- Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting in Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday, July 10th. And I will look for the record that all three commissioners are here and present in the NatU Hill Room. It will begin with our public statement read by Commissioner Madeira, if you would please.
- We, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights of all people, regardless of age, race, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, economic status, and national origin. And we affirm the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear. And we will fight and resist at every step discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
- We also stand in support of our county public school systems, both RBB and MCC SC. All right, thank you so much. Next on our agenda, we have departmental updates. We'll begin with the health department. Good morning, commissioners.
- As of June 28th, COVID wastewater concentrations are very low, according to the CDC. We are monitoring a new COVID variant known as XFG. This could also be referred to as Stratus. So one of the most common symptoms includes scratchy or raspy voice. It does not appear to cause more severe illness and symptoms tend to be mild to moderate.
- We do still have free COVID tests available. Individuals can walk in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive those tests. And our public health clinic has vaccines available for all ages. You can call 812-353-3244 for an appointment. All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you. All right.
- I don't have any either. TV is not where it should be. Everything is kind of off today. That's all right. That's okay. You can't see it behind the TV anyway. Just leave it. That's fine. You don't need it.
- I will have an identity crisis later. We'll call you. All right. Thank you so much, Ms. Kelly. Next, we have Stephen Miller from Veterans Affairs. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners.
- Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'd like to briefly share two important updates about the Monroe County Veterans Service Office. First, our team is going to attend the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers annual
- training conference next week from July 14th through 18th. This is the premier national training event where VSOs gain the latest tools and knowledge to better serve our veterans. To fully participate in this event, our office will be closed next week. We're committed to bringing back the very best practices to our local veterans. Secondly, we're proud to announce an upcoming Homeless Veterans Stand Down and Resource Fair on August 20th.
- That will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Monroe County Convention Center. A stand-down event offers homeless and at-risk homeless veterans immediate access to housing assistance, health care, employment assistance, VA benefits, and more, all in one place, all in one day. This will be a meaningful outreach event, and it's gonna be focused on restoring dignity and stability to our veterans who are in that position.
- As soon as we have flyers and promotional material, we are going to get that out to you and the public so that everyone's aware of this incredible event. So thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. If there are any questions, I'd love to answer those. Thank you so much. I'm really excited to hear about the Stand Down event. I think that is a marvelous idea just for veterans. Excellent. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira?
- I have none. Thank you so much. This is a very important event, and I'm very pleased to hear that we'll be attending. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. Yes, you've been doing some pretty remarkable things for our homeless veterans. Thank you. I really appreciate the effort you've put into that. Absolutely. It's one of our highest priorities. Yeah. It's the priority we need right now. Yeah.
- Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing that with us. You're very welcome. Any other departments have an update for us? You may come to the podium or raise your hand on teams. Good morning. Morning. Let me quickly or as quick as I can write my name down.
- very happy to be here today. I don't want to spoil kind of the highlights that will be touched on in just a moment, but I'm going to talk about some of our achievements in our GIS program and working with Indiana Geographic Information Council. And I was going to kind of just give you a quick
- brief history and mission of what is more commonly referred to as IGICC. The Indiana Geographic Information Council, IGICC, is a nonprofit organization leading the effective application of geospatial information in Indiana. Just a brief history, in 2007, IGICC efforts
- with the state of Indiana passed legislation to create the Geographic Information Office. Also, that led to the first appointment of the Indiana Geographic Information Officer, which is in the Indiana Office of Technology. Also, IGICC submits a data integration plan, which allows guidance for what is going on in that space across the state. They also do a data harvest.
- like road center lines, address points, and everything, which is kind of critical for dispatch and first responders to get to the right location. And it's pretty awesome. We received a platinum star this year with the work of our GIS team. Also, they provide an annual conference. And in 2025, they'll touch on that in a second. We were recognized. But I had the opportunity with the support
- the commissioners and council with creating a training fund to send someone in, like, the partial management space in the auditor's office, the PLSS space within my office. And, of course, I also have the opportunity with that training fund, which is a little separate, to send someone within the health department to get some more formal education in GIS because they're doing some pretty incredible things.
- And with that said, I was just going to introduce John Baten, our GIS coordinator. And he brought along one of his colleagues. And I'll let him touch on kind of why we're here today. Hey, commissioners. I'm John, Perry Township, Monroe County, Sherwood Oaks neighborhood. This is our GIS technician. Irina Valentine-Bowen. Yeah, and you guys have already submitted a press release and everything like that. But just coming to showcase that we are back to back GIS champs.
- that we won in 2024 as well as 2025 2025 we were recognized as the county
- award for our live election reporting that we did in conjunction with the election board and TSD. And so just kind of coming to showcase this. We are hoping to start doing this kind of more regularly. We're working on a lot of cool projects across the county, working with variety of departments and kind of doing innovative stuff. And so it's been really neat to be recognized for this and also to have the support of the council, the commissioners and TSD. So yeah, with that, thanks. Congratulations.
- sign in, sorry. Oh, that's okay. And you work so hard on that effort to get people notified about broadband and then
- We lost all the funding. That was terrible. That was terrible. But I wanted to thank you again for that. Yeah, I mean, these are all learning experiences, too. So every project we do, whether it's successful or not, it helps us kind of learn a new skill. And the really cool thing about this, and as Tron said with IJIC, was that we showcased this at IJIC. And it's getting other counties on board, showing them that they have the tools already available to them to be able to do the same thing that we did. So it's trying to encourage other counties to do the same type of thing. Yeah, there must be some incredible projects
- that conference in general that a lot of cross-training and learning goes on, so that's really cool. Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much. Thank you. I guess I just take this opportunity to say that what we do in the GIS division is meant to assist
- the entire county. So if someone has some thoughts related to how maybe they could display their data, create data visualization, or if it's just data itself, please contact us. Work with John and Irina. We'd love to assist you. I think our goal is to continue to get the word out and expand at a pace that we can keep up with. And I'm just excited about this opportunity because as we create more
- services for the public, more services for the county. It's recognized more broadly and people keep coming to us and sometimes it doesn't even have geographic locations tied to it and it's just data transparency and data visualization. Thank you. Thank you. Any other departments have an update to offer us?
- Seeing none, we'll now move on to the next agenda item. The next agenda item is public comment. Public comment is time reserved for items not on our agenda. We ask the public to limit their comments to three minutes or less and to please share their name and county of residence. If you have a public comment, you may raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, we will move on to our next agenda item, please. Move approval of the minutes for July 30th, no, July 3rd, excuse me, 2025. I second. Right. We have a motion and we have a second, and we're on the way back machine or the way ahead machine. Thinking ahead. Yeah, thinking ahead. Does anybody have any comments, corrections, or edits on the minutes? No. No. I didn't either.
- All right. All those in favor of approving the minutes for July 3rd, 2025, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of the claims docket, accounts payable July 10th, 2025, and payroll July 11th, 2025. I second. We have a motion. We have a second. Please tell us all about it.
- Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for July 10th, 2025 totals $1,733,834.99. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for July 11th, 2025 includes $1,688,254.38 in direct costs, and the remaining
- $14,951.98 were for indirect costs for a grand total of $2,403,206.36. All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? None, thank you. Is there any public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- All those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable, July 10th, 2025, and payroll, July 11th, 2025, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. We do not have any reports today, so we will go ahead and move on to new business, please. Move approval of the renewal of BNL IT Services LLC agreement, fund name, election, fund number 1215.
- in an amount not to exceed $100,000 in 2025. I second. All right, we have a motion and we have a second and I'll note that the contract also extends into 2026 for
- for two years. Thank you, ma'am. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Kylie Ferris, and I currently serve as the election supervisor from the Monroe County Clerk's office. On behalf of the Monroe County Clerk, I am representing, respectfully requesting the commissioners approve of the contract with the BNL IT services. This is a two-year contract that will expire on December 31st of 2026.
- The contract has been reviewed and revised to add issues, concerns that were raised by both the commissioners and the election board. At the last election board meeting, the board voted a unanimous vote to proceed with the updated contract. Owner Robert White and members of his team have provided IT support for Monroe County election for more than a decade and the election and management IT services. Their IT services render and have been
- approach. Mr White has generously agreed to attend virtually, so if you do have any other questions for him, he is available. And with that, I am happy to answer any other questions that you may have. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madera? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? Yes. It's my understanding that
- Mr. White, right, hires a number of subcontractors, and that his subcontractors are unwilling to... records looked up. And this is something that makes me feel very insecure about our elections, since these people are often all alone.
- with the machines. These individuals are working under Bob and it was actually Bob's suggestion that he did not feel that it was necessary for his subcontractors to undergo the background checks as
- our poll workers do not have to go through the background check. And these poll workers are with equipment on election day. And the individuals who are working on election day, who you're talking about the subcontractors, are also in the same building as these individuals. Thank you for that. Election day is a bit different because there's
- Nobody's left alone with the equipment. And I think the issue is with data updates, battery charging, the single person kind of utility that's outlined in the contract. Ms. Turner-King is here and I wonder if Ms. Turner-King shed some light on this issue and what's going on with it.
- So there was a proposal to add background language for the subcontractors, and that language was not amenable to the vendor. Do you have a specific question you'd like me to provide insight on? Well, exactly how do we reassure the public that when these subcontractors are working on their own,
- with the machines without any oversight that everything will be OK. I mean, I think a background would help with that assurance, but it's not legally required statutorily to be a part of the contract. So that's why the language is not included in there currently, since there was not a consensus with the vendor.
- I will also say that Bob is on here. He can go into more detail about working on the equipment. And if there is ever a situation that there is one individual person, I do not believe that there is ever a situation that there's only one subcontractor with the equipment by themselves. I believe it's generally the whole team is together working on things together to try to knock it out in a big grouping instead of doing one device at a time.
- For the public's identification, what is it in particular that a background check would show? Is it voting record, political party identification, criminal history? It would be a criminal background check. Okay, yes. Maybe a criminal background check.
- Yeah, this has nothing to do with voting record. I just wanted to put that out there because I think that the public would say, you know, oh, you know, we want to make sure that this is, you know, not a matter of Democrat or Republican, that this is, you know, very specifically tied to criminal background check. And Mr. White is present. So TSD, if you could promote Mr. Bob White
- who is online and see if he has like to speak. Hello, Mr. White is promoted, but if he's unable to unmute, you can try rejoining the meeting.
- You need to unmute. Can you hear me? We can. It would be great if we could see you, but I understand if we can't. You should be able to, but I apologize if you can't. There you are. We see you now. Thank you. I'm a little slow.
- First, the understanding is none of the subcontractors have access to the equipment alone at the same time. The only people that have access to the equipment are myself and Kylie and the clerk's office. None of the subcontractors come in to work unless I am present. And typically it is in a group. We typically work after hours or when there's more room for us to do that because our equipment room's a little crowded.
- So nobody is there by themselves. The other thing is, part of the service that we get from HART is they do the programming on the equipment. We're just installing the program that they write. It's all encrypted, protected. We do not have the code. We're not able to see that information. So that's not, it really doesn't come into play. It would be,
- nearly impossible and I don't have the ability to alter the election, the ballots and that kind of thing. So that's impossible to do also. So as far as background check, my thinking on that was that we don't do a background check on our poll workers who have a lot more opportunity to influence a vote in some way as they work directly with the voters.
- I had submitted to Molly that I'd be more than happy to do a background check as the owner of the company. That doesn't bother me one bit. And I'm sure that if it were absolutely a deal breaker that we could probably do background checks on our people and they wouldn't have a problem with it. My colleagues have a question for Mr. White.
- I don't know. Thank you. I hear what you're saying, and I think that's the issue is that access to the actual voting machines, obviously ballots, paper ballots can't be changed.
- But it is a concern. Rather than giving a reason of just because poll workers don't have to do it, is there another reason why you would not want to do background checks? No. No, all my people will pass. I have no concern about that.
- I mean on on your subcontractors. Is there another reason you don't want to do that? No. OK, OK, so no, it's just it's just another step in expense by honestly that. We've not done for 11 years and. Yeah.
- It would seem to me that if it's that important for subcontractors that are never alone with the equipment and can't alter any information, that then we would also deal with our poll workers who also have that same ability. Yeah, I think it's just because this is about the election and election security and doing everything we can to assure the public
- that their vote will count when the time comes and that that there there can be no question right we don't want this coming back in may of next year june of next year fall of 2026 and somebody goes oh i don't think that election because now it's been raised right this issue has been raised that somebody will come back and say i think these machines were tampered with or i think this happened so at this point it's now in the public domain that
- you don't want to have your subcontractors. They're not your employees. If they were your employees, I think I would feel differently about it. But subcontractors are subcontractors, and they come and go. And that's the beauty of a subcontractor as a business owner. But as county government, I worry that the public will
- perceive this as a potential gap in election security. And I implore you to please reconsider this because we can get this added to the contract and do an approval today if you're willing with that modification. But I just don't see how I can support this. I would feel terrible
- if something happened and I said, well, we got assurances that it's OK, or I don't want to go to the expense. So I don't know how you all feel. Pretty much the same. What are your thoughts? I'm curious about how much of an expense it would add. I mean, when we're talking about subcontractor employees, how many people are we talking? About 20. 20. 20?
- Yes. So the average background check costs around $10 to $15. I'm unclear. I've never ran one. I've never had one before. It seems a pretty negligible expense for peace of mind, I guess. I'm willing to do that. I don't have a problem with that. I can do that.
- Great. Thank you. Thank you. So, Ms. Turner-King. So, if Mr. White is amendable to such, I will just re-add the language from the draft and I can do that right now. It's the same language that was emailed to you previously. Is that language acceptable? Well, there are two pieces to that last one. Are you going to add both pieces or just the background check?
- There are two pieces. So the first bit was the background check. And then the second bit is restrictions that apply to poll workers on the day of election that if they meet within one of these categories, they would not be able to work for a poll worker, such as a person who has property better waged on the results of the election, a person who's a candidate to be voted on for during the election for which
- they're running. So those, the second bit is the statutory language that is applicable to election workers. So I guess, am I adding just the background language or both? Both, please. Yes. Very good. I'm good with that. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
- essentially, Ms. Turner King has read into the record the modification to the renewal contract for B and L IT services LLC agreement. I'm gonna go ahead and make a motion to amend that contract as outlined by Ms. Turner King. I accept the amendment. I second.
- and it can, let's see if there's any public comment on the amended motion or the motion to amend, sorry, on the motion to amend. Thank you, Mr. White. I knew we'd get there. I don't see any public comment. So we'll come back for a vote on amending
- the renewal of BNL IT services LLC agreements. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All right, motion carries to amend. I've also displayed it on the screen. Look at you. Thank you. Tech genius. I remember this from before, but I can't read it because it's so small. Thank you for that.
- All right, Ms. Ferris, did you have anything else you wanted to add? No, I should begin. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any public comment on this amended motion? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- I'm not seeing none. I'm going to go ahead and call for a vote on the amended renewal of BNL IT Services LLC agreement. All those in favor of the amended renewal agreement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you, Ms. Ferris. Thank you, Ms. Turner King. All right. We'll move on to the next item, please.
- Move approval of the NDOT agreement for Eagleton Bridge number 922 replacement, funding cumulative bridge fund number 1135 in an amount of $976,146 for the local match. I second. We have a motion. We have a second. We have Ms. Ridge joining us. Good morning.
- Good morning. So the letting for this project is scheduled for January for construction season of 2026. It's funded through NDOT. It is on the IU campus. We took ownership over this bridge a couple of years ago in coordination with an agreement with NDOT, I believe for maybe federal aid.
- to be able to cover the costs. So Monroe County worked it out to become the project manager and then accept the bridge when it's replaced. Also in doing that, they, NDOT at the time, gave us the funds for the construction of the Karst Trail Project extension, which was approximately $2.4 million.
- Monroe County actually came out over a million dollars to the good on this. IU did donate the right of way for this project, saving us more funds there. So that's how we became involved into this project. Excellent. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you. I'm glad you mentioned where that
- I don't know if this is something that. Trade came in at because I couldn't remember if it was by Centennial Parkway or cursed. Um this is just a testament to the skill of Miseridge and her staff. Um so this is, uh, in doubt is putting 3.9 million into this bridge replacement. Um and it looks like we're out almost $1,000,000, but
- to make this magic happen. So thank you so much. And I'm sure IU will be happy. Is the construction timed for the school year? We have had continuous meetings with IU is very involved. City of Bloomington is very involved. It's city streets, county bridge, IU campus. So we've worked out, we met on site
- last month I believe there was 25 of us that from utilities to IU to city of Bloomington and Monroe County representatives working out the schedules of when there will be closures because it also upgrades the intersection just to the north at this location so there's a lot of variables involved but there's been a lot of coordination and working with IU and
- football weekends and graduations and all of those things. So we are definitely taking all of that into consideration. Excellent. Thank you so much. Uh, comment on this item. It's being none. We'll come back.
- for a vote. All those in favor of approving the indot agreement for Eagleson Bridge 922 replacement, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item please. Move approval of indot change order number five for Fullerton Pike phase three. Fund names, Major Bridge and Fullerton Pike TIF.
- on numbers 1171 and 4922 in the amount of $4,081,339. Sorry. $481,339.22. I've got to get my commas straight. Do we have a motion? We have a second.
- Thank you so much. We have a motion to second Ms. Ridge. Tell us all about it please.
- I like your $4,000. I know. Those were a lot nicer. I do. Do you ever remember a project of $4,000 for a change order? I have seen change orders that low. Oh, yeah. Change order. Yeah. Absolutely. There you go. You technically don't see them this high. Yeah. That's true. But a lot of this had to do with rock excavation on the project. We run into this in multiple locations on our projects. It was pretty extreme on this.
- because there was a lot of unknowns because there was no existing road, no existing bridge. And then there was some different soil modifications done with the subgrade due to a lot of the rock excavation being where the rock is in the subgrade. So that is the reason for this change order. It'll mostly be funded through our major bridge funds since we are putting a 500 foot span bridge at this location. So if you have any questions,
- and let me know. Thank you so much. Comments, questions? Commissioner Madeira? None, thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. I don't either. It is a big number. It is a big number. And you know, I think it's change order number five on here. We're working with change orders one through four. There's also decreases that'll be coming forward, things that we've changed on the project. So we will have some decreases to help offset
- this huge change order. But overall, the project's moving well. Still have a target date of August 4th, right before school opens, to open it up. That's our goal, if we can keep the rain away. Nice. Well, we'll work on that. I actually do have a question as a point of interest.
- chemical modification soil. Oh, I knew you were going to ask me something like that. It doesn't sound good. I think it just has to do with the lime and everything that they use for the chemical and the stabilization. So they had to make those types of modifications once they get into the gist of it to build the road and the bridge. Yeah, I get it.
- We had a talk about sand yesterday. So it sounds sinister. It is amazing. Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Let's see if there's any public comment on the site and raise your hand and teams or come to the podium. All right. See none. All those in favor of approving in that change order number five for Fullerton Pike phase three signify by saying aye. Aye.
- motion carries three zero all right next item please move approval of bloomington junk services agreement fund name county general fund number one thousand in an amount not to exceed seven thousand dollars we have a motion i have a second all right motion and a second i believe uh director jelen is online from the planning department um
- yes can you hear me yes we sure can can you tell us about this please sure so this is a request to engage in a contract to clean up the property on the corner of north sycamore and west walnut this property is located in the town of steinsville as you may recall we have utilized a similar contract for the property across the street
- We are engaging with both owners and also hoping to have this cleaned up by the time of our damages hearing for September 23rd, 2025. The amount that you see is not to exceed 7,000. I do have a couple images that I want to share just as an update to the property. This is what it looks like today. It is actually substantially cleaned up from
- where it was when we filed in 2023, but this is the largest part of the price. This is a horse trailer that was damaged by fire. And in order to remove it, they need to tow it potentially off the property because someone was living in it at some point. The importance of this property and why planning is undergoing this is because it is in the floodway.
- The person that lived here prior and that still owns the property put in these rocks sort of as a dam or a barrier between the floodwaters that come in to the property regularly. So the goal of the property or the scope of the cleanup would be the county would also partner with the contractor to get a dumpster and
- basically get rid of all the berm materials, the rock, the excess soil, and then also pull off the horse trailer and any remaining items on the property. So that is the scope of work. We did receive approval from the council for appropriation for this. So we're just asking the commissioners for approval of the contract. I can take any questions. All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones?
- I don't just thanks for taking this on. I know it's been a big problem. No, again, an important venture. Thank you. Thank you, Director John. Yeah, it made things confusing because of the floodway. But we do have to deal with this as soon as possible because
- We can't let this go. And as noted here, there's a hearing coming up in a few weeks and we would like to have the total due from the property owner at that point in time. So this is a temporary outlay. We will eventually at some point get this funding back. Any public comment on this item?
- or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the agreement with Bloomington Junk Services signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries, three, zero. Thank you so much, Director Dillon, appreciate you. Thank you. All right, next we have a discussion item on Senate Enrolled Act 1,
- uh, letters to the legislature. We had a conversation with council on Tuesday. Um, we have since had a conversation, um, with the folks who, um, help us communicate with, um, our legislators. Um, and, uh, one thing we do know is that we, um,
- I do need to get the letter down to one page and Commissioner Medeiros worked on that. So it's the contents the same. But I wanted to see, maybe I should preface it with some information. So in June, a copy of this letter was sent to council. It was a draft. The information is essentially the same, just more background in this letter
- that was sent this week to council. We did hear from one council member via email, phone call, something. Angie was contacted. And I think that information has been the special tax information has been misrepresented to the public. It would replace
- It would have to replace the jail tax. But then there'd have to be a shift in a couple of years once we could use the jail tax. So the council would have to do this. This is not an additional tax. This is the same project. We're not adding gold faucets, gold plated taps. So I don't want anybody to think that this is like, hey.
- one of the things that was mentioned as well not not only by this counselor but also one counselor not counselor hawk but also at the meeting was an interest in removing that special legislation i'm fine with removing that if you all want to do okay my concern though
- is that we also heard from another council member, it's nice to give them options. Well, this doesn't give them any options. This gives the legislature no options except fix the percentage of lit that can be dedicated to a bond and to allow us and to get rid of that onerous reauthorization of the lit annually by the council because bonds need to be sold and
- That makes it really tough. That makes it really tough to sell. And we would like to avoid that. So one pager will remove the special legislation. I would say, I invite the council to give us other options. We'll add it into the letter. I mean, if they can come up with other options, that would be great.
- Yeah. Anything else that you want to? I just want to emphasize the importance of this and it's actually something that matters to the entire county and should be taken pretty seriously. We do need to talk about timing, but do you have anything else that you'd like to add?
- Yes, I think it was very helpful to end the council meeting on Tuesday. I think that some of the council members raised questions about our lobbyists. As a former lobbyist in Pennsylvania, both paid and unpaid, and as someone who has done considerable work in many legislatures around the country on many social issues such as gun violence, lobbyists are sort of invaluable. And our lobbyists, the TAM group, has helped us beat back
- a lot of harmful legislation. And this year in particular, they have been critical in helping us understand and withstand incredibly damaging legislation from the Brown administration, and also just work with our allies in the legislature. So they've just been so helpful in helping the county. And that's not just us as commissioners, but the council, various departments, Stormwater, really just across the board.
- I just can't understate how invaluable their counsel has been. And we've talked about them a lot. If you go back and watch, the public goes back and watches our meetings. We've referenced their advice quite frequently, I think, from January forward. And also, so they've counseled, I think, the urgency of this.
- But also, I think that this is not just an issue that Monroe County faces. There's a lot of public works projects. I think this is an unintended consequence across the board of Senate Enrolled Act 1.
- And I think it's going to be very important for us to coordinate with the Association of Indiana Counties and the Indiana Association of County Commissioners. And this letter is not the end-all be-all of this process. It's kind of like an opening step in the process. It is a step saying, this is what we want to do. We are trying to start the dialogue here. And it's not us putting our foot down. And hopefully, we are using this to open the Congress
- not only with the legislature, but with other Republican counties. And we don't intend for this to be the end all be all. We also hope to get as many parties in the county to sign on to this letter because our letter is stronger if most of us sign on or all of us sign on. And so to those ends, I hope we can get a truly collaborative effort going. And I think it's noteworthy that we want
- to get input from as many community stakeholders as possible. And that's not just the board of judges and the sheriff and the council, but also the Fraternal Order of Police has reached out and the Bloomington Metropolitan Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 586 has signaled that they also may be supportive of this project because they see the importance of this. And so, for example, the Bloomington Firefighters has
- signaled their support because they run emergency and medical calls to the current justice building, and they may be willing to sign a letter supporting this petition to the state legislature. Of course, they would need to see a draft before it's sent, but they see the gravity of this project and the need to complete it in a timely fashion as well, because their safety is at stake, and they see inmates' safety at stake as well. So I'll stop there. It's critical. These are all good points. Yeah, and it's great to have others sign on.
- It's wonderful. So we did have a conversation with lobbyists. And lobbyists are lobbyists, and sometimes people love them. Sometimes people hate them. I think it depends on if you have one or not and how good they are. But in this case, lobbyists are so helpful for us because they can interpret what's going on. They give us those timelines, deadlines,
- it would be better to spend your time fighting this than that. And yes, we've brought Ms. Ridge and Ms. Penna in to various conversations at various times because they were communicating information to the legislators from Monroe County and our lobbyists helped make that happen. So there are communication tools.
- more than anything. They really are. So in conversation yesterday, they said, hey, you know, get it down to one page. So we're going to do that. It sounds like we've agreed to get rid of the special legislation request. That's fine. And again, council, if you have anything you want to add, please do, do, please do. I don't know. I think the thing that concerned me about
- Tuesday night was that it wasn't really a conversation. I mean, there were questions, which is great, happy to answer questions, but I don't know when this is going to get done. And that worries me because we've been advised to get this done by the beginning of August. So I don't know. Certainly we can be available
- for the July council meetings, that'd be what, the 22nd? We can be available for that. If they want to talk through the letter, we'll send them the updated short draft. We're gonna add some information bits to it so that if a legislator is really interested, they can see everything in one page, but then they can get the details elsewhere. And we're gonna talk through that.
- But we really need this done, hopefully, council, dear council, by at your first meeting in August that you could vote on this. And so however you want to have that conversation, we can do that. But it seems to me that we really did try the public meeting side, getting the letter
- to the council a draft, it was a draft, before their June 17th meeting. And then we were taken off the agenda for that meeting. We came Tuesday and we're told, hey, we just got this. Well, really you didn't just get that. I think the issue is, yes, we're gonna have to keep modifying this. We need to keep modifying this, but we need to move forward as quickly as possible.
- legislation needs to get written the amendments need to get written and we have a plan we have direction from our advisors and we're moving forward we would much rather move forward with the council and however they want to organize that editing process please let us know we would love to do that
- And we could do that at a work session. We could do that here. We could do that at, um, your July, your, your July 22nd meeting, whatever we'll figure it out, but we need to, we need to get this done. And, um, there seemed to be some questions about more information being needed and well, that's really, it's fiscal information. That's something I get. I understand if you want more information, I don't know where you're sourcing that information or how that's your business.
- But I encourage you to get that information and let us know if whatever, whatever we can do. We're still here, but we cannot wait. We've been advised to really get this done early August, which puts us at the council's meeting, which is actually the second week of August. It's not very early.
- So please, please, please. I know there's a lot going on. There'll be budget work sessions and all kinds of good stuff going on. And let's just get this done. This is as commissioner Deere pointed out, this is sort of the, Hey, we have a problem note and we'd like to talk. And then we're going to talk to them with them, invite them, me with them, whatever we need to do. We'll make it happen. So with that,
- So we have a couple changes to make. We'll get that. We need to let the, if you would, Ms. Purdy, let the sheriffs and the board of judges make them aware of our new timeline and that we will keep sending them updated drafts as we complete them for their comments. But yeah, no, legislature is not meeting.
- right now, but they are going to have to have this stuff written. Yes, please. One of the things that I think is always funny about the way people think the legislative process works is that, you know, if you watch like the Indiana General Assembly website, it says, you know, bills for like 2026 or the coming year, and people think like the spring forth like Venus on the half shell, you know, in January, and that's
- that they seem to pop up there in all their glory, but that's not really how they happen. And they're being worked on right now. And it's possible to start in October and November, but that's really late in the process. And so if there are amendments, if there are technical corrections, those are the things that sort of come later in the year, like November, December.
- Big fixes, the big new pieces of legislation, those are the things that are sort of on people's minds right now. And so I think that's why our lobbyists counseled getting started in August. So I think that might be helpful for people to understand. Yeah. Anything else? I don't. Anything else? Not on this matter. OK, good. All right. Well, we have a plan.
- We will move on. And I'm sorry, what? We don't usually take public comment on a discussion item, but council member Hawk. Yes. Good morning. I just wanted to run this by you. Perhaps I didn't understand you correctly, but I thought I heard you say that this would not be a new tax if we ask for special
- for the special purpose tax. This would not be an additional tax. Is that what you believe to be the case? Because it isn't. It would, my understanding and Mr. Cockrell can correct me from wrong, but my understanding is it would be a new tax, but it would be one where the council could adjust other taxes so that the end result is the same. But Mr. Cockrell, if you would please.
- I think we're dealing with two different time frames. I think we've got the time frame through 2027 where the income tax council controls the income tax, so that would be a different scenario than what you're describing, but starting in 2028 when the bulk of the payments would be made, then it would all be under the county council's control and they could see how each of them would, what they would raise and things like that.
- It would be a very delicate situation. And I think one of my concerns about going the special legislation route is that it doesn't change the requirement right now for reauthorization of lit. So once that special tax disappeared and we were back to the edit jail tax, et cetera, corrections tax, then
- We'd still have the same problem of trying to market a bond with this crazy Senate Enrolled Act I language that says, oh, you have to reauthorize. Could I finish my statement? I'd like to finish my concern. OK. OK. First of all, the special purpose tax sets outside of the amount of the 1.2 that we will be allowed.
- in 2028 for operational of other county expenses. And that means if we lose property tax revenue, we will be relying on that 1.2 to operate county government. And so the reason why we need to look at some kind of projected fiscal information is how much of the 1.2 will we really need after we see how much of reduction that we might see
- over time from property tax. Now we know that if we pass a debt now, it will have to be covered under that 1.2.
- You understand? And so we need to know how much is going to be left out of the 1.2. We should not move forward and say, well, we'll just ask for the special purpose because we know that sets outside at the 1.2. It is added on to the 1.2.
- And I just, I think that if we don't understand that, then we are really not talking with one another and understanding how the money flows. Now, you've got the 1.2 for that, you've got the 0.4 for
- you've got the point two for other non governmental units. And if you're in the city, you've got 1.2 there, but the total of those can only go beyond a certain amount unless you ask for special purpose. But I think it is very much too soon to ask for special purpose until we see the fiscal on the 1.2. And believe me,
- Representative Thompson knows we're not the only county that says what are we supposed to do about special projects and that's already been discussed. Special projects such as jails, such as courthouses and so forth, so they will be discussing that. But for us to go forward and say we want special purpose, we will. You'll not get.
- the public to say, yes, we want that on top of all of our other taxes. We don't know. We heard that. We heard that comment through Ms. Purdy and we heard that comment Tuesday night and we've just agreed to take that off the letter. But if the council wants to offer other options to the legislators, then we would appreciate it if
- um y'all figure out what you want to do with that um because if if you want to give them options uh the the only this option actually came from our bond council as a recommendation from our bond council correct mr cockerel it was a joint meeting with our bond council and our financial advisors so that's one of the the two options that were in the yeah
- original letter stemmed from right we did not magic this out of the air so no we appreciate the comments uh council member hawk um but again we don't typically take um public comment on items that are a discussion item um but happy to to hear and and so uh yes it's been removed um i i understand what you're saying i think there are other considerations as well regarding um
- getting a bond with that reauthorization required as it currently stands in SEA-1. So we'll keep working on it, but I appreciate your attendance today to Councilmember Hawk. It's always good to have you here, but we do need to talk again as a group, I assume.
- we're going to do that. Um soon and we're available to do that whenever the council wishes if you would pass that along. Um all right with that, we don't have any appointments today. Um. But do you want to remind folks to. Check through that boarding commission list at co dot Monroe dot I am dot us and apply for any boards or
- And you can fill out the application on our website. Also, on our website is the main calendar on the home page. And on that calendar, there are six different meetings each month where you can speak directly with one of us. Our office hours are virtual, so please join us.
- for those discussions. The Rural Housing Repair Program that started under ARPA continues with the assistance of Bloomington Foundation. So please, if you are a homeowner and need some basic repairs done to your home that you cannot afford, contact your Township Trustee if you live outside the city or towns.
- contact your trustee and they will help you apply. We do have the next blood drives at Ivy Tech, Monday, August 11th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesday, August 12th, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. This is in room C130A and B. And again, this is at Ivy Tech.
- please go to redcross.org to make an appointment. And we always know that severe weather can happen anytime, anywhere. So we do encourage you to sign up for a resident alert system. It's free service that we provide to every county resident. And it's on our homepage. Just click on the resident alert and let the system know how you wish to be contacted.
- text and or email options are available. Anything else? I'll just say for the record that I'm really reminded this week of the importance of local government and the importance of us as commissioners and council members and the importance of our staff because of the Texas flooding and the role of us all across the United States.
- I'm really grateful for the people that I work with and work for. And just to survey and write Randolph's remarks earlier, the importance of different sources of data. For example, I was reading this morning about NPR had a story about First Street, a climate risk modeling company. And they were talking about how their maps show that two times as many Americans live in floodplains as FEMA maps suggest, for example. And the First Street maps show
- that, for example, the entire camps lay in extreme risk areas due to rainfall and flash flooding, where FEMA maps only looked at coastal storm surges and large river flooding. And so it's really important to look at different sources of GIS data and really dig down. And I think we do that in this county. We look at data in innovative ways. And again, I'm really grateful for our resources.
- And I'm really grateful for you guys. So thank you. Thank you. Very true. Very sad. Very sad, especially seeing that they had an opportunity to use ARPA money and did not. You sent that transcript to us. Really, really incredibly sad. And we're in a situation where we have things we have to get done in this county.
- and to to phase the jail in two steps uh jail in one step and then the rest of the uh justice center in the next is is a really it's going to cost manure county taxpayers tens of millions of dollars extra and we're not going to get more for our money just having that delay so that's why getting this done is so important and i think with the council we're all rowing in the same direction um
- but I think we all want the same thing. We just have to be better coordinated in working together. So hopefully that will happen. And I do wanna thank my colleagues and thanks staff and anything else for the good of the order, anyone? Okay, with that, we are adjourned. We do not have a work session. Thanks everyone, be well.