - make sure that this 6.5 doesn't become 6.5. That's where I. Yeah. 02:42:40.546 --> 02:42:47.530 - ideas. One would be when you move to approve this, you amend it to read no more than 4.1 or no more 02:42:47.530 --> 02:42:54.514 - than 4.2. So that's what you're actually approving when you approve this, right? I know what's been 02:42:54.514 --> 02:43:01.708 - advertised a different way, but your ultimate vote probably should reflect where you think the maximum 02:43:01.708 --> 02:43:04.990 - is here, right? If it's 4.1, it's 4.1. If it's 02:43:05.506 --> 02:43:12.692 - 3.1 is 3.1. I'm going to stick with 4.1 for this one because the other thing I think we should do is 02:43:12.692 --> 02:43:19.878 - when the state made this switch from allowing us to do a one-year bond to making it go over six-year 02:43:19.878 --> 02:43:26.993 - bonds or you have to have this three-year freeze, it really led to two different questions. One is, 02:43:26.993 --> 02:43:32.542 - do you just want to do a bond every three years for three times the amount or 02:43:33.602 --> 02:43:39.667 - do you want to do what we're doing, which is one each year? The thought with the three years for three 02:43:39.667 --> 02:43:45.731 - times the amount is that then every year it would be the same tax rate as it was with a one-year bond. 02:43:45.731 --> 02:43:51.678 - Just like if all these were 3.1 million, you would anticipate that the tax rate after year six would 02:43:51.678 --> 02:43:57.860 - be roughly similar. Interest rates have changed, and a one-year bond is different than a five-year bond, 02:43:57.860 --> 02:44:03.454 - all that kind of stuff. But roughly, it would be the same. To me, we have a financial advisor. 02:44:04.450 --> 02:44:11.271 - we could ask him the question is, if we were going to do this over six years, given all the estimates 02:44:11.271 --> 02:44:18.226 - you have, and we know what we have in year one, we know what we have in year two, what does year three, 02:44:18.226 --> 02:44:25.180 - four, five, and six need to look like in order to not go above what the bond payments were when we only 02:44:25.180 --> 02:44:32.670 - had a one-year bond? Does that make sense? It looks like it doesn't. I don't think they understand that there's 02:44:33.154 --> 02:44:44.139 - a little bit each year. I get that. I just don't think we need to ask the consultant because we have 02:44:44.139 --> 02:44:55.015 - the information from last year. We have the information from this year. We can see that adding more 02:44:55.015 --> 02:45:01.214 - borrowing power is increasing our debt load. And even if 02:45:03.330 --> 02:45:12.396 - If we maintained it at three instead of four or five or whatever, then you could theoretically, with 02:45:12.396 --> 02:45:21.642 - all of those variables, but theoretically manage it in much the same way we have. And that's fine with 02:45:21.642 --> 02:45:30.708 - me because I have always looked at it like I came into this position and we were carrying about this 02:45:30.708 --> 02:45:32.862 - amount and it's stable. 02:45:33.026 --> 02:45:41.381 - for the taxpayer. And I appreciate that. And I appreciate the fact that it allows us to get things done 02:45:41.381 --> 02:45:49.415 - that we wouldn't otherwise. So I'm cool with that. And I don't mind a little bit of increase. I get 02:45:49.415 --> 02:45:57.610 - that that's the cost of being here the past eight years. Things get more expensive, and so does debt. 02:45:57.610 --> 02:46:02.430 - And I just don't understand why we feel obligated to borrow 02:46:03.074 --> 02:46:09.500 - more just because we can. I guess my response is you could have even with the three-year bond you could 02:46:09.500 --> 02:46:15.803 - have done a four million dollar. I mean it's not a change from the state level saying hey right we've 02:46:15.803 --> 02:46:22.106 - changed these limits so now you can borrow more. Right. So it's kind of been an internal conversation 02:46:22.106 --> 02:46:28.470 - I guess. I'm just telling you where I fall on the internal conversation. And I think wherever you fall 02:46:28.470 --> 02:46:29.150 - you should 02:46:29.282 --> 02:46:35.276 - go with it should be how you vote and everything like that I guess the reason I said have a little bit 02:46:35.276 --> 02:46:41.212 - more analysis to it is because for the last five years we've kind of had an unprecedented at least in 02:46:41.212 --> 02:46:47.265 - my lifetime I know late 70s they had a which I guess was my lifetime but it was before I had a mortgage 02:46:47.265 --> 02:46:53.434 - there was a really high interest rates and so a little really high inflation and so we're kind of looking 02:46:53.434 --> 02:46:57.566 - at that for since 2020 right and so how does that play into so we have 02:46:57.858 --> 02:47:05.151 - my tax rate is the same, but everything costs more, including the value of my home. I know I'm going 02:47:05.151 --> 02:47:12.733 - to pay more, and there's a whole different way to look at it. And I think looking at it that way doesn't 02:47:12.733 --> 02:47:20.026 - mean you have to decide to go that way, but it would be interesting to know what looking at that way 02:47:20.026 --> 02:47:26.814 - would tell you about how, because I mean, let's face it, we were doing $2 million bonds until 02:47:26.946 --> 02:47:33.099 - probably 10 years ago I don't remember the actual date then we moved it up to three million because 02:47:33.099 --> 02:47:39.437 - the state gave us additional authority to go up to three million and the state when they did that tied 02:47:39.437 --> 02:47:45.282 - it to a rate that so that number increases every year based upon whatever and I don't remember 02:47:45.282 --> 02:47:51.435 - the calculation but I think it's basically the inflation or something that's supposed to be tied to 02:47:51.435 --> 02:47:56.542 - inflation so you know so the state has recognized that that inflation plays a role 02:47:57.058 --> 02:48:05.494 - But I know we're pretty theoretical and it's probably not a this year kind of question, but I do think 02:48:05.494 --> 02:48:13.766 - for next year, we should certainly look into how that plays together. I will make a quick comment. I 02:48:13.766 --> 02:48:22.203 - think I want to come to that process. I felt like the process to generate this list this year was much 02:48:22.203 --> 02:48:24.414 - better than in years past. 02:48:24.930 --> 02:48:31.894 - I really liked the idea how generative we were together, and then the ranking system seemed to work 02:48:31.894 --> 02:48:39.066 - really well, and I think that lends itself to this ability to say, well, okay, if council's gonna give 02:48:39.066 --> 02:48:46.308 - us a number, then we can get underneath it. So the process this year, I think, has been really healthy. 02:48:46.308 --> 02:48:49.790 - I think, council, if you have no other questions, 02:48:50.754 --> 02:49:01.006 - Then I'll entertain a motion on these ordinances, but we could also simply conclude the hearing. 02:49:01.006 --> 02:49:11.787 - All right. Yes. What would be the timeline if we concluded it? Is it done then? No. This is the first 02:49:11.787 --> 02:49:18.974 - reading. The second reading will happen at our meeting on the 27th. 02:49:19.746 --> 02:49:29.116 - That's correct, the 27th. So that second reading would be the time where we'll actually have that vote. 02:49:29.116 --> 02:49:38.306 - Yes, Council Member Walts, and then I'll go to you. I have a question. If an amendment was offered to 02:49:38.306 --> 02:49:48.126 - change the number in the ordinance, would that be A, appropriate? I think you said it was. Okay, and then B, 02:49:48.834 --> 02:49:58.250 - Would that be something then that we could have? I don't want, I would like it to be a conversation. 02:49:58.250 --> 02:50:07.573 - I don't want to derail the process that we have been having, which I agree has been a good one. But 02:50:07.573 --> 02:50:13.726 - I would like to propose that we look at something lower than 4.1. 02:50:17.570 --> 02:50:25.023 - I don't know that we get support. So that's also another, I mean, don't, you know. And council member 02:50:25.023 --> 02:50:32.477 - Fiddle. So looking at the list of items. So if it is less than what you're asking, what is, was read, 02:50:32.477 --> 02:50:40.223 - how would those decisions be made to prioritize that list then? Thank you guys. If you're going to reduce 02:50:40.223 --> 02:50:45.630 - it, you should talk to the commissioners about what you want to take off. 02:50:49.634 --> 02:50:55.644 - And I guess historically, I would just point out that when things were removed from this list, there 02:50:55.644 --> 02:51:01.772 - was at least a review of whether there was an additional fund that currently exists that could be used 02:51:01.772 --> 02:51:07.782 - to pay for those projects, right? So a lot of times, it's we don't want to use this out of the bond, 02:51:07.782 --> 02:51:12.958 - but we'll pay for it out of fund X or whatever. Something without interest, I presume. 02:51:22.018 --> 02:51:28.387 - and I guess I can. Please, please, yeah. Just for technicality, you conclude the public hearing no matter 02:51:28.387 --> 02:51:34.515 - what, right? So then you make the decision of whether you want to vote on it tonight or wait till the 02:51:34.515 --> 02:51:40.824 - 27th, and there is not a renewed need to have a public hearing at the next meeting. Of course, we always 02:51:40.824 --> 02:51:47.073 - recommend you take public comment on anything on your agenda, but just not the formal need for a public 02:51:47.073 --> 02:51:51.038 - notice for a public hearing. Okay. Any other comments? All right. 02:51:51.586 --> 02:52:01.290 - If there are no further comments or questions, then the general obligation bond public hearing is now 02:52:01.290 --> 02:52:10.804 - closed. And I will entertain a motion if there is one. And we're gonna, and if someone was going to 02:52:10.804 --> 02:52:20.318 - start, they would start with, excuse me, on 2026-35. Clarifying what it is you're looking for here. 02:52:21.314 --> 02:52:29.256 - If now is the time that if Council wants to adopt, uh, ordinance 2026-36 at that whatever dollar amount 02:52:29.256 --> 02:52:37.121 - you want, right? 4.132, whatever. Now would be the time to make that motion. Thank you. Alternatively, 02:52:37.121 --> 02:52:44.834 - we could just simply move on, but then that would bring us to the second reading in two weeks. So if 02:52:44.834 --> 02:52:49.950 - you want to make this change, now is the time to make that change. 02:52:50.274 --> 02:52:56.438 - Could it not be changed in two weeks? It has to be changed now. No, it could be changed. It just needs 02:52:56.438 --> 02:53:02.662 - to be changed before you vote. Okay, thank you. Yeah, so amendments can be made in the 27th. Thank you. 02:53:02.662 --> 02:53:08.826 - Although as staff, I would recommend if you were thinking along that way, give us a heads up so we can 02:53:08.826 --> 02:53:14.810 - have the document prepared with. I like Plan A and Plan B myself. Council Member Deckard. You know, 02:53:14.810 --> 02:53:19.358 - I was taking a 14th scan at the list and I don't know how I would construct 02:53:19.650 --> 02:53:26.869 - an amendment right now with those projects. And so my recommendation is that we, if we are going to 02:53:26.869 --> 02:53:34.450 - articulate that, or a member wants to, that we do that at the next meeting, keeping in mind that I think 02:53:34.450 --> 02:53:42.174 - we're going to have some back and forth with the commissioners on the other side of that. That's a healthy 02:53:42.174 --> 02:53:48.094 - discussion to have, but I'm not, I'm not seeing a path forward right now on that. 02:53:49.186 --> 02:53:56.593 - Yes, Mr. Cockrell. I just want to point out that we do have to get this done timely, right? So if 27th, 02:53:56.593 --> 02:54:03.858 - the next meeting is kind of anticipated, so if we could get it completed, that meeting, so we can get 02:54:03.858 --> 02:54:11.123 - it sold before, or out to be sold a bit before Thanksgiving, that's an important date for us to meet. 02:54:11.123 --> 02:54:18.174 - Okay. Member Henry. Thank you, Mr. President. I would agree with my colleague, Councillor Deckard, 02:54:18.306 --> 02:54:24.962 - maybe the need to play, but also just to reflect that on votes led to this nature where we are obligating 02:54:24.962 --> 02:54:31.304 - the county in such a way. We are down two members tonight and it would be probably to have them here 02:54:31.304 --> 02:54:38.023 - when we consider to get in two weeks. So. Right, well said. All right. I think we have reached a decision. 02:54:38.023 --> 02:54:44.303 - Thank you for being here and for presenting the information. It's helpful to have someone from Bond 02:54:44.303 --> 02:54:45.182 - Council here. 02:54:49.218 --> 02:54:55.432 - You want me to have someone from Bonham Council here? No, no, no, I'm saying you have that knowledge. 02:54:55.432 --> 02:55:01.707 - I'm trying to say thank you. All right, let's move on to item M. Council, I move to approve resolution 02:55:01.707 --> 02:55:07.800 - 2026-33, approving the interlocal agreement between Monroe County, town of Ellitsville, and city of 02:55:07.800 --> 02:55:14.075 - Bloomington regarding animal control. All right, and it looks like Ms. Molly Turner King is going. Was 02:55:14.075 --> 02:55:17.182 - there a second? Oh my gosh, a motion and a second. 02:55:18.562 --> 02:55:24.147 - This is my jerking. This is the resolution that would approve the interlocal between Monroe County, 02:55:24.147 --> 02:55:29.844 - town of Ellitsville, and the city of Bloomington regarding you know more control. I'm unaware and I'm 02:55:29.844 --> 02:55:35.429 - going to look at Jeff of any major changes to this interlocal. I think it's pretty close to what it 02:55:35.429 --> 02:55:41.125 - has been always. I will note that the commissioners approved the interlocal on the 8th of October and 02:55:41.125 --> 02:55:46.878 - the town council approved it last night. And the only difference I there's a formula involved with how 02:55:47.362 --> 02:55:53.963 - the number and the cost is generated for both the Monroe County and the town of Eltsville. It's based 02:55:53.963 --> 02:56:00.498 - upon animals from those jurisdictions and it's calculated the cost of running the shelter is divided 02:56:00.498 --> 02:56:07.034 - by the number of animals they get at the shelter and then it's multiplied out so it's a ratio of how 02:56:07.034 --> 02:56:12.923 - many animals are from county jurisdictions. The city does take in or considers part of the 02:56:12.923 --> 02:56:16.094 - city's jurisdiction anything outside the county. 02:56:16.194 --> 02:56:21.938 - So if they got animals from Greene County that came in there, I think they have an additional charge 02:56:21.938 --> 02:56:27.739 - for the people who bring them in so they're kind of compensated that way but it doesn't count towards 02:56:27.739 --> 02:56:33.426 - the Monroe County's numbers but it does count towards the per animal cost of the shelter. Thank you 02:56:33.426 --> 02:56:39.511 - for those explanations. We're gonna start with Councilmember Henry. Thank you Mr. President. Mr. Cockrell, 02:56:39.511 --> 02:56:40.478 - this is a timely 02:56:40.770 --> 02:56:47.532 - thing to discuss tonight, because in another part of the building, we are looking at amending our county 02:56:47.532 --> 02:56:53.973 - ordinances to address animal control and welfare by way of zoning. How familiar are you with how we 02:56:53.973 --> 02:57:00.671 - define what animal control manages versus what animal control doesn't manage? It might be worth looking 02:57:00.671 --> 02:57:06.854 - at a little tonight. What qualifies is something that they would take care of versus a wildlife 02:57:06.854 --> 02:57:10.718 - rehabilitation facility in the county, like what's a rodent 02:57:10.882 --> 02:57:18.273 - What's a rabbit? Does that make sense? It does. And I've not dealt with that part of the code for a 02:57:18.273 --> 02:57:25.663 - decade and a half, right? So I'm not necessarily the most up to date on that. When I handled animal 02:57:25.663 --> 02:57:33.054 - management, what we looked at, with particularly the shelter's use, right? So the shelter was dogs, 02:57:33.054 --> 02:57:39.262 - cats, either brought in by the animal control officers or brought in by the public. 02:57:39.810 --> 02:57:45.987 - you know once every couple years livestock so if somebody's cows was on the road and we had to deal 02:57:45.987 --> 02:57:52.349 - with that typically I think there were a couple horses we took to the animal shelter but typically the 02:57:52.349 --> 02:57:58.525 - animal shelter wasn't equipped to handle those anyway. Thank you for indulging because you know the 02:57:58.525 --> 02:58:04.702 - range of what qualifies as you know a pet hot-bellied pig you know I think you mentioned horse it's 02:58:04.702 --> 02:58:07.358 - interesting because we bump into it in our 02:58:07.490 --> 02:58:13.109 - plan commission work quite a bit. You know, can someone keep, is the pig livestock or a pet? You know, 02:58:13.109 --> 02:58:18.673 - things like that. And then again, as we go a little step farther, our animal management office in the 02:58:18.673 --> 02:58:24.292 - county helps to manage, at least inspect the wildlife rehabbers in the county. So there's a gray space 02:58:24.292 --> 02:58:29.966 - about, well, you know, we wouldn't take squirrels to the animal shelter, but we are also sending people 02:58:29.966 --> 02:58:33.566 - there from that office to do investigatory work on whether or not 02:58:34.082 --> 02:58:39.639 - that's a hoarding facility or actually taking care of things. Now I just raise this for council's attention. 02:58:39.639 --> 02:58:44.993 - I'm not gonna use my time at the end of the meeting to get into liaison updates, but this is very timely 02:58:44.993 --> 02:58:50.296 - about this interlocal in that we may have a change in the county CDO that impacts where certain animals 02:58:50.296 --> 02:58:55.394 - can and cannot be kept in rural spaces. And it's the animal management office that has to make some 02:58:55.394 --> 02:58:59.422 - decisions about where they investigate. And then of course the second piece is 02:58:59.714 --> 02:59:05.626 - mean I don't I don't know if it really affects with the Richland-Ellisville merger one way or another 02:59:05.626 --> 02:59:11.595 - because the I guess the inner local would expand to all of Richland Township if it was annexed is that 02:59:11.595 --> 02:59:17.565 - right? I mean we'd have to revisit that. I guess it would but our numbers are based upon our costs are 02:59:17.565 --> 02:59:23.998 - based upon I think 2025 numbers and so in 2025 I almost feel it's a little bit like property taxes where we're 02:59:24.642 --> 02:59:32.565 - we're paying a year a year in arrears. So we're paying for our 20s, 2070 interlocal for what happened 02:59:32.565 --> 02:59:40.798 - in 2025 and in 2028 interlocal will be paying for what happened in 2026. So I think there will be impacts 02:59:40.798 --> 02:59:48.566 - based upon of may not be right. I mean, I can't predict the future, but if that merger is approved, 02:59:48.566 --> 02:59:50.430 - there certainly will be 02:59:50.626 --> 02:59:56.156 - changes in how we have to look at that formula. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. President. Again, 02:59:56.156 --> 03:00:01.741 - this is another moving target. This office does amazing work for our county. It's one of the ones we 03:00:01.741 --> 03:00:07.050 - don't hear about very often in here. But their burden is a little more than just cats and dogs, 03:00:07.050 --> 03:00:12.579 - is my point. And these interlocals are very important for that. But they're also tied to huge other 03:00:12.579 --> 03:00:18.164 - parts of the county, which includes our comprehensive plan, our development ordinance, and zoning as 03:00:18.164 --> 03:00:19.934 - well. Thank you, Mr. President. 03:00:20.418 --> 03:00:26.811 - Thank you for that insight. Councilmember Feidl. So when I see this interlocal agreement between Monroe 03:00:26.811 --> 03:00:32.957 - County, town of Ellisville and city of Bloomington, it seems to me like with or without the merger, 03:00:32.957 --> 03:00:39.596 - either Richland Township or Ellisville is covered. Would that not be true? They're covered and I anticipate 03:00:39.596 --> 03:00:45.865 - they will always be covered. It's a matter of how you allocate the costs for some of the animals that 03:00:45.865 --> 03:00:49.246 - are from Richland Township, which is currently county. 03:00:49.666 --> 03:00:56.791 - And if they became town of Ellisville, then how that's tracked through the... Is there like a formula 03:00:56.791 --> 03:01:04.125 - or something? Okay, thank you. The cost is very formulaic. Okay, thank you. And there was the difference 03:01:04.125 --> 03:01:11.390 - based on the formula. It's based upon origin of where the animals are from and clearly the origin would 03:01:11.390 --> 03:01:17.886 - be different for some... Depending on where they stand, either from before the merger or not 03:01:17.986 --> 03:01:25.427 - having a merger or whatever, however, it turns out. Yeah. I am aware that it's happening. I have no, 03:01:25.427 --> 03:01:32.794 - no crystal ball on whether that is something that's going to or not going to. And I'm interested to 03:01:32.794 --> 03:01:40.382 - see how it does, if it does. I live there. That's member Dickard. Things that came to my mind on this. 03:01:40.382 --> 03:01:43.550 - And I've heard counselor Henry talk about, 03:01:43.970 --> 03:01:51.402 - some of these concerns with some of the animal locations and the balance of getting it right and not 03:01:51.402 --> 03:01:58.982 - overly burdening folks that are otherwise just trying to do a good job and be among the community. And 03:01:58.982 --> 03:02:06.709 - I wonder if, and I don't have the answer to this, so this is literally a wonder if, I wonder if in these 03:02:06.709 --> 03:02:08.254 - sorts of agreements, 03:02:08.514 --> 03:02:15.823 - regardless of what code says, if it's possible for a fiscal body even to say, here are the types of 03:02:15.823 --> 03:02:23.423 - activities we pay for and here are the types that we don't, or here are priorities we pay for and types 03:02:23.423 --> 03:02:30.878 - we don't. And I think that that might be something that even from just this venue, folks think about. 03:02:30.878 --> 03:02:36.798 - And in an era of state cuts, federal changes, economies to shifting good or bad, 03:02:36.930 --> 03:02:43.172 - It may be that local governments have to start triaging and prioritizing the kinds of activities that 03:02:43.172 --> 03:02:49.353 - they have. I mean, if you take a look at this meeting alone, the number of people in this room right 03:02:49.353 --> 03:02:55.595 - now, you have to ask yourself, if the economy doesn't allow for as much spending as what we're doing, 03:02:55.595 --> 03:02:56.574 - how many people 03:02:56.770 --> 03:03:03.883 - are essential to the room, essential to the function, and then what activities. I guess the second thing 03:03:03.883 --> 03:03:10.725 - I would just throw out there, and I'm putting this kind of in the hemisphere of county government to 03:03:10.725 --> 03:03:17.568 - be thinking about whether the merger goes through or not with our friends over there, this agreement 03:03:17.568 --> 03:03:23.326 - and the ratio of what the town would pay will change, right, for services. So that's 03:03:23.490 --> 03:03:29.776 - there's probably gonna be a whole, if it passes or doesn't pass, there's a whole myriad of things like 03:03:29.776 --> 03:03:36.001 - this, the county probably needs to make a master list of, because we're gonna have about 0.02 seconds 03:03:36.001 --> 03:03:42.104 - to make sure that it's still paid for and services are still rendered because somebody dealing with 03:03:42.104 --> 03:03:48.329 - whatever is still gonna want the same thing dealt with. And so I'm not saying, Mr. Cockrell, you have 03:03:48.329 --> 03:03:53.150 - to do all that, but I mean, everything that's been before us tonight, highway, 03:03:53.314 --> 03:04:02.681 - you name it, it switches by the town's own admission. And I think responsibly, we've got to start stockpiling 03:04:02.681 --> 03:04:11.452 - that in our minds. Sometimes I'm a little bit amazed. We're still talking about Bloomington annexation 03:04:11.452 --> 03:04:20.478 - and its effects when maybe we're not thinking about what this can mean. And I publicly said, I'll support 03:04:20.770 --> 03:04:28.437 - which direct, whichever direction the voters of that township in that town take that, but we still have 03:04:28.437 --> 03:04:35.884 - to figure out what that looks like on both ends of that. And so this agreement is one tiny sliver of 03:04:35.884 --> 03:04:43.330 - that, but it's really illustrative of what changes or what does not. Thank you, Mr. Decker. Is there 03:04:43.330 --> 03:04:50.334 - any more comment or questions on this agreement? Seeing none, I'll turn it over to the public. 03:04:50.562 --> 03:04:58.057 - If you have any comments or questions, please come up to the podium here in the net. You have a rumor, 03:04:58.057 --> 03:05:05.334 - raise your hand on teams. Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Iverson? Yes. 03:05:05.334 --> 03:05:12.902 - Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. And Councilor Decker? Yes. Thank you. 03:05:12.902 --> 03:05:19.742 - Thank you. Have a good night. That brings us, item N was tabled. So this brings us to item O. 03:05:22.114 --> 03:05:29.098 - Council, I move to approve resolution 2025-41B, amendments relating to the use of overtime budget and 03:05:29.098 --> 03:05:36.150 - reporting. Second. We have a motion and a second. Ms. Molly Turner King, what do we need to know about 03:05:36.150 --> 03:05:42.996 - the amendments relating to the use of overtime? So on February 2nd of 2026, the council had amended 03:05:42.996 --> 03:05:48.542 - this resolution 2025-41 to add overtime language specific to the clerk's office. 03:05:48.706 --> 03:05:55.903 - After the passage of that amended resolution, council took subsequent actions to address additional 03:05:55.903 --> 03:06:03.099 - overtime needs of the clerk's office. So the newly amended resolution just reflects in red text the 03:06:03.099 --> 03:06:11.016 - subsequent actions that council took. It's not authorizing any new actions, it's just to provide a historical 03:06:11.016 --> 03:06:14.398 - reference to what was done after February 2nd. 03:06:14.658 --> 03:06:22.417 - it is specific to 2026 so it is not going these the actions in red do not carry over to 2027 and as 03:06:22.417 --> 03:06:30.177 - I mentioned earlier in the evening in November I plan on bringing a new resolution for overtime and 03:06:30.177 --> 03:06:38.324 - then we can account for just it as you see fit for 2027. All right and council and members of the public 03:06:38.324 --> 03:06:43.678 - that red line language is on page 161 of tonight's agenda or packet. 03:06:44.578 --> 03:06:53.191 - Council, do you have any questions or comments about this updated resolution? Seeing none, is there 03:06:53.191 --> 03:07:02.320 - any public comment on this resolution? Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Feidl? 03:07:02.320 --> 03:07:10.933 - Yes. Councilor Wilz? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. And Councilor Iverson? Yes. 03:07:10.933 --> 03:07:13.086 - Motion passes unanimous. 03:07:13.282 --> 03:07:20.787 - Excellent thank you so much and that concludes council business for the evening which is wonderful that 03:07:20.787 --> 03:07:28.148 - moves us into a new section where we have presentations or discussions and that brings us to item 9a. 03:07:28.148 --> 03:07:35.365 - Council I move to open a discussion regarding the 2027 levy distribution. All right we have with us 03:07:35.365 --> 03:07:39.262 - our audit oh sorry motion and second no that's right. 03:07:39.650 --> 03:07:52.936 - Ms. Brianna Gregory, what do we need to know about the 2020 saving levy distribution? Yes, if I could 03:07:52.936 --> 03:08:03.486 - please be promoted so I may share my screen. Are you able to promote me, please? 03:08:36.418 --> 03:08:54.766 - Thank you. Okay, so hopefully what you'll see momentarily anyway. I'm showing that I'm sharing my screen. 03:08:54.766 --> 03:09:00.478 - I'm gonna stop and try it again. 03:09:23.810 --> 03:09:29.496 - We might need to pause just momentarily, and I'll email over to the assistant administrator. If you 03:09:29.496 --> 03:09:32.510 - don't mind, I'm so sorry. One moment. No, that's OK. 03:10:29.602 --> 03:10:35.065 - Hey, Lehua, you should have just received two emails from me. If you could open the first one please 03:10:35.065 --> 03:10:38.526 - and display that deficit calculation. I'm going to start there. 03:11:07.298 --> 03:11:16.535 - there it is. Here we go thank you sorry for that technical glitch. Okay what you'll see here if you 03:11:16.535 --> 03:11:26.142 - look at the deep dive calculation for the levy funds please and put your eyes on those 4B line 11 items 03:11:26.142 --> 03:11:35.934 - that are highlighted in yellow there. This is where I set the levies simply to support the budget at hand 03:11:36.866 --> 03:11:46.256 - The only exception is I added $100,000 to each levy so that it would support the minimum fund balances, 03:11:46.256 --> 03:11:55.737 - $100,000 over the minimum fund balances with every fund except for the general fund, which we want every 03:11:55.737 --> 03:11:59.710 - other available piece of funding to funnel. 03:11:59.906 --> 03:12:06.433 - So just as you know kind of to get you started in general practice. That's what I did That was my philosophy 03:12:06.433 --> 03:12:12.720 - just supporting the budgets making sure we're meeting those minimum fund balances So that we can support 03:12:12.720 --> 03:12:19.007 - services, you know for that six months at the end of the year and then just raising all of those budgets 03:12:19.007 --> 03:12:21.342 - with the exception of the general fund 03:12:21.442 --> 03:12:28.581 - not budgets, but raising the expected cash balance, anticipated cash balance by $100,000. So started 03:12:28.581 --> 03:12:35.650 - here and then had a really productive meeting with Councilor Iverson where he presented some of his 03:12:35.650 --> 03:12:42.931 - ideas, which I would like to show now. So just some slight tweaks, very close to what we did here with 03:12:42.931 --> 03:12:48.798 - his spin on it. Leihua, if you don't mind that second email, sharing that, please. 03:12:50.434 --> 03:13:06.233 - not the email, but the same document just edited. Perfect. Thank you. So this should look very similar. 03:13:06.233 --> 03:13:12.158 - The numbers are just tweaked slightly. 03:13:12.450 --> 03:13:20.001 - Let's see here, I believe aviation was elevated. I believe, if I remember correctly, Councilor Iverson, 03:13:20.001 --> 03:13:27.189 - health was lowered just slightly. Health was kept the same. Health was kept the same, I apologize. 03:13:27.189 --> 03:13:35.030 - And then, I'm sorry, I'm presenting your information here. Please take the lead. Reassessment was increased 03:13:35.030 --> 03:13:36.990 - from 923,000 to 1 million. 03:13:37.250 --> 03:13:51.167 - Then we have election registration was changed from $2.199 million to $2.1 million. And of course, then 03:13:51.167 --> 03:14:04.414 - those all changed the general property tax levy from $22,805,182 to $22,679,182. Exactly. Perfect. 03:14:04.930 --> 03:14:11.019 - thing I want to draw your attention to council is that this is the number anticipated to be in the general 03:14:11.019 --> 03:14:16.767 - fund if you go or the levy anticipated to be for the general fund if you go this route however we're 03:14:16.767 --> 03:14:23.198 - going to put in a higher number just to ensure that we don't leave anything on the table as far as the max levy. 03:14:24.514 --> 03:14:31.335 - And I'll simply add if while you're looking or comparing these two, you'll notice that on the far right 03:14:31.335 --> 03:14:37.894 - column in red, which I don't think is shown on the screen, if you can scroll over just a little bit 03:14:37.894 --> 03:14:44.190 - or pink pink there in the previous version, there were three funds that were showing negatives. 03:14:44.322 --> 03:14:50.912 - uh and so by rebalancing that property tax levy we were able to bring all but one positive and of course 03:14:50.912 --> 03:14:57.251 - the one remaining negative is county major bridge where they have a lot of projects still going yeah 03:14:57.251 --> 03:15:03.904 - just to further clarify um on that point the um the fund balances or the anticipated fund balances aren't 03:15:03.904 --> 03:15:10.306 - negative it's just they were deficit budgets so we were going into reserves in order to fully support 03:15:10.306 --> 03:15:13.758 - the budget and councilor iverson's uh version does not 03:15:13.986 --> 03:15:22.849 - allow for that. And then furthermore in the columns shown in blue, which is the 4B line 18, this is 03:15:22.849 --> 03:15:31.889 - our estimated cash balance at the end of the year in 2027. The rebalancing brings those to within the 03:15:31.889 --> 03:15:39.422 - minimum fund balances which are displayed in white over on the right. Now that's not 03:15:40.482 --> 03:15:52.011 - that we're going to have enough resources to pay our bills. And these. Are just estimates there what 03:15:52.011 --> 03:16:03.653 - we. For see being on the end of balance on without considering additional appropriations transfers we 03:16:03.653 --> 03:16:05.822 - may have to submit 03:16:09.506 --> 03:16:16.756 - All right, Council, do you have any comments or questions on what's portrayed on the screen? Mr. Henry. 03:16:16.756 --> 03:16:23.727 - Thank you, Mr. President. So the difference, so the simplified difference line is the delta between 03:16:23.727 --> 03:16:30.837 - the max levy and the new numbers. I'm sorry, could you please repeat that? Yeah, I'm sorry, yeah, I'm 03:16:30.837 --> 03:16:38.366 - in and out. So is that in the simple calc box, right, the last line, the simplified difference, is that the 03:16:39.234 --> 03:16:46.560 - the difference between the max levy and then the new number? What's the delta? What's the new number? 03:16:46.560 --> 03:16:54.172 - Sure. Just to remind you, that simple calculation is all county funds we're budgeting. We're just looking 03:16:54.172 --> 03:17:01.498 - at the levy right now and trying to set the available tax levy. What's the difference between the max 03:17:01.498 --> 03:17:06.238 - levy and what's been recalculated here? What's the cushion? Yeah. 03:17:06.434 --> 03:17:14.208 - The county major bridge fund is outside the max levy. Technically, the community of capital development 03:17:14.208 --> 03:17:21.758 - fund is as well, but the way the state prepares everything, they kind of include it in there because 03:17:21.758 --> 03:17:29.307 - we're, it's just the way they're presenting it. So the actual max levy is, sorry, one moment. I have 03:17:29.307 --> 03:17:31.550 - it in my mess of papers here. 03:17:37.186 --> 03:17:57.798 - I'm just gonna calculate it because it's easier than finding it right now. Okay. It's, I believe it's 03:17:57.798 --> 03:18:04.062 - 34 million 10,486, but that's, 03:18:04.866 --> 03:18:09.605 - That's what we're showing as well. Yes, that's what it is. It's right here. I apologize. I missed it 03:18:09.605 --> 03:18:14.297 - originally. At the top of the simple calc, too. So what's the difference? What's the new difference 03:18:14.297 --> 03:18:18.990 - between? Because you're saying it's the cushion that you've developed. I'm struggling to understand 03:18:18.990 --> 03:18:23.776 - the question. So you just said, I just want to make sure I hear it right for more public edification, 03:18:23.776 --> 03:18:28.797 - right? There's the max levy that we're asking to go for everything. And then there's what's been adjusted. 03:18:28.797 --> 03:18:32.222 - What's the difference between is there or are we at parity? What's been? 03:18:32.706 --> 03:18:39.023 - Adjusted in the levy funds is equal to the max levy or is there a? It's yes, we're not going over that. 03:18:39.023 --> 03:18:45.280 - We can't go over the max levy. We won't get it. We just underneath it either. No, okay That's it. Yeah 03:18:45.280 --> 03:18:51.476 - You have all this documentation in your binder and I do I would like all of your eyes to confirm that 03:18:51.476 --> 03:18:54.270 - but yes We have the max levy noted here lines 03:18:54.466 --> 03:19:01.642 - Yeah, line 26. And then it's also on the maximum levy worksheet from the Department of Local Government 03:19:01.642 --> 03:19:08.817 - Finance. It's been in emails maybe 120 times. We're good. I appreciate it. Thank you. Any other council 03:19:08.817 --> 03:19:15.855 - comments or questions on the redistribution of the... Yes, Councilmember Wilts. Thank you. Appreciate 03:19:15.855 --> 03:19:18.270 - that. This took a lot of thinking. 03:19:19.074 --> 03:19:27.465 - actually the collaboration between the Otters office and the council office made it really kind of fun. 03:19:27.465 --> 03:19:34.807 - It was a really neat experience. Thank you. Excel. I love it. No, it's great. Um, that was 03:19:34.807 --> 03:19:43.440 - genuine appreciation. So you have a question and this is something I was thinking about kind of separately 03:19:43.440 --> 03:19:45.054 - from this, but the, 03:19:46.562 --> 03:19:59.380 - The strategy that we had had regarding the election fund for years was sort of one of prepping up for 03:19:59.380 --> 03:20:12.324 - the major expenditure year and always kind of keeping that in mind. How does this impact that? Is that 03:20:12.324 --> 03:20:16.094 - still happening in our minds? 03:20:16.226 --> 03:20:24.750 - balance in the general fund has remained fairly consistent year after year. What we've typically relied 03:20:24.750 --> 03:20:32.946 - on with the election fund just due to the current administration's budget practices, there's always 03:20:32.946 --> 03:20:41.880 - reversion. So I don't know how this last quarter of the year will end up, but the election fund is currently 03:20:41.880 --> 03:20:42.782 - sitting at 03:20:43.074 --> 03:20:53.398 - almost 50% unexpended for the budget for 2026. We still have an election. We do still have an election, 03:20:53.398 --> 03:21:03.425 - it's not a presidential though. Right, but we didn't budget for a presidential, correct? We did not. 03:21:03.425 --> 03:21:13.054 - So our budget reflects kind of, I get that our reversions, your point is not missed, I got that. 03:21:13.186 --> 03:21:26.668 - I guess I feel like though, I guess my question is, is this adjusted levy for election registration 03:21:26.668 --> 03:21:40.958 - fund? Is that in alignment with collecting enough over three years to make sure we cover the fourth? Yes. 03:21:43.938 --> 03:21:55.185 - Okay, thank you. All right, counsel, are there any other comments or questions on these changes that 03:21:55.185 --> 03:22:06.654 - really shore up our cash balances? All right. Hearing none, thank you. Okay. So, may I take that then? 03:22:06.946 --> 03:22:15.033 - you directing my team and myself to proceed with Councilor Iverson's adjustments here, and we'll have 03:22:15.033 --> 03:22:23.120 - the adoption ordinance then ready with these amounts in mind. Based on the comments that I heard from 03:22:23.120 --> 03:22:31.207 - Council, I believe that is the will of Council. Excellent, thank you. All right, we are then going to 03:22:31.207 --> 03:22:35.806 - move on to a quick update about must, because we have not 03:22:36.130 --> 03:22:43.273 - been able to do that. And I swear this is going to be brief, but we must do it. All right. So must had 03:22:43.273 --> 03:22:50.208 - its first meeting here in Monroe County on September the 18th at one o'clock in this very room. And 03:22:50.208 --> 03:22:57.143 - the conversation was what exactly we recommending to the state. What are we going to tell the state 03:22:57.143 --> 03:23:02.622 - about how we're moving from property tax to income tax and almost unanimously? 03:23:03.074 --> 03:23:10.905 - the people that spoke, both the statutory members and the non-statutory members said, we don't have 03:23:10.905 --> 03:23:18.737 - enough information. We're nervous, but we also, it's hard to articulate that. Whoever's sharing the 03:23:18.737 --> 03:23:26.568 - screen, can you zoom in? So in the legislation that created MUST, there was space for the statutory 03:23:26.568 --> 03:23:30.014 - members to unanimously agree on a statement 03:23:30.338 --> 03:23:38.313 - to then give back to the state. And this is the draft of kind of where that statement is. And let me, 03:23:38.313 --> 03:23:46.132 - can you all see that? Or should I read it? Okay. The municipal unit strategic task force or must of 03:23:46.132 --> 03:23:54.108 - Monroe County has concluded that it does not have enough information to sign off on rates for 2029 as 03:23:54.108 --> 03:23:56.766 - proposed by the state of Indiana. 03:23:57.346 --> 03:24:04.528 - The task force asks that the state consider increasing the non-municipal civil taxing unit rate cap 03:24:04.528 --> 03:24:11.709 - and or allow the county the flexibility to distribute the rate how it pleases. The issue appears to 03:24:11.709 --> 03:24:18.891 - originate from the group rate cap of 0.05% for townships and libraries, not the total cap of 0.20%. 03:24:18.891 --> 03:24:24.062 - Distributed on population, townships would need 0.31% to be made whole. 03:24:24.546 --> 03:24:30.287 - The task force asks the state maintain flexibility for fire and EMS tax rate distribution. The task 03:24:30.287 --> 03:24:36.315 - force also believes that any future legislation should address keeping current units of government whole 03:24:36.315 --> 03:24:42.055 - by allowing them to recover current local income tax at the time of imposition. The task force asks 03:24:42.055 --> 03:24:48.255 - the state give counties the ability to include school corporations in their tax rates as they are currently 03:24:48.255 --> 03:24:52.446 - ineligible for future local income tax distribution. Concerns have grown 03:24:52.674 --> 03:25:00.764 - as to the procedure for future consolidations or annexations. And the task force would like clear guidance 03:25:00.764 --> 03:25:08.551 - as to how that would affect tax imposition and distribution. The task force would like to postpone any 03:25:08.551 --> 03:25:16.413 - decisions until final statutes are set by state legislation as its understood changes are to come. This 03:25:16.413 --> 03:25:21.630 - must in Monroe County is considering adopting. Council Member Wilts. 03:25:22.306 --> 03:25:30.122 - You might have said this, but was this already reviewed and at least it's going to be reviewed at this 03:25:30.122 --> 03:25:38.014 - next meeting? So a version of this was distributed, but as it became more and more clear that townships 03:25:38.014 --> 03:25:45.603 - and libraries were really not going to ever be able to be made whole. And then what I mean by being 03:25:45.603 --> 03:25:51.294 - made whole is, so if a taxing unit has property tax revenue at this level, 03:25:51.810 --> 03:25:58.223 - being made whole means local income tax level would equal that amount. Libraries and our townships, 03:25:58.223 --> 03:26:04.829 - there's just no way that we could ever make them whole because of the way that the distribution is set 03:26:04.829 --> 03:26:11.243 - and also this tax cap. That language was put into this document based on the conversation we had at 03:26:11.243 --> 03:26:17.785 - the first must meeting. Similarly, we had the superintendent of schools and their financial directors 03:26:17.785 --> 03:26:20.350 - sitting in the audience and schools are 03:26:20.450 --> 03:26:27.096 - I mean, they really are up against it as well. And so that's why the language here is to say, well, 03:26:27.096 --> 03:26:33.941 - we need to give schools an option. We need to give them more options as well, because the way that the 03:26:33.941 --> 03:26:40.919 - meeting was structured was the statutory bodies gave their statements, and then we invited non-statutory 03:26:40.919 --> 03:26:47.166 - bodies to come forward and talk. And boy, the testimony from the township trustees was stark. 03:26:47.938 --> 03:26:55.787 - that was really impactful. And so the reason why this is a kind of a list of grievances or a list of 03:26:55.787 --> 03:27:03.870 - like requests comes from that testimony that we received in the first must meeting. I think personally, 03:27:03.870 --> 03:27:11.874 - it puts it back right back where it needs to be, which is the state. All right, Council Member Decker. 03:27:11.874 --> 03:27:16.926 - I appreciate very much the state's efforts to try to find relief 03:27:17.090 --> 03:27:24.900 - for complaints that they have heard. Any public servant is supposed to do that, but I think the product 03:27:24.900 --> 03:27:32.710 - of some of that effort is legislation that gives you a statement just like what you read. Even the last 03:27:32.710 --> 03:27:40.595 - part, if I may borrow from your screen for a second, the task force would like to postpone any decisions 03:27:40.595 --> 03:27:44.350 - until final statutes are set by state legislation 03:27:44.610 --> 03:27:51.439 - as its understood changes are to come. That line is the line that whether or not anybody in the state's 03:27:51.439 --> 03:27:58.333 - adopting a resolution, every single one of them, I think, are talking about that to some extent. I think 03:27:58.333 --> 03:28:04.899 - there's been great confusion on this about what's been done. I think there's even more bewilderment 03:28:04.899 --> 03:28:11.793 - about what is yet to come. And last night, literally, I was sitting with Councilor Iverson and Councilor 03:28:11.793 --> 03:28:13.566 - Wilts at a candidate forum 03:28:13.762 --> 03:28:20.629 - to talk with members of the public. And we were talking about, you don't know what you're going to do 03:28:20.629 --> 03:28:27.361 - in six minutes, let alone six months because of all this. You would have to bet that something will 03:28:27.361 --> 03:28:34.161 - change. And if it doesn't change, I think there's a lot of other problems such as what the townships 03:28:34.161 --> 03:28:39.614 - are saying. We also know that townships, township government are very good about 03:28:39.906 --> 03:28:46.756 - figuring out the services they have to offer. And when there's a gap in those services, they have vociferous 03:28:46.756 --> 03:28:53.417 - fights, which we've seen a time or two about how to get back on the highway. And I think there's a reason 03:28:53.417 --> 03:28:59.828 - for that. I heard someone articulating the other day how they were antiquated and out of shape. I can 03:28:59.828 --> 03:29:06.175 - get where someone might come up with that if they didn't know what they did. But the fact is they're 03:29:06.175 --> 03:29:09.694 - so close to the ground. And I think all that is to say, 03:29:09.826 --> 03:29:16.702 - I don't know how you get a statement much better than this. Um, it's, this is what it is. And none of 03:29:16.702 --> 03:29:23.511 - our experts we bring in to tell us things have, I think told us much clearer than that. So I'll stop 03:29:23.511 --> 03:29:30.253 - talking, but I appreciate it. And let me just add, uh, if there are improvements to be made, please 03:29:30.253 --> 03:29:35.646 - submit those improvement. You know, if there's a sentence that you want to add. 03:29:35.938 --> 03:29:42.671 - There's three sentences you want to add, you know, it's certainly something that could be improved. 03:29:42.671 --> 03:29:49.538 - Could that be shared with us? Absolutely. So we can review it. I like to percolate on things a little 03:29:49.538 --> 03:29:56.405 - longer. Sure. Yeah. And I will just before I go to Mr. Henry, I will say the next meeting of the must 03:29:56.405 --> 03:30:01.118 - where this is going to be voted on, although the vote is not binding, 03:30:01.826 --> 03:30:08.744 - is October 23rd at 1 p.m. And I would encourage folks to attend if for no other reason than to hear 03:30:08.744 --> 03:30:15.661 - the testimony of these groups talk about how anxious they are. I mean, man, I've got a hold waiting 03:30:15.661 --> 03:30:22.786 - at the library. I really don't want the library to go away, you know? All right, Mr. Henry. Thank you. 03:30:22.786 --> 03:30:29.911 - I appreciate the effort. I guess I just wasn't clear in the discussion here tonight. So are we saying, 03:30:29.911 --> 03:30:31.710 - so you're saying the four 03:30:32.194 --> 03:30:39.730 - statutory really required governments sitting up here. The concepts have been socialized, like the city 03:30:39.730 --> 03:30:47.193 - of Bloomington, Ellsworth, they're in accord with what is written here at this point. So this has been 03:30:47.193 --> 03:30:54.656 - distributed to them all. We have not heard feedback from any of the statutory bodies on this document. 03:30:54.656 --> 03:31:00.670 - The idea is that we'll hear feedback about this document or any of its iterations. 03:31:01.026 --> 03:31:09.688 - up until that point, on October 23rd at 1 p.m. Okay. I guess that's all I have for now. It feels like 03:31:09.688 --> 03:31:18.350 - the Monroe County answer to a otherwise boondoggle of a state law. I'm curious, if you discussed with 03:31:18.350 --> 03:31:27.012 - FSG or outside the county, if other counties are coming to a similar conclusion, or are we on our own 03:31:27.012 --> 03:31:30.494 - here with saying, do better? I will say, 03:31:30.594 --> 03:31:39.356 - The statement that FSG drafted for the first meeting on September the 18th was not a whole lot different 03:31:39.356 --> 03:31:48.119 - than this. My hunch, based on that fact, is that other communities are adopting very similar statements. 03:31:48.119 --> 03:31:56.547 - All right. Is there any public comment on this, either on Teams or in the room? Seeing none, I don't 03:31:56.547 --> 03:31:59.134 - think we have to vote on this. 03:31:59.650 --> 03:32:06.256 - I think we'll just move on. But do put it on your calendars, please. October 23rd at 1 p.m. right here 03:32:06.256 --> 03:32:12.734 - in the NatU Hill Room. It's worth listening to, I think. And one of the things we didn't mention was 03:32:12.734 --> 03:32:19.468 - fire and EMS. That's just wild. Just wild that people are looking to cut fire and EMS. All right, enough 03:32:19.468 --> 03:32:25.882 - of my soap box. Let's move to your soap box. It is time for counselor liaison updates and comments. 03:32:25.882 --> 03:32:27.934 - I'm gonna start with Mr. Henry. 03:32:28.258 --> 03:32:34.962 - Thank you, Mr. President. I kind of seeded some of my liaison work into our meeting, or of course the 03:32:34.962 --> 03:32:41.796 - meeting in terms of Planning Commission and others. I'd like to highlight, of course, that early voting 03:32:41.796 --> 03:32:48.500 - is on its merry way. I had my opportunity to vote early yesterday, and election operations seem to be 03:32:48.500 --> 03:32:55.532 - swimming and doing wonderfully. I want to thank all of the poll workers early voting, our absentee boards, 03:32:55.532 --> 03:32:57.438 - and those who are working to 03:32:57.538 --> 03:33:03.900 - collect overseas ballots, all the work that's going into that election. They're never easy. There's 03:33:03.900 --> 03:33:10.390 - always some wrinkles, some challenge, but things seem to be going well. But if you haven't voted yet, 03:33:10.390 --> 03:33:17.007 - do so and get that over with as we get into November. So thank you to the election staff for their hard 03:33:17.007 --> 03:33:19.934 - work there. I also had a chance to speak with 03:33:20.546 --> 03:33:27.457 - our acting health administration team yesterday as well, and I think some of that came out with Eric's 03:33:27.457 --> 03:33:34.167 - discussion this evening, and I'll just reiterate our need for flexibility as they work through what 03:33:34.167 --> 03:33:40.944 - is becoming an increasingly dramatic executive activity in that corner of our health building. And I 03:33:40.944 --> 03:33:47.721 - just wanna reiterate too that my concern in speaking with the administration team on down was are we 03:33:47.721 --> 03:33:48.862 - still delivering 03:33:49.186 --> 03:33:55.344 - good public health to the community despite the tumult. And I am concerned about vaccination season. 03:33:55.344 --> 03:34:01.563 - I am concerned about flu season. I am concerned about vaccines sitting in refrigerators instead of in 03:34:01.563 --> 03:34:07.660 - people's arms. So my plea to the Board of Health and to the powers that be are please sort this out 03:34:07.660 --> 03:34:13.939 - so we can get back to the good work of public health in this community. We really do need to get north 03:34:13.939 --> 03:34:18.878 - on these issues and focus on what's important, which is serving our public here. 03:34:19.234 --> 03:34:26.662 - I'll leave that comment there. And lastly, I'll just reiterate, as I mentioned this evening, on October 03:34:26.662 --> 03:34:33.876 - 22nd, the Plan Commission will hold a public hearing in its reply to House Bill 1001, which requires 03:34:33.876 --> 03:34:41.018 - county governments in Indiana to compile housing studies that have been done in the past five years 03:34:41.018 --> 03:34:44.446 - in communities in the state and report them up. 03:34:44.610 --> 03:34:50.456 - It is no secret in our community that we have wildly different ideas about the housing crisis. And I 03:34:50.456 --> 03:34:56.534 - think I don't want to speak for others here, but I think there's a growing majority of people understand 03:34:56.534 --> 03:35:02.206 - that we do have a housing shortage issue in the community. These are statements of fact. However, 03:35:02.338 --> 03:35:07.540 - Um, that hearing on the 22nd, the majority of the plan commission continues to put forward a vision 03:35:07.540 --> 03:35:12.951 - that does not match that in data tables and reports that reflected a different version of the community 03:35:12.951 --> 03:35:18.309 - that I do not support. It says that we are overbuilt and that we have the housing we need and that all 03:35:18.309 --> 03:35:23.616 - we need to do is balance out wages or some other scales. This is a critical issue for over 80% of the 03:35:23.616 --> 03:35:28.870 - people in the community that cannot afford to buy a home here at 324,000 or so new. It is a critical 03:35:28.870 --> 03:35:32.304 - issue for the 67% of people at Brent and the city of Bloomington. 03:35:32.304 --> 03:35:38.271 - is a critical issue for those that are continuing to try to get that first rung of economic prosperity 03:35:38.271 --> 03:35:44.180 - and housing attainment, if that's what they choose. But that hearing will be here on the 22nd in this 03:35:44.180 --> 03:35:49.973 - room. The plan commission's obligation is to hear the public's comments about what is being sent to 03:35:49.973 --> 03:35:55.767 - the state. That package should be available on our county website, which includes not only the work 03:35:55.767 --> 03:36:01.502 - of the chamber and the BDC and IU and others who have done housing studies, but also some of these 03:36:02.242 --> 03:36:08.508 - alternative ideas about housing in the community. So I just raise that to your attention as we get closer 03:36:08.508 --> 03:36:14.655 - to that. But thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Henry. All right, let's let's go all the way down 03:36:14.655 --> 03:36:20.862 - to the colored legal pad. Councilmember Fiddle, decode the colors for us. I have a lot of things written 03:36:20.862 --> 03:36:25.118 - down here, but many of them were just, you know, liaisons and meetings. 03:36:26.178 --> 03:36:32.611 - community events that I was a part of. And one of the most important community event I did was vote. 03:36:32.611 --> 03:36:39.236 - And it was so seamless and productive and useful. I just was so proud of the process. And I enjoy being 03:36:39.236 --> 03:36:45.797 - able to see how many are voting early each day. That's really a cool thing. And I wanted to ask maybe, 03:36:45.797 --> 03:36:52.740 - can we put that link or whatever it is out there for the general public to have? Is there a way to highlight 03:36:52.740 --> 03:36:54.014 - that link somewhere 03:36:54.562 --> 03:37:00.801 - We got an email from John Baten, I think, that showed that link. It's actually on the home page of the 03:37:00.801 --> 03:37:07.222 - county right now. OK, thank you. The county's home page. It's right there. Thank you. So I want to direct 03:37:07.222 --> 03:37:13.401 - people to that because it's really kind of fun to see and watch and see how many are voting each day. 03:37:13.401 --> 03:37:19.580 - I really like looking at that. So part of the BEDC work was hiring a new executive director, CEO, and 03:37:19.580 --> 03:37:22.366 - they have one. Her name is Susan Borees Reed. 03:37:22.562 --> 03:37:30.129 - She comes with two decades of economic development work, public finance, municipal advisory work, and 03:37:30.129 --> 03:37:37.695 - community investments. And I've not met her personally, but I will meet her at the next BEDC meeting. 03:37:37.695 --> 03:37:45.188 - So I think I won't highlight all the other little things I did, but I was busy doing 15 other things 03:37:45.188 --> 03:37:50.974 - this month of these two weeks, I mean. Well, thank you. Council Member Wilts. 03:37:51.970 --> 03:38:02.989 - I will just say that I know that as we approach election day and are able to vote anytime between now 03:38:02.989 --> 03:38:13.792 - and then, there are a lot of folks who still want information before they go to the ballot box. And 03:38:13.792 --> 03:38:19.518 - last night, I was shown vote 411, literally with the 03:38:19.714 --> 03:38:29.290 - the numbers, so vote411.org. There are several places including, of course, the clerk's office here 03:38:29.290 --> 03:38:38.962 - locally and the state has a lovely website. This one was very smooth and I just wanted to provide it 03:38:38.962 --> 03:38:46.910 - as another option for folks who might want to see what's on their ballot, know who 03:38:47.426 --> 03:38:55.213 - who's going to be on their ballot and make sure that they have the registration information. So that's 03:38:55.213 --> 03:39:03.000 - it. Wonderful. That's vote411.org. Mr. Deckard. I'll be really, really quick. I appreciate some of the 03:39:03.000 --> 03:39:10.786 - larger discussions that we're starting to approach around here about questions on health and questions 03:39:10.786 --> 03:39:13.886 - on housing and things that the community 03:39:14.050 --> 03:39:20.702 - We can't look past because so many people can't look past it. I spent a little bit of time, uh, volunteering 03:39:20.702 --> 03:39:27.170 - for a Canada has some doors and I, I got to hear from residents in a new light and, uh, I'm always trying 03:39:27.170 --> 03:39:33.822 - to keep up and be, and be as aware as possible what's going on with families, but it is always enlightening. 03:39:34.018 --> 03:39:40.469 - to literally hear, this is what this means when this happens, including that pothole out there. 03:39:40.469 --> 03:39:47.458 - And so Mr. County guy, can you do something about that? One thing I just want to say, one of the duties 03:39:47.458 --> 03:39:54.312 - I had other than be a liaison was I got a chance to help our friends at United Way by singing karaoke 03:39:54.312 --> 03:39:58.142 - last Friday night. And I want to talk about that because 03:39:58.274 --> 03:40:05.313 - I'm, my singing is so bad that literally people were paying for me not to go on the stage, which raised 03:40:05.313 --> 03:40:12.216 - money for United Way. And that's awesome. But what was even better than that is it was out at Fowler, 03:40:12.216 --> 03:40:19.052 - um, pumpkin farm. And I'm not doing an ad for Fowler by the way, I worked for, uh, one of their kind 03:40:19.052 --> 03:40:22.910 - of predecessors back in the day, Melton's, uh, but this. 03:40:23.618 --> 03:40:30.589 - is a beautiful place in this autumn kind of season falls doing things. It's a beautiful place. And here 03:40:30.589 --> 03:40:37.493 - we have a business owner thriving in on just literally our border of our county, but is also using the 03:40:37.493 --> 03:40:44.196 - space there to bring in United Way, I think Stone Belt, which we heard from earlier this evening. I 03:40:44.196 --> 03:40:51.838 - think they were in there in a week prior. And I think Kiwanis were out there. So literally hosting that space for 03:40:51.938 --> 03:40:58.240 - bad singers like me with karaoke, but also drawing attention to it. And we have a million people doing 03:40:58.240 --> 03:41:04.603 - that kind of thing here all the time. And we see them at festivals. We see them out there doing things. 03:41:04.603 --> 03:41:10.110 - And that is just an absolute gift for this community. And I always think is our work here 03:41:10.210 --> 03:41:16.163 - And our counterparts everywhere, city, state, federal, is honoring all that hard work. Cause a lot of 03:41:16.163 --> 03:41:22.057 - these people aren't getting the things. They're not getting an extra check. They're just doing these 03:41:22.057 --> 03:41:28.302 - things and it's, it's a glorious thing to see. So make sure you're keeping your eye out for your neighbors 03:41:28.302 --> 03:41:34.254 - and all that. I'd also say that as we get near election hyper season, um, something I've been telling 03:41:34.254 --> 03:41:39.390 - a lot of folks is this is an exciting season. You got to take care of yourself in that. 03:41:39.810 --> 03:41:46.399 - out there. We're still friends and neighbors no matter what. Election results happen and we gotta look 03:41:46.399 --> 03:41:47.678 - out for each other. 03:41:47.874 --> 03:41:53.646 - after that. And for some people, taking care of themselves right now is doing all sorts of things to 03:41:53.646 --> 03:41:59.361 - make sure they and their family are okay. Sometimes it's going to the ballot box because that helps 03:41:59.361 --> 03:42:05.190 - them to take care of themselves. And whoever you do that for or don't do it for, including friends up 03:42:05.190 --> 03:42:11.019 - here or not friends up here, you should do it and vote because this is an important part that so many 03:42:11.019 --> 03:42:13.534 - people have done so much for. I think about 03:42:13.666 --> 03:42:20.399 - Gary Kisters all the time, who literally was from this community in World War II and had bravery beyond 03:42:20.399 --> 03:42:27.068 - bravery, and then came home, ran a business, and was just tremendous. So anyway, I'll stop. Thank you. 03:42:27.068 --> 03:42:32.830 - Thank you, Mr. Deckard. All right, I'm going to start with some good news for everybody. 03:42:33.058 --> 03:42:39.750 - Councilmember Crossley has seen the way I've been running this council into the ground so she is coming 03:42:39.750 --> 03:42:46.378 - back next week. She's so concerned about the way this council is running this so she never fear she'll 03:42:46.378 --> 03:42:52.942 - be back for budget adoption. She sends her regards by the way to everyone so that's exciting and just 03:42:52.942 --> 03:42:55.902 - as a reminder budget adoption is in one week. 03:42:56.098 --> 03:43:05.520 - so we will be having a series of votes on a series of budgets so council members bring your comments 03:43:05.520 --> 03:43:14.941 - and your it's going to be fun another budget adopted. I will also mention it was really fun to watch 03:43:14.941 --> 03:43:18.206 - our Indiana Hoosiers beat Nebraska 03:43:18.882 --> 03:43:25.464 - I hope you all got to see that game, but what was more impactful for me was watching Coach Cignetti 03:43:25.464 --> 03:43:32.045 - in the post game interview, talk about the value of resilience. If you haven't seen that interview, 03:43:32.045 --> 03:43:38.693 - I think it's a little, it's a bit, but it's, it's really good. And it reminded me an awful lot about 03:43:38.693 --> 03:43:45.604 - what it's like to be at this level of county government. Like we have to be so resilient. How many times 03:43:45.604 --> 03:43:47.710 - have we talked about this where 03:43:47.874 --> 03:43:54.705 - We don't know what's coming down the pike. We don't know how we're going to fund something. Should we 03:43:54.705 --> 03:44:01.401 - bond for it? Should we pay for it out in general? How should we redistribute the levies? Resilience 03:44:01.401 --> 03:44:08.299 - is such an important value to this council. And I wanted to share that. The last thing I want to share 03:44:08.299 --> 03:44:13.790 - is huge kudos and thanks to Lehua who's sitting right here. This is an incredibly 03:44:13.954 --> 03:44:20.415 - busy time. We've got FABTAC coming up, the Food and Beverage Tax Advisory Council, we've got a must 03:44:20.415 --> 03:44:27.135 - meeting, we've got budget adoption, we've got a council meeting tonight, a council meeting on the other 03:44:27.135 --> 03:44:33.791 - side of budget adoption and you know with our other staff member out I have not seen any hiccup in the 03:44:33.791 --> 03:44:40.446 - quality of service revisions so thank you so much for your hard work. We really deeply appreciate you. 03:44:41.090 --> 03:44:46.666 - All right. We are going to be joined. We're going to get back in this room five o'clock in one week 03:44:46.666 --> 03:44:49.342 - for budget adoption. This meeting is adjourned.