- meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday, October 23rd. I apologize for the
- late start. We have Commissioner Jones joining us on Teams, I believe. Yes, and we have Commissioner
- Madeira present here in the NetU Hill Room. I'm Commissioner Thomas. I'm here. And with that, we will
- begin with our public statement, 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 MCCSC. Thank you so much. And with that, we will move on to a proclamation
- for Youth Hope Month regarding youth homelessness, outreach, prevention, and education.
- Whereas the future wellbeing of our nation is dependent on a value we place on our young people, and
- the prevalence of runaway and homelessness among youth is staggering, with studies suggesting that every
- year 4.2 million people ages 13 to 25 endure some form of homelessness. Runaway youth are often expelled
- from their home, have experienced trauma, struggle to meet basic needs,
- and are at an increased danger of falling into high-risk situations, including human trafficking, and
- may be ineligible or unable to access adequate medical or mental health resources. Whereas the Youth
- Service Bureau of Monroe County is working to raise awareness, support, and resources for young people
- in the community, effective programs,
- supporting runaway youth and assisting youth and their families in providing safe and stable homes succeed
- because of partnerships created among families, youth-based advocacy organizations, community-based
- human service agencies, law enforcement schools, faith-based organizations and businesses. If all of
- us work together, we can prevent the situations that compel youth to run away from home.
- and encourage all residents to appreciate the role that we can all play in advocating for and providing
- safe alternatives to this vulnerable population of young people. Whereas the National Runaway Safe Line
- is honoring November as Youth Help Month to raise awareness of the issues facing runaway and homeless
- youth, to educate the public about solutions and the role they can play
- in ending youth homelessness. Now, therefore, we, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim
- the month of November 2025 as Youth Hope Month in Monroe County. And that is proclaimed today, this
- 23rd day of October, 2025. Thank you all so much. We do have the proclamations, Ms. Ridge.
- I don't know if you want to say anything.
- Hi, I'm Sarah Jamieson with the Youth Services Bureau of Monroe County. I'm the public program coordinator
- and I'm here to also introduce Jade Passwader. She is our new safe place manager and she's been doing
- an awesome job and super excited about National Hope Month and we just really appreciate you working
- with us and we're looking forward to the courthouse lighting up green in November. We'll have signs
- up and we'll have social media posts too about different ways to raise awareness. Thank you, welcome.
- Yes, thank you.
- now move on. Thank you, Ms. Ridge. Extra work, sorry. Thank you. And we will now move on to department
- updates. I believe we have Ms. Kelly joining us from the Health Department. Good morning, Commissioners.
- According to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard, as of October 21st, emergency department visits
- for COVID-like illness have decreased
- and wastewater concentrations have decreased slightly. Flu activity across the state is still minimal.
- RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild cold-like symptoms, but can be serious in
- infants and older adults. Vaccination can prevent illness caused by RSV, and it is approved for pregnant
- individuals 32 to 36 weeks of pregnancy,
- Infants age months or younger, if not protected by a maternal vaccine and adults 60 and older. The public
- health clinic does have vaccines available. You can call 812-353-3244 for an appointment. Thank you
- so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madeira? No,
- thank you.
- I don't have any either. Thank you so much. Does any other department have an update for us? Raise your
- hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Hi, Martha Miller, Monroe County Soil and Water. I'm not on the actual agenda. I was gonna do a public
- comment, but I'll just do it real quick here. I wanna just express a thank you to the commissioners
- and all of my fellow coworkers throughout as we are in a strange time for governmental practices. And
- we are temporarily housed at 501 North Morton in a conference room. And I just wanna truly just say
- thank you. We have been welcomed, we have had
- massive support from all of our other departments around us and it's just a good feeling. So thank you.
- Great. Thank you so much. Displaced, but still with us working hard. Thank you. All right. Any other
- departments have an update for us? All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to the next agenda item.
- which is public comment. This is for items that are not on our agenda. We ask commenters to limit their
- time to three minutes per person and please share your name and county of residence. There will be a
- timer on the screen, TSD, if you would please. Thank you so much. Good morning.
- Good morning commissioners. Uh, this is Chris from the greater Bloomington chamber of commerce. Uh,
- tonight or this morning, I don't even know what day it is. Um, I'm going to have my success school hat.
- I, our foundation arm, our feel good arm of the chamber is having its career cruise two weeks from today.
- Um, that's November six. I know that's commissioner time, but we're inviting all of the county departments
- to take part in it. This is our third annual,
- version of this where we bring in all 7th and 8th graders, not all either 7th or 8th graders from all
- of the RBB MCCSE schools and they go to each port in the Monroe Convention Center and
- with their passport, get stamped and learn about different wonderful careers right here in our county.
- The sheriff's office was there last year and it is a lot of fun and I'm encouraging departments to set
- sail with us November 6th. Look for an email from me or one of my fine fellows at the chamber.
- You can also chamber bloomington.org. It's on our events calendar. You can sign up there. You have any
- questions for me? We'd love to see you. It's 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on November 6th. That's at the Monroe
- Convention Center. Let's see you two weeks from today. Thanks. Sounds good. Thank you. Any other public
- comment for items not on our agenda?
- Seeing none, we'll move on to the next agenda item, please. I would like to move approval of the minutes
- for October 9th, 2025. I will second that. Anybody have comments, corrections, or edits? No? Okay. Mr.
- Cockrell, will you please call the roll on approval of minutes for October 9th, 2025? Commissioner Thomas. Yes.
- Commissioner Jones. I believe Commissioner Jones may be having technical issues. I believe she is.
- Oh dear. Yes. Motion two to zero with one technical problem. Hopefully Commissioner Jones can log back
- in to join us.
- All right, let's move on to the next agenda item, please. I would like to move approval of the claims
- docket for accounts payable for October 23rd, 2025, and for payroll for October 17th, 2025. Thank you
- so much. Good morning. Tell us all about it, please. Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket
- for October 23rd, 2025 totals $11,262,064.74.
- This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for October 17,
- 2025 totals $1,579,540.45 in direct costs, and the remaining $683,308.46 were for indirect costs for
- a grant total of $2,206,605.66.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? I have none, thank you. I don't see
- that Commissioner Jones is back. I don't have any either. Let's see if there's any public comment on
- this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- Since Commissioner Jones is not back online yet, I'll go ahead and call the question on the approval
- of the claims docket. All those in favor of the claims docket accounts payable October 23rd and payroll
- October 17, 2025, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. I will note for the record that
- We have received a report from the treasurer for September of 2025. And with that, we will go ahead
- and move on to new business, please. I would like to move approval for the town of Eltsville MOU for
- the high tech crimes unit. Fund name, high tech crimes unit, fund number 9159 in the amount of $285,000.
- I will second that. Ms. Hamlin is joining us via team. Hello, commissioners. Good morning. Can you hear
- me okay? We sure can. Thank you. Great. This is a request for approval and signature on an MOA between
- the Town of Ellitsville and our high tech crimes unit.
- Ellitsville Police Department now houses our high-tech crime unit. This has been a very successful
- partnership. Several months ago, you signed the agreement, the grant agreement that brings the funding
- from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council to the high-tech crime unit. And this is just an agreement
- between the town of Ellitsville and the county to house the project there.
- Great, thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Redire? No, I just think it's really cool
- that we have this here. I'm delighted that we have this available as a resource and I really enjoy funding
- it, so. Yeah, it's a great project. Thank you for bringing this forward. Is there 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 town of Ellsville MOA for high tech crimes unit signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you. Thank you. Next item please. I would like to
- move approval for the ratification of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant for major
- crash investigation team, fund name, number to be determined, grant amount 43,900. I will second that.
- We did hear this at our work session. Oh, it looks like we got it back. Excellent. We did hear this
- at our work session two weeks ago. I don't know that anyone is here to present on it, but I,
- was given instructions for signing this via DocuSign, but was told that I can't sign it until the auditor
- signs it. And I haven't received it back yet. So hopefully, that will get done. All right. Do you have
- any comments or questions on this? No. Again, I just think that it's a wonderful resource, and again,
- an essential resource, in fact. So yeah. It's a great thing to have.
- Commissioner Jones, did you have any comments or questions? No, I don't, but I'm not going to be able
- to vote on it because my cameras refusing to work. Oh dear. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. I'm glad
- you're here. Yes, I'll stick around. Maybe it'll come on. Thank you. All right. Any public comment on
- this item? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant for Major
- Crass Investigation Team, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. I would
- like to move approval for Reed and Sons construction, Carson Athletic Complex contract number two, change
- order number five, fund names, parks, non-reverting and county general.
- fund numbers 1178, 1179, and 1000, in an amount not to exceed $49,370.58. I will second that. Good morning,
- Mr. Robertson. Good morning. OK, so change order number five to contract number two of the Carson Athletic
- Complex project. Essentially, this is a modification to the electrical plans that will ultimately serve
- as field number 12, which is in the northwest corner of the park.
- also why it's on contract number two. And to make a long story short, so I don't get too far into the
- weeds here, some of the electrical components that are located at the north side are not suitable for
- Duke Energy to connect their service. So we have to move those components from the north end of the
- facility to the south end, which ultimately Duke will install two transformers and connect their service
- on the south end.
- Simple enough, just quite a bit of material and labor involved there, which is what we see in the cost.
- I also wanted to point out, and it was mentioned, but since there are a lot of different funding mechanisms
- with this project, the park board did approve using our non-reverting funds for this expense. So it's
- not a request for additional funds, just to proceed with the change order. Excellent. Thank you so much.
- That was a question I'd sent on email. Thank you for that.
- Any comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No, just happy this is moving forward. Agreed. Yeah.
- Commissioner Madeira? Nope, just sounds like one of those things that we have to go through in order
- to complete the project.
- I would say it's shocking, but that would be it. All right. The cost is shocked. All right. Let's see
- if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- All right, seeing none.
- All those in favor of approving the reading sun's construction cars athletic complex contract number
- two change order number five signify by saying aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you. Thanks for being
- here. All right. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for section four F temporary occupancy
- letter approval.
- I will second that, Mr. Cockerill and or Ms. Ridge. Born happy to talk about this. Essentially what
- section four F is, is whenever we're doing a federally funded project that's going to impact a park
- or park like setting, they want to make sure that any intrusion on that is minor and will be replaced
- at the end of time. And since you own the Karst
- or the limestone greenway there. And this project is going to have to affect a little bit of it. I think
- they're going to raise it a little bit and repave about 40 square feet or something. So relatively minor.
- This just indicates of where they were worked a alternative route during that less than 90 day period
- of that construction activity and that you guys are aware of it and are okay with that. And this is
- the Dillman Bridge
- replacement project that we're talking about. So when they replace the Dillman bridge, there's going
- to be a minor alter alteration to the route for the limestone greenway. But at the end of the day with
- it, it will be put back into place in as good or a better condition than what it is right now. Great.
- Did you have anything to add, Ms. Ridge? No. Okay. Uh, comments or questions, commissioner Madeira?
- Nope. Delighted that the access will be there. Absolutely. Commissioner Jones, comments or questions?
- I'm just happy to see some progress with this. Or sure. I agree. Thanks everyone for working on this
- important project. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams
- or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the section four F temporary occupancy letter signify by
- saying aye. Aye. Motion carries two zero. All right. Next item, please. I'd like to move approval for
- American structure point incorporated agreement for the Fullerton Pike FEMA floodplain as built and
- modeling fund names, cumulative capital and county general fund numbers, 1138 and 1000 in an amount
- not to exceed $50,000.
- I will second that. Director Nestor Dillon from our planning department. Good morning. Thank you for
- being here. Good morning. Thanks for having me. And also we have Lisa Ridge to fill us in and then Tammy
- Biermans also online our floodplain administrator.
- So this is a proposal for a contract with American Structure Point. Lisa and Paul Satterly with the
- Highway Department have been incremental in helping us get together with American Structure Point and
- look over a contract that's at a not to exceed amount of $50,000. Basically, what this contract helps
- us to do is to get the necessary data associated with the completion of Fullerton Pike. We need some
- hydrology modeling, which
- is not just
- typical as-builts of the bridge. So it went over the FEMA floodplain and we need better maps now that
- the bridge is in. That will help us in the future if people want to put in new structures surrounding
- the bridge to know whether they need flood insurance or move it or whether it can proceed. So we're
- working with the commissioner's office. Angie's been very helpful. So we're looking to have $44,000
- potentially under cumulative capital and then we've moved $6,000 just
- from our general fund, from our unused budget from this year to hopefully encumber and have for next
- year under this contract if approved by you and the council. All right, thank you so much. Thank you
- for working on the funding issue. That's always something that's important. Comments or questions,
- Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No, I have none.
- Ms. Ridge or Ms. Beerman, do you have anything you want to add? Nothing? That I know of. I know this
- is a new requirement over the last couple of years. It goes with the CLOMAR permit and the LOMAR permit
- to have a letter of map revision through FEMA. So we're just been following all the necessary requirements
- to be in compliance with that. Excellent.
- Thank you so much. I think the timeline is early 2026 would be the timeline for the contract completion.
- Thank you so much. Oh, and commissioner Jones is back online and on camera. Yay. All right. Okay. Let's
- see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, Mr. Cockrell, since we have Commissioner Jones back on camera, would you please call the
- roll? Commissioner Thomas? Yes. Commissioner Jones? Yes. Commissioner Madeira? Yes. Motion is approved,
- three to zero. Thank you so much. All right, next item, please. I would like to move approval for in-dot
- change order number two for the bicentennial pathway.
- Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138 in the amount of $480,001.08. We skipped one. Let's
- go ahead and do that. That's okay. Let's go ahead and do that's item G. We'll go ahead and do that one.
- And we'll turn to Ms. Ridge.
- So we are in the process of trying to get everything closed out for this project. It takes a while.
- So this is a change order actually to begin that process. So it's a negative $481,001.08. So that's
- how much the project came in under construction cost. When it's said and done and everything is finalized
- and audited,
- audited Monroe County should receive 20% of that amount back because we pay a 20% local match. So this
- is just actually trying to finalize this project. And as you can see, it's two years after construction.
- So it takes a while. It does, it does. And so the county capital fund, thank goodness, will eventually
- be getting back 96,000
- dollars and 21 cents. Yeah. Um, thank you. Comment. Thank you. Uh, commissioner, none. Um, commissioner
- Jones, comments or questions. It's just always nice to get money back rather than sending it out. It's
- a nice change.
- Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
- All right. Mr. Cockrell, will you please call the roll on in dot change order number two for the bicentennial
- pathway? Commissioner Thomas. Yes. Commissioner Jones. Yes. Commissioner Madeira.
- Yes. Motion is approved three to zero. All right, thank you so much. Now we'll go back to item F please.
- Yes, I'd like to move approval for the second item that said American Structure Point Incorporated Agreement
- for Construction Inspection Services for Roar Road Bridge number 75. Fund name cumulative bridge, fund
- number 1135 in an amount not to exceed $47,901.31. All right, I will second that. Thank you so much.
- Ms. Ridge. So this contract is for part-time construction inspection services. We expect construction
- to go after April 1st. The project was awarded to CLR construction contractors this past fall. And I
- don't think there's anything else to add. This is just a locally funded project. There's no federal
- aid dollars. There's no match. So
- just want to throw that out there. This will be completely on Monroe County and local funds. Yeah. Can
- you provide a little info about where the roar road bridges? Yeah, it is by Sarah road, just west of
- that intersection. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. All right. Um, comments or questions, commissioner Jones.
- No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you. All right. I don't either. Let's see if there's any
- public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, Mr. Cockrell, will you please call the roll on American Structure Point Inc. agreement
- for construction inspection services, railroad bridge number 75. Commissioner Thomas. Yes. Commissioner
- Jones. Yes. Commissioner Madeira. Yes. Motion is approved, three to zero. Thank you so much. All right.
- Let's move on to item H, please.
- I would like to move approval for ordinance 2025-38, Petra PUD outline plan amendment one. I will second
- that. Oh, Mr. Sean Smith from planning is online. Please tell us all about it. Good morning, commissioners.
- I'm going to share my screen here and start the show.
- All right, so this is concerning the Petra PUD Outline Plan Amendment 1. This concerns 129.79 plus or
- minus acre parcel, and this is located in the northern part of the county in Washington Township Section
- 19 at 1392 West Dittimore Road. It is close to the border between Washington Township and Bean Blossom Township.
- So I will continue through here. So the request here is to amend that outline plan, specifically conditions
- number two and number three. And this would allow for up to 30,000 square feet of developed area and
- for the existing driveway and parking areas to remain paved. So this came to us in the form of a proposed
- 1,688 square foot addition that is to be added to the
- Existing facility I'm told it will be an extension of their library. So just some background on this
- request. So the board of commissioners ordinance number 2001 dash 30. Condition number 2 had stated
- that the total developed area for this development shall be limited to 15,000 square feet. So for this
- request, the petitioner is seeking to increase that from 15,000 to 30,000.
- and that would allow them enough room for the expansion of their existing facility, but also room to
- grow in the future should the current property owners or a future property owner decide to go through
- with that addition. However, just for right now, the petitioners don't have any current plans to expand
- beyond this proposed addition. And just some background on the zoning.
- What the petitioner is proposing is for 30,000 square feet developed area. Whereas if it were. It's
- underlying zoning district, the forest residential 5, they could be allowed to have up to 55,000 square
- feet. So what the petitioner is, you know, hoping to request here is that because they're requesting
- a less square footage limitation that. That might be approved and then condition number 3.
- which states that the driveway and in parking areas shall be gravel. The petitioners are seeking to
- just strike that condition entirely. And we'll talk more about that as the presentation goes on. So
- this PUD was approved by the Board of Commissioners on June 1st, 2001. And the purpose was
- for the development of a research facility
- for the nonprofit organization known as Friends of Craft. So that's Center for Research into
- the Anthropological Foundations of Technology. For the public's reference, this facility is otherwise
- known as the Stone Age Institute. So the purpose of this research facility is not only to conduct research,
- but they also do prepare publications, as well as house their large private library.
- And you'll note as part of this request, it is to extend or add on to their vast collection in their
- research library. So did want to make some brief points here. So while the facility does collaborate
- with Indiana University, it is not owned by the university. So they are completely autonomous. It's
- privately funded.
- And the original PUD plans did offer the possibility of the directors living on site. However, through
- the development of our residents on site. However, the directors did opt to purchase an adjacent property
- and that is actually currently where the directors live. So there are no future plans for that, at least
- right now. And
- the underlying zoning district at the time was forest reserve, which was under the prior 1997 zoning
- ordinance, which did not allow for a research facility youth. So that is why the current property owners
- had sought a rezone to what we call planned unit development or a PUD for short. And that allowed them
- the freedom to develop this research facility.
- I have on the screen here highlighted the two original conditions of approval under the original outline
- plan. The two highlighted are the problem areas. The first one being that the total developed area is
- limited to 15,000 square feet and the third one being that the driveway and parking areas shall be gravel.
- On the screen here, I just have a snippet of what the original ordinance looked like. At least as of
- June 1st, 2001,
- The main takeaway from this is just that the research facility was not a permitted use. But with the
- original PUD approval, all the uses you see on the screen would be allowed to be developed in this area
- in addition to the research facility if the property owners or a future owner saw fit. So some discussion into the
- driveway and parking areas. So as I previously stated, the driveway and parking areas were supposed
- to remain gravel. At some point between 2005 and 2010, the owners did opt to pave over the driveway
- and parking areas. So in 2005, on the screen, the bottom of the screen, you can kind of see there's,
- it looks like
- There might be some paving starting or had just begun, but by 2010, it was very pronounced.
- And then 2024, which would be the latest aerial imagery that we have. You can definitely see that it
- looks like there was some repaving. So,
- This would otherwise be a direct violation of the PUD ordinance, which is why the petitioners are here
- in hopes to have that condition removed from the overall outline plan. And then on the screen before
- you is just a zoning map. So you'll see that in gray represents the petition site. So it is
- unique in its area, but the area overall is incredibly rural in nature. And then on the screen here
- is just a brief snippet of the petitioners proposed development plans. Here they have the location of
- the drive, so it is a fairly long drive, but
- I think that was intentional because you cannot actually see the facility from the roadway itself. But
- on the screen here just represents the extent of the driveway and parking areas that they would. Prefer
- to keep paved if the commissioners vote on that today.
- Then the second page here provides a little more detail in regards to their proposed addition. Their
- proposed addition is located, I'm not sure if you can see my cursor here, but it is on the south side
- of the building here noted by this rectangle. The proposed addition is 1,688 square feet. If they were
- to build that today,
- it would put them at approximately 15,860 square feet, which would be greater than the 15,000 square
- foot threshold that was approved under the original 2001 ordinance. Then they did go ahead and label
- an auxiliary garage building parking lot and just added some dates of when the pavement had occurred.
- They do have an existing septic system that was
- Installed on the property and the original plans did notes. And at the time, it was called a sinkhole
- cons conservency area. So those have been labeled on the plot as well. The stormwater program manager
- did not foresee an issue with their proposed addition with regards to impacting those sinkholes.
- And then on the screen are just some site photos that I took during my site visit to the facility. I
- mentioned previously, you cannot see the facility from the roadway. So the images on top would be reflective
- of that statement. And then they do have a three, looks like a three car garage on the property. And
- then the main facility shown on the bottom right hand side of the screen.
- And then the top two images here, you'll notice that the area has been staked out. So they did that.
- So it could help show the commissioners exactly the extent of the structure that's going in. So it does
- not appear to otherwise have any adverse environmental impacts or anything like that.
- These are the construction plans that the petitioner submitted along with their request. So, the main
- takeaway is that they do appear to be staying with the architectural style of the building.
- And planning staff is supportive of this petition. They did recommend a positive recommendation to the
- county commissioners based on the fact or I should say conditioned on the fact that the uses shall be
- limited to the friends of craft research facility or a research facility of a similar nature and uses
- permitted in the forest reserve zone in the agricultural residential uses subcategories of table two
- dash one, which was that table I showed earlier.
- permitted land uses from ordinance 1997-36, number two, that the total developed area shall be limited
- to 30,000 square feet, and three, that this petition shall comply with the requirements of the Monroe
- County Highway and Drainage Engineer Reports. At their September 25th, 2025 meeting, the Monroe County
- Planning Commission did vote six to zero to forward a positive recommendation to the county commissioners
- with those three conditions outlined in the staff report. And this concludes my presentation. Thank
- you so much, Mr. Smith. Great work. Very clearly explained. Appreciate that. Let's see if there's any
- comments or questions for you, Mr. Smith. Commissioner Jones.
- Well, I really don't have any problem with the paving rather than the gravel since it's my understanding
- that once gravel has been driven on a bit, it really is not that much different than paving.
- And in general, I'm very supportive of this. Do you know if it's ever open to the public or is this
- entirely a private research facility?
- I do not know for sure if it is open to the public. I will state that it is gated. So you do have to,
- I had to ring in when I arrived. But I'm sure the petitioner or the petitioner's representatives who's
- here, I believe online would be able to answer that. Thank you. All right. Comments or questions,
- Commissioner Madera?
- No, I think it was very thoroughly explained and I have no further questions. Great. So we do have Ms.
- Kropinski online. I believe petitioners are also here in the NETU Hill Room. And so if you'd like to
- offer an answer to Commissioner Jones's question, but also anything you wish to present or clarify,
- we would welcome you to do so at this point.
- You will have to unmute Ms. Kropinski. Your hands raised. We see you. There you are. Okay. Thank you
- very much. I see Nick has made it to the podium, so perhaps I should let him speak. I could not see
- that on screen.
- Good morning. My name is Nicholas Toth and my wife, Kathy Schick, we're the co-founders and co-directors
- of the Stone Age Institute. And as I understand it, by zoning, we're not open to the public, but by
- special invitation. So we've hosted hundreds of visitors, both university and Bloomington community
- over the last 20 years. Thank you. Is there anything else you wanted to add about this project?
- Mr. Toath, Ms. Kropinski. And most of our research is done in East Africa and the Republic of Georgia,
- some of the earliest stone age sites in the world. But the reason for this expansion, we've already
- inherited one of our Berkeley professors' libraries. And we're about to inherit our other Berkeley
- professors' library, which is 6,000 books and 100,000 reprints. So we will have compactors.
- in this facility to store these things. And we will have the best library in the world for what we do.
- Wow, impressive, impressive. All right, does anybody else wish to speak in favor of this petition? You
- can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- Does anybody wish to speak in opposition to this petition? You may raise your hand on teams or come
- to the podium here in the NETU Hill Room. Okay, see back to the board for any last comments or questions.
- Anything come up, Mr. Commissioner Madera? Nope, I have nothing. Okay, Commissioner Jones.
- No I don't. Now this is an impressive research facility and I'm grateful that you're here in Monroe
- County. I'm not typically a fan of when projects are have gone through a PUD project process and the
- owner slash operator makes a decision to make a change without coming
- before us uh that's that's related specifically to the gravel slash paving of the driveway it's i know
- there's a belief out there it's just better to do it and ask forgiveness than to ask permission but
- um in the future um you know like you did with this building please ask permission we're a reasonable
- bunch that's okay that's okay it's it's been a long time since the original pud was
- was created, and that can be forgotten as to what all of the conditions are. So I don't claim
- any intentionality in your action. But I am glad you came here. And it's really wonderful to hear that
- you have such a great expansion of your collection. That is so impressive. Thank you for that. Being
- good stewards and caretakers of this
- is a vital resource. And there are three conditions that are attached to this relating to the use. The
- limitation of 30,000 square feet total developed area, but on 29 acres, 29 plus acres, that's not terrible.
- following the requirements of Monroe County Highway and the Drainage Engineer Report. So those are part
- of this motion just for the record. So with that, Mr. Cockrell, will you please call the roll on Ordinance
- 2025-38? Commissioner Thomas? Yes. Commissioner Jones? Yes.
- Commissioner Madeira. Yes. Motion is approved. Three to zero. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you for
- being here. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, Ms. Karpinski. Good to see you. All right. I don't
- have a ton of items here, but I would just remind the public that the Board of Commissioners does have
- office hours.
- throughout the month, every month, six times a month. Just go to the calendar on our website and take
- a look and join us for a conversation. Had a great conversation Tuesday. That was good. So while you're
- there, recommend that you sign up for the Resident Alert.
- notification system where you can be contacted via text email and or phone and also a reminder that
- we do have board and commission appointments that will be coming up and as our website continues to
- be updated don't worry about looking at how many members are
- uh, expired members, um, tasked with are expiring and, and all that. Just if you're interested,
- please apply. That's all I can tell you. Um, the next, uh, blood drives that we're co-sponsoring, uh,
- with Ivy Tech and the Red Cross, Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, 10 a.m. to three Thursday, November 13th,
- from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. And again, this is at Ivy Tech, 200 Daniels Way, room C130A and B. Please go to
- redcross.org to make an appointment. Anything else for the good of the order?
- Just a quick note that on November 13th from 8 to 4, we're going to have the Monroe County Childhood
- Conditions Summit in the Monroe Convention Center. That's also always a wonderful event to attend. Yeah,
- it is really good. Great. Thank you so much. Anything Commissioner Jones to add? No, I don't. All right.
- Well, we do have
- Our next meeting is October 30th, right here in the Net Your Hill Room at 10 a.m., but we do have a
- work session agenda. Can we come back at 11.15 for that work session? Is that okay with everyone?
- All right, all right, good. Well, with that, we are,
- Thank you everyone. Be well.