- Good morning. The call to order this meeting of Monroe County Board of Governors. It is Thursday,
- March 12th, and I will note for the record that each commissioner is here and present in the Nattie
- Hill room. I'm going to make a quick motion to amend our agenda to move the work session item.
- the agenda. Um milestone change order number two into our regular agenda as item N. And also to remove
- item P. Second motion in a second. All those in favor of amending the agenda. Signified by saying I.
- All right.
- And if you would please read that Commissioner Jones. Thank you. 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, appreciate that. We have an item three, please.
- Yes, I moved to ratify the local disaster emergency declaration. Second, we have a motion and we have
- a second. I don't think. Here. Anything we need to note about this Jeff? I think that this is dealing
- with the wind tornado damage from. Last week and.
- So this is declaring that emergency so that they can utilize maybe some of the state funding options
- to recover some of the funding that was used for that. This several weeks ago, the big tornado that
- we had. Yep. All right. And this declaration was signed.
- for our standard procedures, and that's why we are just looking to ratify it today. I suppose we could
- take public comment on this. Does anybody have any public comment on the emergency declaration?
- Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the local disaster emergency declaration, signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next we have a proclamation in observance of National Safe Place Week. National
- Safe Place Week will be celebrated across the nation during the week of March 15th to 21st, 2026. The
- youth of Monroe County, Indiana will determine the future strength of our country and they will be the
- bearers of our democracy.
- have resources readily available to assist them. When faced with
- is committed to protecting the youth of Monroe County, Indiana, by offering access to short-term housing
- at neighborhood locations where trained volunteers are available to counsel and advise young people
- seeking assistance and guidance. Designated locations where youth can get information and immediate
- help. Safe place is found at businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, movie theaters, and
- community buildings, including fire stations,
- libraries, and public transportation vehicles. Whereas the success of Safe Place is based on public-private
- collaborations between businesses, school systems, fire departments, law enforcement, and a network
- of volunteers. More than 1,400 communities in 39 states administer the Safe Place program at more than
- 22,000 locations, and increased awareness will encourage more communities to establish Safe Place locations
- where youth
- can readily access the help they need. Now, therefore, we, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners,
- do hereby proclaim our observance of March 15th to 21st of 2026 as National Safe Place Week, and that
- is proclaimed today, the 12th of March, 2026. And a big shout out to all of you who helped with this
- program and the great folks
- We'll now move on to department updates. We'll begin with Ms. Kelly, who's here. Good morning, commissioners.
- According to the Indiana Department of Health, as of March 10th, we have not seen increases in hospital
- admissions for COVID-19 illness and wastewater concentrations are trending down.
- flu activity across the state is high. The health department does have combo flu A and B and COVID tests
- now for free. The public can walk in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive free tests.
- and I wanted to provide an update on the vaccination services. So during the installation of the generator
- for our vaccine refrigerators, it was identified that the existing gas meter will need to be resized
- in order to accommodate the generator's gas demand. So we are currently waiting on that to complete
- the transition and have our services started. Great, thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner
- Madeira? No, thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't, thank you.
- Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, we have Veterans Affairs. Good morning, Mr. Miller. Morning,
- commissioners. My name is Steve Miller. I'm the Monroe County Veterans Service Officer. And today I
- have with us Ron Higgins. He's my district service officer. And he's going to explain to you about the
- new state bill 433. And I have some handouts if it's OK, I'll bring those up to you.
- Thank you so much. Good morning. Again, I'm Ron Higgins, Southeast District Service Officer for the
- Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and I train and support county veterans service officers to
- be in the role they're in. I'm required through this new law to brief the county commissioners twice
- a year. The first briefing will be an update.
- brief overview of this Senate Bill 433, which will be called IC Code 10-17-1-9. The purpose of the policy
- is to establish a comprehensive mandatory standards of accreditation for veterans service officers who
- are conducting operational business within the state of Indiana. The statute also sets clear rules of
- operation for these accredited service officers.
- service officers shall perform all functions operations report all information required to the State
- Department in the claims management system required functions operation include but are not limited
- to completion of all relevant information within the forms and fields intake form of logins and walk
- ins appointments and substantive interactions
- a claimant information and responsibility liability form and other protocols that are deemed operational
- effectiveness and efficiency. Only accredited service officers in compliance with this policy are authorized
- full unrestricted access to our claims management system. That is the software that we use in all 92
- states or counties, pardon me, which means admin assistance and secretaries who are not accredited will
- not be permitted to
- submit applications to the federal VA. So a quick overview of the highlights. CVSOs are now required
- to be hired employees of the county. They're not appointed for four years. CVSOs office hours must maintain
- at least 1,000 hours a year, which is roughly 20 hours per week. Updated and posted office hours are
- required to be on the door of the CVSO and on our database and website.
- appropriate internet connection and technology that they need, utilization of all claims management
- software. Again, that's our software that we use across the board. Utilization of the PIV card, which
- is a personal identification verification card, allows us access to the veteran's federal database we
- can see into the veteran's file and render a more accurate assessment of any claims or
- advice that we might have. They must have private office space to conduct confidential discussions for
- the protection of clients, information, other security standards and protocols uniform across the state
- for protection of protocols and protection of personal identification. Requirement to attend IDVA annual
- training semi-annually and to maintain continuing education units. There is a four day
- that's in the summer and two district trainings that are one in the spring, one in the fall, and will
- include certain also required online trainings, proficiency examinations. New CVSOs are required to
- be reaching out to us for their orientation and training and to start the process for accreditation.
- And through the claims management system, we will capture data that will be generic information that
- we'll use for reports, logs, various other
- information to remain compliant for these new states, which is being called KPI, or Key Performance
- Indicators. There is certain outreach expectations, various other data entry that's never been done
- before, and all future
- briefings will be more along the lines of performance. And these are the great things that we're doing
- in the Veterans Service Office. And I would like to pay you a high, terrific compliment. Stephen Miller
- and his assistant Andrew have exceeded all expectations and are 100% compliant before this law was even
- in place. So thank you for all you do for our veterans in the state of Indiana and Monroe County. And
- that's all I have.
- Thank you so much. And that was going to be my follow-up question. Aren't we doing all of that?
- And by we, I mean, isn't Mr. Miller doing all of that already in his office? Yes. Okay, excellent.
- Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, next we have an update from the Women's Commission. Ms. Hardesty.
- Good morning. I think we have a PowerPoint presentation if that is available to put up. Are you seeing
- a PowerPoint? It's actually online with the packets as well. The PowerPoint is? It is. Well, all right
- then. Here it comes. Okay, great. All right, thanks.
- Oh, thank you very much. Okay. Well, good morning, commissioners, and thank you for this time on your
- agenda today. My name is Julie Hardesty and I'm a member of the Monroe County Women's Commission. We
- serve in an advisory role to assist residents, businesses, and the government of Monroe County in addressing
- issues of gender equity in all aspects of society. And we're sharing the gender equity rubric with you
- and the Monroe County community today as a tool to use towards this goal. So next slide, please.
- So the gender equity rubric came about from work we started in 2023 to consider issues for women and
- marginalized genders in a proposal for a new Monroe County jail. That review was bringing up concerns
- such as separate areas needed for safety, supplies needed for menstruation, care needed for pregnancy,
- giving birth or childcare, and childcare support needed for both diversion support when trying to keep
- people out of jail and reentry support when people leave jail and reenter the community.
- community. In doing this work, we realize this lens of supporting and improving conditions for marginalized
- genders could be used to evaluate policies and ordinances and improve the lives of all county residents
- by centering and elevating gender equity concerns. So we offer the gender equity rubric to the Monroe
- County commissioners as a tool you can use to help mitigate these inequities and produce better ordinances
- and policies that are better explained and maintained for everyone in our community. And this aligns
- directly with the board of commissioners commitment to welcome and protect the rights of all people,
- sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, economic status and national origin, and
- your affirmation of the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear and to fight and resist
- at every step, discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. Next slide, please. Since
- this work began in 2023, it is worth noting that nearly all the sources from the United States used
- to construct this rubric on gender equity are no longer actively available and can only be found via
- the internet archive.
- To define gender, we use a community-driven definition from Wikipedia of the range of social, psychological,
- cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man or boy, woman or girl, non-binary or third gender. The
- World Health Organization defines gender as socially constructed characteristics of women, men, girls,
- and boys, and also notes that gender characteristics can change over time and vary from society to society.
- And gender is not the same as an individual sex, which is biological, dealing with hormones and physical
- body parts, but sex can be involved
- involved in gender expression. So gender comes into play in policies used by governments, workplaces,
- and organizations because how people present themselves in these different social settings impacts how
- they see themselves in relation to these places. And likewise, societal expectations of gender roles
- and norms, especially in the context of workplace and government settings, impacts how government workplaces
- and organizations end up treating historically underserved genders in particular. Next slide, please.
- This is going to go a little quickly but for rubric scoring we use the five levels of gender responsiveness
- from the World Health Organization which are shown here on the slide from gender unequal to
- gender transformative next slide please. For rubric organization we.
- We used rubric categories based on categories that are defined in the Women's Democracy Network's Gender
- Responsive Policymaking Handbook. And the formatting for the rubric is based on the University of Arkansas
- at Little Rock's Equity Lens Assessment Rubric, which is now only available on the Internet Archive.
- Next slide, please.
- And we structured the rubric with policy phase, category, and then criterion with the five scoring levels
- to consider for each criterion. And we provide this in a spreadsheet file format, so including notes
- and scoring and adding up scores is also possible. We also have a guidelines document that goes into
- more details on using the rubric. Next slide, please.
- Part of this work, I conducted a test run of sorts of the rubric using an ordinance from 2024 to amend
- the Monroe County Personnel Policy Handbook regarding paid parental and family leave. And I'm just one
- person testing, so it's one person's reflection using this evaluation tool. But overall, I did not find
- that this ordinance rated very highly for gender equity when evaluating with this rubric. I found that
- the ordinance was mostly gender unequal or gender neutral, according to our criteria. So at the most,
- it's maintaining status quo and not identifying how it helps women in marginalized genders.
- Missing from the ordinance are background information, evaluation information, and any information that
- explains that the supports and levels the playing field for women and marginalized genders who were
- previously expected to handle the work of parenting and taking care of family without any acknowledgment
- or support from their place of employment. That information is not provided elsewhere in the Personnel
- Policy Handbook either, where this amendment was added. Additionally, since the Monroe County website
- moved last year, this ordinance is no longer available online, so it can't be found anywhere publicly.
- It's possible this ordinance could score better against this rubric with things like still being available
- online, including related public meeting minutes, and tracking the process more transparently as the
- ordinance moves through to being passed. This rubric can also, and just as importantly, inform
- the conversation as ordinance and policies are developed. And the Monroe County Women's Commission thinks
- we can do better to support women of marginalized genders in having the same opportunities and benefits
- that men have had in Monroe County government and the community for a significantly longer period of time.
- efforts like this will make ordinance development better for everyone, keep everyone better informed,
- and this kind of transparency and policy construction will benefit everyone, not just a single group
- within our community. Next slide, please. So with the approval from the county commissioners, we're
- interested in publishing, if we can, both the rubric and the guidelines, maybe on the Monroe County
- Women's Commission webpage, if possible, but just making this available as a tool for public use.
- Next slide, please.
- So this is also going to go quickly, but these are resources that we used for reviewing gender equity
- and policies. And next slide. These are the references that we were using for figuring out how to organize
- the rubric. Next slide, please. So last, I just want to say thank you to the members of the Monroe County
- Women's Commission Policy Subcommittee, past and present, for all the work and research to put this
- together, and to all the women's commission and our ex officio members from both the board of commissioners
- and the county council for their review and feedback. Thank you.
- Thank you so much. No, and we will definitely check on whether the ordinance is online. That is, I thought
- it was actually. It's 2024, and I think there was just like a whole timeline, a time where it's like
- anything previous just is not there yet and not back yet, I guess. Yeah. And thank you so very much.
- I know this took a lot of hard work to create. And thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you for all you're doing to help out with gender equity. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have an
- update from Mr. Cockrell on a couple of items. Yes. I think we did this at the last work session where
- I gave an update on where we're at with
- what I've been doing, what we've been working on towards the new justice facility. And so I think when
- we left off last time, we would discuss the resolution from the county council talking about financial
- matters. I reached out the next day to our bond council to determine what the timing of that bonding
- in that documents could be.
- He was, he needed to find and we needed to look for one of the corrections that we think are necessary
- for that. And at that point in time, the legislators had not quite finished but were finishing recently.
- So we decided that we were gonna meet tomorrow to kind of go over and make sure that either that opportunity
- was there or make sure everybody knows that it's not and if we have to find a different avenue. So I've
- reached out to him and hopefully we'll have
- a short answer tomorrow with maybe a long answer after that, depending on that answer. Then on the 27th,
- I also, and when I say I, I'm including, typically when I, with bond counsel it was me, but when we're
- meeting with DLC or things like that, there's generally somebody from the commissioner's staff, and
- typically we invite some, Molly Turner King from our office or someone, I did not note whether they
- were there at any.
- And so when I receive information from one of the property owners about one of the sites that we identified
- at the work session, I forwarded that to the council and the council staff, DLZ, and your staff to kind
- of review and look at. And then on March 2nd, and discuss
- details with the people who are doing this, the subdivision next to where we are, which is going to
- have the and we're taught primarily we've been focused on the Thompson site because that's the one I
- think we can get the most. We had the most questions about and we can probably get the most answers
- about without expending money, right? And so we discussed with the with the developer kind of their
- plans for Adam Street and how that was going to go through. And then we also met with
- DLZ to kind of relay that information and get some give give them that information so they can kind
- of help figure out what's changed on the Thompson site because this is a I mean a two conclusions already
- the Fullerton first and then North Park second where Thompson was considered at both of those. So we're
- trying to figure out what's changed there that would make it more
- acceptable and able to be built upon. And I'm not gonna say there's nothing there, but we're working
- on that. So, and then, you know, I've sent some of the water documents, I think it's the jurisdictional
- water information to our stormwater review for review and to see what they thought about that. And then,
- I mean, that all happened last week and then this week,
- kind of continued with review of the Thompson site, trying to figure out if we had a rough based upon
- what we're looking at, what we were looking at at the North Park site, kind of where things would lay
- out. So I sent that to the city planning department to see if they saw any real issues with that, with
- slopes or interference with any of their policies. So I'm waiting to hear back from them on that.
- And so, and I also, I think we've
- Mr. Thomas and I met briefly yesterday with Mr. Falk. And so we were talking about, you know, what does
- he feel is necessary to get the agreed order extended? And I think he's looking for progress. You know,
- I think timelines and things are really important to him. He wants this moving quicker. I know we talked
- about, you know,
- had to wait two years to move some stuff, whether that would be problematic, and he indicated it probably
- would be. We also talked about what happens if we don't have the ability to bond pursuant to the state
- legislature's changes, and he's like, well, we work through that with a different county, and he's sending
- me some examples on how they work through that. So trying to kind of engage so we can understand where
- he's coming from. I think at the end of the day,
- what he said and what he will continue to say is, you got to show me and then I'll make a decision,
- right? And we're just trying to chip away at the edges to kind of see where he's at. But I think at
- the end of the day, that was his message that I heard. And so that is kind of my update on the jail property.
- I had heard that at the council meeting, and I haven't watched the council meeting, there was a conversation
- about the convention center properties, particularly the lease properties to the south. And so I kind
- of will give a brief, here's how we got to where we are. That is in 2010, the county purchased those
- properties and they cost in the neighborhood of $3 million and they were purchased
- for the expansion of the convention center, including the location of a potential hotel. And that was,
- you know, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the line, it was paid through innkeeper's tax. And since
- that time innkeeper's tax has been used to maintain the property and keep it in relatively working order
- in order for it to be able to still be used for that purpose. In February of this year,
- we have gotten a request from the CIB, which is the Capital Improvement Board, which is the board that
- is put in place to oversee the expansion and the convention center properties and things like that for
- those properties. And again, those were purchased with innkeepers tax dollars. And so right now we are
- exploring that transfer.
- right, we are aware that there are 17 tenants, residential tenants in those properties through three
- different buildings. We are working, we have had discussions with, and I don't know how, what's been
- communicated to the tenants yet or not, that we are working with the executive director of the apartment
- association, as well as tangently, Mary Morgan with Heading Home has been
- has been communicated with and they are prepared to help. I think the homeowners or the apartment association
- is planning on in the near future. And I don't know the date to have a flyer and a presentation for
- the people who are currently living in those areas. And the intent is to find them a suitable place
- that is relatively close and relatively in that cost area for them to be able to move to and be there.
- and have a reasonable place to live. So we're working on alternative housing options for those groups.
- I think there has been some discussion, I don't know where at, with the potential of helping with moving
- expenses and things of that nature. So that's where that's at. And I think what's happened is there
- was a letter sent to the tenants kind of reminding them, hey, your lease ends on July 7th.
- I mean, we're going to have public comment after this where everybody's going to have the ability to
- speak. So, you know, and so that that's kind of where it's at. And so I don't know if there's any other
- details you want. What significance is it that the properties were purchased with in keepers tax? Well,
- in keepers funds can only be used for the for tourism or tourism related. Expenses, right? And so.
- You know, we've maintained them with innkeepers tax because the intent is to use those properties for
- a tourism related expense. And so that's how we've been able to keep those maintenance. I would also
- say it's, this is the only area where we have residential tenants. Unusual for a county to have residential
- tenants. There are statutes out there that would allow
- you know, housing authorities and things like that, which is typically how you would, a public entity
- in the city has one would deal with housing issues like this. There's also residential TIF options,
- but this, but what the areas we're talking about is within the city limits and we don't have the ability
- to do a residential TIF within city limits. So in a sense, the properties are in the name of the board
- of commissioners, but we don't manage them. And,
- It is really just a name only. I think it's a little more than that. I mean, I think it is in your name.
- I would say until I think it was February of last year, so about a year ago, it wasn't in your name.
- It was in the building corporation's name. And so the building corporation had the actual ownership.
- I mean, the issue here, I think the issue that people are gonna talk about that are kind of gonna come
- from the other side, and that's perfectly fine, is that we bought this property within Cooper's tax
- for a purpose. We knew at the time we bought it in 2010, that purpose was not going to occur in the
- next three or four years, right? We knew it was a longer down the line issue. And then we went through
- a process with the city of Bloomington, which was,
- ended well, right? We ended with a good solution with the CIB. I think until probably three years ago
- or two years ago, I don't know, we assumed that the expansion of the hotel and all that was going to
- go to the north property where we call it the former bunker site, but that property that the city had purchased
- And so that's not, we've gone through a process with hotel developers and the city and the CIB have,
- and it's not worked out on that site. And so they're really looking for a different area for that or
- some mechanism. I mean, that's a negotiation that has not come to any conclusions yet, but this request
- has been made in furtherance of the Convention Center Host Hotel. And we're going to be looking at that transfer
- in a few weeks? I think the county council has to approve the transfer as well as the county commissioners.
- So that both bodies have to approve that because those properties are clearly valued at more than $1,000.
- But is there which body goes first? Does it matter? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter from my perspective,
- from a legal perspective. I think the council has to approve the terms and conditions. And in this case, we
- just transferred these properties a year ago. So, you know, the real question is going to be that I
- think it's going to be different from what we transferred last year just because of where these properties
- are and the fact that it may be used for a hotel is the language in it that said, we get the property
- back if it's not used for convention center purposes, you know, is a hotel essential center purpose
- but I don't think they're gonna retain ownership or potentially won't. There is a lot of negotiations
- that has to go through that. So that clause is something that we would have to look at, but it's a similar
- process to what we did last year where the council approved it and then the commissioners approved the
- transfer. There were two, because the building corporation gave it
- gave all of it to the commissioners. And then the commissioners carved off some, but not clearly not
- these and gave it to the CIB. And now the CIB is, cause that's what the CIB asked for at the time. And
- now the CIB has come back and asked for these. And when the convention center project started, we pledged
- our properties to support that center. And really our properties were really properties paid for with
- innkeepers tax. So, you know, again, in our name,
- but we had made that pledge as well. All right, do you have questions? Okay, the one thing going back
- to the properties discussion, did my colleagues have comments or questions on that? No, my understanding
- is also that the buildings are also at least one of them in,
- condition that would need substantial repairs. Oh, about the convention center. Oh, not the convention
- center. Okay, no, that's right, go ahead. But the apartment buildings themselves. The apartment buildings,
- right. I think it's a matter of, and I think you're right, but I think it's also a matter of, because
- they've all met the hand inspections and things like that, it's a matter of things have started to break
- down and when they do, it's been $20,000 repairs and things
- that funding is just not. The buildings are to a point now, I think that we're going to keep them as
- they currently are. You would probably want to go through and do a major call. And back to that question,
- I think it was raised Tuesday night was something about the discrepancy in wind leases and
- a business versus the residential. Can you explain that a little bit? I think the notice was sent to
- all tenants that they would end on July 7th, except for one of the commercial tenants had a provision
- in their lease that said we had to give them a one-year notice in order for that lease to end. And that
- notice was given in February of this year, so that would not end until February of 2017. All right.
- And then shifting backwards to the Justice Center discussion, we had thought we would have a resolution
- today, and we're not there yet because of a lot of the questions that Jeff has been talking about. So
- we hope to have something July,
- That'd be good, July. March 26 is our hope that we have something for consideration on the table. So
- that's where we're at with that. Anything else on either of those two hot topics? Okay. All right. I
- was asked about something, sort of an informal,
- discussion here, but I was asked whether the historic courthouse could be considered an emergency or
- backup polling site for the primary and general elections of 2026, and I wanted to gauge the response.
- There seems to be no concern from the facility side, but
- I support doing so, and are we good with that, offering that to the election board? Definitely. Okay.
- So election board, take note, we are offering the historic courthouse as a voting site. It used to be
- one all the time, but those were the days, right? I believe it's a backup. Backup site, right? Yeah.
- This would be a backup or emergency site.
- but we're offering it to the election board and they may do as they wish with that information.
- Anything else? Other department updates? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to public comment. This
- is time reserved for items not on our agenda.
- We ask that you give your name and county of residence. You may come up to the microphone. We will ask
- you to sign in. And if you wish, we can move the sign in over to that little table there so that we
- don't have to wait while people sign in. And if you're on teams and you wish to speak, you may raise
- your hand and we will
- you. We'll do our best to do that. So if you would like to speak from on teams virtually, you may do
- so as well. But we'll start here in the room, sir. You have three minutes. There is a clock. T s d.
- Can you make sure that that's on the
- Could we get? Oh, there we go. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Excellent. So you see it to your
- left and right. You've got your clock. Thank you for waiting. Good morning. Morning. My name is Barry
- Herbers. I'm a resident of Monroe County zip code 47401. I don't know if that matters. I appreciate
- those vows you took. They're relevant to what I have to say, and we have already heard plenty about
- that innkeeper's tax that you imply has been such a burden from the people who actually pay it, which
- are not you.
- Every single person in the Seminary Point apartments was just told, and I mean within the last few weeks,
- that they will be forced out of their homes in July, homes they had been asking for renewals for for
- six months, and you told them nothing. This is a college town, so that would be bad enough on its own,
- but the Seminary Point apartments are also the most affordable housing in Bloomington's core. I understand
- the county, that's you, claim that they have rehomed these people like they're animals,
- Now it sounds like you're not claiming that anymore. I guess that was a rumor you found out you were
- being lied to. Or if you were lying to us and we found that out first, unclear. But it was a lie. I
- know that because I did something that will shock you. I actually asked the people living there if they
- had been helped. The man I spoke to the longest is a recovering addict. He's also a father and a husband.
- He and his wife have one young child and a second one on the way. I asked him what his plans are when you three
- force him out of his home. He said, I have no idea. He told me he was laid off and that he's just trying
- to stay off the street. He said this apartment was a lifeline for his family. And you are cutting his
- lifeline, his pregnant wife's lifeline. Now, it's tempting when you're accused of something like that
- to deflect and point anywhere but yourself, which you've already done. But I'm not going to let you
- do that because this isn't our first stop.
- We asked the Bloomington City Council months ago, why are you forcing these people out of their homes?
- They pointed at the county. I thought, fair enough, the county owns the building. So I spoke to the
- Monroe County Councilors multiple times. I asked them, why are you forcing these people out of their
- homes? They pointed at lawyers. So at that point, I started to get a little annoyed. I get emotional.
- I understand that. But we heard from a lawyer, and they pointed at you, three of you, the only three
- people. This is the end of the road.
- I don't really care who you decide to counsel, the commissioners, or the lawyers. I just need you to
- answer the question honestly and without deflection. Why are you forcing the tenants of the Seminary
- Point apartments out of their homes? That is not rhetorical. What are you planning to do with this block
- once you've gotten rid of the people who live there? And what about the businesses who pay your innkeeper's
- tax that you're so worried about?
- In lieu of an answer, I'm left to assume it's going to be a parking lot for the convention center that
- you want us to subsidize with more of our money that, again, is not yours. And that sounds pretty bad.
- So fix it. Renew these leases. And if you're tired of being a landlord and paying shady companies like
- PMI to eat your sins, then instead of destroying some of the only meaningful affordable housing we have
- left, let the seminary tenants decide their own futures
- and sell these buildings to an affordable housing land trust or something, which we've spoken to a county
- lawyer about. Not this one, the other one. There's got to be a lease too. And they said would be on
- the council and the commission to decide. They said the renewal of the leases would be on you three
- to decide. And you know as well as I do that when you gentrify a community, people don't always land
- on their feet. So if you go through with this, it's a coin flip. And if my friend ends up on the street,
- take it from someone with a conscience that you don't want that blood on your hands, but that is exactly
- where it will be. Clear your times up. Fucking Christ. Thank you. Good morning. I want to second everything
- Barry said. First of all, my name is Jessie Lloyd. I lived in Bloomington for about seven years. And
- I would like to ask you not to displace residents or destroy the Seminary Point apartments.
- We're in the middle of an affordable housing crisis and every step should be taken to preserve and expand
- affordable housing And if the county is unwilling or unable to maintain the block they should transfer
- it to a land trust as I'm sure you will continue to hear today Yeah, and just there's been a lot of
- lack of transparency about the lease renewals a lot of people are kind of in
- like panic mode, there's not enough time to find housing. People have not been helped to find housing,
- as we've heard from the county council. They told us to come to you, that y'all are the ones who can
- give some answers, and it sounded a little bit like maybe y'all also don't have answers, so that's pretty
- confusing and disheartening to hear. Yeah, so just please, like,
- When there's a will, there's a way. So it's not just when there's a will, there's a way. So please preserve
- affordable housing, not build a hotel that's going to have to be subsidized its entire life. Thank you.
- All right. I see we do have somebody online. But come on up, sir, first. And then we'll go to the online
- person. Thank you.
- All right, sounds good. My name is Bryce. I'm a longtime Bloomington resident, an organizer with local
- community groups. And I think everyone in this room understands that one of the biggest issues that
- Monroe County residents care about is affordable housing. I'm part of the DSA, and we just hosted a
- candidate forum where we're asking the candidates, and we're asking the public, what do you want to
- hear about from these people who are trying to run for county commissioner?
- And the biggest single issue was affordable housing, surprise. Knowing that, it seems ridiculous to
- me that the county would insist on displacing a bunch of people who have affordable housing in a very
- good location at a time when there's affordable housing crisis. And this claim that there will be some
- sort of equivalent housing available
- at a similar price point at a similar location within reason. I mean, that just seems like false. I've
- tried to rent an apartment in this town. It seems just impossible and kind of a joke to push things
- off to the side. And so there are other options available, right? Especially if this property is not
- going to be used for what its intended purchasing purpose was, why not?
- spin it off into its own entity? Why not sell it to the city so they can spin it off into its own entity?
- There are all sorts of options. And like my friend earlier said, where there is a will, there's a way.
- Now, there was a question about whether or not a property that was bought with the innkeeper tax can
- be transferred to a function that is not directly tourism or tourism related.
- you know, maybe we can say that making Bloomington a less shitty place to live will get more tourism,
- but even not, that statute comes from the county, and that statute can be changed, unless I'm mistaken.
- That's actually state code. State code? Well, in any case, there are many ways that you can use this
- property. There are many other ways that you can allocate funds, other ways that you can ensure that
- affordable housing is maintained.
- If the end of the line is that we have to kick these people out of their houses, I don't think that
- it's been clear that there's been every avenue taken to avoid that outcome or to prevent that outcome.
- And so I think on top of the lack of transparency,
- on top of the piling onto the affordable housing crisis, there seems to be a very good case for the
- community being upset. And more and more community members are hearing about this, and more and more
- people are asking to figure out what's happening. And I think if this eviction, if this displacement
- continues, this room and rooms like it are going to have a lot more people in here yelling and screaming
- about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We'll now go online.
- We're going to unmute. You're going to have to unmute. We will allow your microphone and then you're
- going to be you're going to need to unmute. And you also will have three minutes to speak. And I'm sorry
- if I mangled the pronunciation of your name. So we need to unmute his mic or you may need to do that,
- sir. There you go.
- Okay, great. Good morning. Good morning. Hi, my name is Dennis on park, I live in Bloomington Monroe
- County. Thank you to commissioners for hearing us out today. I first off on a second everything my friends
- and fellow organizers have said about seminary part, seminary point apartments. I would like to point
- out a few things.
- Firstly, I think it's important to understand just how bad of a housing crisis Bloomington currently
- has. Rent has been increasing at a rapid rate, significantly faster than inflation. In fact, the cost
- of living in Bloomington is now comparable to Chicago. And yet for most people, their wages have not
- increased at the same rate. And so as a result, it's become extremely difficult for many people to find
- housing in Bloomington. Seminary Point is one example of the few places where people can go to actually
- afford to live a reasonable life. And so it seems like the county commission's choice to sell the area
- for the purposes of a convention center hotel seems honestly misguided, mainly because one, there are
- a significant number of hotels already in Bloomington. This business will not do well. Secondly, it
- won't actually contribute to tourism since one of the most important parts of Bloomington is the beeline
- and seminary point is where
- significant portion of the attraction of the bee line comes from, including places like the Friendly
- Bee Cidery, which are what give that area its value in the first place. In addition to that, it seems
- like there is a significant portion of the population of Bloomington that is completely opposed to this
- move, and I believe that it will continue to create
- a large amount of distraction and frustration for the commissioners if they pursue this route, because
- we will keep coming to these public events and our size will keep growing. As for the innkeeper's tax,
- I think that it's important to recognize that tourism in Bloomington is in large part maintained due
- to things like the university, which needs to be staffed by people who live at Seminary Point. In fact,
- many people there
- do staff at the university. The existence of the B line is another example. And then thirdly, it seems
- sort of silly to build an additional hotel when most of the hotels in Bloomington are not being fulfilled.
- I believe also what's been frustrating is the lack of transparency and communication from the City Council
- and from the County Commission. And what we need is a
- more open and direct line of communication so that residents aren't suddenly being kicked out of their
- houses and suddenly having to find new places to live. Moving forward, I think that giving the area
- to a land trust, giving it to the city of Bloomington would be a possible avenue forward that wouldn't
- cost the commission any money, but would still
- help us actually fix the situation, which is the massive affordable housing crisis. Thank you for listening.
- Thank you, sir. Right. That was timed well. We'll take the next one in the room, please. Thank you so
- much. And please give us your name and you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Rebecca
- Stoops. I'm a county resident. Thank you so much for your time. I'm also here to talk about the seminary
- point apartments.
- purchased by the county in 2010 as part of the convention center expansion. So earlier this week, I
- met with the Convention and Visitors Commission, and I understand that the apartments were purchased
- to demolish, to build a future hotel or related buildings to support the influx of more people for the
- bigger convention center. But since 2010, so much has changed. The circumstances are completely different now.
- We are now in a housing affordability crisis. So Seminary Point is a very affordable apartment to this
- day with 29 units. So I would like to request that the commissioners consider transferring ownership
- of Seminary Point to the city or to a community land trust. This would guarantee permanently affordable housing.
- If you must build a hotel, consider placing it closer to the convention center. There's a lot of parking
- lots. You could have a more efficient land use and it could be a win-win. You could get what you want.
- We preserve 29 units of affordable housing. And so my main points are please don't displace residents.
- Don't destroy the block and transfer ownership of the block. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
- Next up, please. Come on. Hello. My name is Eli Beaton, and I've lived in Monroe County for about half
- a decade. Obviously, I'm going to echo some of the points that previous people have said. But I wanted
- to thank you for the updates at the beginning of this public comment. I think that's really useful.
- One of the things that stuck out to me is the question of negotiations not yet being settled.
- right, like there's a lot of moving pieces to this and like coordination between bodies. And to me,
- that strikes my ear really funny, particularly because that means that the residents are being asked,
- are being displaced to give the county a bargaining position for sort of a speculative deal. And there's
- this question to me about how to use this land. I don't know, forgive me, a little bit of like
- an architecture guy or whatever.
- one of the things like one of the sayings I've heard around is like the most efficient building carbon
- wise is the building that's already built. I think like this is the question when getting to this issue
- of like all the repairs that need to happen or to improve the building or to make this continue to be
- an affordable housing unit owned by the county owned by a land trust. I think.
- I don't know I think like the question of is it more affordable to build a subsidized hotel for the
- economy like does that improve the economy of the county, more than the affordable units for these residents
- and the character of the beeline that people have already pointed out.
- I think that's a question that I would love to hear the justification about. I don't know how public
- comment is usually structured. I would love to hear from the commissioners and the county attorney after
- this as well. Because I'm sure that we can find a solution to this that preserves affordable housing
- in Bloomington without jeopardizing the lives of these tenants or these small businesses. Yeah.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Good morning, everyone. My name is Nancy Goswami. I live in Monroe County. And I really came here just
- to observe today, however, so I don't have anything prepared. I haven't had to rent in Bloomington ever.
- I've been very fortunate to be able to own a home or two.
- I was just looking over the rents, and they ranged from $900 for a mobile home all the way up to $4,000.
- And not everywhere in between, and most of it was on the higher end. And not all of it, it wasn't in
- student housing area.
- places that students would normally live. It was just kind of a little farther out. So I can't even
- imagine how, I don't even know how people can afford to pay rent like this. So I think we have to be
- innovative to be able to preserve the seminary point, to be able to provide homes for affordable housing,
- for the least of us, right? Because here we are, up here, we're all very privileged. And the privileged,
- there are privileged people that are telling the least of us that we're gonna kick them out of their
- homes. And what we do to the least of us is a strong indicator of who we are as a species.
- And I'm very, we cannot be telling people they have to just go find a home. And I don't know how people
- can afford it on, my kids couldn't even afford to pay rent in this town. And so I think that we need
- to just care about other human beings. And also if the business,
- is not, you said there was a business that needed a one-year notice, then if they're still gonna be
- in the building, then why kick the tenants out in July? Why can't they stay and give them a little more
- time to find affordable housing? Why kick them out and have those apartments being emptied while the
- business is still in the building? Thank you.
- We'll go online next. So Christopher? Online. Online. We have people on Teams waiting, and they were
- online with their hands raised before you got in line. So thank you. So you will need to unmute. Ma'am.
- Yeah, I'm Chris Branham.
- a lifetime resident, Bloomington, born and raised. Yeah, and I'm just going to say that sometimes best
- laid plans, right? When this project for a convention center was set out, we weren't in the middle of
- the affordability crisis we now find ourselves in.
- made even worse by the events that have happened within the last couple of weeks, heading towards perhaps
- even international recession. I think there's a time to say, what are we going to prioritize in this
- moment? The comfort and pleasures of people from out of town coming in for a convention or
- our own people that were here to serve and help our neighbors. When I can speak to my own mother, she
- is a bus driver in Bloomington and she does not live in Bloomington. She couldn't live in Bloomington
- city limits on the salary she gets. And many of her colleagues are in the same place. So when we couch
- you know, things in terms of we'll help these residents find something relatively close and relatively
- in the same price point, that relative might be doing a lot of work. You know, are we talking about
- Judah, Olidoc? Where are we talking about? Because we all know, those of us who have lived here our
- whole lives, I grew up down on Handy,
- Even if you drive down that way, you can see how much the housing has popped up and how much prices
- have increased. Or even if you head out towards Ellitsville. Ellitsville doesn't look like it did many
- years ago. More apartments popping up and the cost increasing exponentially. So while I'm not opposed
- to the idea of Monroe County having a convention center, I think we look at the moments that we find
- ourselves in
- and we say, what are we going to prioritize in this movement? The people who work here, who help the
- city be what it is, or are we more concerned with the people who wanna come in and visit our town for
- a little bit and then leave? That's all I gotta say, I don't need my whole time. Thank you so much.
- Next online, we have Sarah Mosier. You will be,
- your microphone will be allowed, and then you'll need to unmute. You will have three minutes.
- Thank you. My name's Sarah Mosher, and I'm a resident of Bloomington and Monroe County. And I wanted
- to thank you for having a Teams option, because like many people, I worked during the day, but I was
- able to get a quick break so that I could
- tune in and listen to some of the discussion and leave a comment. Thanks for having a Teams option.
- I wanted to encourage the commissioners to not tear down seminary point apartments and evict the residents.
- I think as other folks have said, there are many residents there who don't know where they could go.
- I had read from Bloomington Homes for All that the rents there are between $400 to $700 and
- Someone at the Tuesday meeting had mentioned that, oh, they should work with heading home to find comparable
- places to live, but I don't know of any other places to live in Bloomington that have 400 to 700 a month
- rents. And I just also wanted to say as someone whose family's from here from many generations back,
- You know, my great grandparents lived here and when they were young, they didn't have a place to live.
- They struggle with affordable housing too. And when they were finally able to settle down after they
- had been homeless with my grandma and her three sisters when they were little kids,
- When they were finally able to find a place they could afford to live, they were able to establish themselves
- and contribute to the county and found a business that businesses Maze Greenhouse. It's been a small
- business here for many generations and have dozens of members of my family now that have been able to
- live here and grow up and pay taxes and contribute. And so just as an example of that, you know, any
- time that we are
- destroying the very few little pockets of affordable housing we have left. We're pushing out people
- and families like my family had been that could be staying here and contributing and building lives
- here instead of the folks who will come to park on a parking lot because they're visiting for a little
- while and won't actually have much of a contribution. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll take your
- public comment next please please come on up. Good morning my name is Mary Mosier and I'll say right
- from side don't have tremendous amount to add over some of the previous speakers including my own daughter
- who's just online. I was born in Monroe County born in Bloomington I'm a current resident
- I was here basically to urge the commissioners not to displace the residents of the Seminary Point Apartments
- and the business spaces that are there at South College and Second. It sounds from what the county attorney
- has said and what was discussed earlier that this is a hot mess that has been years in the making. There
- seems to be a certain amount of
- non-transparency about what the actual situation is. Is this hotel actually going to be built? Is the
- parking lot actually necessary? And whether or not these people have another place to go. It sounds
- like wishful thinking to believe at this point in time without further information that anything has
- been arranged for these people if there is a place for them to go. Where are the workers in Bloomington
- going to live?
- The affordability crisis is here, it's now, it may not have been here 10 years ago, or 15 years ago,
- whenever this idea first came up about these two blocks of space. I can only encourage the commissioners
- not to displace these people, to find another solution. And that solution may be through community land
- trust models.
- find a partner, the city, a local organization, something to maintain this area, to maintain affordable
- housing, and perhaps even expand it. There is space in that area. Would it be better served for the
- county for that space to be used as a parking lot or for that space to be used for affordable housing
- for workers who pay taxes in the county, in the city,
- in the state. I'll stop right there. I thank you very much. But creating a process by which this housing
- can be maintained would be entirely in line with the commissioner's statement that you read at the beginning
- of this meeting. And I think this is a vital thing for Monroe County, for the city of Bloomington. Find
- a solution.
- that doesn't eliminate affordable housing. Thank you so much. And we'll go back to our online commenters
- who have been waiting. Erin Comforti, you will be unmuted. You will need to unmute yourself. And you
- will have three minutes. Thank you.
- Hi, good morning. My name is Aaron Comforti, and I am a resident of Monroe County for over 15 years
- in total. And I wanted to really focus on the legal reasoning for which we have to think through this
- process. In particular,
- I guess, given the housing affordability crisis, it seems well within reason to research alternative
- legal interpretations and analyses that would allow the county to fulfill its obligations under the
- state code as it relates to assets purchased through funds raised through the innkeeper's tax, while
- also protecting the Seminary Point Department's building and maintaining it.
- as affordable housing. I really think that there are ways to do so and that it's very much worth doing.
- It's a really reasonable exercise for the county to investigate. The other thing I would like to point
- out is if the public comment today is indicative
- of public sentiment in Monroe County and in Bloomington, then it seems that there is a lot of support
- for maintaining this kind of rare gem of affordable housing and not as much support for building another
- hotel and parking lot. So I think that's very important and as I'm sure you all appreciate.
- I suppose in some, my point is that our hands as a county are not tied. And we can look for these alternative
- legal interpretations that would allow us to maintain the current building while not under Indiana state
- code. So I appreciate the opportunity to speak and, again, encourage
- the county to undertake that research and propose a way in which the building could be maintained and
- the tenants not evicted. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we will go to Rowan M, online, waiting patiently.
- You'll need to unmute and you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Good morning.
- My name is Rowan Morse. I'm a born and raised Bloomingtonian, and I've lived in Monroe County my entire
- life. I grew up about two blocks west from the Seminary Point Apartments, and I wish I was there in
- person, but I wanted to call to add my support to everybody showing up for affordable housing today,
- and I mean actual affordable housing. I want to reaffirm that Monroe County is in a desperate housing
- crisis, and we need true affordable housing options, and removing people from their housing
- will only exacerbate the problem. And trying to relocate them only pushes the buck off until later.
- I would love to see the commissioners commit to transferring Seminary Point to a community land trust
- and lay out a plan on the process of that transfer. I also think the community deserves to know why
- businesses have been given almost eight months longer to vacate than citizens of our county. Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- We'll go next user in person. Thank you. My name is Toby Foster. I live in Monroe County. Since it's
- been brought up a couple of times, I just thought I would lend some context. I'm a part owner of Friendly
- Beast Society. You had mentioned that you thought the businesses all got the same letter and
- That's true that we got the same email that everybody else got regarding the July 7th date. And I just
- kind of wanted to express my frustration with how that all happened. I've been trying for a long time
- to figure out if leases were going to get renewed reaching out to people. I was told
- that it would probably be OK to stay until the end of the year. And then just a couple of weeks after
- that, got this email at 5 15 p.m. on a Friday. So there was nothing we could do over the weekend. I
- thought that was really frustrating. I think it was the same for the people that live there. And yeah,
- I do I want to
- I express my support for everything that everyone said regarding the apartments and the affordable housing.
- I support all of that and yeah, basically just wanted to learn some context and express my frustration
- at the way that all of this has happened and the lack of information that it seems like anyone has received.
- In that email, it said, we work with you to extend leases, have flexibility, et cetera, and then when I
- tried to take them up on that. I was basically told, oh, actually, no, that's not true. We need to stick
- to the July 7th date, which again, I realized that I think that the affordable housing issue is much
- more important, but just since several people had mentioned the businesses, it seemed like maybe there
- was some lack of clarity there. I just thought I would offer that.
- Thank you. I have a quick follow-up question just for my notes. So you have a business lease right now
- in that area. And that's okay, not a residential lease. Correct. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thanks
- for being here. But we were not given the year long notice that you mentioned that another business
- had been given. Right. Thank you. Next up, please.
- I'm going to turn it over to you. Please everyone who is speaking or has spoken if you would sign in
- before you go today, that would be helpful for our minute to do so. Could I get some paper and a pen?
- It's on the table behind you. You don't have to do that right now. You can do that just before you leave.
- I'm just asking everybody in the room. It's a tutorial for everybody online. There you go. Hello. My
- name is Joffrey Livingston, and I'm a
- I lived here briefly a couple of years ago, and then when I was looking to renew a lease, it was just
- a massive challenge, and I had a lot of proofs in my own life that I could look around, and it was still
- taking an incredible amount of time. If Bloomington wants to have
- affordable housing and actually impact the housing crisis, there needs to be a housing first model and
- perspective in how we approach businesses moving in, how we approach the displacement of residents,
- and the fact that folks live in a place should take precedent over every
- aspect of the decisions being made in that area. Whether it is having to do with previous eviction notices
- in the past regarding the homeless community, whether it has to do with the affordable housing that's
- being built that is not actually affordable because the average cost of a home is around in the affordable
- housing that I know is being built around, I forget which area,
- but the average housing, somebody who was working on that brought it up to the council and said that
- the average cost was around $290,000 a home. That is not affordable housing. Everybody should know that.
- If you do not know that, you'd need to rework your definition of affordable in 2026 and forward. So
- this issue,
- is going to continue to be an issue unless the fundamental perspective on the importance and the priority
- of folks living somewhere is shifted. A housing first model does not just mean that everybody needs
- to be provided a home or that everybody needs to be provided a roof over the head as a first measure. That is a
- that would be a great place for us to be and a goal that we should work towards. But it also means that
- putting the housing needs of residents that already live somewhere should be a priority as opposed to
- businesses moving in residents are more important than businesses. Thank you. Thank you. We have one
- more person online, Mr. Spoonmore. We'll need to unmute.
- Good morning commissioners. Eric Spoonmore, Monroe County resident, president, CEO of the Greater Bloomington
- Chamber of Commerce. I agree entirely we have an affordable housing crisis here in Monroe County. Although
- I think some of that may have been kind of brought on ourselves over the last few decades. And I do
- get a little wary of government getting into the
- landlord business. We've seen some of the challenges that that's presented for the city of Bloomington
- recently as well too from a legal standpoint. I do think that we can address this affordable housing
- crisis in multiple ways and especially through land use policies and zoning policies that make it easier
- for housing developments to be constructed in Monroe County rather than rejecting them or severely
- restricting them.
- Thank you. Thank you. OK. Well, I do, on behalf of my colleagues, want to thank everyone for coming
- out today and providing your input and giving us some things to think about. And we'll take that under
- advisement. And our next, we should move on to our next item as the hour is getting late.
- I would like to move approval for the minutes for February 26th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and
- we have a second. Any comments, corrections or edits? Okay. All those in favor of approving the minutes
- for February 26th, 2026 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please.
- I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for March 12th, 2026 and for
- payroll for March 6th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Miss Gallardo, please tell
- us all about it. Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for March 12th, 2026 totals $1,937,276.76.
- This includes all emergency claims and adjustments.
- The payroll docket for March six twenty twenty six includes one million six hundred three thousand five
- hundred four and sixty six cents in direct costs and the remaining six hundred seventy nine thousand
- seven hundred ninety and eighty four cents were for indirect costs for a grand total of two million
- two hundred eighty three thousand two hundred ninety five and fifty cents. Thank you so much. Comments
- or questions from my colleagues?
- I have none. Okay. I don't either. Let's go to public comment. If anybody has public comment on the
- claims docket, please raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those
- in favor of approving the claims docket accounts payable March 12th, 2026 and payroll March 6th, 2026
- signify by saying aye.
- I motion carries three zero we have not we don't have any reports today to note and we're going to move
- on to new business and our first item of business is a hearing on the revised ADA Americans with Disabilities
- Act in title six plans and I'm going to go ahead and open that public hearing
- Thank you very much. Dave Schilling from the legal department, and we're presenting some draft plans
- for you, which revise our existing plans. And so these relate to the Americans with Disabilities Act
- and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. And both of those bits of legislation are designed to remove barriers to
- public services and programs based on disability, race, ethnicity, and so forth. And so county staff
- has met to work on the previous plan to update it. And these are the plans that we are presenting. They
- have been put online and this hearing has been advertised. And I'll just go through a few features of each plan
- They have a similar structure. There's policy statements in there pledging our desire to fulfill our
- obligations under these acts. And there's educational component requiring the education of staff and
- so forth on these obligations. There's assurances for our content where we assure.
- Contractors will be aware of these obligations and fulfill them in all the public works that they do.
- There is a complaint process where people can contact our ADA coordinator or Title VI coordinator if
- they have any complaints that they would like to have addressed relating to access.
- The county last adopted a plan in 2019. There's a few differences or a few things that have come up
- since then that are reflected in this plan. One, we're supposed to really
- revised these plans every two or three years and that hasn't been done. And so in this plan, we've built
- in a schedule, a review schedule. So every year in June, staff will meet to review items to see if we've
- had any complaints. We have a list of questions and topics that each department head will have to address
- so that we can ensure that we get the correct data
- to move forward and to revise our plan. With respect to the ADA, we've performed self evaluations in
- the past to ensure that our buildings comply with the ADA requirements. And in our last plan, there
- was a list of projects needed to bring us into compliance. And we've completed almost all of those from
- our last plan.
- And so the ones that haven't been completed are kicked over into this new revised plan. And one thing
- that relates to this one development is that the county has obtained facilities maintenance software.
- So once we get a complaint, it's gonna be easy. Richard will put it into the software and that will
- be on a program schedule.
- We'll know exactly what needs to be done to bring the county into compliance. And of course, the ADA
- extends to all our facilities, including our website. And so since the last adoption of the ADA, the
- state is now hosting our website and all the Proag
- guidelines requirements are satisfied by the state. Programs hosting our our our website and our staff
- has even gone farther to try to bring him to bring in proag to compliance and so I think we're in very
- good shape on that with respect to title 6 on the website. There is.
- I mean, one of the concerns of Title VI is the language barrier. And so on our website now, there's
- up in the right corner, you can click on that to have the website translated into any number of languages.
- And of course, since the last adoption, Google Translate has become popular and is available to anybody
- who needs help in that regard.
- covers everything. If you have any questions, be happy to answer those, or we can open it up to public.
- I think just going forward, what I proposed is we conduct the hearing today. If any comments are received,
- we can discuss those. But if none are received, at your next meeting, I'll come back with a resolution
- adopting these documents. That was one of my questions.
- questions. Commissioner Jones comments or questions. Just that I'm pleased to hear that this is going
- to be reviewed yearly and brought up to date and it sounds like it should run more smoothly in the future.
- Yes, I agree with Commissioner Jones.
- What's not included in here is polling sites for elections. Yeah, those are all taken care of under
- HAVA, I believe. OK. And they have the clerk has hired somebody specifically to ensure that they're
- in compliance. Perfect. I just want to make sure that that's covered. And there is a
- piece in here about contacting human resources director. I think we go, we call employee services now.
- So if you could change that, that would be great. All right. With that, we'll see if there is anybody
- in the public who wishes to speak. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- I see none. If you could bring that back for us next week, that would be great. All right, thank you
- very much. Thank you so much. I would like to move to approve Tyler Technologies memorandum of understanding,
- fund name, county general fund number 1,000 in the amount of $475 and 94 cents. Second. We have a motion
- and a second. Mr. Miller, our veteran service officer
- Good morning. Good morning. Thank you again for having me. This is a relatively low level change to
- a memorandum of understanding for the claims management system that we use. It's our bread and butter,
- really. It's what we do and spend our heads in all day. So we really appreciate you considering this.
- Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't.
- Thank you.
- I don't have any either. It makes a ton of sense. All right. Let's see if there's any public comments
- on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those
- in favor of approving the Tyler Technologies MOU signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero.
- Thank you, sir.
- Next, we have the 2025 OSHA 300 report. Mr. Elgar is joining us to provide us this information.
- Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for having me. For anybody watching, my name is Seth Elgar. I'm the
- Assistant Director of Human Resources in the Employee Services Office here in the courthouse.
- In the report, I highlight that even though we had more or less the same number of workplace injuries,
- I'm happy to report that those were 81% less costly in regards to the claims that were filed that were
- medical in nature. 2024 was a little bit of an outlier in that we had some major claims that befell us.
- So it's good to see that that did not repeat itself. Slip and fall continues to be something that is
- not only preventative, but the bulk of what our claims are. So we're putting our heads down and really
- focusing with the folks from IPEP to come up with in-person and virtual learning, just support
- resources for people to remind them that we need to watch where we're going. We need to be certain of
- the terrain we're navigating and things like that to mitigate these kinds of accidents. Thank you so
- much. Let's see if my colleagues have questions. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. Commissioner
- Madeira? No, thank you. Mr. Cockrell, do we have to vote to accept this report or is it just that we're
- receiving the information and we have received it?
- I mean, I think you could go either way. I mean, my recommendation is so we get in the minutes that
- you just accept the report. OK. That would work. You don't have to vote on that. Yeah. All right. So
- I'm going to go ahead and accept the report with gratitude. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
- All right. Thank you, Mr. Cockrell. All right. Next item, please.
- Yes, I would like to move to ratify the Bobcat of Ellisville Equipment and Implements Fund Name, Food
- and Beverage Fund number 4932 in an amount not to exceed $92,960. Second. We have a motion.
- We have a second. We have our Parks and Recreation Director Ms. Whitmer joining us. Yes, this is for
- a compact track loader in a smooth bucket, a tooth bucket and a brush cutter.
- not to exceed $92,960. It'll be used for the construction in the ongoing maintenance at the Monroe County
- Nature Preserve. It'll be used by our staff, of course. Right. Thank you so much. All right. Comments
- or questions? Commissioner Madera? Nope, none. Commissioner Jones? It makes sense that this equipment
- would be needed.
- I thought you were gonna say something about the scoop is. All right, any public comment on this item?
- Seeing none, all of those in favor of ratifying the Bobcat of all spill equipment and implements purchase
- signify by saying aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item please.
- Yes, I would like to move to ratify Richard's small engine implements. Fund name, food and beverage,
- fund number 4932 in the amount not to exceed $26,898. Second. We have a motion and a second. Yes, we
- are asking for a grapple, forks, power rake and wire harness for the compact track loader.
- and we would like to buy those implements from Richard Small Engines, not to exceed $26,898. This is
- also for the Monroe County Nature Preserve. Excellent. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No,
- I don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madeira? No. I don't either. We did already hear this item. Let's see
- if there's any public comments.
- Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the Richard
- Small Engine implements purchase signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please.
- Yes, I would like to move to approve the Bledsoe-Rigert-Cooper James Engineering Addendum
- and Travis easement. Fund name, 2017 Geobond, fund number 4810, in an amount not to exceed $2,500. Second.
- We have a motion and we have a second. Please. Yes, and Mr. Cockrell knows about this also, but we've
- been working with Mr. Travis. He is, we believe, going to gift us an easement that the public can use
- for a trail. In our first round,
- he thought his easement was going to look like X and he's like, oh, I need to make it adjustments. So
- this is going to be those adjustments and he'll be on site when we go out with the survey crew this
- time. Okay, comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No. So this
- has already been done, but it's going to be done again,
- $2,500 is the additional cost. Correct. Oh, correct. To bring the survey crew back out. To revise. Yes.
- Got it. To revise it to the specific. Yeah. And this is a wonderful gift. So we appreciate it. And it
- has bond coverage, so we're good. Say again. It's covered by the bond. Yes. Yes. So we're good. OK.
- Excellent. All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Blitzer, Rigger, Cooper, James engineering addendum
- for the Travis easement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you so much. Thanks
- for your patience.
- All right. Next item, please. I'd like to move approval for the soft choice agreement for core view
- software. Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138 in the amount of $26,220 and 80 cents. Second.
- We have a motion and we have a second. Mr. Crown, good morning. Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone's
- well. First item I have for you this morning is
- regards to our Microsoft 365 environment that we've fully implemented four years ago. That's comprised
- of 10 different administrative components to that suite. Any change made in one administrative component
- has a ripple effect on one or more components across that whole environment. One of the big problems
- with the way Microsoft designed the system, and I understand why they did it from a security standpoint, but
- It's all broken down, like I said, into 10 consoles. You don't get a picture, a complete picture from
- any one perspective. You have to go into each one of those consoles. Additionally, to make simple changes
- for user access and things like that, you have to go into one or more component to configure,
- make configuration changes. So if you miss any one of those, this over here on the left's not working
- because you missed two things over here on the right. So multiple companies have
- come together to try to address that creating their own software packages that incorporate all those
- into one palatable console. I've spoke with several of them core view. It's the most for our needs seems
- to be the most most robust solution at a competitive price point. I am only looking to do this for a
- one year agreement to start out just to make sure that it meets our needs rather than make a longer
- term commitment.
- Thank you so much. You answered a question that I had. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No,
- I don't. Commissioner Maduro? It doesn't sound like a hard choice to go with soft choice. So did you
- get a chance to see a trial of this software first, and so you think it's going to be what we need?
- But you really want to try it out for a year? Exactly. I went through multiple demonstrations through
- different providers.
- We actually implemented this on a trial basis incorporated into our 365 environment. It is actively
- there now. We don't have the full abilities because we are on a trial period, but it gave us enough
- scope that even the daily tasks that we run into it.
- sped that up dramatically. We've got one place to go to. You make a few clicks, it's taken care of.
- So it's also expedited our ticketing process for the users on the back end of that. Excellent. Excellent
- news. Great. I'm glad you found this. Let's see if there's any public comment. You may raise your hand
- on Teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor approving the soft choice agreement for core view software signify by
- saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for Toshiba
- desktop printer support. Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138, the amount of $61,006
- and 20 cents. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Mr. Crone, tell us all about it.
- So as far back as my knowledge, which goes back to 2004, Monroe County has contracted out our small
- desktop printer support with the staffing and the price points to try to buy hardware and things like
- that parts. It was more cost effective to go with a contractor. That contractor that we worked with
- for many years changed hands and we've parted ways with the company since they've resold. So for about
- the last six months, my office has
- been picking up doing the printer service, buying the toners for the departments. The problem with that
- is we don't have the buying power. So we still pay a little more for toner than we can get it for. We
- still pay a little more for parts. So Toshiba, who is also our largest enterprise copier supplier,
- came in, did what's called an FM audit. We installed software on the back end that picked up all those
- desktop printers, and they did an assessment.
- With their assessment and then based on our invoices, we're currently spending about $1,500 a month
- just on toner for these desktop printers. That's not even counting the parts. Toshiba, with their buying
- power, has offered not only to supply the toner, just like they do for our large enterprise copiers,
- but they will also provide the repair support.
- at a little over $1,000 a month. So we're looking to save approximately $500 a month. This is a 60-month
- contract that we estimate to save the county $30,000 over the life of that duration. So it will speed
- things up for the users who have the printers down, and it will save us money at the same time doing
- it. Excellent, excellent. Great, great work from our Director of Technical Services.
- So comments or questions, Commissioner Madera? I have none, thank you. No, I don't think. Good work.
- I see if there's any public comments. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none,
- all those in favor of approving the contract for Toshiba desktop printer support signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
- Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for waiting today. All right. Next item, please. Yes, I would
- like to move approval for ordinance 2026-10, approving the interlocal cooperation agreement with the
- Bloomington Transit regarding the Park 48 route. Fund name, edit, fund number 1112 in the amount of
- $184,104. Second? We have a motion. We have a second. Mr. Cockrell, tell us all about it.
- But this is a kind of a continuation of the line 13 that we started last year. I believe the price went
- up from $170,000 to $184,000, $104,000. The route's the same. The times are the same. I think the other
- difference is since we're doing this approval in March, the April payment will be a catch up for the
- first three months. This will still have to go to the council because it's an
- an ordinance approval of an interlocal. And so the interlocals go through either the attorney general
- or the fiscal bodies, and we always go through the fiscal bodies whenever we can. So basically, it's
- just to continue that line for another year under the same terms we had for last year. All right. Thank
- you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Maduro? No, thank you.
- I just want to clarify something that came up Tuesday night, apparently trying to roll this into the
- urban transport that are using real transit for so rural transits contract with the USDA and that provides
- multi county inter county service and then the
- state of Indiana changed the map of so-called urbanized areas. And when they did that, those rural transit
- buses could not go there. And so we had fortunately, fortuitously, already purchased electric buses
- for rural transit. Those are being used for the urban, urbanized area. We paid for both Line 13
- and the urbanized area transit with ARPA money. Ellisville, we went multiple times to their meetings
- and they refused to pay. We want to make sure that residents have the same service they've always had.
- This year fortuitously, again, the state of Indiana INDOT has paid for the urbanized area transit through
- rural transit for this year. Thank goodness.
- Um, so let's, um, hope in dot feels as generous next year. Uh, but anyway, I just wanted to give that
- background. Uh, let's see if there's, uh, any, uh, public comments on this item. Being none. Um, all
- those in favor of approving ordinance, 2026 dash 10, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero.
- Uh, next item, please. Yes. I would like to move approval to ratify acceptance of the quote from Monroe
- site work LLC for tree removal. Fund name, cumulative bridge fund number 11 35 in the amount of $39,000.
- Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Ridge. Thank you for your patience. Tell us all about it.
- Good morning. This is just to ratify. I brought this up at the work session. We were on a time crunch
- to get the trees down before bat restriction starts April 1st. So this is just ratified the acceptance
- of that quote. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? I have none. This looks
- great. Thanks. No, I don't. Thank you for working on this. See if there's any public comment.
- Raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. None. All those in favor of ratifying the acceptance
- of the quote from Monroe site work LLC signify by saying aye. I motion carries 3 0 next item please.
- Yes, I would like to move approval for the in-dot revised agreement for Fullerton Pike phase three funds
- named Fullerton Pike fund number 8169 in the amount of $5,025,027,156 and 40 cents. Second. We have
- a motion and we have a second. Ms. Ridge. So this contract was originally to expire June 30th in 2026
- and dots extending that so we can work through,
- still need to do the punch list items, the walkthrough and things like that. So this gives us an extension
- onto that to be able to finish out the project. That five million number is not new additional money.
- It is not additional money. It's pretty much correcting what's been given at the time when it was let.
- All right. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh, comments or questions, commissioner Jones. No, I don't know.
- Thank you.
- All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. None.
- All those in favor of approving the in-dot revised agreement for Fullerton Pike Phase 3, signify by
- saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please.
- Yes, I would like to move approval for the end agreement for Rockport Road Bridge number 308. Fund name
- Rockport Road Bridge number 308, fund number 8186 in the amount of $1,679,962.89. Second. In motion,
- we have a second. So this project went to letting February 12th and
- Um, so this is to actually increase the funding just a little bit to bring it to the 80, 80, 20 split.
- Um, the contract is actually awarded to CLR construction and we will begin the project. It'll be a 20,
- 26 construction season. Wow. This year. Amazing shins commission right here. Nope. This is great project.
- Looking forward to getting it done. Mr. Jones.
- No, I don't. Any public comments? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Being none, all those
- in favor of approving the endowed agreement for Rockport Road Bridge number 308, signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please.
- I would like to move approval for ordinance 2026-09 to amend traffic ordinance 86-06 stop location.
- Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Ms. Ridge. And this is basically just some cleanup work
- that intersection actually is within the city of Bloomington boundaries. Um, so it's basically taken
- it out of our jurisdiction, our inventory. Um, and that is the responsibility of the city of Bloomington.
- Thank you so much. Uh, comments or questions, commissioner Jones.
- No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No. 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 ordinance 2026-09 signify by saying
- aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Now we're going to the item from the work session is now the new item
- And yes, I'd like to move approval for milestone change order number two red, but height stormwater
- project fund named stormwater fund number 11 97 in the amount of $14,263 and 60 cents. Second, we have
- a motion. We have a second. Ms. Ridge. Thank you for moving this up. Also, this will go to the stormwater
- board at their next meeting.
- And I apologize for getting that out of sequence, but it has to do with the timing ordering of the materials.
- We wanted to do this project last fall, but just ran out of time and weather complications. So we wanted
- to get this started. The contractor was given the notice to proceed on March 1st. So the water line
- that is in the location is extended out farther from the project. So we needed to extend our pipe over
- the coverage.
- This is what the change order is for, and to not stall the project any longer and be able to keep it
- on a timeline to get it done in the next 60 days. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner
- Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. We'll be seeing this again. Any public
- comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium.
- All those in favor of approving the milestone change order number two for Redbud Heights Stormwater
- Project signify by saying aye. Aye. Carries 3-0. Item. I would like to move approval for ordinance 2026-07,
- 3521 South Rogers Street Rezone. Second. We have a motion. We have a second.
- Mr. Myers waiting for us patiently, I believe online. May not be there. Through Myers online or somebody
- from planning. Asking our wonderful TSD staff up in the booth in the balcony. Okay, well, I will
- I suggest we continue this item. I'm going to make a motion to continue this item to our next meeting.
- Would that be okay with falling off? We'll see what happens. It may get bumped again. Second.
- Thank you. That was my motion. I was going to say, so that was my motion. All right. Any concerns?
- All right, so all those in favor of continuing ordinance 2026-07 to the March 19th meeting signify by
- saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. All right. Next we have item, the next item. I'll just say
- the next item. Our lettering is all off right now. Yes, I would like to move approval.
- for ordinance 2026-08, the amendment to SUDAC membership. Second. All right. We have a motion and a
- second and we have Ms. Turner King joining us to tell us all about it. Thank you. Good morning,
- commissioners. So this might feel like deja vu because at the last meeting you did adopt an amendment
- to the SUDAC composition. However, I realized mid SUDAC meeting that the
- The draft that was passed was not the most recent and current draft. So I apologize for that. But what
- was before you today is the correct draft. So it creates a nine-person board for SUDAC, one representative
- from the Justice Department, and five individuals with professional experience in substance use disorder
- and or lived experience. And then it clarifies SUDAC.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner
- Jones? No, I don't. Thank you for bringing this corrected item to us. We do appreciate it. Let's see
- if there is 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 ordinance 2026-08, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carried.
- The budget has been taken off our agenda for now. Apparently we've received something, so maybe we can
- bring it back. But we do have the next item, which now we're back on lettering, correction. Item Q.
- I would like to address approval of Tall Cop says stop is the Recovery Summit presenter. Second. We
- have a motion. We have a second. So what is before you is considered for consideration is a contract
- with Mr Jeremy Galloway, who does business as Tall Cop says stop. Mr Galloway would be a presenter at
- the Recovery Summit that is hosted by Sudak and is set to begin September 1st and 2nd.
- community. Um at the Bloomington Convention Center, Mr Galloway would be presenting for breakout
- presentations, and the theme of his presentations would be on drug trends within our local community
- and best practice recovery aspects to address those trends. Right Thank you so much. Um comments or
- questions. I'll start with
- I believe also that he gives us personalized feedback on those trends. Is that correct? Correct.
- So Mr. Galloway would do what is called a community scan where he comes the night before his presentation
- and gathers community data. And then at his presentation, he would talk about what he observed and ways
- to address that. Oh, nice. Any questions or comments, Commissioner Jones? I don't. OK.
- any public comment on the site and you can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. And I know
- we have sufficient money in the budget to pay for this. Budget yet there's already existing funds okay.
- Seeing no public comments all those in favor of approving the tall cop says stop as recovery summit
- presenter signify by saying aye.
- Motion carries three. Thank you. I'm real soon. OK. So I do want to wish all of the folks in our community
- happy Women's History Month. It's important to recognize the work that women do.
- seen and unseen for our families, our communities, our workplaces, and within local government. So everyone,
- just a couple of really quick announcements. We do have some remaining board and commission vacancies.
- There is a library board, health board,
- and animal management all have vacancies. So if you're interested, go to our county website, in.gov
- slash county slash Monroe, and you can search around and find that list and you can see some past minutes
- and see what they do. And a very handy feature, you can find the application there and you can fill
- it out and submit it online. We'd like to hear from you, so please consider it.
- We also want to remind folks to utilize our alert notification system, go to our homepage, take a look,
- sign up, and you can be in the know for things like yesterday's flood warning and today's wind warning.
- No, that wasn't on our alert, but tornado warnings.
- and we do have virtual office hours six times each month. Go to that home page. I n dot gov slash county
- slash Monroe. And take a look and join us for
- next. Blood drives are Wednesday, April 8th and Thursday, April 9th. April 8th, 1 to 6 PM Thursday,
- April 9th, 10 AM to 3 PM. And that's at Ivy Tech room C130A and B. And if you can please make an appointment
- first at redcross.org. Anything else for the good of the order? I just like to say a couple things.
- I'd like to thank everyone who came to give public comment. As Jeff noted, my understanding is that
- our hands are also bound by restrictions on the funds that were used to purchase these properties in 2010.
- These are state laws that we can't work around, but we're also bound by assurances that we as a county
- made to the CIB. These assurances were made alongside the city in good faith in building the convention
- center. We both pledged to work together to give the CIB what it needed. Several people who gave public
- comment mentioned giving these properties to the city. The city is equally invested in making this convention
- center work.
- We are now far, far past the point of no return on the road to the Convention Center expansion. As any
- survey of Herald Times or B-Square articles reveals, this process is often non-transparent for all parties
- involved in it, because there are often surprises and negotiations with one hotelier, and these negotiations
- may end up at any point where the CIV couldn't foresee
- And these may bring any party to the point where it needs properties that it couldn't foresee in the
- beginning. So it's a moving target. We're bound to facilitate, as the city is, what the CIB requests.
- And we're all whirling with developments as they occur. If Bloomington Monroe County are going to invest
- in expanding the convention center, it has to ensure that the project can succeed as a whole. And this
- means having nearby hotel capacity.
- This is needed to attract conferences, overnight visitors, and larger events that will bring people
- downtown and generate economic activity for local businesses. But at the same time, we need to be honest
- that these apartments aren't just parcels on a map, they're homes. We are facing real pressure in Bloomington
- on housing affordability, and every loss of existing residential units matters, especially when these
- serve as affordable housing. So whether or not we support that transfer, we can't ignore that reality.
- economic development and housing stability must be pursued together and not in opposition. And so preserving
- and expanding affordable housing must remain a priority for everybody. So this means recognizing the
- need to replace lost units, support displaced residents, and continue investing in housing units for
- working people and families. And I think that we are working towards that as a county and we will continue
- to do so. So thanks. Thank you. Anything else, Commissioner Jones?
- All right. All right. We do not have any work session items now that we moved that one. So we are adjourned
- until March 19th, 10 a.m. right here in the NatU Hill Room and on Teams. Thanks, everyone. Thank you,
- TSD. Thank you, Katz. We're adjourned.