- Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It
- is Thursday, January 22nd, 2026. And here in present in the Hill Room, myself and Commissioner Madeira.
- Commissioner Jones is not here today. 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, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We also stand in support of our county public
- school systems, both RBB,
- and MCCSC. And with that, we will move on to our department updates. Ms. Kelly is joining us via Teams.
- Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. According to the Indiana Department of Health, as of January
- 20th, we have not seen increases in emergency department visits for COVID-like illness.
- but wastewater concentrations do continue to trend upwards. According to data provided by wastewater
- scan, we are seeing high levels of flu, RSV, and neurovirus circulating. The health department is still
- transitioning vaccination services from IU Health Community Health. Currently, we are referring individuals
- to the Morgan County Health Department for vaccinations.
- The number is 765-342-6621. All right. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? No. Excellent. It sounds
- like we're in a good position right now. Hopefully we can say that way. Thank you so much. All right.
- Ms. Ridge, good morning.
- Just a brief update, our Eagleson Bridge replacement project went to letting this past week. It will
- be awarded to Beatty Construction. But I just wanted to publicly thank NDOT for their continued support
- on projects in Monroe County. We took over, we stepped up and agreed to take over management of that
- project for NDOT.
- using federal funds. It was to be an 80-20 match for construction. But last Friday, after the letting,
- Monroe County's match would have been right at a million dollars, but NDOT is stepping up and our match
- is gonna be about three and a half percent, which I got the invoice yesterday. So our match went down
- to $160,000 due to NDOT providing extra funding to that project. It just shows the relationship that
- we have with NDOT. I'm very thankful for the support that we get from them, how they can help us save
- local dollars for our other projects that we have coming up.
- But again, it was a great phone call to receive. And I just wanted to reiterate the relationship that
- Monroe County has with NDOT and how projects can change. You might be thinking you're going to be paying
- something out of a grant fund one minute, and that can change considerably the next day. So it's probably
- why my grant funds are such a headache, which I know the auditors knows that they are such a headache.
- That's just how quick something can change. And it's to our benefit whenever we have to make some adjustments
- in our projects. Do you have any comments? No, this is just a wonderful development. And again, an unforeseen
- one. And just we're very grateful. Thank you. Yeah, we appreciate that relationship that you've built
- with INDOT. I mean, that's not something that happens overnight. It's a relationship of trust.
- It's getting projects done, getting them done on time, getting them to spec. So kudos to you and your
- staff. Your leadership means the world. And I know that taxpayers are grateful as well. Thank you so
- much. Any other department updates? You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
- We'll move on to public comment. Public comment is reserved for items that are not on the agenda. We
- don't have anyone in the NetU Hill room this morning. So if anyone has any public comment to offer,
- please raise your hand on Teams. We will call on you and ask you to provide your name and county of
- residence. It looks like Commissioner Jones has joined the meeting. Excellent. Yay. Thank you. Good
- to see you. Excellent.
- It's good to see you. Good to see you. And we'll note for the record that she has joined the meeting.
- Does anyone have any public comment to offer for items that are not on the agenda? All right.
- Seeing none, we will move on to our next agenda item, please.
- I would like to move approval of the minutes for January 15th, 2026. I'll second that. And any comments,
- questions or edits? All right. Mr. Copper, will you please call the roll on the approval of minutes
- for January 15th, 2026? Commissioner Thomas. Yes. Commissioner Jones. Yes. Commissioner Madeira. Yes.
- Motion is approved three to zero.
- much. Next item please. I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for
- January 22nd, 2026 and for payroll for January 23rd, 2026. I'll second that and Ms. Moser if you could
- give us the information please. Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for January 22nd, 2026 totals
- $8,886,529.77. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for January 23rd,
- 2026, includes $1,744,455.29.
- direct costs and the remaining eight hundred and seventy nine thousand two hundred and twenty two dollars
- and twenty eight cents were for indirect costs for a grand total of two million six hundred and twenty
- three thousand six hundred and seventy seven dollars and fifty seven cents. Thank you so much any comments
- or questions commissioner Jones. No I don't. Commissioner Madeira. No thank you.
- Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand on teams or can't come to the podium. So strange
- not to have anyone here. All right. Seeing none, Mr. Cockrell, will you please call the roll on the
- approval to claim stock and accounts payable January 22nd, 2026 and payroll for January 23rd, 2026.
- Mr. Thomas. Yes. Commissioner Jones. Yes.
- Commissioner Madeira. Yes. Is approved three to zero. Thank you so much. We will now move on. Well,
- I will note we don't have any reports and we will now move on to our sole item of new business. I'd
- like to move approval for the award community crossing matching grant paving to award the community
- crossing matching grant paving projects to milestone. Fund names, economic development and motor vehicle
- highway, fund numbers,
- 11,112 and 1176 in the amount of $2,169,377.90. I'll second that. Ms. Ridge. Good morning. Sealed bids
- were open on January 15th at the commissioner's regularly scheduled meeting. Four sealed bids were received
- and we would like to award the lowest most responsive responsible bidder of milestone.
- Thank you so much. We're really excited about these projects. You listed out the roadways at the last
- meeting last week. And I know that there are people across this community who are very anxious and eager.
- But again, being awarded the full amount from INDOT is impressive. There were other agencies locally
- that didn't get anything.
- Really big kudos. All right. Any comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? Nope. Just eager to move
- along with this project. Thank you. Commissioner Jones, comments or questions? No, I don't. All right.
- Let's see if there's any public comment. Raise your hand on teams. And we will recognize you. I don't
- see anyone. All right. Mr. Cockrell.
- Will you please call the roll on awarding the community crossing matching grants, paving projects to
- milestone? Mr. Thomas? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Commissioner Madeira? Yes. Motion is approved at three to
- zero. Great. Thank you so much. And we have one appointment. Yes, I would like to move to approve Dr.
- Kevin Moore to the Board of Health.
- I will second that. And this is the physician appointment that was vacated by Dr. McKinley. And again,
- we thank Dr. McKinley for his service. And we appreciate Dr. Moore's willingness to serve. So with that,
- Mr. Cockrell, will you please call the roll on the appointment? Commissioner Thomas. Yes. Commissioner Jones.
- Yes. Commissioner Madeira. Yes. Approved three to zero. Excellent. We have just a few announcements
- today. Just a reminder, especially with the incoming inclement weather, keep an eye on weather reports
- and the forecast seems to change daily. It went from three inches to flurries to nothing to
- 6 inches plus and everything in between and it does change daily. So, but the other thing you can do
- is sign up for the resident alert system go to our homepage and sign up. So you will receive notifications
- about whether emergencies road closures if need be.
- God is forbid. But anything like that that comes up in the county, you will be notified. And you can
- select text, email, and or phone call, belt, and two sets of suspenders if you choose. So just go to in.gov
- slash county slash Monroe, and it's right there on our home page.
- We are still accepting applications for boards and commissions. We have two positions still vacant on
- the health board. And this is a fairly wide scope in terms of the descriptions, because some of them
- are very specific. So a clinician, somebody that has experience in public health.
- we invite you to apply. We also have openings in animal management. And you go to our homepage and search
- boards and commissions. The next Red Cross blood drive that we have co-sponsored with Ivy Tech is,
- let's see, it's Wednesday, February 11th.
- 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday, February 12th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And this is at Ivy Tech in rooms C130A
- and B. And we continue to host office hours six times each month. Just go to the calendar on their homepage
- and look for it. And had an interesting conversation yesterday. Very good conversation.
- We appreciate those folks who participate. We found we had a disagreement about an item, but we found
- common ground on others and it was great. So really appreciate those folks who participate. And we are
- meeting at 630 p.m. tonight with the county council in a joint work session with hard stop at 830.
- This is regarding their vote last year to decline to continue with the purchase agreement for North
- Park and the five questions that were posed. And I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get through those
- five questions today, plus hopefully figure out some next steps, which would be nice. Am I missing anything else?
- I think that we have some congratulations are in order for the IU football team and for Coach Cignetti.
- So who's yours? And I think we have some congratulations festivities that hopefully will not be trampled
- into snow this weekend. But a tremendous comeback for a franchise that has long been an underdog and
- that will bring a lot of needed
- and traffic to Monroe County, and we welcome everybody who comes to see our folks in our wonderful university
- with open arms. And just, yeah, looking forward to a collegial discussion on next steps with the Jail
- and Justice Center this evening. And be very safe this weekend. Please, yeah. Commissioner Jones, do
- you have anything? I think the two of you have kind of covered everything.
- Yeah, we're really proud of the Hoosiers, underdogs all the way, and it proves that nice guys can finish
- first and can finish 16 and 0. Yeah, it really struck me that Mendoza actually tried to walk onto Miami
- and was turned away. That was new to me, as well as that final play. Just amazing. So we do have a work
- session agenda that's been a bit beefed up. So we do need to come back for that.
- Can we come back at 1040? Does that work for you, Commissioner Jones? Yeah. Excellent. Good, good.
- All right. With that, our next meeting is January 29th, 10 a.m. here in the NETU Hill Room, and we are
- adjourned. Thanks, everyone. Thanks.