- like to call to order this meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. I'm very happy to say
- all three commissioners are here and present today in the Nat U Hill room and we will begin with our
- public statement. 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
- of our county public school systems, both RBB and MCC SC. And with that. We will. Move on to our
- Good morning, commissioners. Can you hear me? Yes. Good morning. Good morning. Just a few updates for
- you this morning. 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.
- The Indiana Department of Health has announced the first flu death of the season. The CDC does recommend
- an annual flu vaccine for all people six months 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. Okay. I do not have any either. Thank you for being here as always. Any other department
- updates? You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- do have one. It is our health department's medical director, Dr. Reiterband. Good morning. You are unmuted.
- You're ready for you. I was asked to update you all on immunizations and I'm not
- clear exactly which of them you would like. There are so many vaccinations and we certainly encourage
- people to become vaccinated. Flu this year is supposed to be pretty nasty. I certainly know folks across
- the pond who are suffering for two and a half, three weeks
- with a single bout of flu. So I certainly encourage people to get their vaccines for flu. It's available
- for six months and older. COVID vaccines are also widely available and they are available for people
- 11 years and older. The recommendation for COVID vaccines these days are that you must do that with
- consulting a professional. Now that professional does not need to be a physician. It can be the pharmacist
- at your local pharmacy. It can be the nurse. It can be any professional. So as long as you can say,
- I've consulted a professional and I want the vaccine, you're good to go. The other ones that I would
- really encourage is that once again, if you
- Do not know that you are fully vaccinated for measles. Please do that. MMR vaccines are available and
- we know that there are multiple outbreaks across the country. We've had a couple here in Indiana already,
- again, and we are surrounded by states
- in Illinois and Ohio with larger outbreaks. So we're not sure exactly why we have not seen the outbreaks
- here that we have in our adjacent states, but it is coming until there is really a 95% compliance rate
- with vaccines. Then we are going to continue to see outbreaks of diseases that are readily
- avoided and lives saved if people will simply vaccinate. I'm wondering, also RSV, which is respiratory
- syncytial virus, also has a vaccine. This is a disease, a virus that indeed tends to attack
- very young children and has caused multiple deaths. So it's, while most of us who are older can manage
- it, it certainly any child who has any kind of disability, any kind of lung issue, if they have not
- been vaccinated really should be. And again, it's another one of those vaccines that is certainly suggested
- for those who are older and have any kind of lung problem. I'm wondering if any of the commissioners
- have questions or would like recommendations about some specific vaccines. Thank you so much, Dr. Reiterman,
- for being here. We really appreciate it and the insight into how people can obtain the COVID.
- COVID-19 vaccine and that flu season is going to be upon us very soon. Comments or questions, Commissioner
- Madeira? No, thank you very much for that detailed information. Commissioner Jones? No, thank you. Thank
- you so much. We really appreciate it and we appreciate your good work for the health of the entire county.
- Thanks so much. I'm happy to serve you all. Thank you. Thank you.
- All right, any other department updates? You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. Okay,
- seeing none, we'll move on to public comment. This is for items that are not on the agenda. We ask each
- speaker to limit their time to three minutes per person and to please provide their name and county
- of residence.
- the microphone. You may come up to the podium or raise your hand on teams. Good morning. Good morning.
- You can pull that
- I'm Becky Brass, and I'm with the League of Women Voters Observer Corps. And this is my first commission
- meeting as a League of Women Voters Observer. I'll be observing some in person and some virtually. Great.
- Thank you for being here. We had this for quite a while, and then COVID hit, and it became difficult.
- So we appreciate you being here. Thank you. Glad to be here. Any other public comment?
- Seeing none, we'll move on to our next agenda item, please. Approval of the minutes for August 23rd,
- 2025. I second that. We have a motion and a second. Any comments, corrections, or edits? I have none.
- I don't either. Thank you, Ms. Freeman. All those in favor of approving the minutes for October 23rd,
- 2025, signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of the claims docket, accounts payable October
- 30th, 2025 and payroll October 31st, 2025. Aye. Second. We have a motion and we have a second.
- Good morning. Tell us all about it. Good morning, commissioners.
- The accounts payable claims docket for October 30th, 2025, totals $3,614,556.66. This includes all emergency
- claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for October 31st, 2025, includes $1,571,276.
- $279.25 indirect costs and the remaining $671,991.65 were for indirect costs for a grand total
- of $2,243,270.90. Thank you so much. Any comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No, I don't.
- Thank you. Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you.
- 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, we'll come back for a vote. All those in favor of approving the
- claim stock at accounts payable October 30th, 2025 and payroll October 31st, 2025 signify by saying aye.
- I. Motion carries 3-0. I will note for the record, we've received reports from the Clerk of the Circuit
- Court for September 2025 and weights and measures for September 2025. And with that, we will move on
- to new business, please. Move approval of the 2026 Department of Corrections Community Corrections Grant Fundings
- Community Corrections Program, Drug Court, and Mental Health Court. Fund numbers 9142, 9148, and 9150
- in the grant amount of $1,229,334. We have a motion.
- I would like to second that. Great. We have a motion and a second, and we have mystery joining us. Good
- morning. Hi, good morning. Becca Strike, Community Corrections Executive Director and Deputy Chief Probation
- Officer. I am here requesting that the commissioners sign our 43rd year contract with the Department
- of Correction. This partnership has been going on, like I said, for 43 years, where the Department of
- Correction provides funding for us to support alternatives to incarceration.
- This would include community corrections programs such as home detention, electronic monitoring, our
- day reporting program, and our drug testing program. This also supports two of our four problem solving
- courts, including our drug treatment court and mental health court.
- You might notice one difference. We were disappointed to learn that this year, or for 2026, the Department
- of Correction is unable to help fund our pretrial program. They've been doing that for, 2026 will be
- our 10th year of pretrial. This did come as a surprise. Monroe County was not the only one affected
- by this. DOC could not fund pretrial across the entire state.
- Fortunately for 2026 the Indiana Supreme Court came through with a one-time assist so our pretrial program
- is guaranteed to function through 2026 with that extra money but we will be working hard next year to
- see how we can sustain that program. We've assessed over 20,000 defendants who have been booked into
- jail in order to
- to assist the court in making release decisions. So we were disappointed to hear about that.
- But for 2026, we're solid. But stay tuned. So thank you. Wow. That's a huge disappointment. Comments
- or questions, Commissioner Madeira?
- No, I've done a lot of research with pretrial release programs, drug courts, and I think that they're
- very effective, and we're very proud to have them in our community. So it is wonderful to see this on
- our agenda for today. Thank you. Commissioner Jones. Yes, I'm very pleased that the Supreme Court did
- come through for 2026. Really, pretrial is something that needs to be expanded, not have money taken
- away from it.
- this is very unfortunate on the part of the state. It really is. Well, you know, we're interested and
- obviously hopeful that this funding can continue beyond 2026, and we appreciate the effort that's been
- made. And just for the public certification, the Community Correction Program grant amount is $1,049,167.
- the mental health court grant amount is $137,209. And the mental health court grant amount is $42,958.
- All of these programs are vital. Thank you for all you do. 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.
- seeing none, we'll come back for a vote. All those in favor of approving the 2026 Department of Corrections
- Community Corrections Grant signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you for your continued
- support. Thank you. Becca, I'm sending you an email. They have not corrected the signatory line yet.
- They haven't corrected the signature line yet.
- on the document so I'm sending an email to them now. Okay and I will alert my program director through
- the DOC as well. Thank you. Thank you. So if we get it from Indiana don't sign it yet. It's already
- I have it. Oh okay because yeah all right cool thank you. All right next item please. Move approval
- of the 2026 Ansem renewal fund name self-insurance fund number
- 47,000 in an amount that's various. I second that.
- We have a second. E, good morning. Good morning. So this is our annual process that we go through to
- ensure the information for our medical plan. So what you have is the stop loss agreement, the administrative
- fees agreement, what's called the assumptions and conditions, and then we just added the pharmacy pricing
- information for you as well. And we do have Amanda.
- Gilbert from Apex is with us to explain this in more detail if that is something that you would like.
- It's a lot of terms that are not normal for the average person, right? Yes, it takes a bit.
- It's very dense language. But let's see if we have questions, and we'll start with that. Sounds good.
- And if she needs to chime in, that would be great. And thank you, Ms. Gilbert, for being here. Commissioner
- Jones, do you have any comments or questions? Yes, insurance is always very dense language, as far as
- I can tell. Commissioner Madeira? No, I don't, actually. OK, well, that's easy.
- I actually don't either, because I looked at last year's. I cheated. So that helps. So no, I don't have
- any questions. It's necessary. It's obviously one of the most important benefits we can offer to our
- employees, especially given the crazy stuff going on in Washington, DC with the ACA. So I'm grateful.
- for everyone that worked on this. Angie, legal, everyone that's worked on this, thank you. It means
- a lot to all of our employees. So thanks. 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.
- We do have one commenter. Good morning. Sorry, I didn't put my full name there. This is David Henry.
- I'm a resident of Monroe County and Van Buren Township, and I'm also a member of the Monroe County Council.
- I wanted to thank he and the commissioners for their good work on the anthem insurance for this year.
- I'd like to express a desire, at least from my own seat on County Council.
- as well as my colleagues to have an opportunity to be involved in the process at looking at our insurance
- and self-insurance in the next fiscal year. As we know that we had some additional claims and expenses
- that kept up on us during the budget cycle that made things a little difficult for us as we were trying
- to balance the books and pay for things. And so I think if there's opportunities where we conclude council
- leadership in the next round of decisions about how
- We're working through choices and claims rather than having this presented at the tail end and settling
- bills might be useful as we do forecasts in the budget for the next year. Hopefully that was clear.
- I know sometimes the audio is choppy coming into the room, but again, thank you for everyone's hard
- work. Thank you. Any other public comment on this item? You may raise your hand on teams or come to
- the podium.
- see none, we'll come back for a vote. All those in favor of approving the 2020-2026 Anthem renewal signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you so much. But stay there. We got one more for you.
- Yep. Move approval of resolution 2025-44, the 2026 Monroe County Government holiday schedule. I second.
- We have a motion. We have a second E. Thank you for working on this for us this year. We appreciate it.
- No problem. Tell us all about it. Yeah, so this is the holiday schedule for 2026, which includes the
- primary and general election days. And it also includes an additional holiday on January 2nd due to
- the day that falls in the week. So we've got the two holidays on the Wednesday and Thursday. And so
- that's just an additional day because that can be a challenge for people, right?
- I got it. Thank you. Any comments? So there's no floating holidays this year, just to be clear. Yeah,
- with those election days, that covers those. Right. Any comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira?
- No, it's good to get this stuff locked down. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. I appreciate it. It's
- very consistent.
- Good work on that. And I'm going to see if there's any public comments on this item. Seeing none, all
- those in favor of approving resolution 2025-44 signify by saying aye. Aye.
- Motion carries 3-0. And we will, thank you. Yep, thank you very much. And we'll move on to the next
- item. Move approval of Strasser Construction Company, Inc. Agreement for Election Central Renovations
- at Showers Building North. Fund name 2025 GEO Bond. There is no fund number and the amount is
- $653,600. I second. We have a motion and a second, Mr. Kreider. This is a little cart and horse, but
- we're very soon, hopefully, going to have the vote on the GEO bond again.
- commissioners. We have a few minutes. So this is if all goes well, please tell us about this. All right.
- Good morning, commissioners. We've recently received bids for renovations at the showers building for
- Election Central. Um the. Professional services provider sent a letter of recommendation
- Dear Mr. Kreider, we are pleased to recommend award to Strouser Construction Company Inc. as the most
- responsible and responsive bid for the renovations in Showers North for the Monroe County election central
- renovations. Their bid packet included the project bid form and required attachments, State Form 96
- and the Affidavit of Compliance. We reviewed Strouser Construction Company Inc.'s material and subcontractors
- list for the project and have found it acceptable.
- Our firm has multiple project experiences working with Strouser Construction Company, Inc. on a range
- of project scales and types and can speak to the care they put into their work and their ability to
- deliver a project on schedule. We recommend accepting Strouser Construction Co.'s Inc.'s base bid and
- alternate bid pricing as follows for a total contract amount of $653,600. So with that said,
- This request is to accept the proposal submitted by Strouser Construction Company Inc. in the amount
- of $653,600 to furnish all material and labor and perform all work necessary to complete renovations
- for election central in accordance with the contract documents. Wow. Excellent work. You made that look
- easy, and I know it took a long time to get to that point, so thank you. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones?
- I don't. Commissioner Madera? No. So initially we'd received a much higher estimate from the architect
- and the firm about what it would cost to create this space and we have to create the space. This is
- for the elections early voting
- to get that price cut. That's a great question. Um, initial estimates came in at 1.3 to 1.5 million.
- And at that time,
- It's zoned as an office space, the occupancy. And changing it to early voting changes the occupancy,
- which required additional construction, a lot of extra materials, labor, man hours, because you need
- to completely encapsulate the ceiling.
- When you walk in, you see an eight-foot ceiling with a suspended ceiling. Actually, above that, it goes
- several feet higher to the floor above, and we were going to have to encapsulate all that. Well, because
- of the limited use of the space, twice a year, I think, we were actually able to receive a variance
- through the state to maintain the current occupancy, and it saved
- it saved a lot of man hours and material. A lot of money for county taxpayers too. It reduced our bond
- request for the GEO bond. So thank you for working on that and for getting that variance from the state.
- I appreciate that. As do all county residents. Thank you for that. And we should be on schedule for
- the spring early voting
- we're on schedule. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. In fact, the the Strauser they've been great to
- work with. They're doing a lot of the behind of the scenes things to prepare and gear up so that we're
- not just we're going to hit the ground running. Great. Thank you for that and your attention to detail
- on this project is is.
- Thank you. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on teams or
- come to the podium. Have Ms Ferris from the clerk's office. Good morning. You need to unmute.
- There you go. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. I just want to say thank you very
- much to Richard Crider for working very digitally on this with us.
- and ensuring that all of the needs that are needed are being met. I also want to say thank you to you,
- the commissioners for making sure that this is getting done and ready to roll for the primary election
- in May. Great. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you. And we appreciate that
- you and others from the clerk's office have worked with Mr. Kreider throughout this planning process
- to get this all set up and to make sure that the space will work. And I believe it will and everybody's
- happy. So excellent. Any other public comment on this item? All right.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Strouser Construction Company Inc. agreement for election
- central renovations at Showers Building North signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
- Thank you. Thank you. Next item please. Move approval of the 2026-27 written plan to use
- that we have a motion. We have a motion and we have a second. This I will step in here. This is.
- County Council wanted to reduce the general litigation bond amount. This will add a $905,000 project
- to food and beverage funding to ensure that the Monroe County Nature Preserve is ready for
- that we are receiving residents and visitors and obviously we do believe that this is. A tourist attraction
- and in that way it fulfills the requirements. For the food and beverage fund so there is a food and
- beverage tax advisory commission meeting tomorrow- and if we approve this I will be
- Um, Mr. Cockrell, did you have anything you wanted to add? Oh, this is a state required document that
- we have to file with the state of Indiana and presumably with that, uh, the Indiana coach section dealing
- with this. And I would also say, uh, this somewhat reflects some of the conversations that was at the
- previous, uh, food and beverage advisory commission as well. There was, there was some comments by,
- by some of the other members of that board about utilizing some of that funding for this property.
- right but that was to build athletic fields which we're not going to do that's yeah that's a very different
- thing but yes but but we were hopeful i mean this has this is work that has to get done to ensure that
- the park is accessible to the public and that's something we have to do in order to receive this gift and
- So it's vital that this gets done. And since we cannot use geobond funding, this works well. So any
- questions from my colleagues, Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madeira? Okay.
- 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 revised 2026-27 written plan to use food and beverage
- tax funds for Monroe County, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you to my colleagues
- for supporting that. And we'll move on to the next item, please.
- Move approval of resolution 2025-38-C, approving the issuance of a general obligation bond, fund name
- and number to be determined in an amount up to $6 million. I second. All right, we have a motion and
- we have a second. Mr. Caldwell.
- Yes, and this is the third time we've done this. This is just changing the project list, and this project
- list is changed to reflect what was approved by the county council on Tuesday night. I think the primary
- changes were justice building repair, and we removed, I think, the YSV, more of the placement of the
- justice building repair, so that the modifier of the clerk space, it's clear that it's going to be in
- the showers building.
- I'd like to also add that additionally you added a body scanner for the sheriff's office as well as
- to jail transport vehicles that were not previously correct and and while and we dropped the nature
- preserve because we just we're going to put it in food and beverage. So that falls under equipment for
- the sheriff's department. Yes. Okay.
- vehicles and vehicles. And vehicles. Yes, and vehicles. And vehicles are there. I was thinking about
- the scanners. Yes. Thank you. Okay. All right. Any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No,
- I don't. Commissioner Madeira? Nope. I'm grateful that we got this process wrangled through earlier
- this week. Yeah. Who needs sleep? All right.
- 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 resolution 2025
- We can actually get Strouser construction working on the showers building. All right. Next item, please.
- Move approval of ordinance 2025-40 to amend various traffic ordinances. I second. We have a motion.
- We have a second. We have Ms. Ridge here to tell us all about it. Good morning.
- These items did go before the Traffic Commission on October 16th and they were all approved and they
- are all warranted within the Indiana MUTCD. It is amending Ordinance 86-09 to add a 20 mile per hour
- speed limit on Salt Creek Drive, Salt Creek Court, Winfrey Lane, Nomp Creek Road. Amend Ordinance 86-06
- to delete the following stop locations.
- balkan drive for Gordon Pike, Wiccan Street for Gordon Pike, Clearview Drive for Gordon Pike, Rockport
- for Fullerton Pike, Fullerton Pike for Rockport Road, Sunrise Greetings Court for Vernal Pike. Amend
- 86-06 to add the following stop locations, balkan drive for Fullerton Pike, Wiccan Street for Fullerton
- Pike. Amend ordinance 86-12 to add the following yield locations. Fullerton Pike for Fullerton Pike
- Roundabout,
- for fullerton pike roundabout. Gordon pike for fullerton pike roundabout bachelor drive for fullerton
- pike roundabout. Amend ordinance zero zero dash thirty two to add the following traffic signal location.
- That would be at the intersection of fullerton pike and rockport road and intersection of vernal pike
- and sunrise greetings court. And amend zero zero dash thirty one to add following no turn on red look on
- location eastbound Fullerton Pike for Rockport Road. This is most of these are in coordinates with the
- new installation of a roundabout on the Fullerton Pike project. And road name change and the completion
- of the other big projects, Sunrise, which now has a stoplight on Vernal. All right.
- the traffic commission. Uh comments or questions. Commissioner Madeira. No a bunch of essential changes
- and glad again to see this done. Mr Jones. No, I don't. Thank you. All right. Um. I don't have any either,
- except thank you for. The attention to detail as always.
- Any public comment on this item? You may raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none,
- all those in favor of approving ordinance 2025-40 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
- Thank you, Ms. Ridge.
- All right. I did want to talk through a couple things because, well, first of all, let's go through
- the usual, which is that we do know that SNAP benefits, Supported Nutrition Assistance Program benefits,
- going to end Saturday and we are going to be posting something on our website both for those who need
- food assistance and those who are able to donate and help. One of the things I know is that there are
- a lot of really
- generous people in this community. And we've got our friends and neighbors who are hurting across the
- US. I believe the average is one in eight people receive some sort of nutrition assistance benefits.
- That's across the country. We do know that there are a number of people in this county who receive it,
- a number of households that receive it.
- And one of the things that may help and does always help is going through the pantry and sharing with
- others in our community. And there are so many food pantries and almost every township trustee has a
- food pantry of some sort. Of course, there's Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, Pantry 279.
- Grace Food Pantry down in Harrettsburg. There are too many to name actually, but we will put that up
- on our website so that if you know someone who needs help, you know where to go. The biggest supplier
- of food in this community for those in need is the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, and as a food bank, one
- of the best ways that you can give is to actually donate money.
- they can buy a lot more food per dollar than you can at a grocery store. And so if you can please open
- your hearts, your wallets, check on your neighbors and friends and see what you can do to help those
- in need at this terrible time for them. And we do appreciate
- all the great folks who volunteer and staff the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and all of the food pantries
- and other organizations that help people in need. We really, really do appreciate your hard work all
- year round. But sadly, it's only going to get tougher, at least for the short term. I'm not sure long
- term if it's going to get much better. I do want to note that
- We do have office hours, and they are held six times each month. You just go to the calendar at our
- website, in.gov slash counties slash Monroe. That's our new home base home web page. And while you're
- there, please sign up to
- be alerted for any emergencies, whether it be medical, highway or other, through our resident alert
- service. This is an amazing service and we encourage people to sign up and stay safe. There is the 10th
- annual Monroe County Childhood Conditions Summit, which will be held on Thursday, November 13th from 8 a.m.
- to 4 p.m. and that will be at the Monroe County Convention Center. The admission for that event is free
- and the event is open to the public, of course. We continue to offer the opportunity to donate blood.
- The next is Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ivy Tech, and Thursday, November 13th,
- 2025, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., also at Ivy Tech, rooms C130A and B. Please go to redcross.org.
- to make an appointment. We also have in our minutes a list of phone numbers and email addresses for
- each of our Township Trustees. And again, if you are looking for food resources or assistance during
- this difficult time, please contact your Township Trustee. They can help you directly or provide information
- on where you can find assistance.
- I believe my colleagues may also want to chime in but I've been asked the question after Tuesday's council
- meeting as what's next and that's a great question because that's pretty much all I think all of us
- have been thinking about and it's not
- a great events for us in our lives. We've spent five years on this project. And all along the way, working
- with the council, all along the way, working with the council. But it's been five years.
- have had a number of points along the way where we've obviously engaged with, involved council members,
- board of judges, prosecutor,
- public defender's office, the clerk's office. It's been a collaborative effort to this point. And we
- reviewed four properties in 2022. Fullerton Pike, which was the corner of the southeast corner of Fullerton
- and I-69, was selected as the best site. We wanted to be as close to the city as possible.
- and that is actually in the city limits. It did require a rezone from the city, but the city planning
- commission and the city council both denied it, but here they are saying, telling us what to do, telling
- us that we should work with them. That's a little rich, a little too late. We also actually considered
- a portion of the Hopewell property as well. It would have divided the jail and the rest of the justice
- structure, the courts and prosecutor and everything else. It wasn't ideal in that way, but it's downtown,
- it's close by. We were told no regarding Hopewell.
- Then we went to look at the Thompson property, property we already owned in the city limits again.
- This time, it wasn't the city that stood in our way. It was Mother Nature and, of course, all of the
- people who have owned the property in the past. There is a massive 10-acre mound of dirt that would
- have to be moved, electrical supports,
- would have to be moved and removed by Duke, which would be at least a two and a half year delay plus
- another two million dollars. The city would have to approve us to build in this quarry sinkhole area.
- We would have had to do a tree study. It's a lot of time. It's extra money. And we moved on. And as we
- It was honed in on North Park, which I believe was the favored property for the fact that it is unencumbered.
- It is not karst-y and likes with cheese. And it is flat. And it doesn't have anything on it. It's available.
- It's been a favorite for many of us on the inside of this project.
- So as we were finalizing those last plans, we were asked to consider a Vernal Pike property,
- because why not? So once again, like we did with Thompson, we met with area residents. They were opposed.
- But the property is not ideal for a lot of reasons.
- sinkholes and it's uneven and it would have required a forced annexation for folks on Vernal Pike just
- to receive sewer service and we weren't happy with being doing the the work of the city for them. But
- really the property when Ms. Mitovich looked at both properties she said North Park is ideal in terms of its
- of the property. Um geography and engineering. So, um. We, um, looked at. Um looked at North Park again.
- We, uh, we asked the Council to support the purchase of the property in 2024. All along the
- and we have been working with folks in county government, whether they be elected or department heads.
- And we have been. Working with, um, the good people at D L Z. And it has been a lot of work trying to.
- Meet the demands and
- but Scott Carnegie and his staff have done an admirable job and we appreciate their work. And as we're
- moving into 2025, we had the county council approve the corrections tax to supplement the edit that
- would both be used to
- provide a 20-year bond to pay for this facility. And the total cost over 20 years is eye-watering. It's
- a high number, but this is vital infrastructure. And we've seen what happens when you try to save money
- on a building. And you can look at the current Justice Building for that answer. We had the funds ready
- for liftoff.
- ready to, we need the schematics done and then ask the council for the bond. But then the state legislature
- intervened and the state legislature, we're ready for takeoff. We had the money. State legislature said,
- how about three more obstacles for you? Why not? So, and that's where we've been at.
- Now, again, the council approved the corrections tax. The council approved the purchase agreement. I
- heard in general for issues raised by various members of the council on Tuesday night or into the early
- morning hours of Wednesday. And there's no agreement from them. There is no agreement in that group
- about what to do next. But location, well, there will be bus service. We didn't talk about this. We
- did talk about this because why would we put a bus route where there's a field with cows right now?
- We wouldn't start the bus service yet, but there will be bus service. And not everybody lives downtown
- either. So what do people do now when they get out of the facility? The cost.
- It's a high number, but we've reduced what came out of the initial plans working with DLC and every
- single department head, and none of them are happy, which tells you that we've reduced the cost.
- The size, well, I'm going to borrow from our
- and say, Google it, Vigo County. See what happens when you don't build an appropriately sized jail.
- That is not going to help anyone who lives in Monroe County. Legislature, yep, they're always a question.
- It's always a question. There's never a known there. Certainly, things were super crazy in 2025.
- I don't see that as a reason to say no, because I don't see that legislature changing anytime soon.
- And we do not have constitutional care in our jail. We have schematic drawings. Well, not schematic,
- sorry. We have drawings. We have designs. These are available and present in both our office and in the
- legal office and we've had the meetings with council. We've certainly had meetings with a number of
- department heads going through each point, each possibility. We've talked about, I've been in many of
- those meetings, we've talked about the size of the desk and the aisle way and where's the kitchenette
- and how big is it and how many people use it. There's a lot of detail.
- that's already been done, based on North Park. And we have continued to proceed and continue to work
- based on what the council has approved to date. Now, I ask my colleagues, sorry to put you on the spot,
- but have any of you received a phone call from any council members since Tuesday night or early Monday
- or early Wednesday? Have you? About this?
- and what they plan to do. No, I haven't. There's no agreement on the council and there needs to be enough
- agreement on the council to build consensus. They've got a lot of work to do. We've done our job and
- I think we've done our job well. We've done our job
- because of DLZ, because of Angie, because of Jeff, because of all the people in our office who have
- helped make this project work. And with all the department heads who participated, thank you. I hope
- that your work and efforts has not been in vain. So with that, balls in your court, council. But Commissioner
- Jones, did you have anything you wanted to add?
- Well, yes, I just hope that moving forward, the council can come together a bit more in agreement. And
- hopefully, this project will still be able to happen. Commissioner Madeira? Yes, I actually have some
- thoughts. I previously mentioned on Tuesday that I believe we can't renovate the existing building because
- of architectural constraints.
- In addition, in its current form, we can't effectively provide health care, mental health care, vocational,
- educational, and reentry services. We can't provide adequate recreational space, gender equitable work
- opportunities, separate people by risk, gender, medical needs, and other factors. But at Tuesday's council
- meeting, I actually mentioned that despite our admirable community values and our intentions, local
- efforts can only have so much of an effect on incarceration rates, and that advocacy efforts can
- actually be really, really effective on the state level.
- on the local level, certainly, but really primarily on the state level. And so a lot of folks have reached
- out and asked me what I meant. And so I'd like to talk more a little bit about some of these statewide
- legislative measures that are coming that will potentially swell our jail populations and that make
- our current situation even more desperate. So Indiana is a qualified right to bail state right now,
- meaning that anyone charged with any crime, murder, or treason will have bail set against them.
- Additionally, there is also a presumption of release and judges utilize a risk assessment tool for bail
- setting that helps them do that.
- Currently, though, Indiana doesn't allow for preventative detention. So judges often take matters into
- their own hands, and they set bail excessively for some offenders. So that makes cash bail a proxy for
- de facto detention. And statutes in Indiana aren't clear on what constitutes excessive bail. So to fix
- this, Indiana has proposed a preventative detention measure. We have this, and it says basically, dangerous
- suspects are to be held without bail. 22 states and the federal government currently have this.
- of the Indian Constitution. That will allow for all other offenses other than murder or treason to not
- be bailable. If two factors are meant if proof is evident or the presumption is strong. And the state
- proves by clear and convincing evidence that no release conditions will reasonably protect the safety
- of any other person or the community. This requires as a constitutional amendment so it requires language
- to pass out of a separate general assembly before going to the ballot.
- for Hoosier citizens to approve. So to take effect, it must pass the General Assembly again, the exact
- language, in 2526, and it must win voter approval likely on the November 2026 ballot. This is not that
- far away. It is not yet certified for the ballot, of course, because it has to make its way through
- this legislature. But if adopted, we can expect a lot more pretrial detention.
- longer lengths of stay for defendants flagged as dangerous. But note, this process of preventative detention
- can be subject to misuse and overuse. It provides no instruction to judges. It establishes no due process
- protections. It offers no guidelines for judges to follow before detaining someone that judges think
- is, quote unquote, a public safety risk. In addition, we have proposed criminal rule 4D that is open
- for comment until October 2025. So it's just about current right now.
- The court has proposed cutting the case continuance period from 90 to 70 days and allowing judges to
- keep individuals accused of felonies level three to level one and murder jailed during continuances.
- This means more jailed bedtimes even for a shorter continuance clock.
- In addition, we have Public Law 197, where arrestees for crimes of violence are to be held until a hearing
- is held by the court that sets bail individually and in open court. Again, this means longer stays in
- jail, more people in jail. And there's also a proposal for statewide minimum bail.
- Currently, Indiana lacks a uniform statewide schedule, so counties set their own provisional amounts.
- For some reason, state officials are worried that folks lack incentives to show up for their trials
- or that judges are setting bail too low. So they're looking at imposing a statewide minimum bail that
- effectively puts people in jail if they cannot afford to post bail. This will disproportionately detain
- low-income individuals, exacerbate health problems, and have little impact on crime rates, but it will
- also swell our county jail populations extraordinarily high.
- We already are facing every legislative session, sentencing, and charging changes that also indirectly
- swell our jail populations. Outside the bill rules, criminal penalty upgrades mean higher pretrial jail
- populations and increased costs for counties. In addition, I have a grim and dismal prediction. So in
- Howard County and in Allen County, which were also under ACLU settlement agreements, they had majors
- where they were dragging their feats. The ACLU called in the federal courts,
- they brought the counties to heel in what were called private settlement agreements. That cost the county
- a great deal of private autonomy, and in addition, the counties ended up building jails. So I have a
- prediction when our settlement agreement ends, which is going to happen in a couple of months, that
- we will soon end in a private settlement agreement. We will end up losing our autonomy, our privilege
- of choice, and we in turn will have to build a jail which might end up being bigger, badder, and in
- a location we don't want.
- because we lost our choice and our chance. Thank you for that. I do want to offer the opportunity for
- Mr. Cockrell and Ms. Purdy if you wish to add anything that we've not addressed because you both been
- working so hard on this.
- I just would, the only thing I would add is I don't think anybody really understands the incredible
- amount of time and effort and really tough decision making that goes through the process that we've
- gotten to to get to this point. I mean, it was extremely intensive, particularly after the first report
- where the budget was at 239 million. We have always set the goal and made the requirement and we've
- expressed it to all our contractors that
- we are not going to back to the County Council to ask for an increase in the corrections lit, even though
- there's little room left, we were going to work with what the numbers are of what was already approved.
- And so we were not going to, we were going to make sure that whatever we came up with fit within the
- budget as we understood it. And it was just a tremendous amount. And it's, you know, there were meetings
- we walked out of and said, man, we had to cut things or we had to recommend cuts that, you know,
- we think are necessary, just to make sure we can comply with the fiscal constraints that we knew about.
- Thank you for that. Ms. Purdy? I don't have anything in addition to that. I think that yourself and
- Commissioner Madeira and Mr. Cockrell have pretty much summed it up. It was a gut. I mean, it was just
- a blow to the gut on Tuesday. And frankly, very depressed about
- how we're gonna go forward, if we can even go forward. This is just like having the rug pulled out from
- underneath, yeah. It is easy to say no, it's harder to create and we've spent five years collaboratively
- getting to the point where we're at on Tuesday and to just be told no, okay, well then what's the option?
- And I personally don't think I was asked the question about, well, where do you go back to the beginning?
- And it's like, well, we've spent five years. And we've looked at all of the possible properties. We
- have a design for a property. We spent money to get there. And we spent money all along the way to survey
- study the properties that we've been looking at. We spent six months with the city for Fullerton Pike,
- and that was a no. I don't think any of us should play Groundhog Day and redo that process, but I didn't
- hear anything else. I don't know that any land's been manufactured and is suddenly available.
- right downtown where everybody wants it. There are a lot of issues with the downtown. If you look at
- all the empty storefronts, you may understand that. And local business, we were talking about how often
- people eat out for lunch when they're in county employees, and the answer is not often. But a lot of
- them do order in, and that can happen anywhere in the county. But North Park is
- right outside the city limits. And I do mean right outside. Just because you're crossing a highway doesn't
- mean it's a continent away. It's across the highway. It is available land. It is flat land. It's good
- land to build on. And we had an opportunity to do so. I don't know what happens next either. But I'm
- sure you're eager to hear from
- I'm not going to say no to anyone on the council who wants to talk about what they are going to do.
- Rather than just say no to. So. With that, I think we've provided all the information we have.
- At this moment, and we will keep everyone updated as as we move along. Yeah, I think if there are
- we have no more time. The time essentially has run out. And so I think that's the sticking point here.
- And we have inmates in prison who are suffering. And so we have a lawsuit breathing down our necks.
- And these solutions that are out there, whatever they are, must include solutions that defray these
- problems, as well as solutions that
- don't expend taxpayer dollars needlessly to keep resuscitating a dying building. Right. And yes, to
- protect our staff, to protect those folks who are currently incarcerated in the Monroe County Jail.
- And for our community at large, we need to get this done. And I would love to live in a world where
- there are no jails. That world does not exist.
- I would love to live in a world where we talk this through until we all come to a consensus. That world
- doesn't exist either because there are folks who say there should be zero jail. Well, good luck telling
- a federal judge that when we have no jail. We are constitutionally required to provide a jail
- as commissioners. Not my favorite thing in the world. I'd much rather be building
- treatment centers and schools and recreation areas and a thousand other things I would rather build.
- But we do have an obligation. And that is to protect our community, protect our staff who work in the
- criminal justice system, to protect the people who are there, to provide for treatment and medical care
- and constitutional care for inmates. That's our obligation.
- Again, 100 are the things I'd rather build. But we have to do this. We have to do this. Yeah. If there
- was some way to have some community, county, government conversation accelerated on steroids, I would
- love to have that. That would just zoom us forward into the future. But I just can't foresee any way
- to make that happen on the current timeline. Right. And I will tell you, those are conversations we've
- been having all along the way for the last five years.
- Yeah, there were some new faces in the room Tuesday night, but there were some familiar faces. But these
- are conversations that we've been having all along. And so to have another, OK, but I don't know what
- that gets us. Because to say no is easy. To build and create and to collaborate and to do as much as
- you can is hard. And it takes time. And that's been the last five years.
- I'm just thinking about the number of public meetings that were held over the past few years regarding
- the search for property and. Um you guys received a lot of public
- people, nobody wants this facility in their backyard. That is just a fact. We're not going to ever be
- able to make everybody happy. And as I said before, it's extremely frustrating. We've expended over
- $3 million already at this point in time on this project. We have a failing building that is not just
- a jail. The entire facility is a
- is a nightmare. And it's not that it wasn't cared for. I do want to put that out there. You just cannot
- renovate a building while it's occupied 24-7 to the level that would need to have been renovated, but
- it still wouldn't have been provided the necessary space for the jail. So that comment was specific
- to the people who are working that are not part of the 24-7 jail facility.
- It's I don't know what else you guys can do. I really don't. Yeah. And a lot of the members of the public
- were calling it our project. And yes, commissioners have to provide the building. That is our job. That
- is our constitutional requirement, statutory requirement to provide a jail. But this project has been
- collaborative all along.
- And there are things I'm not excited about. There are things that others aren't excited about. And it
- runs the gamut. There are things about this building, not quite what I envisioned, but we have to cut
- costs or we have to make this work. And this is part of building such a huge project. You would think
- for that much money, it should be exactly what we want. But what is it that we all want?
- We are not all going to agree on that. If we sat down right now and drew out our ideal facility space,
- it would not look the same at all. And so we have to be careful. We cannot be reckless. We have to provide
- a facility. And again, easy to say no, difficult to do the work. And we have to provide a facility that
- will serve us now as well as it will 50 years in the future.
- So everybody Google vehicle county. So if you want a small facility, great. All right, I think we've
- done enough here. Yes, I think we've responded. OK, I'm sure we will have more to say. But for now,
- what I will let folks know is that we do have our next meeting
- which is Thursday, November 6th, and we do not have a work session today. So with that, we are adjourned.
- Thank you everyone for letting us speak out.