Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting and the Monroe County Board of Commissioners.
It is Thursday, December 4th. We will begin with our public statement read by Commissioner Jones.
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. Next on our agenda, we have our proclamation, if you would, Commissioner Madeira, thank you.
Thank you. Proclamation National Reads Across America Day. Whereas Reads Across America is a national
nonprofit founded in 2007 to continue and expand the wreath laying tradition begun at Arlington National
Cemetery in 1992 by main businessman Merle Worchester.
And whereas reads across America's mission is to remember our fallen heroes honor those who serve and
teach the next generation about the true cost of freedom. And whereas volunteers across Monroe County
veterans the Monroe County veterans services office staff, the American Legion family VFW auxiliary.
and veterans, service clubs, churches, and community members come together each December to place remembrance
wreaths on the graves of our local heroes and to host educational and awareness activities throughout
the year. And whereas this effort reflects Monroe County's enduring gratitude for the service and sacrifice
of our veterans and their families and strengthens our community's commitment to patriotism, service,
and remembrance across Bloomington, Ellisville, Steinsville, Unionville, Lake Monroe, and our surrounding
townships. Now, therefore,
the Monroe County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim Saturday, December 13th, 2025 as National
Reads Across America Day in Monroe County, Indiana. And we extend our deepest thanks and appreciation
to our veterans and Gold Star families, to the local coordinators and volunteers who make these ceremonies
possible, and to Reads Across America for bringing honor to our community. Proclaim this fourth day
of December, 2025, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. All right, thank you so much.
Thank you. Excuse me. Good morning, Commissioner. Just Andrew Blake with the veteran office standing
in for Steve today. We just both wanted to thank you for supporting this event. Thank you so much. There
are a number of events that have been coordinated, and we really do appreciate that. Get that one signed
if you don't mind. And we do want to thank the
veterans service office for all their hard work throughout the year. Not just on this occasion. Not
just on this occasion. Thank you. Might be one more to sign. Thank you. Lid. Okay. All right.
Next we have, yeah, that'd be great. Thank you.
Next, we have our department updates. And we'll begin with the health department, Ms. Kelly. Good morning,
commissioners. According to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard, as of December 2nd, emergency
department visits for COVID-like illness have decreased, but wastewater concentrations have increased.
According to data from wastewater scan, RSV levels are high. So RSV is a 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. The public health clinic has vaccines available. You can call 812-353-3244 for
an appointment.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No,
just thank you for all your work. Thank you for everything, Ms. Kelly. Appreciate you. Okay. All right.
Next. Oh, there we go. There she is. Ms. Myers? Rural Transit. Good morning. Good morning.
Yes, Chris Myers with Area 10 and giving you your quarterly update for rural transit. We have January
through October 2025 total trips to date are 36,815 of that Monroe County is 14,242. That doesn't include
the urbanized area routes that we do in addition to that, which has been 5,243 trips to date.
The urbanized area, I am happy to report that NDOT is funding us fully for that for 2026. $150,000.
Oh my gosh. With the intent that next year will be a planning year with Bloomington Transit and their
strategic planning that will involve the county.
I'm going to go back to that.
that changed to the lit and it changes the way the whole funding scheme works. So yeah, perfect. That
is incredible news. Oh my God, I'm so happy. I know. It was November 3rd when Larry Buckle came down
and met with me to talk about how they came up with that solution. So what they're doing is awarding
and increasing our
PMTF funding, which is the public mass transit funding and it's state funding that they have to allocate
for that. So yeah. Yeah. Good timing. Very relieved. Glad to have that. And the writers were happy to
hear it as well. So wanted to make sure I shared that broadly with everybody. Thank you. You're welcome.
And then quickly just wanted to say that we had closed services for part of the day on November 7th
to have an all-day driver training that embodied a wheelchair securement, CPR training, some obstacle
courses for doing some backing up and things like that, as well as sensitivity training for
the intellectually and developmentally disabled population. So happy to take any questions that you
might have for us.
I'm still just ready to throw a confetti about getting that because we have it on the agenda next week
for the County Council. Yeah, I mean we've been looking everywhere. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So lots of behind
the scenes work on that. I won't go into details because it's certainly happy to answer any questions
about in the weeds. That's really good news. And yeah, Larry Bockel is somebody that we talked to
years ago about this and when the map first changed and really appreciate that he's helped us. And I'm
sure you worked very hard on this too, so thank you so much. Commissioner Madeira? No, I'm ecstatic
about this news. This is wonderful. Mr. Jones? I just echo both the other commissioners. This is great
news for a whole lot of people. Right. Good timing.
the best timing ever. But yes, that the transit transit is one conversation we're going to have to have
because the entire funding mechanism changes and we obviously want to ensure that the service continues
for residents of the county who don't live inside the city, but also are in what in dot considers an
urbanized area. So it's absolutely
thread that needle. Conversations in the next year will be very important. For sure. Thank you. What
a great update. I love good news. Excellent. Any other department updates for us? You can raise your
hand on Teams. Ms. Ridge, what do you have for us?
Good morning. More good news. Yeah. So each year, the Highway Department applies for the Community Crossing
Matching Grant Program. It's a matching grant for projects that we submit. We typically put in paving
projects for the last few years. The program started in 2016. NDOT did a special call for October, so
we submitted for that. They received $237 million worth of applications. They were only able to award
$100 million.
county did receive their full million that we applied for. So we have a list of roads that will be paved.
The list of roads won't be adjusted. Once you submit those roads, that's what's going to be paved in
2026. So I did post those road names on our county website this morning. We will bid out those projects
in the next probably 30 days or so.
So we'll be ready to go when paving season starts in the spring. So very thrilled, appreciate all the
commissioners and the council for backing this program. Since 2016, it has brought in $10.5 million
in projects between paving and bridge replacement projects. So it completely goes to all the infrastructure
in the 700 miles of roads that we maintain. Amazing work.
comments or questions. Commissioner Jones. Yes, I'm not exactly surprised since we seem to receive what's
asked for every year. But once again, it's wonderful news to receive. No, just a banner year. I echo
Commissioner Jones. Not surprising because our highway department is the best. But again, our county
has so many wonderful employees and wonderful people. So thank you.
Thank you to you and your staff for organizing this, because obviously you have to put in a proposal
that includes all these road names and everything else. So I really do appreciate the hard work over
all the years, and that's how you get funded year after year. And I think we've been funded every time.
Thank you. Residents, thank you, too. And their shock absorbers and their tires and their wheels. All right.
Excellent. Any other department updates? Kip Harmon with Purdue Extension. Just have a few updates from
from this past year that we'd like to share with you. We of course had our the Monroe County Fall Festival
Education Day and we supported that.
as well as the Children's Fall Festival. We had between 3,000 and 4,000 people attend that, little kiddos
all the way up to adults. And of course, the whole office was supporting that, not only the 4-H programming.
This past year, we also continued working with our school-to-farm field trips. We had 10 last year and
nine this year.
And we partnered this year with Soil and Water, and that was a continued partnership, but also partnered
with Parks and Rec and Health Department as part of those programming this year. Just needed to add
some other people to the programming, and so that was really helpful to continue to work with them.
Camp this past year, we had over 170 adults and youth at camp, and they enjoyed all kinds of events.
One of the highlights was they got to do some welding,
That was a big event for the kiddos. They really enjoyed that. At the fair, we had 145 judging opportunities
for youth across all projects. We had a total of 631 youth exhibitors.
The 4-H years netted over $450,000 from the animal auction this year, which is the highest we've ever
had. We also partnered with Rice's in Spencer, Rice's Quality Meats, to assist us with providing some
meat to local community food banks. We provided over 4,600 pounds of beef, pork, goat, and lamb, along
with over 3,000 pounds of shelf-stable foods through the Stock the Trailer program.
that all went to various local food programs. And we had over 140 of our youth who went on to exhibit
at the Indiana State Fair, and two of our youth participated as exhibit hall workers. We had several
youth go on program trips out of the state and within the state. We had three go to Washington, D.C.
Four attended a program at Purdue in the 4-H Academy. One went to National Congress. We had 50 of our
youth from
County attend the Teen Leadership Weekend, which was the largest contingent in the state. We had one
who received a state scholarship and several who attended the State House, one of which was also a page
for the day at the State House. Our 4-H junior leaders provided over 500 hours of volunteer days across the year.
With a total of 715 youth participating in 4-H this year, it's up slightly. 93 approved adult volunteers,
21 clubs, and a total of 3,520 county fair entries. In Ag and Natural Resources, as you know, Edward
Ullman has left the office, but we've continued
programming through there. The Master Gardener programming is really strong and continuing. They are
planning more trainings coming for this year. We had 31 who graduated this past year the Master Gardener
program and of course Bugfest will continue.
Because of Edward leaving, we had to find somebody to sit on the County Plan Commission and Joe Van
Deventer agreed to take his place while we are in process of looking for somebody to replace him.
And then finally in health and human science, we had over 1,500 projects this year in open class. They
added a new class this year for children between the ages of 13 and 17, so those who outgrew the division
below that could continue to participate. Of course, Audie has continued with the financial literacy
program for kids, Bump to Baby, which she has partnered with the health department on. And then also
some of the other programming she's done is Where Does Your Money Go?
A new one, she offered charcuterie board 101. It's been a big, a big highlight as well as a matter of
balance and steps to healthy you. We'd like to thank the commissioners for their continued support of
Purdue extension. And I'll provide, I'll leave these copies of the report with you. Excellent. Thank
you so much. It's always good to have you here. Thank you. Any other department updates?
we're going to go ahead and open the meeting up for public comment. This is for items that are not on
our agenda. We ask commenters to limit their time to three minutes and to please give us your name and
county of residence when you speak. You may come to the podium when you're ready. And if you're on teams,
please raise your hand in order to be recognized. I'm going to have Angie help me a little if I need it.
Although I think I have the same screen you do now, so maybe not. But we'll see if I might need some
help. OK. All right. Anybody wish to offer public comment for items not on our agenda? TSD, please put
the clock up on the countdown clock up. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here. First, I
just wanted to make a quick note. Whoever is monitoring the Teams chat, there are quite a few folks
who are stuck in a waiting room, and they have asked if they could be admitted.
So I just wanted to flag that first. My name is Shelby Porter off my pronouns are she they and I'm a
narrow county resident I live in Bloomington City proper. I'm here today to talk about the evictions
that are happening at several of the unhoused encampments around Bloomington set for Monday,
December 8, which is as I'm sure you all are familiar, right in the dead of winter.
So I first wanted to just say that I really appreciated some of the lines in your statement where you
affirmed your commitment to protect all citizens and for all folks in Bloomington and Monroe County
to live peacefully and without fear. And so it's with those lines that I ask you, although this is not
on the agenda, to use the Monroe County Code 2571 to consider staying these evictions until the spring.
I understand that this is a complicated and nuanced issue.
And however, I encourage all of you who I'm sure have been in Bloomington for a long time to recall
what happened in 2020 when Mayor Hamilton's administration, without any correspondence to communities
outside of Bloomington Police Department and the mayor's office, despite CDC encouragement to leave
encampments in place,
Evicted the communities of seminary square and on Christmas Eve one of our long-term unhoused community
members froze to death the folks who are in these encampments have their materials in place and Solidified
in place for them to survive the winter right now We do not have enough volunteers for our emergency
shelters to open overnight and the few shelters that we have there year-round are completely full the folks who
are here today, go out to these community members regularly to support them and check in on them. And
if you have not been to an unhoused encampment in the woods on your own, it's not what you expect. Yeah,
there's trash. I'm not going to lie and pretend that there isn't. There are also not resources for these
folks to clean up their messes. Dumping is illegal. If they throw things in dumpsters, they get in trouble.
They don't have cars. They don't have trash cans. They don't have municipal services to pick up their waste.
But what's also out there is an attempt to make a home. If you have ever been to an encampment in the
woods, what you will see is community spaces. You will see areas that are sequestered off specifically
for restroom use. And you won't find needles loosely scattered like you think that you will. Any of
those preconceived notions that you have are not the reality on the ground. They're humans, too. They're
not evil. They're people who are having a really hard time. And as community members, it's our responsibility
to step up and care for those closest to us.
While at a panel recently listening to some faculty members talk about what happens at the end of the
world, specifically from the context of climate crisis, there's a history back to the Little Ice Age
of Christians saying that we care for the most proximate. The most proximate does not mean
our family members. It means the people closest to us physically who are in the most need. And as time
has progressed, that ideology of Christianity has been distorted to mean our family members. But it's
not always our family members who are the ones that are in the most need. Sometimes it is the people
that are just a few miles away from us who live outside. Please, please, please, I implore you to consider
adding this to your vote and staying the evictions until the spring.
In the spring it's warmer and we don't have to worry about our community members dying. I don't agree
with the evictions, but I do ask that you stay them until it is safer for people to be removed from
those areas and so they will not freeze to death. I don't think that's how you would want to die. I
don't think it's how anyone would want to die and it is not deserved. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Next please.
I'll leave this pen up here for other folks to sign in. I did not realize that we do that. Thank you.
Do we need another pen up there? Oh, OK. Thank you. All right. My name is Ed Doss. I'm resident of Morell County.
Yeah, I'd like to follow up with what was just shared by Shelby. I agree with everything that was shared
there. Y'all have plans to evict dozens of people from where they're staying, where they have set up
their shelters with the only supplies that they have and threatened to seize their property in the middle
of winter and also force them to relocate. And if they haven't actually cleared their property out,
y'all would take it. So first question, what do you expect people to do? It's a dead of winter.
It's freezing out. It's icy. People only have the ability to carry things on foot or on bike most of
the time, and nothing more. That means their entire shelter, their entire range of possessions, all
expected to be uprooted and moved within less than a week of notice. So firstly, how do you all see
this as just at all? And what do you plan to do about it? Secondly, in your opening statements,
You all stated that your role is to fight any injustices that you see within your community. If you
actually plan to fight injustices, you would not allow this to occur. So what you can do and what we
ask you to do is to add a vote to this agenda to stay the evictions that have been posted at two locations
around town, forcing dozens of people to relocate until the spring. Is this something that you will do?
We just take public comment at this point. All right. Well, I just want to make it clear that this is
what we're expecting. Thank you. And the majority of us in this room see this for what it is. If this
policy passes, we see it as state-sanctioned murder. What you are choosing to do is force people to
uproot their livelihoods, leave whatever comfort that they have been able to build for themselves, whatever
warmth that they have been able to gather through the most adverse conditions, and either reset up
which is going to cause people to die in the process, as well as cause people to die when they get evicted
over and over and over again through winter as we see. So once again, we implore you to add this to
the agenda and to put a stay on this until the spring. Yeah, thank you for your time. Thank you. And
this is something that we'll be expecting throughout the meeting. Thank you. If I can make an announcement
about the people who are in the waiting room, they're in the wrong waiting room.
So if you have the ability to let them know they need to vacate the link that they have gotten on, they
should go to our website and go to the calendar and look for the commissioners meeting and then join
that link. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Gabriel and I live in Monroe County. I'd
like to start off my speech talking about my religion because there's a concept pertinent to the evictions
on the 8th.
It's called Natib Khadish and it tells us that we are responsible not for simply the direct results
of our actions, but the secondary results. So if I were to not stay this eviction and we moved the camps
and we took the tents and all the supplies and the warmth and someone froze to death, I am culpable
for that death. Our gods are not physical though. They are mental and emotional as are the punishments.
Natib Khadish and the violation of it is the desolation of the soul.
It is the introspection and knowing that our actions cause destruction. It's the fear at death's door
when we look back at our life and only see chaos that we have sown. And I want you to sit with it very
personally, that if people die, that is murder by proxy by your hand. I am here to prevent that hand.
I hope you can make the moral choice in this, or at the very least, steal your mind for the
coming introspection. Because when this happens again,
It is your fault. I would like to spend the rest of my time speaking about frostbite. Frostbite is the
precursor condition. It's when the water molecules in the extremities, namely the fingers and toes,
starts to crystallize. It begins as a soft, tingling pain rising from the bone as stiffness riddles
the joints. Discoloration and numbness spread outwards, causing radial pain. Left untreated, it does
become frostbite, a solid freeze of the blood and veins.
Shooting pains are barely held back by the brain's merciful, but ultimately incapable numbing mechanism.
Deep purple hues form at the tips of fingers as the tissues necrosis die, and in severe cases, the affected
tissue will simply fall off, dead flesh no longer able to cling to frostbite bone. We have lost people
in the city to the cold before in 2020 and in 2013. Three is a pattern and a devilish number to appear
under your auspices. You can stop this eviction until spring,
lest your soul be robbed, lest the nip progress to bite within the coldness of your hearts. Wanton death
and murder by proxy are both avoidable outcomes and so I implore you to invoke your right as laid out
in Monroe County Code 257-1 because you do have the power to commit this extension. Ms. Majir, I know
that you are sympathetic to this cause, although I also know
July 24th, 2025, when you granted the contract to buy a one, you said this is important work. I agree
it is important work, but why must we do it in winter? April 1st is the proposed date that we would
like to put forth for you to please put it to a vote today. There is no time left. Thank you for your
time. Thank you. Do we see any hands raised on teams? I don't see any.
Next up, please. All right. Hello, commissioners. My name is Jesse Coggi, and I'm here today to express
deep concern at your decision to order the clearing of the encampment at the Thompson property and request
that you suspend this order until the spring. I'm a voting resident of Perry Precinct 1 of the 1st District.
I attended MCCS schools
I'm a current student at IU, and I'm an active member of this community. The people who currently reside
on this property are not only my neighbors, but after several camp visits and other forms of outreach
work over the last year, they have become close friends. As someone who has met with the people at the
Thompson property several times,
I can say with certainty that these are good people who selflessly look out for their neighbors, whether
that means sacrificing a meal for a hungry visitor or opening their insulated tents to someone stuck
out in the cold. Personally, I don't want to believe that you are in the business of hurting good people.
I imagine that you feel that you are helping these people by forcing them into what you see as a better
situation, whether that's a shelter, public housing, or even a friend's couch.
It is nice to think that these options are realistic for everyone, but they simply are not. Our low
barrier shelters are already experiencing severe staffing shortages. It is only December, and the B-Swerve's
winter contingency shelter at First United Methodist was not open several nights last week due to a
lack of volunteers. Even if there was available space, shelters will never be a solution for everyone.
The shelters in Bloomington do not accommodate pets, which are often one of the few bright spots in
the lives of unhoused people. Shelters also present risks around parasites and illness, lost or theft
of personal belongings, and even physical and domestic violence. In a November report, our own Mayor
Thompson stated that meaningful action must be taken to improve these, quote, strained systems.
Until Trump appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court overturned City of Grant Pass versus Johnson in 2024,
the act of placing camping bans in the dead of winter was deemed to be cruel and unusual in violation
of the Eighth Amendment to our Constitution. However, it is clear that you are taking advantage of this
conservative ruling. And as Democrats, I'm curious what your constituents would think of this when we
start knocking on doors, which I assure you we are prepared to do.
When you sit down with your family this holiday season, I sincerely hope that you can feel good about
doing the right thing for the most vulnerable members of our community at this critical moment. Please
do not force these good people out into the cold. Let this be your good deed for the season. Thank you.
Thank you. Next up, please. Next up, please. OK. Anyone on teams?
Okay. Well, thank you all for your comments today. We appreciate it. Um, Ms pretty, would you outline
the, um, process that, okay, please come up because I can't read your mind and I'd love to be able to
read your mind. Please come up. There you go. Thank you. But I'm going to go ahead and have Ms pretty address.
to kind of outline the process that occurs, because this is not sadly the first time we've had to do
this. Correct. So just for everyone's understanding, we have a process in which, once we are noticed
of an encampment, we reach out to the Sheriff's Office, we reach out to Health Net, and we reach out
to the, in this instance, as this is in the city,
the city SROs. And when staff went out on December 1st to give notice of the requirement to leave, they
were provided with information. Health Net and the SROs have been going out daily and meeting with these
people, trying to get them into shelter. There is shelter available. We have confirmed that. Health
Net has confirmed that. They advise that they
don't want to take that particular option. So that's where we're at at this point in time. We give them,
we take personal belongings that are left when we do go for the cleanup and we hold on to those for
one week's time. And then they can come and make arrangements to pick those up. That information was
also provided to the people who are on the property.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Did you have anything to add, Mr. Cocker? I don't think so. Okay, thank you.
All right, please.
Thank you. My name is Maria Bull. I have moved here recently from Indianapolis, and I have seen the
homeless situation in Indianapolis, and it is dire. And when I moved here, I thought that the city that
has less of a homeless population than Indianapolis does would be a little bit more proactive than some
of the people up in Indianapolis. I am a Christian, so I'd like to speak a little bit about that.
In my religion, there is this principle of preferential option to the poor. This means that we must
treat the poor as kindly as possible and give them the most compassion. Now, I think that this council should
move the eviction date into the spring when it is warmer out, because it is the dead of winter. It is
very cold. Even I, as an IU student, am freezing out there. And these people that have less of resources
than I do and don't have an option to go into a warm building when they need it need help and should
be evicted in the spring. Honestly, I don't think they should be evicted at all.
We will compromise on that. The shelters are currently full, and there are not enough volunteers.
In fact, I think that if you guys are concerned about it, as you say you are, I think you should volunteer
yourself to go and volunteer at these shelters. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please. Thank you. Hi.
Please give us your name and county of residence and you three minutes. Sure. Heather Lawrence County.
You mentioned earlier that people have been informed that there are shelters. Are you aware of the reasons
why people don't take shelters when they're offered? There are good reasons. Are you aware of them?
Please continue with your comments. I'm asking a question.
We don't engage in dialogue. We listen. We don't want to be distracted by anything. We just want to
listen. Fascinating. There are good reasons not to go into shelters. You've heard them all before. You're
hiring people to clean up trash. That's what it said on the Bio One job offering, right? The trash that
they are going to clean up is somebody's entire life. They have very good reasons for being out there.
One of those reasons is that the shelters are shit.
You know that. Don't kill my goddamn friends. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. My name
is Amara Briscoe. I have been a resident of Monroe County for the last five years.
When I first got to Bloomington, I was homeless. And I went to stay at the shelter friend's place. It
is very hard to get into the shelters. Most of the time, especially at friend's place, it is a first
come first serve basis. A lot of people do not have transportation, especially the homeless. And they
are not offered a lot of resources for that transportation. It is freezing outside.
and I am an epileptic and I have had multiple seizures, let alone this week having seizures back to
back due to the cold. People are freezing outside and people have lost their lives due to the cold.
It is not right or fair for them to be removed from where they live or from where they stay safe at.
So I am personally asking and requesting that the
that there is a due date for the eviction to be moved closer to spring or at least to spring so that
it is warmer and there is not as many people at risk of losing their lives. People at the camps aren't
trashing the camps on purpose. They do not have the resources they need to keep their belongings safe.
There's and every time there's a camp eviction
If they do not leave the camps, by the time that the people in the city want them to, their belongings
are taken, and there is nowhere safe for them to put their belongings. It is not fair for... It is not
fair for you to say that you care about the people in the city, but it doesn't seem like the homeless people
are being cared for or getting the support that they need. So I am requesting, personally, since I have
been a homeless in Bloomington before, that the evictions be moved to spring. Thank you. Thank you.
Next up, please.
Good morning, Seth Mutchler, resident Monroe County. I think the people who have spoken before me have
all said really powerful things, so I won't repeat. I will just say that I stand with a lot of the things
that have been said. I will also ask you to stay at the eviction until the spring. I understand there
are policies in place, but I think this is just very clearly a moral issue, an ethical issue, and I
hope that you would do that. I do see that we have sort of two things going on right now. We have an
acute crisis of this eviction, and we have a chronic condition of
homelessness in our community, and I will encourage you to both stay this eviction, which is the acute
crisis, and I will also encourage you to please, and all of county government, to please focus on making
it so that we don't reach these acute crises in the future. That's an investment in services. I hear
the people that have spoken before.
I have not been volunteering with the folks in the unhoused camps. I think that is incredibly important
work. So I want to give thanks to every single person who has been doing that work. But since I have
not been doing that, I hear them and I hear that they're valid and really important and real reasons
why this needs to be stayed. And so I want to echo that. Yeah. And ask you to please stay the eviction
until the spring. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next up, please.
My name is Joseph Callahan. I've lived in Monroe County for many years now. Many years ago, I used to
be more involved in issues like this. I don't know any of the people that have spoken today, but I find
them very inspiring as I've gotten further away from these issues. I'm not homeless, and that's really
a blessing, and I'm not sure.
if you haven't experienced it, if you understand what a blessing that is. I've been shoveling snow lately
and the pain that I feel in my hands and feet is something I can escape. I know this isn't easy. There
aren't simple answers to these questions. I know
that nobody wants to cause harm to others in this way. But I know that if people are kicked out as soon
as they are proposed to be, that there will be harm. If I were homeless, I also would not go to a shelter.
I'm obstinate as a mule. I want to do things on my own. I don't want to be a burden to others.
And to be under someone else's roof, under someone else's rules is not something that everyone is prepared
for. The sanctuary of these camps might not look like much to someone from the outside, but if you have
a place, you know you're going to sleep every night and the layers to keep warm to do so. That's a terrible
thing to be taken away from you when you don't have anything else. And I understand that those things
can be picked up
But if you don't have a car and you don't have a home and you don't have any money, one week is meaningless
to try to do something like that. I hate public speaking, but I saw this was happening and I just felt
a weight in my heart to speak on this issue. So I stand with these people and I hope that you can at
least hold off. Thank you. Thank you. You did well.
Anybody else want to speak? You've already spoken. We only have one public comment period per person.
So thank you. I'd just like to reiterate that there are only a few days left before these evictions
happen. You've already spoken, and you've had your three minutes. Are you all going to take the step
of voting on this today or not? Thank you so much. Thank you, Kelly.
Thank you. We do appreciate everybody coming out today and we know that it is, we agree it's not a simple
issue. We have public safety concerns, we have public health concerns, and it is not a simple issue.
As I have received calls from people who have wanted us to postpone,
This decision, I've also received calls from neighbors who are grateful that this is moving forward
because their own piece has been disrupted. But there is a-
because we do have a meeting to. So I'm going to ask the public. Thank you. Should we take a recess?
Should we take a recess? We're going to take a recess for five minutes. Thank you.
we need quiet. We've asked everyone to remain quiet. We do have space and we've provided time for public
to speak and we've appreciated what you folks have said. And we cannot be interrupted. This is a public
assembly. Ma'am, please. This is a public meeting. We have government business to conduct. We have
We have heard from you and we really appreciate the fact that folks have spoken up. But we are closing
the public comment section for this agenda. And so we ask you to please be silent because we do have
public business to conduct or you will be removed. You will be removed if you don't do that.
So, okay. So thank you. So we will go ahead and wait and see if we can get quiet so we can go ahead
and attend to the rest of the people's business. Thank you, everyone. We're gonna be recessed. All right,
I bring this meeting back to order. If we could have quiet, please, in the room. So as we listen to everyone,
We appreciate your coming in. We appreciate your comments. We encourage community members to volunteer
their time, if they can, to help. There are no simple answers. We do have a process in place that we
utilize. And I will ask my colleagues, Commissioner Jones, did you have anything you wanted to add?
No, I don't.
Excuse me. I will echo that this is a really tough conversation and it is a conversation that's best
suited to you for other
forums as well. And during public comment, it's usually a one-sided dialogue and not a two-sided dialogue.
And that is just sort of the nature of this beast. And thank you all for understanding that. Also, I
just wanted to reference another story that's been in the news. These situations always cause community
tension. And there was a situation in Whitetown
That was a pretty bad misunderstanding. And this has been in the news nationwide. There was a couple
who was hired to clean a model home. And this couple came to a home. And they tried to insert a key
in the door lock. And they tried to enter a home under mistaken identity. And there was a gentleman
who shot the wife, the woman, through the head, through the door, believing her to be an aggressor.
And that was a tremendous shame. Somebody lost their life that day. They were murdered. And this is
an allegation to this point. So what I said is what is alleged. But it's a very, very tragic situation.
It's a situation that could have been avoided had someone checked, had someone called police, had someone
acted with circumspection.
our job as elected officials is to save as many lives as possible and we have to balance considerations.
We have to balance tensions between neighbors and we have to balance tensions between neighbors and
camps and neighbors in neighborhoods and our fear is that sometimes these tensions may boil over in ways that
cause people to lose lives that shouldn't. So we're not just looking at lives lost because of cold weather.
We're also looking at lives lost because of mental health conditions, lives lost because of recovery,
and from substance use. And all of these things are things that we're taking under consideration. So
thank you for your comments. We will take all of them into consideration. And thank everyone for their
patience this morning.
And we do expect quiet in this room unless you've been addressed and asked to speak at the podium or
online in order to conduct the people's business. We listen to you respectfully and we just ask the
same consideration. And again, we do appreciate everybody who has contacted us, made comments. We know
your heart's there and we have done
that we've done a great deal in this community. To try to address. The core issues rather than the symptoms.
Um. And we have provided, um. Millions of dollars to heading home to, um.
to try to address the larger issues. And there are a number of issues that need to be addressed. You're
absolutely right. But we can't solve those in a day. But certainly, we need to keep working them. And
that's what we do.
Did you want to go ahead? Yeah, I just wanted to connect two dots that I think I did not connect before.
What I was referencing that anecdote, why I was referencing that anecdote, we've had complaints from
other individuals from homeowners associations that individuals were trying to get access to cars and
trying to look indoors of
occupied dwellings. And so my fear is that that might lead to confrontation at some point in time. Those
calls have been escalating. And so I'm afraid in light of events like Whitetown that that might be here
in Bloomington. And so that's always in the back of my mind lately. So that's the reason for my comments.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. So let's go on to item six, please.
Move approval of the minutes for November 13th, 2025. Second. Any comments, corrections, or edits? All
those in favor of approving the minutes for November 13th, 2025, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion
carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of the claims docket, accounts payable November,
December 4th, 2025.
and payroll November 26, 2025. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Good morning. The accounts
payable claims docket for December 4th, 2025 totals $3,506,832.78. This includes all emergency claims
and adjustments. The payroll docket for November 26, 2025 includes $1,594,600
$2,277,490 in direct costs. The remaining $682,856 and 54 cents were indirect costs for a grand total
of $2,277,490 and 73 cents. Thank you so much. Any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? Commissioner
Maduro? No. All right. Any public comment on this item?
see none. All those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable December 4th 2025 and
payroll November 26 2025 signify by saying aye. Motion carries three zero. I will note for the record
we received reports from the clerk of the circuit court for October 2025 and the treasurer's report
for October of 2025. We'll now move on to new business, please.
Move approval of the Purdue grant extension with Purdue University for 2026. Fund name, county general,
fund number 1000 in the amount of $219,910. Second. All right, we have a motion. I'm sorry, please note,
we need quiet, please. We need quiet, please.
We need quiet, please, to hear the people's business. You will be asked to be removed. You will be asked
to be removed. You will be asked to be removed. Thank you. I apologize for that.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
have none. This looks wonderful. Thank you. We look at this every year. It looks the same every year.
Yeah. Really appreciate the hard work that you and your staff do in the community. We just got our report
today on this, so it's really nice to see those numbers that reflect that. But really do appreciate it.
And I sent back a note you had a question about Citizens Academy. So I sent back a note. I'm going to
send another one because I'm not sure it got there. But we do want to have that conversation about Citizens
Academy. And it's something that I think can grow over time. And it's been a good program. So I look
forward to talking about that. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. All right. Any public comment on
this item? Can you raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium?
All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Purdue extension with Purdue University
for 2026 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you, ma'am. Thanks for your patience
today. Thank you, Ms. Smith. I appreciate it. Appreciate you. All right. Next item, please. Move approval
of the Community Justice and Mediation Center, or C-JAMM, MOU. Second.
Oh, I didn't finish reading that. Sorry. Fun name, lit special purpose, fun number 1114, in an amount
not to exceed $32,000. There you go. Now. Second. Thank you. Perfect. All right, Mr. Erwin. Thank you
so much. Morning. Jeff Hartman, Monroe County Juvenile Probation. Wyatt Lawson from the Community Justice
and Mediation Center.
The MOU before you represents a long-standing relationship with the Community Justice and Mediation
Center and the Probation Department. The MOU allows juvenile probation to send referrals to C-Jam for
the Victim Offender Restoration Program. This program is considered evidence-based with research showing
that it leads to higher victim satisfaction and increased offender accountability. So we just hope for
your continued support of the MOU.
if Wyatt would like to say anything.
We appreciate your time. I'll keep it very brief. I am excited to be back. My first week was the last
week that we presented this last year. So this is one year marked at CJAM. And I've had a lovely experience
working with the VORP program and our case manager, Nick Philbeck, as he's kind of worked through this
program as well. And it's very inspiring to see the young people and their capacity for thought on kind
of the harms that they were created and how they may take accountability for it. So I hope you take
that in consideration. Thank you.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for all your work with CJAMM. So vital. Colleagues, do you have questions?
Commissioner Jones? No questions, but I'm always very supportive of this and I'm pleased to see it going
forward for another year. Commissioner Madeira? No comments, but I love CJAMM so much that I've served
on the board for many years and I have a question for Jeff in that capacity. Should I recuse myself
since I serve on the board?
I don't think you necessarily have to because you don't have a direct financial interest in the vote,
but if the people have abstained in the past, so that wouldn't be an unusual action. It's entirely up
to you, but unless you have a fiduciary direct fiduciary interest in the outcome. Yeah, I've been I
volunteered with CGM. I took their course and did the
shoplifters alternative program for quite a while when it was back over on Pete Ellis way before your
time probably. All right so really do appreciate C Jam and what they do in the community. I know we
had youth there as well for warp and it's really important work. Such a good program. Yeah excellent
yeah. All right so let's see if there's any public comment on this item. Raise your hand on teams or
come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Community Justice Mediation Center MOU, signify by
saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. I heard an aye from you, so you're not going to abstain. 3-0. Thank
you so much. That's okay. I just want to make sure I heard. Thank you. Next item, please. Move approval
of the 2025 through 2026 Stop Grant Agreement.
Fund name, stop grant, fund number 8123, in a grant amount of $122,809.52. Second. We have a motion.
We have a second. Ms. Hamlin. Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can. We can't see you yet, but we'll get
there. Excellent. Thank you. There you are. Thanks. Oh, there I am.
Great. This is a request for approval and signature on the grant agreement with Indiana Criminal Justice
Institute for our stop grant funding that this period covers October 1
of 2025 through September 30 of 2026 and it pays approximately 50% of the salary FICA and perf for our
sex crime deputy prosecutor and our domestic violence deputy prosecutor. The goal of this project is
to more efficiently focused resources training and staff
on crimes of violence against women. The award amount under this contract is $122,809.52. And the 25%
match is made by the PS lit in the amount of $40,928.96. Happy to take any questions. Great. Thank you
so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones.
that we've seen often in the past, and I'm very supportive of. So thank you for bringing it forward
again. Commissioner Madeira? More vital than ever, as Commissioner Jones said, especially as other funds
for this type of work are decreasing. So thank you so very much. I'm glad we can continue to prosecute
these cases because women deserve it. So thank you. All right.
see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
All right, seeing none, all those in favor of approving the 2025-2026 Stop Grant Agreement signify by
saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you, ma'am. Thanks for your patience. Thank you. All right,
next item, please.
Move approval of an agreement with Blue Dag, fund name, election, fund number 1215 in the amount of
$11,988. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. We have Ms. First joining us.
I think we got everything solved, didn't we? You say we, but we didn't do it. It's been done. Yeah,
there was a lot of different back and forth, lots of communication with Molly Turner King as well, but
I think we're in a good place and just here to answer any questions if you have any more. Yeah, I appreciate
that and I know Greg Crone spent some time looking at
the way the system works and how it works for our network and everything else. So we appreciate that.
Yeah, Greg, me and Michael Shermus from the city all had a meeting earlier this week and got some stuff
figured out so that we can make sure everything will be smooth and easy going once it's approved and
we can get going. Excellent. Thank you. Thanks for your patience. Appreciate it.
All right, let's see if, first let's see if my colleagues have any questions on this item. Okay. Let's
see if there's any public comment. Raise your hand in teams, come to the podium. I see a hand raised.
I believe it might be Molly Turner King. It is me. Yay.
I just wanted to add, I am still working on an interlocal with the city to allow for the city employees
to assist in providing support. So that should be forthcoming, hopefully very soon. Okay. Should this
motion be made on the contingency that that interlocal is completed or will that work? That work will
have to be done anyway. So I don't know why we would do that. Okay.
So, okay. But thank you for that. Appreciate it. All right. Any other public comment? All right. All
those in favor of approving the Blue Dag Agreement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. 3-0.
Thank you again for your patience. Thank you so much. All right. Next item, please.
I move approval of B&H Electric Services Agreement, fund name, county general, and parks non-reverting,
fund numbers 1000, 1178, 1179, and 4113. Second. In an amount of each project, one project shall not
exceed $2,000. Second. All right. Thank you. We have a motion. We have a second. Ms. Wimmer?
Yes, this is so we can have our pumps and compressors and all our electric motors repaired. Good thing.
All right. Comments or questions on this? OK. Any public comment on this item? Raise your hand in teams.
Come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the B&H Electric Services
Agreement, signify by saying aye.
Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Stay where you are, Ms. Whitmer. We've got a few more. All right. Next item,
please. Move approval of Bobcat of Ellisville Services Agreement, fund names, county general, and parks
non-reverting. Fund numbers 1000, 1178, 1179, and 4113.
in an amount of each project shall not exceed $3,000. Second? We have a motion. We have a second. This
is to fix all our Bobcat equipment, but usually nothing will cost this much unless it's catastrophic.
Yeah. No pun intended. All right. Thank you. All right. Any questions? Questions? All right. Any public
comment on this item?
All those in favor of approving the Bobcat of Elksville Services Agreement signify by saying aye. Aye.
Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of an addendum to extend the Bledsoe-Rigert-Trap-Cooper
and James contract. Second. All right. We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Whitmer.
This is for a state survey of the Monroe County Nature Preserve. And we believe that we're going to
need more time to get that done. No additional costs. Nope. Got it. Questions? Questions? No questions.
All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand and teams come to the podium.
None all those in favor of approving the addendum to extend the blitz over your Cooper James contract
signify by saying aye aye Motion carries three zero next item, please move approval of Todd septic LLC
services agreement fun names County General and parks non-reverting fun numbers and
1,178, 1179, and 4113 in an amount of each project shall not exceed $800. Second. We have a motion.
We have a second. Podceptic, he pumps our restroom holding tanks. Got it. Questions, questions, questions,
questions. All right. Any public comment on this item?
Seeing none, all those in favor approving the Todd septic LLC services agreement signify by saying aye.
Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of ordinance 2025-46, major crash investigation
interlocal with the town of Ellisville. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. And I can cover
this. Thank you. Yep.
This is an interlocal agreement. The Sheriff's Department got a grant and this interlocal agreement
is to help them with crash scene investigations and it's working with Ellitsville to accommodate that.
This has gone, my understanding, this has gone to the town council already, it's gone to the county
council already and it's been approved by both of those bodies. And we approved the grant earlier itself.
This is the interlocal side of it. Great. Questions?
questions. Nope. Just really great program. It is great. Uh huge, huge program. Appreciate everyone
working together this way. Helps everybody, benefits everybody. Um alright, public comment on this item.
I'm pretty sure none teams come to the podium. Seeing none. All those in favor of approving ordinance
2025-46 signify by saying aye.
Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval of Paragon Event Management LLC agreement
to assist SUDAC with the proposed 2026 Opioid Summit. Fund name, donations for SUDAC, fund number 4112
in an amount not to exceed $9,000. Second. We have a motion and we have a second.
I'm bringing this to you. So next had some difficulties getting a quorum, but I have been in conversation
with some members and I believe in this is who they use last year that it's prudent that we go ahead
and get this approved this agreement now. And that way,
Paragon can begin the process for getting ready for the 2026 Opioid Summit. So ask for your approval
for this. There's funds already in the account, so set to go. This will be in September? Yes. September
2026. I believe so, yes. Anything you want to add or questions?
This is going to be a wonderful event. And I believe that we are looking forward to getting this moving
forward in January. So stay tuned. And we're working heavily in cooperation with IU and local service
providers, including Centerstone. Good. All right. Great. Thank you, Ms. Burry. All right. Any public
comment on this item? You raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. I see Mr. Iverson has his
hand raised.
Thank you Commissioner Thomas and thank you Commissioner Madeira for being representative on this body.
I did want to make one additional point that Michelle Sills is, oh, we good? Alright, that Michelle
Sills is the person who helped us out last time and helping us out this time. They are a Monroe County
resident. This is a local business. This is a local small business, so we're very excited by
this contract using her business again. So thank you very much. Thank you. Any other public comment
on this item? All right. All those in favor of approving the Paragon event management LLC agreement
to assist SUDAC with proposed 2026 opioid summit signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
Next item, please.
Move approval of resolution 2025-55, establishing the 2026 board of commissioners meeting schedule.
Second. We have a motion. We have a second. We have Ms. Purdy to tell us all about it. This is just
a housekeeping issue. This establishes you're going to continue on the Thursday schedule throughout
2026 and at the 10 o'clock AM and all meetings will be in here unless otherwise noticed.
Thank you. Questions, comments? You know, there was a date on here. If I only had my desk with me right
now at home, there's a date on here that was... There's just a typo with the May date. It's just 21,
There's a two, and then a space, and then an eight. Scriveners. It's just, no, no, it's not a typo typo.
It's just a readability thing. I think that was it. And we can always adjust as needed. Absolutely.
So this is your standing, and you can always change. We can add more. You can add more. We can make
them all five hours long. It's your buttons for punishment. We are.
We like to punish staff. All right. You got to be here. All right. So, um, okay. So, uh, any other comments,
questions? I think we have to take public comment on this, but why not? Let's just see if anybody has
any comment on this item. You reach your hand in teams, come to the podium. That's not you saying. All right.
Thank you for putting this together, Ms. Ferdy. All those in favor of approving resolution 2025-55 signify
by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Move approval to 2026 Computer Systems,
Inc. Disaster Recovery Agreement Renewal. Fund name, recorders perpetuation, fund number 1189.
in the amount of $2,387.81. Second. We have a motion and we have a second and I'm going to actually
ask Ms. Jones if she would go ahead and introduce the next item and the next item because they're all
three connected to the same thing.
Move approval of the 2026 CSI land records management system support agreement renewal, fund name, recorders
perpetuation, fund number 1189 in the amount of $11,300. And move approval of 2026 CSI land records
management system software maintenance agreement and imaging support renewal, fund name,
recorders perpetuation fund number 1189 in the amount of $32,254 and 41 cents. Second. All right. So
these three items together, it makes sense.
Thank you for doing that. I can speak to that. I'm Amy Swain. I'm the Monroe County recorder. And in
the recorder's office, we use a land records management system, not only to process our documents, but
also to collect payment. And so these are these three
agreements are renewals of existing contracts. And so one is for system support and hardware. One is
for the software maintenance and imaging where we can scan documents and actually bring them over to
the land records management system. And the third one is for disaster recovery. So it's really important
because of the role we play in
property going back and forth and mortgages and things like that, that we stay operational during a
disaster. And so the disaster recovery is a failover in case the
Whole County is involved and TSD is busy elsewhere. Within four hours, CSI can get us back up and running,
restore the software on the local server, or if that's not an option, they can give us cloud access.
And so it really, this is the basic functions of our office and planning for continuity of operations.
Got it. Comments, questions? Comments, questions?
I'm glad we have this. I'm too grateful for the foresight to protect residents and their property in
case of disaster. So thank you for that. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item.
All those in favor of approving the three items, the 2026 Computer Systems, Inc. Disaster Recovery Agreement
Renewal, the Management Systems Support Agreement Renewal, and the Records Management Systems Software
Maintenance Agreement and Image Support Renewal signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thanks for your patience. Next item, please.
Move approval of the award of milestone, the move approval of awarding milestone, the Redbud Heights
stormwater project. Fund name stormwater fund number 1197 in the amount of $357,650.
And I'm going to add that this approval will be contingent on the stormwater board approving this as
well. So if you could take that into account. Second. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right.
Good morning. Good morning. Yeah. So yeah, we received four bids for this project. They were sealed
bids that were opened on November 13th at 1 PM. And we would recommend awarding it to milestone being
the lowest bidder. The project should be completed in early of 2026. And it is on the agenda for today's
stormwater meeting at 1230. 1230 in this room, because we're going to have a hard time making that.
We'll have to figure that one out. We'll do that in a moment. All right. Comments questions. Comments
questions. We already heard about this. It's from water board. So, okay. Any public comments on this
item? You raise your hand and teams come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of awarding milestone, the Redbud Heights stormwater project contingent
on approval by the stormwater board today, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next
item please. Move approval of the AcuBrine maintenance agreement for the brine system at the highway
garage facility. Fund name, motor vehicle highway.
fund number 1176 in the amount of $3,250. Second. Maybe a motion and a second, Ms. Ridge. You've got
lots to cover with us today. Yes, I'll keep it brief. Thank you. The department's requesting to have
this contract for pre-season maintenance for our brine system at the County Highway Garage. We just
want to keep everything in good working order and take care of our equipment that we have for the brine system.
Thank you so much. Questions, questions, questions. So glad we have the Brine system. So if people drive
before there's a storm or an ice storm pending, you will see on the streets what looks like liquid.
And it's streaked out like somebody was dumping a load accidentally off of a truck or something. That
is the Brine system at work. And just letting folks know that that's a proactive way to save lives and
protect people. So thank you so much.
All right. Any public comment on this item? See none. All those in favor of approving the AccuBrain
maintenance agreement for the Brine system at the highway garage facility signify by saying aye. Aye.
Motion carries three zero. Next item.
I move approval of an NDOT agreement extension for Sunrise Greeting Court Project, fund name Vernal
Pike, fund number 1165, in the amount of $288,122.82. Second. And it's fund number 8165.
I think you said 11, but I'm not sure. So it may just be my hearing. So I just want to say it again.
Ms. Ridge. So the project is complete.
You always have a little bit of close out items to do. So the construction inspection contract had expired.
So in dot reached out, wanted to extend it to make sure that we do get reimbursement for any final invoices
that we have for construction inspection. So this is lengthening that contract until 2026, until the
project can eventually be closed out. Thank you so much. Comments, questions?
All right. Any public comment on this item? All those in favor of approving the agreement extension
for sunrise greetings court projects signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item.
Move approval of double down dirt works LLC quote fun name.
Motor Vehicle Highway fund number 1173 in the amount of $36,393. Second. We have a motion. We have a
second. Yeah, interesting name. Ms. Ridge. It's actually triple, but okay. Anyway, triple D. But anyway,
Ms. Ridge.
Yes, so we received three quotes. This is for our traffic signal curry and vernal pike intersection
It's to do some sidewalk work and ADA ramp replacements and that will bring that intersection up to
ADA compliancy Double down work LLC was the lowest most responsive and responsible bidder that we would
like to Request for the work to be completed by Thank you so much and
questions, comments. Any public comment on this item? Raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the double down dirt works. LLC quotes signify by saying
aye. Motion carries. 3-0. Next item, please.
move approval of the 2026 highway material bids awards fund names motor vehicle highway cumulative bridge
and stormwater fund number 1176 1135 and 1197 in various different amounts second all right we have
a motion we have a second it's time for the bids yes ms ridge
So the first category that we put out for bids is aggregate stone, gravel, and sand. We, according to
Indiana Code 36-1-12-4, we award it to multiple vendors just due to material availability and where
our project is located in the county. So we would like to award that category to Rogers Group on Ord
Road and Rogers Group in Morgan County, Lincoln Parkstone,
US AG and Blackwell. Our second category that we do is for pavement markings for paint. Accu-Rite striping
was the lowest, most responsible bidder for that category. Item three and four is for our thermoplastic
for markings and removal of transverse and longitudinal markings that are thermoplastic.
Low bidder was Traffic Services LLC as being the lowest bidder. And item five is Corrugated Metal Pipe
and High Density Pylene Pipe. We would recommend to award to all bidders due to material availability,
delivery, and freight charges that are all compared. Civilcon, Metal Culverts, and E3 Bridge were the
three bidders on that category. Great. Thank you so much. Comments, questions? Comments, questions?
No, just there's an incredible amount of time, detail that goes into all of these things that you just
have an appreciation for when you get into this office. So thank you so much. Yeah. It's a lot of work.
Absolutely. I appreciate it. And again, very transparent. Yep. Yep. And it does make sense to do the
stone based on where the project is. Oh, absolutely.
the cost to move stuff. Astronomical. Yes, absolutely. Public comments. Raise your hand in teams. Come
to the podium. None. All those in favor of awarding the 2026 highway material bids signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate you.
Now we move on to a planning item. Approval of ordinance 2025 dash 41. 838 no 8383 VR LLC rezone. Second
the motion we have a second Mr Myers are you still there?
appreciate your patience thank you so much um please tell us all about this and abbreviated is fine
okay thank you let me pull up in my slideshow here real quick all right this is ordinance 2025-41 also
known as rezone-25-5 it is a rezone to 221.98 acres from
mineral extraction slash agricultural residential to solely mineral extraction. The purpose is to ensure
all property owned by 8383SBR LLC is zoned mineral extraction. There are some locations within the petition
site that are still exhibiting the agricultural residential zoning classification. The petition site
exhibits ongoing property activity at 8304 and 8383 North Steinsville Road, which includes approximately
189.79 acres.
The remaining 32.19 acres at 8436 West Hedrick Road also contains a portion of land utilized for quarry
activity. The 32.19 acre property was established as tract one of the Indiana quarries and
carvers administrative type E subdivision. That was in 2020. Ultimately, the petitioner intends to perform
a plat vacation of that type E and perform a subsequent second type E
subdivision to combine the 32.19 acre property with the remaining 189.79 acres. For the type E,
which are 32.19 acre property contained only 22.8 acres and was rezoned from agricultural residential
to mineral extraction through another ordinance petition through this board.
So that ordinance number, it was 2011-17, and it did include some conditions of approval that have been
evaluated by planning staff in the plan commission, and a few of those have been selected to remain
conditions of approval for this ordinance, and we'll get to that at the end. Here's the location map,
Bean Blossom Township.
On the map now shows the portions of the property that are still zoned agricultural residential. You
can see this slightly off-colored polygon here. That was the rezone that happened in 2011 from agricultural
residential to mineral extraction. Here on the screen, I have the definition through each of the zoning
districts. And then here we have Chapter 811-11F, which
does have some standards for mineral resource extraction. And it is permitted, mineral resource extraction
is permitted obviously in the mineral extraction zone. This is an urban analysis that planning staff
performed with respect to some of those standards, as I mentioned on the previous screen, basically
within a certain distance of houses
mineral extraction type of use is prohibited. So that's what this hatchet area indicates is that mineral
extraction cannot occur because those areas are classified as a urban area. On the screen now is that
original ordinance from 2011, as well as the AECOM report that was submitted as part of that ordinance
or a condition of approval of that ordinance. And I just included that documentation here.
This is all in the packet. Here is the original type E administrative subdivision, the Indiana Quarries
and Carvers, that shows the acquisition of additional acreage, about 9.27 acres, I believe,
into the 22.8 acre parcel that was back in 2020. And then this is the conceptual
Type E that will be occurring. You can see lots of different legal descriptions that will all be consolidated
into one large lot of record for the oratory activity here. This is also some more exhibits that were
a requirement from the original 2011 ordinance for that rezone for the 22.8 acre parcel.
Here was the recommendation that was made to the Plan Commission. As you can see on the screen, conditions
number one through seven, those were the ones pulled from the original 2011 ordinance rezone. And so
there are a number of them that have clearly been satisfied here from that time, as well as some of
these are being carried over into the recommendation by the Plan Commission to the Board of Commissioners.
And that's now on the screen.
Plan commission on October 23rd, 2025 voted six to zero for positive recommendations to the board of
commissioners with the following conditions. One, incorporate the recommendations of the AECOM CAR study
for the subject site, which is exhibit five, as part of the actual quarry operations plan. Number two,
access to Hedrick Road is restricted for all uses other than residential or agricultural purposes. Quarry
traffic shall use the internal roads of the American limestone property to the north in addition to
their right of way
at the driveway access point on Steinsville Road. Number three, quarry activity shall not extend down
into 50 foot frontage slash access strip or the flagpole of the subject site. And then finally,
number four, rock crushing is prohibited on the 32.19 acre site. The future administrative subdivision
plot should delineate the 32.19 acre site as no rock crushing permitted. I'll not take any questions.
any other questions? Um. I don't have any. I want to point out that I appreciate that. Point point for
being made clearer because. You know, as time goes on, you know, we're going to forget that there was
a 32.19 acre site that was part of the larger 200 some
everybody's good. We all know, planning staff knows, anybody complains, they can look it up. It's,
you know, it's all good. It's all good. It works out well. So colleagues, anything, questions, comments?
We're going to hear from the petitioner next. Yeah, I have nothing at this time. Okay. So petitioner.
present and accounted for. Please introduce yourself again. I'm so sorry. I do not remember your name.
That's all right. You may find me in the records, but we want to talk about that right now. Okay. My
name is Kevin Buckheit. I'm a planner. I work for the law firm, Krieg Devault, at their Colonel India
office, 12800 North Meridian Street, Suite 300.
here today to represent the petitioner 8, 3, 8, 3, S, E, R, LLC. With me today is David Edgeworth, who
is a member of the LLC and president of Big Creek Limestone. My abbreviated presentation today is we
request approval of Ordinance 2025-41 as it's been certified to you. Oh, that's easy. We like that.
And you're OK with the four conditions that have been outlined? Absolutely. Thank you. All right. Do
my colleagues have questions for the petitioner?
to speak in favor of this petition is representative. No, it all appears to be very straightforward.
It does. Um this makes a lot of sense. So I thank you for working on all of these. Aspects Um, let's
see if there's anyone who wishes to speak in favor of this petition. You can raise your hand on teams
or come to the podium in the
any other questions? If not, please come to the podium and that you have room or raise your hand on
teams. Well, normally, this is a point of time where the petitioner can rebut anything that's been said.
But since nothing's been said, did you forget anything? Is there anything else you wanted to add?
We're good. Okay Excellent. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your patience today.
This has been kind of, uh. Um a
doing well with your patience. Any other comments? Any other public comment on this item of any nature?
All right. I think we've run down our quarry. All those in favor of approving ordinance 2025-41 signify
by saying aye.
Hi, motion carries 3-0. Mr. Myers, thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. Myers, thank you again
for your patience and your assistance. You're able, more than able, assistance on this item. Oh my God,
we got there. Okay. There is in 20 minutes another meeting in this very room. So we also have a work
session. I think that work session is going to take longer than 20 minutes.
I think we could do it and then there's one 30 is a. Election board meeting, I believe right? So. There's
no 3 o'clock hearing that has that has been moved. We could do it 3. Can we do the work session at 3
PM? If you can't say it's OK, it's quite all right, but can you do it?
I have to get home before 5.30. No, it's fine. Just let me know what you need. I just got Stanley home
with a grumbly tummy. All right, let me see. Bring him in here. I know. Oh, he would love that.
Oh my god. I'm trying to think what we can do here real quick.
I don't believe that the stormwater board meeting is going to take very long at all. Can we get it done
in 15 minutes, do you think? Okay, perfect. Great. So let's, should we just come back to 1245? I mean,
tell your 1230 and then right after the stormwater board meeting, 1245 ish, we will have the work session.
Does that work? Yeah. And if we have to, we can continue it. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is that work for everybody? Yep. Yep. Yep. Good. Good. Excellent.
Thank you. Thanks, everyone for your patience today. Um, serving the public is, um, a blessing. Um it's
an honor and privilege to serve the public. It's an honor and privilege to hear from the public. It
is always better when we're all respectful of one another,
There is a meeting tonight at 5.30 at Steinsville School, former Steinsville School, regarding Bean
Blossom and the Fire Department. It is a meeting that's been on our calendar. Technical Services,
Greg Krohn, is going to try to get this on Teams.
we're going to see if it can happen. But if you are very interested in we recommend that you go to the
science will school. Um to offer your commentary. It's really, um, another listening session for us.
Um to hear from members of the community and being blossom are getting their
that we will have some board and commission appointments that we will put on. The agenda the next few
weeks. Um but I just want to remind folks to please go to our county website and check out. Um. The
list of boards and commissions and if you're interested in applying, please do we, um. There are some
that really need help. We can never find
to serve on the citizens advisory commission. Um so, you know, there are all kinds of ways to serve
all kinds of ways to. Share your time talent with your friends and neighbors in Monroe County. Um all meetings
I don't want to scare anyone off. All right. So with that, do you want to believe there's some council
members on online and just want to reiterate to them? Yes, that'd be about 1245. You're hoping to be
back 1245 because we have a 1230 stormwater board meeting. Apologies to everyone who's here for the
work session because we do have
and I believe Ms. Nester Jones also waiting to join the meeting because she has items for our work session.
So I appreciate everybody's patience. It's just not in our control today and we will hopefully convene
at or near as near as possible 1245 the work session meeting and
for Mr. Schilling and Ms. Jelen. If you can be brief, we'd appreciate it so that we have time to have
a conversation, at least beginning of one, about the capital improvement plan with our colleagues on
the county council. Sorry, out of our control that it's so late. Anyway, any questions? Anything else?
I know I've missed a lot. All right, with that, we're going to adjourn the regular meeting. We'll be
back at 1230 for stormwater.
I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you. 12 45 for work session. You get all that TSD. Thank you.
They followed it great. Um and 5 30 at Steinsville tonight because we just didn't have enough to do
today. Thank you,