- Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting. Monroe County Board of Commissioners is Thursday,
- August 28th. We will begin with our public statement read by Commissioner Madera. 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.
- Thank you so much. We will now move on to our department updates. First, we'll hear from the health
- department. Ms. Kelly, good morning. Good morning, commissioners. As of August 19th, emergency department
- visits for COVID-like illness have increased as well as wastewater concentrations. On August 27th,
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Food and Drug Administration
- has approved this year's COVID vaccines for those at higher risk. The formulas for the 2025-2026 season
- target the JN.1 lineage of the Omicron variant. It is still unclear at this time who will be eligible
- for shots this fall.
- official guidelines should be published soon. The health department still has free COVID tests available.
- Individuals can walk in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive tests. And our public
- health clinic has vaccines available. You can call 812-353-3244 for an appointment or more information.
- All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Medeira?
- I have none, thank you. I don't either, thank you so much. Okay, so next we have an update from Vet
- Environmental Engineering, Sarah Hemidovich, who has been working all the hours that the gods and goddesses
- can send. Thank you for being here. Happy to be here. What do we need to know?
- I guess I'll just start with the first couple steps where we did a couple rounds of targeted investigation
- and targeted treatment in a couple of areas that we found to be problematic initially, which then prompted
- us to go into the justice center and test on every level. We received those results back and use those
- results to guide treatment of the entire building. To this point, we have treated
- two-thirds of the fifth floor, which is the entirety of the Monroe County jail on the fifth floor.
- The entirety of the fourth floor, we did that yesterday, two-thirds of five and the entirety of four.
- We basically evacuated the entire jail. And when I say we, I had nothing to do with that portion.
- The powers that be evacuated the jail. We were up there for three hours treating, got every single cell,
- every office,
- the entire fourth floor and two-thirds of the fifth done. Then we inspected, cleaned all the horizontal
- surfaces, and then started bringing the inmates back into the facility. I was very pleased with the
- way the treatment went. There was no residue or weirdness left behind, which is great. Smelled much
- better up there. Air felt better, so I'm encouraged.
- that that will be good test results. This morning we tested in the areas that we treated that were areas,
- all of the areas were acceptable, but the areas that had some molds that we were concerned about,
- we retested those this morning. We'll have results in 24 hours on those. So then we have also treated
- the entire sheriff's department, all of two and all of three.
- This evening, after close of business, we're going in and treating the remainder of one. So that'll
- be the in-processing portion of the jail and the holding cells that are down there. At that point,
- we will have treated the entire building, the areas that needed to be treated. And then tomorrow morning,
- we will go back in and confirmation test the in-processing portion of the jail.
- we're going to work on our reporting because it's a fairly comprehensive report. Get that done, we intend
- to have that out by the end of next week, mid hopefully and definitely. And then we're going to start
- working on a plan moving forward to target areas of the building that we feel need to have ongoing attention
- and see if there's not a way that we can keep this at bay into the future.
- So that's where we are. Wow. OK. Commissioner Madeira, comments or questions? Yes. I just had a question.
- What impact do you think as temperatures cool that will have on the facility? It will have a positive impact,
- for sure. You can already tell in the building just with the reduction. So we did the first round of testing.
- The big test was during the really, really hot times, very humid. And then we had that dramatic temperature drop.
- the ambient humidity in the building went down by 10% across the board. So that in and of itself is
- going to help. And so I think what we need to do going forward is we have to plan for June, July, August,
- September of next year, and just try and stay out in front of it so we don't find ourselves back in
- the same position next year that we were this year. I had one more question to you. And while we may
- appreciate their presence for mental health reasons, for other reasons, I know that
- for example, around several workplaces, we can have large potted plants, large trees. What effect do
- you think those have on a building that is already humid like the Justice Department, like the Justice
- Building? I'm sorry. That one's tough for me because I'm a houseplant person. I love plants and I have
- 100 or so in my home. And so I am definitely a plant advocate. But what we were seeing in the Justice Center
- is because the humidity is so high, we had detections of a number of molds that are either considered
- outdoor-only molds, that are not molds common indoors, or molds that are considered to be plant pathogens.
- And some of the plant pathogen molds will also selectively target humans. And so some of the bad molds
- that we're targeting unfortunately live in plants. And just the, I scrubbed the planters,
- along the third floor hallway. And there was some buildup in there that I considered to be problematic.
- There's some spaces within the Justice Building that have fungus gnat infestations, which just signals
- overwatering, high humidity, and mold lives in soil on plants. So unfortunately, just because of the
- humidity and the structure, it's just not a great fit to have the plants in there. So the basic lesson
- seems to be if it can be moist,
- try to keep it out of there in the future? Yes. And I mean, it's definitely an abnormal situation because
- we're just struggling so much to keep the humidity at bay that anything that adds to it, anything that
- introduces mold into that environment is problematic. That may not be the case in every building,
- but in this building at this moment, that is the case, in my opinion.
- Well, we're dealing with some very unusual constraints because that building is beyond its natural lifespan
- already. I think I compared it before to a work uniform that's been worn and we just need a new uniform.
- Thank you very much. You're welcome. Part of this has to do with changes in the climate because it was
- one of the most humid summers in decades.
- in the Midwest overall. It's certainly people have been talking about it, how they felt it. But we also
- have a building that's poorly designed. I mean, we're trying to overcome so many things at one time
- that are going on. But I just want to thank you for your communication.
- your transparency, your willingness to meet with employees and address their questions. That was a long
- meeting. There are a lot of things that you've done to go above and beyond to help us, but also to help
- our employees understand what's going on. Because obviously, their health, the health of people in our
- care and custody is paramount.
- and you know that you recognize that and and you helped us with that communication because that's not
- my expertise. Clearly um and I really appreciated um you know we had a conversation earlier this week.
- He talked about long term planning and that's that is the next step after this report is out. So we
- do um we do
- the design issues that we face in that building. So, um, I just can't thank you enough. Um you know,
- you've you've made us a priority clearly. And we are grateful. Absolutely very grateful to you.
- It's our pleasure to do it.
- she hasn't yet anything okay great thank you so much thanks again for your time appreciate you all right
- uh next we have an update from uh richard krider fleet and facilities good morning good morning commissioners
- richard krider building fleet manager um i'm here regarding roof replacement at the monroe county health
- building 119
- West 7th Street. Recently, the commissioner's office contracted with STR Specialty Engineering Group
- to create the project manual and bid documents. The notice to bidders was advertised on August 2nd and
- August 14th, 2025. We hosted a pre-bid meeting for contractors on August 18th at 10 a.m. I believe 8
- roofing companies attended. Contractors were asked to provide a base bid
- and two alternates outlined in the project manual. The base bid is to replace the upper, lower and loading
- dock roofs. The first alternate is for using 60 mil thick membrane in lieu of 90. The second alternate
- is to include replacement of the sheet metal panels and gutter liner on the upper roof. Bids were due by 9 a.m.
- this morning in the legal department. There were five bids submitted. Mr. Cockrell has those.
- And after he opens, the goal is to have a recommendation to you, I think by the 11th of September. Thank you.
- Mr. Cockrell, we need a very long sustained drum roll here, please. Yeah. Hopefully not. No pressure, sir.
- Sometimes it takes a while to open this. And this first one is from
- Our Roofing Services out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Our Quality Roofing Services, Inc. out of Indianapolis,
- Indiana. Their base bid is $207,600. The next bid is from Steve's Roofing and Sheet Metal out of Bloomington, Indiana.
- And their base bid is $131,300. Next is from Danico Roofing Services, Inc. out of Indianapolis, Indiana.
- And their base bid is $198,800. The next one is from B&L Sheet Metal and Roofing out of Bloomington, Indiana.
- And their base bid is $214,000. And the final bid is from R. Adams Roofing out of Indianapolis, Indiana.
- And their base bid is $352,224. And that is all the bids that we have received.
- Thank you so much. We will take this under advisement. Obviously, we need to find the most responsive
- responsible bidder and look through all the rest of the documentation that's there. So we will take
- this under advisement. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any other departments have an update for us?
- raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right with that we will move on to our next item
- which is public comment. This is time reserved for public comment for items not on our agenda.
- We ask each commenter to limit their time to three minutes per person. Please state your name
- and county of residence. Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Okay, seeing none, we'll move
- on to the next item, please. I would like to move approval of the minutes for August 21st, 2025.
- Any edits or corrections? I have none. All right. I did have some and I've already given them to Ms. Freeman.
- They're going to be part of our packet. All in favor of approving the minutes for August 21st, 2025,
- signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. I would like to move approval of
- the claims docket for accounts payable for August 28th, 2025. Second. Ms. Moser. Good morning.
- Good morning, commissioners. The accounts payable claims docket for August 28th, 2025, totals $3,357,712.04.
- This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner
- Madeira? I have none. I don't either. Any public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on Teams
- or come to the podium.
- seeing none all those in favor of approving the claims docket for counts payable August twenty eight
- twenty twenty five signify by saying aye aye motion carries two zero I will not for the record we have
- received a report from the treasurer covering the period of July twenty twenty five and with that we
- will move on to new business place.
- I would like to move approval of the AT&T multi-service agreement, fund name County General, fund number 1,000
- in the amount of $88,547.40. Second. Mr. Crone, good morning. Good morning, everyone. So everyone's
- known for a while that AT&T and the other phone carriers are trying to get away from their old copper
- lines and get everybody on board.
- For two years now, we've been working with AT&T trying to identify all the copper lines we still have
- remaining. Obviously, the county has a very vast phone system, so with multiple locations, so it's taking
- some time to get sorted out. What's currently in your package, what AT&T has identified is our remaining
- copper Centrix lines that need to be replaced. They do this, part of this process is they bring in a
- signal converter, which is laid out in your packet there. It shows you what the device is that converts
- that from an analog to digital signal. Doing this process with all this transition will bring us a savings
- right now of about $750 a month. If we don't get off that copper in the next year when our contract expires,
- that we'll end up spending about $10,000 more a month because the way AT&T will change their charges.
- So it's a prudent that we get this taken care of.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Yeah, I mean, in the short term,
- $750 a month versus $88,000, that's it, you know, is it worth doing? But now, you know, if we know that
- within a year that our monthly costs are going to increase so much, yes, it's worth doing. Yeah.
- Right now, we're paying about $3,000 a month on those copper lines. So you see where that dropped that
- down to. But that's why I say later on, those numbers will shift. Right. Right. Right. That's, yeah.
- So the 88 would be well worth it now. Got it. Thank you. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item.
- You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
- none all those in favor of approving the AT&T multi-service agreement signify by saying aye aye aye
- motion carries to zero thank you very much thank you next item please i would like to move approval
- of resolution 2025-35 approving the statement of benefits for SEMTRA US LLC second mr cockrell yes and
- i i'll just
- for the record is resolution 36. There's a typographical error on the cover sheet and so I just wanted
- to note that. This item as a tax payment went through the county council meeting on Tuesday and was
- unanimously approved. The site we're looking at was declared an economic revitalization area in 2017
- beginning on
- I think it was January 1, 2018 for 15 years. So it's already gone through that process. A state code
- does require that, but it isn't in the Curry profile TIF district. This is the old GE plan.
- I think we've been referring to it as we've been working with the company as the park project. And so this,
- since it's in a TIF district in order for the tax abatement to be finally approved, the county commissioners
- or the legislative body of the group who
- first started the TIF has to approve any tax abatement in that area. I would tell you that I've talked
- with the Redevelopment Commission who oversees our TIF district and our conversation was the whole point
- of that TIF district is to get this building in operation and productive again. That TIF district is
- a very small TIF district that only includes this building and the parking lot.
- the lot to the left that has a gigantic parking lot on it. So from a redevelopment commission perspective,
- what is promised in this whole agreement, and I think the company is here to talk about it as well,
- is they're gonna do some rehabilitation to the property and they're going to add in the next 10 years,
- three production lines, which would be all told
- well north of 300 employees, well north of $300 million investment in the property. So I've got the
- company here who kind of share more of the details of what they're planning to do there, but this is
- coming to you because of that state code. Thank you so much. Would somebody from Central or BDC like to speak?
- Good morning. I need to sign in here. Please do.
- Good morning. Yeah, so my name is Pat Adams. I'm the general manager at the Bloomington site. I've spent
- about the last 20 years at the site. And as Jeff said, we've recently purchased the old GE building,
- as we've dubbed Project Park, with the intention of expanding the type of manufacturing we do,
- which is contract manufacturing work in perennial or sterile injectable products, both syringes and vials.
- The uniqueness of this property gives us the ability to step into kind of a new field of the same type
- of manufacturing, highly potent. It's something that our site in Halle, Germany does. It's very popular
- or relevant in the oncology therapy. So a lot of cancer products are moving this direction.
- more targeted products, more targeted therapies. And it allows us to become the only North American
- commercial manufacturer for these types of products. So it really helps our clientele in terms of their
- supply chain and domestic supply chain. And this property is quite large. It gives us the ability to
- continue to expand in Monroe County. So as Jeff said, the abatement has those commitments from us to
- add one line in the first three years
- And then in each of the subsequent three years, another line that equates to close, I think we put 90 people.
- It's probably a little conservative with each of those manufacturing lines. The building itself and
- the property does allow us to go beyond that if we have the opportunity. A lot of that will be driven
- by our client interest and demand, of course, but on our current property on 927 South Curry Pike,
- We are essentially landlocked there. We're out of space. It's about a 29-acre parcel. We also lease
- space near the Cook headquarters on Daniels Way. So this gives us, you know, this is a 65-acre lot.
- The building itself's probably got close to 800,000 square feet. We intend to keep and continue the
- outfit that Cook started about 300,000 to 400,000 feet of that.
- And then to the east, kind of some of the older blue area, we intend to demo and that will be a grass field.
- So we showed a rendering of that Tuesday. So very exciting to be part of that, having lived here for
- 20 plus years. So yeah, that's our intent. It allows us to both expand our current offerings
- and manufacturing, really cater to custom solutions for our clients, as well as step into that new highly
- potent field, which
- is a very strategic decision for the company so. Great comments or questions for Mr. Adams? No I think
- that people think that tax abatements are basically corporate giveaways and they're not they're really
- community partnerships and you guys are going to take and invest a lot of money in our community's future.
- You've already taken a facility that was blighted
- And you're going to do more to turn it into a productive asset. You're going to give us good living wage jobs.
- And the abatement is structured to incentivize further investment. And we look forward to partnering
- with you in our community's future. So thank you very much. Yeah, I'm typically not a big fan of corporate
- welfare, because in a sense,
- every taxpayer in Monroe County has to pick up what's not coming in. But obviously this is in a TIF
- and so things are a little different. And which is also to benefit businesses but businesses have to
- benefit the community and I really I want to take a second to thank Mr. Cockrell for crafting a really
- And it's a great product. Which will which very clearly defines obligations on both sides. As a good
- contract should so kudos to Mr Cockrell for that. And but it is exciting and you know we thought something
- was going to happen with this property. Just a year or two ago and that fell through and it's just been.
- I think we're all very excited to see something come out of this property and couldn't think of a better
- way to use it. And I just want to, again, compliment your company on the expansion on Curry south of
- this site that we're talking about, but really good work.
- And people are really excited about it. I mean, we even helped invest in a bus line to ensure that people
- can get there. So it's all coming together finally. And that's a really positive thing. So thank you for that.
- All right. Did you also want to make a comment, Ms. Pearl? Sure.
- Thank you. I'm Jen Pearl. I'm president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, and mainly
- just came to say thank you. The county team, Jeff, everyone has put a ton of work into this in structuring
- to make sure it's a great partnership with the company. We've been really pleased to work alongside you all.
- We're very excited about what this could bring for the community and the site, in addition to the wages,
- which are above the median household wages for both the county and the state.
- So mainly came to say thank you for your consideration today. And we're excited about this. Great.
- Thank you so much. Thanks. I will sign in. Yes, please sign. Appreciate it. All right. Any public comment
- on this item? You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium here in the net you will room.
- I do have one. That's interesting. I cannot see the name, but we do have Ms. Purdy, can you see the
- name there? It's like a CE. There we go. Oh, I know who that is. Mr. MG. Good morning. Good morning,
- Commissioner Thomas, Commissioner Madeira. I just want to echo a lot of the statements I heard at the
- County Council earlier in the week.
- and today about what a good investment this is for our community. Simtra is an excellent community partner.
- I just booked one of their fine employees for an Edgewood Junior High Career Panel. They're very accessible.
- This is a great way to reinvest in a reused property. Great work by Jen Pearl at the BEDC, Jeff Pearl as well.
- So I just want to give kudos to everybody involved. This is an exciting moment for economic development
- here in Monroe County. Thank you.
- Thank you so much, Mr. MG. Any other public comment on this item? You can raise your hand in teams or
- come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving resolution 2025-36 signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Thank you all for being here.
- Next item, please. Just one question. It is 36 and not 35. Yes. Okay. I would like to move approval
- of subdivision participation forms for two opioid lawsuits, Sandoz and Purdue. Second. Mr. Cockrell. Yes,
- and I got an email yesterday that says there may be more on their way. So just, but these are two that,
- one is the
- Purdue agreement, and it is one that we have looked at, and it went to the back to the banker or the
- court and the court said, not good enough and so they renegotiated it and this is the end result of that.
- We have outside counsel, Cohen and Malad, who specializes in these class action lawsuits. They've reviewed
- this. They've recommended approval of both. The Purdue one is extremely complicated because issue in
- it involves Purdue. And it involves bankruptcy court and a whole lot of different areas. The second
- one is from what they termed one of the more minor
- people in this realm in this opioid litigation, and the settlement is for just under $100 billion if
- that gives you a an idea of what what what all these in the public an idea of what all these has done.
- I actually think for our purposes the sand dose maybe a little bit more important because the first
- The Purdue one and the reason I didn't go into a lot of detail is because that's really what the state
- legislation was about. And the state was part of that. Because of the history with how it's gone through
- the court and back and forth, they are wanting us to sign off on it as well because of that history.
- But ultimately, at the end of the day, I'm not sure there's really any requirement that hasn't been
- taken care of by the statute. The second one may fall into that category or may not.
- I'm not sure the state has really picked up on that litigation as well, but we had included them in
- our initial complaints. And so that one is for just under $100 million. That's total. That's not us.
- There is a percentage associated with us. I think it's between $100,000 and $200,000 that would ultimately
- come to us, which is like 0.0137% or something like that.
- But we want to get these back to our council so that they can file with the court. And they have to
- do that sometime in September, so we wanted to get it back to them in August. Thank you so much.
- Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? No, it's just amazing how long all of these opioid litigation
- processes have taken. It's good to see that they're trickling down to this level. Thank you. Yeah.
- I'm not casting aspersions against the legal industry, but I think those are the folks who are doing
- the best in all of this. And that's not the intention. We really need to get this money in for treatment
- and investments and try to help the folks who are suffering. So anyway.
- public comment on this item. Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those
- in favor of approving the subdivision participation forms for two opioid lawsuits. Misspelled there.
- Sandoz and Purdue signify by saying aye. Motion carries 2-0. All right.
- Next item, please. I would like to move approval for N-dot change order number three for Vernal Pike
- Sunrise Greetings Extension, fund named Vernal Pike Sunrise Greetings, fund number 8165. Second. Ms. Ridge.
- Good morning. I want to clarify this is a zero dollar change order.
- That's why there was no funding attached to this. It was just basically changing to use an E5 as an
- alternate internal curing method for the structural concrete. It's an in-dot approved mixed design. And again,
- there was no cost change and it basically helps the concrete absorb better and set up better,
- making it for a longer lasting product.
- comments or questions commissioner Madeira. I know I think this is really cool actually thank you so much.
- I appreciate the work on this it's it's interesting to see. You know the details of this kind of how
- much it involves. Because it it doesn't a lot. So yeah. Really grateful
- for your efforts on this and hopefully it will last longer, which would be nice. All right. Let's see
- if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- see none. All those in favor of approving in that change order number 3 for vernal pike sunrise greetings
- extension signify by saying aye. Motion carries to 0. All right. Before we get to the next thing.
- my colleague to consider a request to the Monroe County Planning Commission to change the zoning of
- the Monroe County Nature Preserve Park, which is currently zoned as CVR, which is conservation residential,
- and rezone it to institutional public. Would you be willing to support that request? Yes. OK.
- great. I will forward that information to the planning commission and they will begin their work.
- It's not urgent so they know that. All right and with that so do you have just a few
- Announcements today, first and foremost, we are going to be closed. County government will be closed
- on Labor Day, which is September 1st. All of our offices are closed. We're grateful for all the labor
- of all of our good folks here in Monroe County government who work every day to serve this community.
- A reminder to sign up for the Resident Alert System.
- for whether health related emergencies and other updates. You can receive information by phone, text,
- and or email. We do continue to hold office hours via Teams each month. It's on the calendar at iam.gov
- slash county slash Monroe. And just as an FYI, the next blood drive at Ivy Tech 200 Daniels Way will be
- Wednesday, September 3rd and Thursday, September 4th. Both of these blood drives are running from noon to 6 p.m.
- in room C-130A and B, and that's at IB Tech 200 Daniels Way. And a reminder that for those folks who
- live outside the city and the town of Valsville, that there are still some funds left
- for rural housing repair and that is now being managed by originally ARPA funded. That is now being
- managed by Bloomington Foundation and so you please work through your Township Trustee. This is for
- necessary repairs for owner occupied homes in the county.
- anything else for the good of the order? No, I just think it's really neat to drive down past the convention
- center expansion site and see that while underway. And I think kind of we're in the swing of fall, so. Yeah,
- really, it is good news. And just as a note of record, tomorrow at 1130, here in the NATU room, the
- county council
- is holding a special work session where they're going to receive updated information from DLZ on the
- proposed basic floor plan for the new justice building. So we're looking forward to getting the council's
- input on that. All right. We do not have a work session today, correct? All right. Anything else?
- I do not. All right. Have a great, safe, fun Labor Day weekend. And our next meeting will be Thursday,
- September 4th. My gosh, it's going to be September. All right. With that, we are adjourned. Thanks, everyone.