WEBVTT 00:00:00.258 --> 00:00:10.243 - Good morning. The call to order this meeting of Monroe County Board of Governors. It is Thursday, 00:00:10.243 --> 00:00:20.431 - March 12th, and I will note for the record that each commissioner is here and present in the Nattie 00:00:20.431 --> 00:00:30.110 - Hill room. I'm going to make a quick motion to amend our agenda to move the work session item. 00:00:30.690 --> 00:00:45.053 - the agenda. Um milestone change order number two into our regular agenda as item N. And also to remove 00:00:45.053 --> 00:00:59.136 - item P. Second motion in a second. All those in favor of amending the agenda. Signified by saying I. 00:00:59.136 --> 00:01:00.670 - All right. 00:01:01.282 --> 00:01:08.447 - And if you would please read that Commissioner Jones. Thank you. We, the Monroe County Board 00:01:08.447 --> 00:01:16.305 - of Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights of all people, regardless of 00:01:16.305 --> 00:01:22.622 - age, race, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity. 00:01:22.786 --> 00:01:30.781 - marital status, economic status, and national origin. And we affirm the right of every person to live 00:01:30.781 --> 00:01:33.054 - peacefully and without fear. 00:01:33.154 --> 00:01:42.227 - and we will fight and resist at every step, discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. 00:01:42.227 --> 00:01:51.300 - We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We also stand in support of our county public 00:01:51.300 --> 00:02:00.286 - school systems, both RBB and MCCSC. Thank you so much, appreciate that. We have an item three, please. 00:02:00.642 --> 00:02:11.769 - Yes, I moved to ratify the local disaster emergency declaration. Second, we have a motion and we have 00:02:11.769 --> 00:02:22.896 - a second. I don't think. Here. Anything we need to note about this Jeff? I think that this is dealing 00:02:22.896 --> 00:02:28.350 - with the wind tornado damage from. Last week and. 00:02:28.450 --> 00:02:38.069 - So this is declaring that emergency so that they can utilize maybe some of the state funding options 00:02:38.069 --> 00:02:47.593 - to recover some of the funding that was used for that. This several weeks ago, the big tornado that 00:02:47.593 --> 00:02:53.022 - we had. Yep. All right. And this declaration was signed. 00:02:59.362 --> 00:03:08.747 - for our standard procedures, and that's why we are just looking to ratify it today. I suppose we could 00:03:08.747 --> 00:03:17.495 - take public comment on this. Does anybody have any public comment on the emergency declaration? 00:03:17.495 --> 00:03:27.518 - Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the local disaster emergency declaration, signify by saying aye. 00:03:27.714 --> 00:03:36.983 - Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next we have a proclamation in observance of National Safe Place Week. National 00:03:36.983 --> 00:03:45.987 - Safe Place Week will be celebrated across the nation during the week of March 15th to 21st, 2026. The 00:03:45.987 --> 00:03:55.079 - youth of Monroe County, Indiana will determine the future strength of our country and they will be the 00:03:55.079 --> 00:03:57.374 - bearers of our democracy. 00:03:57.538 --> 00:04:15.294 - have resources readily available to assist them. When faced with 00:04:15.522 --> 00:04:22.375 - is committed to protecting the youth of Monroe County, Indiana, by offering access to short-term housing 00:04:22.375 --> 00:04:28.901 - at neighborhood locations where trained volunteers are available to counsel and advise young people 00:04:28.901 --> 00:04:35.428 - seeking assistance and guidance. Designated locations where youth can get information and immediate 00:04:35.428 --> 00:04:42.020 - help. Safe place is found at businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, movie theaters, and 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:45.022 - community buildings, including fire stations, 00:04:45.122 --> 00:04:52.618 - libraries, and public transportation vehicles. Whereas the success of Safe Place is based on public-private 00:04:52.618 --> 00:04:59.559 - collaborations between businesses, school systems, fire departments, law enforcement, and a network 00:04:59.559 --> 00:05:06.709 - of volunteers. More than 1,400 communities in 39 states administer the Safe Place program at more than 00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:14.205 - 22,000 locations, and increased awareness will encourage more communities to establish Safe Place locations 00:05:14.205 --> 00:05:15.038 - where youth 00:05:15.234 --> 00:05:23.624 - can readily access the help they need. Now, therefore, we, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, 00:05:23.624 --> 00:05:32.098 - do hereby proclaim our observance of March 15th to 21st of 2026 as National Safe Place Week, and that 00:05:32.098 --> 00:05:40.488 - is proclaimed today, the 12th of March, 2026. And a big shout out to all of you who helped with this 00:05:40.488 --> 00:05:42.814 - program and the great folks 00:05:45.602 --> 00:05:54.824 - We'll now move on to department updates. We'll begin with Ms. Kelly, who's here. Good morning, commissioners. 00:05:54.824 --> 00:06:03.543 - According to the Indiana Department of Health, as of March 10th, we have not seen increases in hospital 00:06:03.543 --> 00:06:10.334 - admissions for COVID-19 illness and wastewater concentrations are trending down. 00:06:10.434 --> 00:06:17.506 - flu activity across the state is high. The health department does have combo flu A and B and COVID tests 00:06:17.506 --> 00:06:24.510 - now for free. The public can walk in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive free tests. 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:31.878 - and I wanted to provide an update on the vaccination services. So during the installation of the generator 00:06:31.878 --> 00:06:38.134 - for our vaccine refrigerators, it was identified that the existing gas meter will need to be resized 00:06:38.134 --> 00:06:44.328 - in order to accommodate the generator's gas demand. So we are currently waiting on that to complete 00:06:44.328 --> 00:06:51.018 - the transition and have our services started. Great, thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner 00:06:51.018 --> 00:06:55.230 - Madeira? No, thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't, thank you. 00:06:55.330 --> 00:07:02.650 - Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, we have Veterans Affairs. Good morning, Mr. Miller. Morning, 00:07:02.650 --> 00:07:10.196 - commissioners. My name is Steve Miller. I'm the Monroe County Veterans Service Officer. And today I 00:07:10.196 --> 00:07:17.968 - have with us Ron Higgins. He's my district service officer. And he's going to explain to you about the 00:07:17.968 --> 00:07:24.382 - new state bill 433. And I have some handouts if it's OK, I'll bring those up to you. 00:07:25.282 --> 00:07:32.963 - Thank you so much. Good morning. Again, I'm Ron Higgins, Southeast District Service Officer for the 00:07:32.963 --> 00:07:40.643 - Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and I train and support county veterans service officers to 00:07:40.643 --> 00:07:48.401 - be in the role they're in. I'm required through this new law to brief the county commissioners twice 00:07:48.401 --> 00:07:51.934 - a year. The first briefing will be an update. 00:07:52.034 --> 00:07:59.382 - brief overview of this Senate Bill 433, which will be called IC Code 10-17-1-9. The purpose of the policy 00:07:59.382 --> 00:08:06.522 - is to establish a comprehensive mandatory standards of accreditation for veterans service officers who 00:08:06.522 --> 00:08:13.593 - are conducting operational business within the state of Indiana. The statute also sets clear rules of 00:08:13.593 --> 00:08:16.990 - operation for these accredited service officers. 00:08:17.474 --> 00:08:23.928 - service officers shall perform all functions operations report all information required to the State 00:08:23.928 --> 00:08:30.317 - Department in the claims management system required functions operation include but are not limited 00:08:30.317 --> 00:08:36.771 - to completion of all relevant information within the forms and fields intake form of logins and walk 00:08:36.771 --> 00:08:39.710 - ins appointments and substantive interactions 00:08:40.610 --> 00:08:47.735 - a claimant information and responsibility liability form and other protocols that are deemed operational 00:08:47.735 --> 00:08:55.131 - effectiveness and efficiency. Only accredited service officers in compliance with this policy are authorized 00:08:55.131 --> 00:09:01.984 - full unrestricted access to our claims management system. That is the software that we use in all 92 00:09:01.984 --> 00:09:09.041 - states or counties, pardon me, which means admin assistance and secretaries who are not accredited will 00:09:09.041 --> 00:09:10.398 - not be permitted to 00:09:10.530 --> 00:09:17.653 - submit applications to the federal VA. So a quick overview of the highlights. CVSOs are now required 00:09:17.653 --> 00:09:25.269 - to be hired employees of the county. They're not appointed for four years. CVSOs office hours must maintain 00:09:25.269 --> 00:09:32.392 - at least 1,000 hours a year, which is roughly 20 hours per week. Updated and posted office hours are 00:09:32.392 --> 00:09:37.470 - required to be on the door of the CVSO and on our database and website. 00:09:37.954 --> 00:09:45.245 - appropriate internet connection and technology that they need, utilization of all claims management 00:09:45.245 --> 00:09:52.682 - software. Again, that's our software that we use across the board. Utilization of the PIV card, which 00:09:52.682 --> 00:10:00.119 - is a personal identification verification card, allows us access to the veteran's federal database we 00:10:00.119 --> 00:10:06.462 - can see into the veteran's file and render a more accurate assessment of any claims or 00:10:06.786 --> 00:10:13.840 - advice that we might have. They must have private office space to conduct confidential discussions for 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:20.962 - the protection of clients, information, other security standards and protocols uniform across the state 00:10:20.962 --> 00:10:28.152 - for protection of protocols and protection of personal identification. Requirement to attend IDVA annual 00:10:28.152 --> 00:10:34.110 - training semi-annually and to maintain continuing education units. There is a four day 00:10:34.242 --> 00:10:40.966 - that's in the summer and two district trainings that are one in the spring, one in the fall, and will 00:10:40.966 --> 00:10:47.559 - include certain also required online trainings, proficiency examinations. New CVSOs are required to 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:54.217 - be reaching out to us for their orientation and training and to start the process for accreditation. 00:10:54.217 --> 00:11:00.875 - And through the claims management system, we will capture data that will be generic information that 00:11:00.875 --> 00:11:03.710 - we'll use for reports, logs, various other 00:11:03.970 --> 00:11:11.545 - information to remain compliant for these new states, which is being called KPI, or Key Performance 00:11:11.545 --> 00:11:19.120 - Indicators. There is certain outreach expectations, various other data entry that's never been done 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:20.862 - before, and all future 00:11:21.282 --> 00:11:27.522 - briefings will be more along the lines of performance. And these are the great things that we're doing 00:11:27.522 --> 00:11:33.823 - in the Veterans Service Office. And I would like to pay you a high, terrific compliment. Stephen Miller 00:11:33.823 --> 00:11:40.123 - and his assistant Andrew have exceeded all expectations and are 100% compliant before this law was even 00:11:40.123 --> 00:11:46.303 - in place. So thank you for all you do for our veterans in the state of Indiana and Monroe County. And 00:11:46.303 --> 00:11:47.454 - that's all I have. 00:11:47.746 --> 00:11:56.632 - Thank you so much. And that was going to be my follow-up question. Aren't we doing all of that? 00:11:56.632 --> 00:12:05.796 - And by we, I mean, isn't Mr. Miller doing all of that already in his office? Yes. Okay, excellent. 00:12:05.796 --> 00:12:15.422 - Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, next we have an update from the Women's Commission. Ms. Hardesty. 00:12:23.010 --> 00:12:33.940 - Good morning. I think we have a PowerPoint presentation if that is available to put up. Are you seeing 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:44.870 - a PowerPoint? It's actually online with the packets as well. The PowerPoint is? It is. Well, all right 00:12:44.870 --> 00:12:50.494 - then. Here it comes. Okay, great. All right, thanks. 00:12:50.658 --> 00:12:56.165 - Oh, thank you very much. Okay. Well, good morning, commissioners, and thank you for this time on your 00:12:56.165 --> 00:13:01.618 - agenda today. My name is Julie Hardesty and I'm a member of the Monroe County Women's Commission. We 00:13:01.618 --> 00:13:07.504 - serve in an advisory role to assist residents, businesses, and the government of Monroe County in addressing 00:13:07.504 --> 00:13:13.065 - issues of gender equity in all aspects of society. And we're sharing the gender equity rubric with you 00:13:13.065 --> 00:13:18.302 - and the Monroe County community today as a tool to use towards this goal. So next slide, please. 00:13:20.578 --> 00:13:25.996 - So the gender equity rubric came about from work we started in 2023 to consider issues for women and 00:13:25.996 --> 00:13:31.468 - marginalized genders in a proposal for a new Monroe County jail. That review was bringing up concerns 00:13:31.468 --> 00:13:36.994 - such as separate areas needed for safety, supplies needed for menstruation, care needed for pregnancy, 00:13:36.994 --> 00:13:42.519 - giving birth or childcare, and childcare support needed for both diversion support when trying to keep 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:47.294 - people out of jail and reentry support when people leave jail and reenter the community. 00:13:47.362 --> 00:13:52.557 - community. In doing this work, we realize this lens of supporting and improving conditions for marginalized 00:13:52.557 --> 00:13:57.559 - genders could be used to evaluate policies and ordinances and improve the lives of all county residents 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:02.465 - by centering and elevating gender equity concerns. So we offer the gender equity rubric to the Monroe 00:14:02.465 --> 00:14:07.612 - County commissioners as a tool you can use to help mitigate these inequities and produce better ordinances 00:14:07.612 --> 00:14:12.470 - and policies that are better explained and maintained for everyone in our community. And this aligns 00:14:12.470 --> 00:14:17.328 - directly with the board of commissioners commitment to welcome and protect the rights of all people, 00:14:17.328 --> 00:14:22.711 - sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, economic status and national origin, and 00:14:22.711 --> 00:14:28.306 - your affirmation of the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear and to fight and resist 00:14:28.306 --> 00:14:33.636 - at every step, discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. Next slide, please. Since 00:14:33.636 --> 00:14:38.914 - this work began in 2023, it is worth noting that nearly all the sources from the United States used 00:14:38.914 --> 00:14:44.245 - to construct this rubric on gender equity are no longer actively available and can only be found via 00:14:44.245 --> 00:14:45.406 - the internet archive. 00:14:45.506 --> 00:14:51.297 - To define gender, we use a community-driven definition from Wikipedia of the range of social, psychological, 00:14:51.297 --> 00:14:56.770 - cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man or boy, woman or girl, non-binary or third gender. The 00:14:56.770 --> 00:15:02.242 - World Health Organization defines gender as socially constructed characteristics of women, men, girls, 00:15:02.242 --> 00:15:07.980 - and boys, and also notes that gender characteristics can change over time and vary from society to society. 00:15:07.980 --> 00:15:13.559 - And gender is not the same as an individual sex, which is biological, dealing with hormones and physical 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:15.472 - body parts, but sex can be involved 00:15:15.472 --> 00:15:20.677 - involved in gender expression. So gender comes into play in policies used by governments, workplaces, 00:15:20.677 --> 00:15:25.933 - and organizations because how people present themselves in these different social settings impacts how 00:15:25.933 --> 00:15:31.087 - they see themselves in relation to these places. And likewise, societal expectations of gender roles 00:15:31.087 --> 00:15:36.649 - and norms, especially in the context of workplace and government settings, impacts how government workplaces 00:15:36.649 --> 00:15:41.854 - and organizations end up treating historically underserved genders in particular. Next slide, please. 00:15:43.202 --> 00:15:49.688 - This is going to go a little quickly but for rubric scoring we use the five levels of gender responsiveness 00:15:49.688 --> 00:15:55.214 - from the World Health Organization which are shown here on the slide from gender unequal to 00:15:55.214 --> 00:15:59.358 - gender transformative next slide please. For rubric organization we. 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:04.897 - We used rubric categories based on categories that are defined in the Women's Democracy Network's Gender 00:16:04.897 --> 00:16:10.407 - Responsive Policymaking Handbook. And the formatting for the rubric is based on the University of Arkansas 00:16:10.407 --> 00:16:15.608 - at Little Rock's Equity Lens Assessment Rubric, which is now only available on the Internet Archive. 00:16:15.608 --> 00:16:16.638 - Next slide, please. 00:16:17.986 --> 00:16:24.806 - And we structured the rubric with policy phase, category, and then criterion with the five scoring levels 00:16:24.806 --> 00:16:31.305 - to consider for each criterion. And we provide this in a spreadsheet file format, so including notes 00:16:31.305 --> 00:16:37.804 - and scoring and adding up scores is also possible. We also have a guidelines document that goes into 00:16:37.804 --> 00:16:41.278 - more details on using the rubric. Next slide, please. 00:16:41.346 --> 00:16:46.431 - Part of this work, I conducted a test run of sorts of the rubric using an ordinance from 2024 to amend 00:16:46.431 --> 00:16:51.516 - the Monroe County Personnel Policy Handbook regarding paid parental and family leave. And I'm just one 00:16:51.516 --> 00:16:56.650 - person testing, so it's one person's reflection using this evaluation tool. But overall, I did not find 00:16:56.650 --> 00:17:01.735 - that this ordinance rated very highly for gender equity when evaluating with this rubric. I found that 00:17:01.735 --> 00:17:06.770 - the ordinance was mostly gender unequal or gender neutral, according to our criteria. So at the most, 00:17:06.770 --> 00:17:11.312 - it's maintaining status quo and not identifying how it helps women in marginalized genders. 00:17:11.312 --> 00:17:16.169 - Missing from the ordinance are background information, evaluation information, and any information that 00:17:16.169 --> 00:17:20.839 - explains that the supports and levels the playing field for women and marginalized genders who were 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:25.742 - previously expected to handle the work of parenting and taking care of family without any acknowledgment 00:17:25.742 --> 00:17:30.552 - or support from their place of employment. That information is not provided elsewhere in the Personnel 00:17:30.552 --> 00:17:35.316 - Policy Handbook either, where this amendment was added. Additionally, since the Monroe County website 00:17:35.316 --> 00:17:40.126 - moved last year, this ordinance is no longer available online, so it can't be found anywhere publicly. 00:17:40.194 --> 00:17:44.970 - It's possible this ordinance could score better against this rubric with things like still being available 00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:49.479 - online, including related public meeting minutes, and tracking the process more transparently as the 00:17:49.479 --> 00:17:53.720 - ordinance moves through to being passed. This rubric can also, and just as importantly, inform 00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:58.451 - the conversation as ordinance and policies are developed. And the Monroe County Women's Commission thinks 00:17:58.451 --> 00:18:03.094 - we can do better to support women of marginalized genders in having the same opportunities and benefits 00:18:03.094 --> 00:18:07.870 - that men have had in Monroe County government and the community for a significantly longer period of time. 00:18:07.938 --> 00:18:13.162 - efforts like this will make ordinance development better for everyone, keep everyone better informed, 00:18:13.162 --> 00:18:18.335 - and this kind of transparency and policy construction will benefit everyone, not just a single group 00:18:18.335 --> 00:18:23.457 - within our community. Next slide, please. So with the approval from the county commissioners, we're 00:18:23.457 --> 00:18:28.578 - interested in publishing, if we can, both the rubric and the guidelines, maybe on the Monroe County 00:18:28.578 --> 00:18:33.598 - Women's Commission webpage, if possible, but just making this available as a tool for public use. 00:18:33.598 --> 00:18:34.622 - Next slide, please. 00:18:36.802 --> 00:18:41.875 - So this is also going to go quickly, but these are resources that we used for reviewing gender equity 00:18:41.875 --> 00:18:47.197 - and policies. And next slide. These are the references that we were using for figuring out how to organize 00:18:47.197 --> 00:18:52.468 - the rubric. Next slide, please. So last, I just want to say thank you to the members of the Monroe County 00:18:52.468 --> 00:18:57.442 - Women's Commission Policy Subcommittee, past and present, for all the work and research to put this 00:18:57.442 --> 00:19:02.813 - together, and to all the women's commission and our ex officio members from both the board of commissioners 00:19:02.813 --> 00:19:06.046 - and the county council for their review and feedback. Thank you. 00:19:08.418 --> 00:19:16.556 - Thank you so much. No, and we will definitely check on whether the ordinance is online. That is, I thought 00:19:16.556 --> 00:19:24.237 - it was actually. It's 2024, and I think there was just like a whole timeline, a time where it's like 00:19:24.237 --> 00:19:31.918 - anything previous just is not there yet and not back yet, I guess. Yeah. And thank you so very much. 00:19:31.918 --> 00:19:37.470 - I know this took a lot of hard work to create. And thank you. Thank you. 00:19:38.242 --> 00:19:50.453 - Thank you for all you're doing to help out with gender equity. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have an 00:19:50.453 --> 00:20:02.906 - update from Mr. Cockrell on a couple of items. Yes. I think we did this at the last work session where 00:20:02.906 --> 00:20:07.742 - I gave an update on where we're at with 00:20:07.874 --> 00:20:15.852 - what I've been doing, what we've been working on towards the new justice facility. And so I think when 00:20:15.852 --> 00:20:23.830 - we left off last time, we would discuss the resolution from the county council talking about financial 00:20:23.830 --> 00:20:31.653 - matters. I reached out the next day to our bond council to determine what the timing of that bonding 00:20:31.653 --> 00:20:33.822 - in that documents could be. 00:20:34.178 --> 00:20:40.769 - He was, he needed to find and we needed to look for one of the corrections that we think are necessary 00:20:40.769 --> 00:20:47.488 - for that. And at that point in time, the legislators had not quite finished but were finishing recently. 00:20:47.488 --> 00:20:54.463 - So we decided that we were gonna meet tomorrow to kind of go over and make sure that either that opportunity 00:20:54.463 --> 00:21:01.118 - was there or make sure everybody knows that it's not and if we have to find a different avenue. So I've 00:21:01.118 --> 00:21:03.934 - reached out to him and hopefully we'll have 00:21:05.186 --> 00:21:12.267 - a short answer tomorrow with maybe a long answer after that, depending on that answer. Then on the 27th, 00:21:12.267 --> 00:21:19.213 - I also, and when I say I, I'm including, typically when I, with bond counsel it was me, but when we're 00:21:19.213 --> 00:21:25.957 - meeting with DLC or things like that, there's generally somebody from the commissioner's staff, and 00:21:25.957 --> 00:21:32.701 - typically we invite some, Molly Turner King from our office or someone, I did not note whether they 00:21:32.701 --> 00:21:33.982 - were there at any. 00:21:34.594 --> 00:21:44.704 - And so when I receive information from one of the property owners about one of the sites that we identified 00:21:44.704 --> 00:21:54.440 - at the work session, I forwarded that to the council and the council staff, DLZ, and your staff to kind 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:59.870 - of review and look at. And then on March 2nd, and discuss 00:22:00.034 --> 00:22:06.078 - details with the people who are doing this, the subdivision next to where we are, which is going to 00:22:06.078 --> 00:22:12.183 - have the and we're taught primarily we've been focused on the Thompson site because that's the one I 00:22:12.183 --> 00:22:18.228 - think we can get the most. We had the most questions about and we can probably get the most answers 00:22:18.228 --> 00:22:24.272 - about without expending money, right? And so we discussed with the with the developer kind of their 00:22:24.272 --> 00:22:29.470 - plans for Adam Street and how that was going to go through. And then we also met with 00:22:30.114 --> 00:22:36.283 - DLZ to kind of relay that information and get some give give them that information so they can kind 00:22:36.283 --> 00:22:42.822 - of help figure out what's changed on the Thompson site because this is a I mean a two conclusions already 00:22:42.822 --> 00:22:49.238 - the Fullerton first and then North Park second where Thompson was considered at both of those. So we're 00:22:49.238 --> 00:22:53.310 - trying to figure out what's changed there that would make it more 00:22:54.274 --> 00:23:02.335 - acceptable and able to be built upon. And I'm not gonna say there's nothing there, but we're working 00:23:02.335 --> 00:23:10.636 - on that. So, and then, you know, I've sent some of the water documents, I think it's the jurisdictional 00:23:10.636 --> 00:23:19.016 - water information to our stormwater review for review and to see what they thought about that. And then, 00:23:19.016 --> 00:23:23.486 - I mean, that all happened last week and then this week, 00:23:25.090 --> 00:23:31.706 - kind of continued with review of the Thompson site, trying to figure out if we had a rough based upon 00:23:31.706 --> 00:23:38.323 - what we're looking at, what we were looking at at the North Park site, kind of where things would lay 00:23:38.323 --> 00:23:45.004 - out. So I sent that to the city planning department to see if they saw any real issues with that, with 00:23:45.004 --> 00:23:51.361 - slopes or interference with any of their policies. So I'm waiting to hear back from them on that. 00:23:51.361 --> 00:23:53.566 - And so, and I also, I think we've 00:23:55.202 --> 00:24:04.287 - Mr. Thomas and I met briefly yesterday with Mr. Falk. And so we were talking about, you know, what does 00:24:04.287 --> 00:24:13.372 - he feel is necessary to get the agreed order extended? And I think he's looking for progress. You know, 00:24:13.372 --> 00:24:22.545 - I think timelines and things are really important to him. He wants this moving quicker. I know we talked 00:24:22.545 --> 00:24:24.030 - about, you know, 00:24:24.226 --> 00:24:30.958 - had to wait two years to move some stuff, whether that would be problematic, and he indicated it probably 00:24:30.958 --> 00:24:37.500 - would be. We also talked about what happens if we don't have the ability to bond pursuant to the state 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:44.296 - legislature's changes, and he's like, well, we work through that with a different county, and he's sending 00:24:44.296 --> 00:24:50.838 - me some examples on how they work through that. So trying to kind of engage so we can understand where 00:24:50.838 --> 00:24:53.950 - he's coming from. I think at the end of the day, 00:24:54.210 --> 00:25:01.001 - what he said and what he will continue to say is, you got to show me and then I'll make a decision, 00:25:01.001 --> 00:25:07.792 - right? And we're just trying to chip away at the edges to kind of see where he's at. But I think at 00:25:07.792 --> 00:25:15.262 - the end of the day, that was his message that I heard. And so that is kind of my update on the jail property. 00:25:15.842 --> 00:25:24.071 - I had heard that at the council meeting, and I haven't watched the council meeting, there was a conversation 00:25:24.071 --> 00:25:31.771 - about the convention center properties, particularly the lease properties to the south. And so I kind 00:25:31.771 --> 00:25:39.396 - of will give a brief, here's how we got to where we are. That is in 2010, the county purchased those 00:25:39.396 --> 00:25:45.662 - properties and they cost in the neighborhood of $3 million and they were purchased 00:25:45.986 --> 00:25:53.725 - for the expansion of the convention center, including the location of a potential hotel. And that was, 00:25:53.725 --> 00:26:01.464 - you know, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the line, it was paid through innkeeper's tax. And since 00:26:01.464 --> 00:26:09.354 - that time innkeeper's tax has been used to maintain the property and keep it in relatively working order 00:26:09.354 --> 00:26:15.966 - in order for it to be able to still be used for that purpose. In February of this year, 00:26:16.194 --> 00:26:25.104 - we have gotten a request from the CIB, which is the Capital Improvement Board, which is the board that 00:26:25.104 --> 00:26:34.014 - is put in place to oversee the expansion and the convention center properties and things like that for 00:26:34.014 --> 00:26:42.923 - those properties. And again, those were purchased with innkeepers tax dollars. And so right now we are 00:26:42.923 --> 00:26:45.086 - exploring that transfer. 00:26:45.378 --> 00:26:52.520 - right, we are aware that there are 17 tenants, residential tenants in those properties through three 00:26:52.520 --> 00:26:59.661 - different buildings. We are working, we have had discussions with, and I don't know how, what's been 00:26:59.661 --> 00:27:07.086 - communicated to the tenants yet or not, that we are working with the executive director of the apartment 00:27:07.086 --> 00:27:12.318 - association, as well as tangently, Mary Morgan with Heading Home has been 00:27:13.602 --> 00:27:21.459 - has been communicated with and they are prepared to help. I think the homeowners or the apartment association 00:27:21.459 --> 00:27:28.602 - is planning on in the near future. And I don't know the date to have a flyer and a presentation for 00:27:28.602 --> 00:27:35.745 - the people who are currently living in those areas. And the intent is to find them a suitable place 00:27:35.745 --> 00:27:43.102 - that is relatively close and relatively in that cost area for them to be able to move to and be there. 00:27:43.618 --> 00:27:51.341 - and have a reasonable place to live. So we're working on alternative housing options for those groups. 00:27:51.341 --> 00:27:59.213 - I think there has been some discussion, I don't know where at, with the potential of helping with moving 00:27:59.213 --> 00:28:06.711 - expenses and things of that nature. So that's where that's at. And I think what's happened is there 00:28:06.711 --> 00:28:13.534 - was a letter sent to the tenants kind of reminding them, hey, your lease ends on July 7th. 00:28:15.106 --> 00:28:22.028 - I mean, we're going to have public comment after this where everybody's going to have the ability to 00:28:22.028 --> 00:28:29.157 - 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 00:28:29.157 --> 00:28:36.285 - details you want. What significance is it that the properties were purchased with in keepers tax? Well, 00:28:36.285 --> 00:28:43.070 - in keepers funds can only be used for the for tourism or tourism related. Expenses, right? And so. 00:28:44.450 --> 00:28:52.208 - You know, we've maintained them with innkeepers tax because the intent is to use those properties for 00:28:52.208 --> 00:28:59.889 - a tourism related expense. And so that's how we've been able to keep those maintenance. I would also 00:28:59.889 --> 00:29:08.103 - say it's, this is the only area where we have residential tenants. Unusual for a county to have residential 00:29:08.103 --> 00:29:12.286 - tenants. There are statutes out there that would allow 00:29:12.386 --> 00:29:19.027 - you know, housing authorities and things like that, which is typically how you would, a public entity 00:29:19.027 --> 00:29:25.538 - in the city has one would deal with housing issues like this. There's also residential TIF options, 00:29:25.538 --> 00:29:32.374 - but this, but what the areas we're talking about is within the city limits and we don't have the ability 00:29:32.374 --> 00:29:39.080 - to do a residential TIF within city limits. So in a sense, the properties are in the name of the board 00:29:39.080 --> 00:29:42.270 - of commissioners, but we don't manage them. And, 00:29:42.530 --> 00:29:51.821 - 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. 00:29:51.821 --> 00:30:00.757 - I would say until I think it was February of last year, so about a year ago, it wasn't in your name. 00:30:00.757 --> 00:30:09.694 - It was in the building corporation's name. And so the building corporation had the actual ownership. 00:30:10.082 --> 00:30:16.587 - I mean, the issue here, I think the issue that people are gonna talk about that are kind of gonna come 00:30:16.587 --> 00:30:22.902 - from the other side, and that's perfectly fine, is that we bought this property within Cooper's tax 00:30:22.902 --> 00:30:29.217 - for a purpose. We knew at the time we bought it in 2010, that purpose was not going to occur in the 00:30:29.217 --> 00:30:35.721 - next three or four years, right? We knew it was a longer down the line issue. And then we went through 00:30:35.721 --> 00:30:38.942 - a process with the city of Bloomington, which was, 00:30:40.706 --> 00:30:47.564 - ended well, right? We ended with a good solution with the CIB. I think until probably three years ago 00:30:47.564 --> 00:30:54.355 - or two years ago, I don't know, we assumed that the expansion of the hotel and all that was going to 00:30:54.355 --> 00:31:01.886 - go to the north property where we call it the former bunker site, but that property that the city had purchased 00:31:02.274 --> 00:31:09.478 - And so that's not, we've gone through a process with hotel developers and the city and the CIB have, 00:31:09.478 --> 00:31:16.681 - and it's not worked out on that site. And so they're really looking for a different area for that or 00:31:16.681 --> 00:31:24.099 - some mechanism. I mean, that's a negotiation that has not come to any conclusions yet, but this request 00:31:24.099 --> 00:31:32.158 - has been made in furtherance of the Convention Center Host Hotel. And we're going to be looking at that transfer 00:31:32.514 --> 00:31:39.641 - in a few weeks? I think the county council has to approve the transfer as well as the county commissioners. 00:31:39.641 --> 00:31:46.636 - So that both bodies have to approve that because those properties are clearly valued at more than $1,000. 00:31:46.636 --> 00:31:53.895 - But is there which body goes first? Does it matter? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter from my perspective, 00:31:53.895 --> 00:32:01.022 - from a legal perspective. I think the council has to approve the terms and conditions. And in this case, we 00:32:01.186 --> 00:32:07.929 - just transferred these properties a year ago. So, you know, the real question is going to be that I 00:32:07.929 --> 00:32:15.145 - think it's going to be different from what we transferred last year just because of where these properties 00:32:15.145 --> 00:32:22.023 - are and the fact that it may be used for a hotel is the language in it that said, we get the property 00:32:22.023 --> 00:32:28.766 - back if it's not used for convention center purposes, you know, is a hotel essential center purpose 00:32:29.026 --> 00:32:36.001 - but I don't think they're gonna retain ownership or potentially won't. There is a lot of negotiations 00:32:36.001 --> 00:32:43.317 - that has to go through that. So that clause is something that we would have to look at, but it's a similar 00:32:43.317 --> 00:32:50.361 - process to what we did last year where the council approved it and then the commissioners approved the 00:32:50.361 --> 00:32:54.942 - transfer. There were two, because the building corporation gave it 00:32:55.202 --> 00:33:01.364 - gave all of it to the commissioners. And then the commissioners carved off some, but not clearly not 00:33:01.364 --> 00:33:07.649 - these and gave it to the CIB. And now the CIB is, cause that's what the CIB asked for at the time. And 00:33:07.649 --> 00:33:14.116 - now the CIB has come back and asked for these. And when the convention center project started, we pledged 00:33:14.116 --> 00:33:20.339 - our properties to support that center. And really our properties were really properties paid for with 00:33:20.339 --> 00:33:23.390 - innkeepers tax. So, you know, again, in our name, 00:33:23.650 --> 00:33:34.232 - but we had made that pledge as well. All right, do you have questions? Okay, the one thing going back 00:33:34.232 --> 00:33:45.125 - to the properties discussion, did my colleagues have comments or questions on that? No, my understanding 00:33:45.125 --> 00:33:51.454 - is also that the buildings are also at least one of them in, 00:33:52.706 --> 00:33:59.124 - condition that would need substantial repairs. Oh, about the convention center. Oh, not the convention 00:33:59.124 --> 00:34:05.792 - center. Okay, no, that's right, go ahead. But the apartment buildings themselves. The apartment buildings, 00:34:05.792 --> 00:34:12.148 - right. I think it's a matter of, and I think you're right, but I think it's also a matter of, because 00:34:12.148 --> 00:34:18.691 - they've all met the hand inspections and things like that, it's a matter of things have started to break 00:34:18.691 --> 00:34:22.430 - down and when they do, it's been $20,000 repairs and things 00:34:22.882 --> 00:34:31.698 - that funding is just not. The buildings are to a point now, I think that we're going to keep them as 00:34:31.698 --> 00:34:40.951 - they currently are. You would probably want to go through and do a major call. And back to that question, 00:34:40.951 --> 00:34:48.894 - I think it was raised Tuesday night was something about the discrepancy in wind leases and 00:34:49.122 --> 00:34:56.427 - a business versus the residential. Can you explain that a little bit? I think the notice was sent to 00:34:56.427 --> 00:35:03.804 - all tenants that they would end on July 7th, except for one of the commercial tenants had a provision 00:35:03.804 --> 00:35:11.326 - in their lease that said we had to give them a one-year notice in order for that lease to end. And that 00:35:11.326 --> 00:35:18.558 - notice was given in February of this year, so that would not end until February of 2017. All right. 00:35:19.170 --> 00:35:31.432 - And then shifting backwards to the Justice Center discussion, we had thought we would have a resolution 00:35:31.432 --> 00:35:43.457 - today, and we're not there yet because of a lot of the questions that Jeff has been talking about. So 00:35:43.457 --> 00:35:47.230 - we hope to have something July, 00:35:47.650 --> 00:35:58.741 - That'd be good, July. March 26 is our hope that we have something for consideration on the table. So 00:35:58.741 --> 00:36:09.831 - that's where we're at with that. Anything else on either of those two hot topics? Okay. All right. I 00:36:09.831 --> 00:36:15.102 - was asked about something, sort of an informal, 00:36:15.938 --> 00:36:27.465 - discussion here, but I was asked whether the historic courthouse could be considered an emergency or 00:36:27.465 --> 00:36:39.221 - backup polling site for the primary and general elections of 2026, and I wanted to gauge the response. 00:36:39.221 --> 00:36:45.726 - There seems to be no concern from the facility side, but 00:36:45.858 --> 00:36:53.871 - I support doing so, and are we good with that, offering that to the election board? Definitely. Okay. 00:36:53.871 --> 00:37:01.884 - So election board, take note, we are offering the historic courthouse as a voting site. It used to be 00:37:01.884 --> 00:37:09.819 - one all the time, but those were the days, right? I believe it's a backup. Backup site, right? Yeah. 00:37:09.819 --> 00:37:13.118 - This would be a backup or emergency site. 00:37:13.314 --> 00:37:22.097 - but we're offering it to the election board and they may do as they wish with that information. 00:37:22.097 --> 00:37:31.246 - Anything else? Other department updates? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to public comment. This 00:37:31.246 --> 00:37:35.454 - is time reserved for items not on our agenda. 00:37:35.810 --> 00:37:45.161 - We ask that you give your name and county of residence. You may come up to the microphone. We will ask 00:37:45.161 --> 00:37:54.239 - you to sign in. And if you wish, we can move the sign in over to that little table there so that we 00:37:54.239 --> 00:38:03.409 - don't have to wait while people sign in. And if you're on teams and you wish to speak, you may raise 00:38:03.409 --> 00:38:05.406 - your hand and we will 00:38:05.570 --> 00:38:15.305 - you. We'll do our best to do that. So if you would like to speak from on teams virtually, you may do 00:38:15.305 --> 00:38:24.944 - so as well. But we'll start here in the room, sir. You have three minutes. There is a clock. T s d. 00:38:24.944 --> 00:38:28.510 - Can you make sure that that's on the 00:38:42.402 --> 00:38:47.557 - Could we get? Oh, there we go. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Excellent. So you see it to your 00:38:47.557 --> 00:38:52.815 - left and right. You've got your clock. Thank you for waiting. Good morning. Morning. My name is Barry 00:38:52.815 --> 00:38:57.970 - Herbers. I'm a resident of Monroe County zip code 47401. I don't know if that matters. I appreciate 00:38:57.970 --> 00:39:03.126 - those vows you took. They're relevant to what I have to say, and we have already heard plenty about 00:39:03.126 --> 00:39:08.384 - that innkeeper's tax that you imply has been such a burden from the people who actually pay it, which 00:39:08.384 --> 00:39:09.054 - are not you. 00:39:10.210 --> 00:39:15.992 - Every single person in the Seminary Point apartments was just told, and I mean within the last few weeks, 00:39:15.992 --> 00:39:21.502 - that they will be forced out of their homes in July, homes they had been asking for renewals for for 00:39:21.502 --> 00:39:27.121 - six months, and you told them nothing. This is a college town, so that would be bad enough on its own, 00:39:27.121 --> 00:39:32.958 - but the Seminary Point apartments are also the most affordable housing in Bloomington's core. I understand 00:39:32.958 --> 00:39:37.758 - the county, that's you, claim that they have rehomed these people like they're animals, 00:39:38.658 --> 00:39:44.435 - Now it sounds like you're not claiming that anymore. I guess that was a rumor you found out you were 00:39:44.435 --> 00:39:50.155 - being lied to. Or if you were lying to us and we found that out first, unclear. But it was a lie. I 00:39:50.155 --> 00:39:56.104 - know that because I did something that will shock you. I actually asked the people living there if they 00:39:56.104 --> 00:40:02.168 - had been helped. The man I spoke to the longest is a recovering addict. He's also a father and a husband. 00:40:02.168 --> 00:40:08.574 - 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 00:40:09.058 --> 00:40:15.391 - 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 00:40:15.391 --> 00:40:21.542 - to stay off the street. He said this apartment was a lifeline for his family. And you are cutting his 00:40:21.542 --> 00:40:27.694 - lifeline, his pregnant wife's lifeline. Now, it's tempting when you're accused of something like that 00:40:27.694 --> 00:40:33.725 - to deflect and point anywhere but yourself, which you've already done. But I'm not going to let you 00:40:33.725 --> 00:40:36.318 - do that because this isn't our first stop. 00:40:37.346 --> 00:40:42.622 - We asked the Bloomington City Council months ago, why are you forcing these people out of their homes? 00:40:42.622 --> 00:40:47.745 - They pointed at the county. I thought, fair enough, the county owns the building. So I spoke to the 00:40:47.745 --> 00:40:52.919 - Monroe County Councilors multiple times. I asked them, why are you forcing these people out of their 00:40:52.919 --> 00:40:58.145 - homes? They pointed at lawyers. So at that point, I started to get a little annoyed. I get emotional. 00:40:58.145 --> 00:41:03.319 - I understand that. But we heard from a lawyer, and they pointed at you, three of you, the only three 00:41:03.319 --> 00:41:05.214 - people. This is the end of the road. 00:41:06.530 --> 00:41:11.769 - I don't really care who you decide to counsel, the commissioners, or the lawyers. I just need you to 00:41:11.769 --> 00:41:17.009 - answer the question honestly and without deflection. Why are you forcing the tenants of the Seminary 00:41:17.009 --> 00:41:22.456 - Point apartments out of their homes? That is not rhetorical. What are you planning to do with this block 00:41:22.456 --> 00:41:28.058 - once you've gotten rid of the people who live there? And what about the businesses who pay your innkeeper's 00:41:28.058 --> 00:41:29.822 - tax that you're so worried about? 00:41:30.850 --> 00:41:36.556 - In lieu of an answer, I'm left to assume it's going to be a parking lot for the convention center that 00:41:36.556 --> 00:41:42.261 - you want us to subsidize with more of our money that, again, is not yours. And that sounds pretty bad. 00:41:42.261 --> 00:41:47.967 - So fix it. Renew these leases. And if you're tired of being a landlord and paying shady companies like 00:41:47.967 --> 00:41:53.728 - PMI to eat your sins, then instead of destroying some of the only meaningful affordable housing we have 00:41:53.728 --> 00:41:56.830 - left, let the seminary tenants decide their own futures 00:41:56.994 --> 00:42:02.558 - and sell these buildings to an affordable housing land trust or something, which we've spoken to a county 00:42:02.558 --> 00:42:07.807 - lawyer about. Not this one, the other one. There's got to be a lease too. And they said would be on 00:42:07.807 --> 00:42:13.057 - the council and the commission to decide. They said the renewal of the leases would be on you three 00:42:13.057 --> 00:42:18.358 - to decide. And you know as well as I do that when you gentrify a community, people don't always land 00:42:18.358 --> 00:42:23.870 - on their feet. So if you go through with this, it's a coin flip. And if my friend ends up on the street, 00:42:26.146 --> 00:42:33.792 - take it from someone with a conscience that you don't want that blood on your hands, but that is exactly 00:42:33.792 --> 00:42:41.656 - where it will be. Clear your times up. Fucking Christ. Thank you. Good morning. I want to second everything 00:42:41.656 --> 00:42:49.011 - Barry said. First of all, my name is Jessie Lloyd. I lived in Bloomington for about seven years. And 00:42:49.011 --> 00:42:55.710 - I would like to ask you not to displace residents or destroy the Seminary Point apartments. 00:42:55.874 --> 00:43:02.578 - We're in the middle of an affordable housing crisis and every step should be taken to preserve and expand 00:43:02.578 --> 00:43:09.092 - affordable housing And if the county is unwilling or unable to maintain the block they should transfer 00:43:09.092 --> 00:43:15.416 - it to a land trust as I'm sure you will continue to hear today Yeah, and just there's been a lot of 00:43:15.416 --> 00:43:20.286 - lack of transparency about the lease renewals a lot of people are kind of in 00:43:20.482 --> 00:43:28.374 - like panic mode, there's not enough time to find housing. People have not been helped to find housing, 00:43:28.374 --> 00:43:36.112 - as we've heard from the county council. They told us to come to you, that y'all are the ones who can 00:43:36.112 --> 00:43:44.234 - give some answers, and it sounded a little bit like maybe y'all also don't have answers, so that's pretty 00:43:44.234 --> 00:43:49.214 - confusing and disheartening to hear. Yeah, so just please, like, 00:43:50.082 --> 00:43:58.896 - 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 00:43:58.896 --> 00:44:07.383 - affordable housing, not build a hotel that's going to have to be subsidized its entire life. Thank you. 00:44:07.383 --> 00:44:15.951 - All right. I see we do have somebody online. But come on up, sir, first. And then we'll go to the online 00:44:15.951 --> 00:44:17.502 - person. Thank you. 00:44:17.634 --> 00:44:23.661 - All right, sounds good. My name is Bryce. I'm a longtime Bloomington resident, an organizer with local 00:44:23.661 --> 00:44:29.512 - community groups. And I think everyone in this room understands that one of the biggest issues that 00:44:29.512 --> 00:44:35.364 - Monroe County residents care about is affordable housing. I'm part of the DSA, and we just hosted a 00:44:35.364 --> 00:44:41.215 - candidate forum where we're asking the candidates, and we're asking the public, what do you want to 00:44:41.215 --> 00:44:45.662 - hear about from these people who are trying to run for county commissioner? 00:44:45.890 --> 00:44:53.599 - And the biggest single issue was affordable housing, surprise. Knowing that, it seems ridiculous to 00:44:53.599 --> 00:45:01.462 - me that the county would insist on displacing a bunch of people who have affordable housing in a very 00:45:01.462 --> 00:45:09.402 - good location at a time when there's affordable housing crisis. And this claim that there will be some 00:45:09.402 --> 00:45:12.254 - sort of equivalent housing available 00:45:12.578 --> 00:45:19.958 - at a similar price point at a similar location within reason. I mean, that just seems like false. I've 00:45:19.958 --> 00:45:27.123 - tried to rent an apartment in this town. It seems just impossible and kind of a joke to push things 00:45:27.123 --> 00:45:34.359 - off to the side. And so there are other options available, right? Especially if this property is not 00:45:34.359 --> 00:45:39.518 - going to be used for what its intended purchasing purpose was, why not? 00:45:39.778 --> 00:45:47.016 - spin it off into its own entity? Why not sell it to the city so they can spin it off into its own entity? 00:45:47.016 --> 00:45:54.048 - There are all sorts of options. And like my friend earlier said, where there is a will, there's a way. 00:45:54.048 --> 00:46:00.944 - Now, there was a question about whether or not a property that was bought with the innkeeper tax can 00:46:00.944 --> 00:46:06.270 - be transferred to a function that is not directly tourism or tourism related. 00:46:06.690 --> 00:46:13.586 - you know, maybe we can say that making Bloomington a less shitty place to live will get more tourism, 00:46:13.586 --> 00:46:20.618 - but even not, that statute comes from the county, and that statute can be changed, unless I'm mistaken. 00:46:20.618 --> 00:46:27.447 - That's actually state code. State code? Well, in any case, there are many ways that you can use this 00:46:27.447 --> 00:46:34.275 - property. There are many other ways that you can allocate funds, other ways that you can ensure that 00:46:34.275 --> 00:46:36.574 - affordable housing is maintained. 00:46:36.706 --> 00:46:44.515 - If the end of the line is that we have to kick these people out of their houses, I don't think that 00:46:44.515 --> 00:46:52.559 - it's been clear that there's been every avenue taken to avoid that outcome or to prevent that outcome. 00:46:52.559 --> 00:46:56.542 - And so I think on top of the lack of transparency, 00:46:56.674 --> 00:47:03.059 - on top of the piling onto the affordable housing crisis, there seems to be a very good case for the 00:47:03.059 --> 00:47:09.509 - community being upset. And more and more community members are hearing about this, and more and more 00:47:09.509 --> 00:47:15.958 - people are asking to figure out what's happening. And I think if this eviction, if this displacement 00:47:15.958 --> 00:47:22.662 - continues, this room and rooms like it are going to have a lot more people in here yelling and screaming 00:47:22.662 --> 00:47:26.366 - about it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We'll now go online. 00:47:27.330 --> 00:47:36.442 - We're going to unmute. You're going to have to unmute. We will allow your microphone and then you're 00:47:36.442 --> 00:47:45.914 - going to be you're going to need to unmute. And you also will have three minutes to speak. And I'm sorry 00:47:45.914 --> 00:47:55.116 - if I mangled the pronunciation of your name. So we need to unmute his mic or you may need to do that, 00:47:55.116 --> 00:47:56.830 - sir. There you go. 00:47:57.378 --> 00:48:05.161 - Okay, great. Good morning. Good morning. Hi, my name is Dennis on park, I live in Bloomington Monroe 00:48:05.161 --> 00:48:13.407 - County. Thank you to commissioners for hearing us out today. I first off on a second everything my friends 00:48:13.407 --> 00:48:21.267 - and fellow organizers have said about seminary part, seminary point apartments. I would like to point 00:48:21.267 --> 00:48:22.654 - out a few things. 00:48:23.202 --> 00:48:28.876 - Firstly, I think it's important to understand just how bad of a housing crisis Bloomington currently 00:48:28.876 --> 00:48:34.606 - has. Rent has been increasing at a rapid rate, significantly faster than inflation. In fact, the cost 00:48:34.606 --> 00:48:40.281 - of living in Bloomington is now comparable to Chicago. And yet for most people, their wages have not 00:48:40.281 --> 00:48:46.123 - increased at the same rate. And so as a result, it's become extremely difficult for many people to find 00:48:46.123 --> 00:48:51.966 - housing in Bloomington. Seminary Point is one example of the few places where people can go to actually 00:48:52.226 --> 00:48:59.133 - afford to live a reasonable life. And so it seems like the county commission's choice to sell the area 00:48:59.133 --> 00:49:05.973 - for the purposes of a convention center hotel seems honestly misguided, mainly because one, there are 00:49:05.973 --> 00:49:12.679 - a significant number of hotels already in Bloomington. This business will not do well. Secondly, it 00:49:12.679 --> 00:49:19.720 - won't actually contribute to tourism since one of the most important parts of Bloomington is the beeline 00:49:19.720 --> 00:49:21.598 - and seminary point is where 00:49:21.730 --> 00:49:27.995 - significant portion of the attraction of the bee line comes from, including places like the Friendly 00:49:27.995 --> 00:49:34.322 - Bee Cidery, which are what give that area its value in the first place. In addition to that, it seems 00:49:34.322 --> 00:49:40.773 - like there is a significant portion of the population of Bloomington that is completely opposed to this 00:49:40.773 --> 00:49:43.998 - move, and I believe that it will continue to create 00:49:44.194 --> 00:49:50.578 - a large amount of distraction and frustration for the commissioners if they pursue this route, because 00:49:50.578 --> 00:49:56.961 - we will keep coming to these public events and our size will keep growing. As for the innkeeper's tax, 00:49:56.961 --> 00:50:03.221 - I think that it's important to recognize that tourism in Bloomington is in large part maintained due 00:50:03.221 --> 00:50:09.666 - to things like the university, which needs to be staffed by people who live at Seminary Point. In fact, 00:50:09.666 --> 00:50:10.782 - many people there 00:50:10.914 --> 00:50:18.091 - do staff at the university. The existence of the B line is another example. And then thirdly, it seems 00:50:18.091 --> 00:50:25.547 - sort of silly to build an additional hotel when most of the hotels in Bloomington are not being fulfilled. 00:50:25.547 --> 00:50:33.003 - I believe also what's been frustrating is the lack of transparency and communication from the City Council 00:50:33.003 --> 00:50:36.766 - and from the County Commission. And what we need is a 00:50:36.930 --> 00:50:44.118 - more open and direct line of communication so that residents aren't suddenly being kicked out of their 00:50:44.118 --> 00:50:51.097 - houses and suddenly having to find new places to live. Moving forward, I think that giving the area 00:50:51.097 --> 00:50:58.286 - to a land trust, giving it to the city of Bloomington would be a possible avenue forward that wouldn't 00:50:58.286 --> 00:51:01.566 - cost the commission any money, but would still 00:51:01.794 --> 00:51:08.536 - help us actually fix the situation, which is the massive affordable housing crisis. Thank you for listening. 00:51:08.536 --> 00:51:14.845 - Thank you, sir. Right. That was timed well. We'll take the next one in the room, please. Thank you so 00:51:14.845 --> 00:51:21.030 - much. And please give us your name and you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Rebecca 00:51:21.030 --> 00:51:27.525 - Stoops. I'm a county resident. Thank you so much for your time. I'm also here to talk about the seminary 00:51:27.525 --> 00:51:28.638 - point apartments. 00:51:28.770 --> 00:51:35.285 - purchased by the county in 2010 as part of the convention center expansion. So earlier this week, I 00:51:35.285 --> 00:51:41.865 - met with the Convention and Visitors Commission, and I understand that the apartments were purchased 00:51:41.865 --> 00:51:48.575 - to demolish, to build a future hotel or related buildings to support the influx of more people for the 00:51:48.575 --> 00:51:55.806 - bigger convention center. But since 2010, so much has changed. The circumstances are completely different now. 00:51:56.098 --> 00:52:04.404 - We are now in a housing affordability crisis. So Seminary Point is a very affordable apartment to this 00:52:04.404 --> 00:52:12.549 - day with 29 units. So I would like to request that the commissioners consider transferring ownership 00:52:12.549 --> 00:52:21.662 - of Seminary Point to the city or to a community land trust. This would guarantee permanently affordable housing. 00:52:22.402 --> 00:52:29.578 - If you must build a hotel, consider placing it closer to the convention center. There's a lot of parking 00:52:29.578 --> 00:52:36.617 - lots. You could have a more efficient land use and it could be a win-win. You could get what you want. 00:52:36.617 --> 00:52:43.656 - We preserve 29 units of affordable housing. And so my main points are please don't displace residents. 00:52:43.656 --> 00:52:50.558 - Don't destroy the block and transfer ownership of the block. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. 00:52:53.474 --> 00:53:00.065 - Next up, please. Come on. Hello. My name is Eli Beaton, and I've lived in Monroe County for about half 00:53:00.065 --> 00:53:06.656 - a decade. Obviously, I'm going to echo some of the points that previous people have said. But I wanted 00:53:06.656 --> 00:53:13.055 - to thank you for the updates at the beginning of this public comment. I think that's really useful. 00:53:13.055 --> 00:53:19.070 - One of the things that stuck out to me is the question of negotiations not yet being settled. 00:53:19.170 --> 00:53:25.900 - right, like there's a lot of moving pieces to this and like coordination between bodies. And to me, 00:53:25.900 --> 00:53:32.765 - that strikes my ear really funny, particularly because that means that the residents are being asked, 00:53:32.765 --> 00:53:39.831 - are being displaced to give the county a bargaining position for sort of a speculative deal. And there's 00:53:39.831 --> 00:53:46.225 - this question to me about how to use this land. I don't know, forgive me, a little bit of like 00:53:46.225 --> 00:53:48.446 - an architecture guy or whatever. 00:53:48.930 --> 00:53:55.402 - one of the things like one of the sayings I've heard around is like the most efficient building carbon 00:53:55.402 --> 00:54:01.937 - wise is the building that's already built. I think like this is the question when getting to this issue 00:54:01.937 --> 00:54:08.346 - of like all the repairs that need to happen or to improve the building or to make this continue to be 00:54:08.346 --> 00:54:13.310 - an affordable housing unit owned by the county owned by a land trust. I think. 00:54:15.394 --> 00:54:22.067 - I don't know I think like the question of is it more affordable to build a subsidized hotel for the 00:54:22.067 --> 00:54:29.340 - economy like does that improve the economy of the county, more than the affordable units for these residents 00:54:29.340 --> 00:54:34.078 - and the character of the beeline that people have already pointed out. 00:54:34.562 --> 00:54:40.934 - I think that's a question that I would love to hear the justification about. I don't know how public 00:54:40.934 --> 00:54:47.558 - comment is usually structured. I would love to hear from the commissioners and the county attorney after 00:54:47.558 --> 00:54:53.930 - this as well. Because I'm sure that we can find a solution to this that preserves affordable housing 00:54:53.930 --> 00:54:59.986 - in Bloomington without jeopardizing the lives of these tenants or these small businesses. Yeah. 00:54:59.986 --> 00:55:01.374 - Thank you. Thank you. 00:55:09.154 --> 00:55:17.665 - Good morning, everyone. My name is Nancy Goswami. I live in Monroe County. And I really came here just 00:55:17.665 --> 00:55:26.341 - to observe today, however, so I don't have anything prepared. I haven't had to rent in Bloomington ever. 00:55:26.341 --> 00:55:31.134 - I've been very fortunate to be able to own a home or two. 00:55:31.938 --> 00:55:42.694 - I was just looking over the rents, and they ranged from $900 for a mobile home all the way up to $4,000. 00:55:42.694 --> 00:55:53.040 - And not everywhere in between, and most of it was on the higher end. And not all of it, it wasn't in 00:55:53.040 --> 00:55:55.294 - student housing area. 00:55:55.458 --> 00:56:05.005 - places that students would normally live. It was just kind of a little farther out. So I can't even 00:56:05.005 --> 00:56:14.647 - imagine how, I don't even know how people can afford to pay rent like this. So I think we have to be 00:56:14.647 --> 00:56:24.766 - innovative to be able to preserve the seminary point, to be able to provide homes for affordable housing, 00:56:24.962 --> 00:56:35.459 - for the least of us, right? Because here we are, up here, we're all very privileged. And the privileged, 00:56:35.459 --> 00:56:45.556 - there are privileged people that are telling the least of us that we're gonna kick them out of their 00:56:45.556 --> 00:56:54.654 - homes. And what we do to the least of us is a strong indicator of who we are as a species. 00:56:56.226 --> 00:57:06.221 - And I'm very, we cannot be telling people they have to just go find a home. And I don't know how people 00:57:06.221 --> 00:57:15.927 - can afford it on, my kids couldn't even afford to pay rent in this town. And so I think that we need 00:57:15.927 --> 00:57:22.174 - to just care about other human beings. And also if the business, 00:57:22.690 --> 00:57:31.149 - is not, you said there was a business that needed a one-year notice, then if they're still gonna be 00:57:31.149 --> 00:57:39.947 - in the building, then why kick the tenants out in July? Why can't they stay and give them a little more 00:57:39.947 --> 00:57:48.491 - time to find affordable housing? Why kick them out and have those apartments being emptied while the 00:57:48.491 --> 00:57:52.382 - business is still in the building? Thank you. 00:57:54.338 --> 00:58:07.320 - We'll go online next. So Christopher? Online. Online. We have people on Teams waiting, and they were 00:58:07.320 --> 00:58:20.689 - online with their hands raised before you got in line. So thank you. So you will need to unmute. Ma'am. 00:58:20.689 --> 00:58:23.902 - Yeah, I'm Chris Branham. 00:58:24.418 --> 00:58:34.549 - a lifetime resident, Bloomington, born and raised. Yeah, and I'm just going to say that sometimes best 00:58:34.549 --> 00:58:44.582 - laid plans, right? When this project for a convention center was set out, we weren't in the middle of 00:58:44.582 --> 00:58:49.598 - the affordability crisis we now find ourselves in. 00:58:49.858 --> 00:58:59.987 - made even worse by the events that have happened within the last couple of weeks, heading towards perhaps 00:58:59.987 --> 00:59:09.638 - even international recession. I think there's a time to say, what are we going to prioritize in this 00:59:09.638 --> 00:59:18.334 - moment? The comfort and pleasures of people from out of town coming in for a convention or 00:59:18.626 --> 00:59:27.141 - our own people that were here to serve and help our neighbors. When I can speak to my own mother, she 00:59:27.141 --> 00:59:35.656 - is a bus driver in Bloomington and she does not live in Bloomington. She couldn't live in Bloomington 00:59:35.656 --> 00:59:44.254 - city limits on the salary she gets. And many of her colleagues are in the same place. So when we couch 00:59:44.994 --> 00:59:53.789 - you know, things in terms of we'll help these residents find something relatively close and relatively 00:59:53.789 --> 01:00:02.327 - in the same price point, that relative might be doing a lot of work. You know, are we talking about 01:00:02.327 --> 01:00:10.865 - Judah, Olidoc? Where are we talking about? Because we all know, those of us who have lived here our 01:00:10.865 --> 01:00:14.110 - whole lives, I grew up down on Handy, 01:00:14.530 --> 01:00:21.204 - Even if you drive down that way, you can see how much the housing has popped up and how much prices 01:00:21.204 --> 01:00:28.078 - have increased. Or even if you head out towards Ellitsville. Ellitsville doesn't look like it did many 01:00:28.078 --> 01:00:34.886 - years ago. More apartments popping up and the cost increasing exponentially. So while I'm not opposed 01:00:34.886 --> 01:00:41.626 - to the idea of Monroe County having a convention center, I think we look at the moments that we find 01:00:41.626 --> 01:00:42.494 - ourselves in 01:00:42.626 --> 01:00:50.737 - and we say, what are we going to prioritize in this movement? The people who work here, who help the 01:00:50.737 --> 01:00:58.928 - city be what it is, or are we more concerned with the people who wanna come in and visit our town for 01:00:58.928 --> 01:01:06.959 - a little bit and then leave? That's all I gotta say, I don't need my whole time. Thank you so much. 01:01:06.959 --> 01:01:10.814 - Next online, we have Sarah Mosier. You will be, 01:01:10.946 --> 01:01:18.020 - your microphone will be allowed, and then you'll need to unmute. You will have three minutes. 01:01:18.020 --> 01:01:25.621 - Thank you. My name's Sarah Mosher, and I'm a resident of Bloomington and Monroe County. And I wanted 01:01:25.621 --> 01:01:33.221 - to thank you for having a Teams option, because like many people, I worked during the day, but I was 01:01:33.221 --> 01:01:36.382 - able to get a quick break so that I could 01:01:36.770 --> 01:01:44.246 - tune in and listen to some of the discussion and leave a comment. Thanks for having a Teams option. 01:01:44.246 --> 01:01:52.321 - I wanted to encourage the commissioners to not tear down seminary point apartments and evict the residents. 01:01:52.321 --> 01:01:59.872 - I think as other folks have said, there are many residents there who don't know where they could go. 01:01:59.872 --> 01:02:06.750 - I had read from Bloomington Homes for All that the rents there are between $400 to $700 and 01:02:06.850 --> 01:02:15.884 - Someone at the Tuesday meeting had mentioned that, oh, they should work with heading home to find comparable 01:02:15.884 --> 01:02:24.587 - places to live, but I don't know of any other places to live in Bloomington that have 400 to 700 a month 01:02:24.587 --> 01:02:32.958 - rents. And I just also wanted to say as someone whose family's from here from many generations back, 01:02:33.378 --> 01:02:40.403 - You know, my great grandparents lived here and when they were young, they didn't have a place to live. 01:02:40.403 --> 01:02:47.293 - They struggle with affordable housing too. And when they were finally able to settle down after they 01:02:47.293 --> 01:02:53.022 - had been homeless with my grandma and her three sisters when they were little kids, 01:02:53.186 --> 01:02:59.433 - When they were finally able to find a place they could afford to live, they were able to establish themselves 01:02:59.433 --> 01:03:05.168 - and contribute to the county and found a business that businesses Maze Greenhouse. It's been a small 01:03:05.168 --> 01:03:10.961 - business here for many generations and have dozens of members of my family now that have been able to 01:03:10.961 --> 01:03:16.697 - live here and grow up and pay taxes and contribute. And so just as an example of that, you know, any 01:03:16.697 --> 01:03:17.662 - time that we are 01:03:17.922 --> 01:03:25.028 - destroying the very few little pockets of affordable housing we have left. We're pushing out people 01:03:25.028 --> 01:03:32.133 - and families like my family had been that could be staying here and contributing and building lives 01:03:32.133 --> 01:03:39.452 - here instead of the folks who will come to park on a parking lot because they're visiting for a little 01:03:39.452 --> 01:03:46.558 - while and won't actually have much of a contribution. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll take your 01:03:46.658 --> 01:03:54.194 - public comment next please please come on up. Good morning my name is Mary Mosier and I'll say right 01:03:54.194 --> 01:04:02.178 - from side don't have tremendous amount to add over some of the previous speakers including my own daughter 01:04:02.178 --> 01:04:08.894 - who's just online. I was born in Monroe County born in Bloomington I'm a current resident 01:04:09.538 --> 01:04:17.608 - I was here basically to urge the commissioners not to displace the residents of the Seminary Point Apartments 01:04:17.608 --> 01:04:25.531 - and the business spaces that are there at South College and Second. It sounds from what the county attorney 01:04:25.531 --> 01:04:33.234 - has said and what was discussed earlier that this is a hot mess that has been years in the making. There 01:04:33.234 --> 01:04:35.582 - seems to be a certain amount of 01:04:37.698 --> 01:04:44.882 - non-transparency about what the actual situation is. Is this hotel actually going to be built? Is the 01:04:44.882 --> 01:04:51.926 - parking lot actually necessary? And whether or not these people have another place to go. It sounds 01:04:51.926 --> 01:04:59.040 - like wishful thinking to believe at this point in time without further information that anything has 01:04:59.040 --> 01:05:06.365 - been arranged for these people if there is a place for them to go. Where are the workers in Bloomington 01:05:06.365 --> 01:05:07.422 - going to live? 01:05:09.634 --> 01:05:18.431 - The affordability crisis is here, it's now, it may not have been here 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, 01:05:18.431 --> 01:05:27.576 - whenever this idea first came up about these two blocks of space. I can only encourage the commissioners 01:05:27.576 --> 01:05:36.635 - not to displace these people, to find another solution. And that solution may be through community land 01:05:36.635 --> 01:05:37.854 - trust models. 01:05:38.434 --> 01:05:46.938 - find a partner, the city, a local organization, something to maintain this area, to maintain affordable 01:05:46.938 --> 01:05:55.114 - housing, and perhaps even expand it. There is space in that area. Would it be better served for the 01:05:55.114 --> 01:06:03.455 - county for that space to be used as a parking lot or for that space to be used for affordable housing 01:06:03.455 --> 01:06:07.870 - for workers who pay taxes in the county, in the city, 01:06:07.970 --> 01:06:16.409 - in the state. I'll stop right there. I thank you very much. But creating a process by which this housing 01:06:16.409 --> 01:06:25.170 - can be maintained would be entirely in line with the commissioner's statement that you read at the beginning 01:06:25.170 --> 01:06:33.529 - of this meeting. And I think this is a vital thing for Monroe County, for the city of Bloomington. Find 01:06:33.529 --> 01:06:34.494 - a solution. 01:06:34.850 --> 01:06:46.553 - that doesn't eliminate affordable housing. Thank you so much. And we'll go back to our online commenters 01:06:46.553 --> 01:06:57.810 - who have been waiting. Erin Comforti, you will be unmuted. You will need to unmute yourself. And you 01:06:57.810 --> 01:07:01.822 - will have three minutes. Thank you. 01:07:04.418 --> 01:07:17.103 - Hi, good morning. My name is Aaron Comforti, and I am a resident of Monroe County for over 15 years 01:07:17.103 --> 01:07:30.042 - in total. And I wanted to really focus on the legal reasoning for which we have to think through this 01:07:30.042 --> 01:07:33.086 - process. In particular, 01:07:33.954 --> 01:07:41.696 - I guess, given the housing affordability crisis, it seems well within reason to research alternative 01:07:41.696 --> 01:07:49.362 - legal interpretations and analyses that would allow the county to fulfill its obligations under the 01:07:49.362 --> 01:07:57.104 - state code as it relates to assets purchased through funds raised through the innkeeper's tax, while 01:07:57.104 --> 01:08:03.006 - also protecting the Seminary Point Department's building and maintaining it. 01:08:03.266 --> 01:08:15.328 - as affordable housing. I really think that there are ways to do so and that it's very much worth doing. 01:08:15.328 --> 01:08:27.275 - It's a really reasonable exercise for the county to investigate. The other thing I would like to point 01:08:27.275 --> 01:08:32.958 - out is if the public comment today is indicative 01:08:33.122 --> 01:08:43.240 - of public sentiment in Monroe County and in Bloomington, then it seems that there is a lot of support 01:08:43.240 --> 01:08:53.656 - for maintaining this kind of rare gem of affordable housing and not as much support for building another 01:08:53.656 --> 01:09:02.782 - hotel and parking lot. So I think that's very important and as I'm sure you all appreciate. 01:09:03.970 --> 01:09:15.408 - I suppose in some, my point is that our hands as a county are not tied. And we can look for these alternative 01:09:15.408 --> 01:09:26.327 - legal interpretations that would allow us to maintain the current building while not under Indiana state 01:09:26.327 --> 01:09:33.502 - code. So I appreciate the opportunity to speak and, again, encourage 01:09:33.602 --> 01:09:43.496 - the county to undertake that research and propose a way in which the building could be maintained and 01:09:43.496 --> 01:09:53.488 - the tenants not evicted. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we will go to Rowan M, online, waiting patiently. 01:09:53.488 --> 01:10:01.054 - You'll need to unmute and you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Good morning. 01:10:03.650 --> 01:10:09.605 - My name is Rowan Morse. I'm a born and raised Bloomingtonian, and I've lived in Monroe County my entire 01:10:09.605 --> 01:10:15.331 - life. I grew up about two blocks west from the Seminary Point Apartments, and I wish I was there in 01:10:15.331 --> 01:10:21.114 - person, but I wanted to call to add my support to everybody showing up for affordable housing today, 01:10:21.114 --> 01:10:26.954 - and I mean actual affordable housing. I want to reaffirm that Monroe County is in a desperate housing 01:10:26.954 --> 01:10:32.222 - crisis, and we need true affordable housing options, and removing people from their housing 01:10:32.546 --> 01:10:39.118 - will only exacerbate the problem. And trying to relocate them only pushes the buck off until later. 01:10:39.118 --> 01:10:45.822 - I would love to see the commissioners commit to transferring Seminary Point to a community land trust 01:10:45.822 --> 01:10:52.394 - and lay out a plan on the process of that transfer. I also think the community deserves to know why 01:10:52.394 --> 01:10:59.229 - businesses have been given almost eight months longer to vacate than citizens of our county. Thank you. 01:10:59.229 --> 01:11:00.478 - Thank you so much. 01:11:00.834 --> 01:11:10.270 - We'll go next user in person. Thank you. My name is Toby Foster. I live in Monroe County. Since it's 01:11:10.270 --> 01:11:20.173 - been brought up a couple of times, I just thought I would lend some context. I'm a part owner of Friendly 01:11:20.173 --> 01:11:28.862 - Beast Society. You had mentioned that you thought the businesses all got the same letter and 01:11:28.994 --> 01:11:36.721 - That's true that we got the same email that everybody else got regarding the July 7th date. And I just 01:11:36.721 --> 01:11:44.373 - kind of wanted to express my frustration with how that all happened. I've been trying for a long time 01:11:44.373 --> 01:11:50.750 - to figure out if leases were going to get renewed reaching out to people. I was told 01:11:50.850 --> 01:11:57.734 - that it would probably be OK to stay until the end of the year. And then just a couple of weeks after 01:11:57.734 --> 01:12:04.482 - that, got this email at 5 15 p.m. on a Friday. So there was nothing we could do over the weekend. I 01:12:04.482 --> 01:12:11.434 - thought that was really frustrating. I think it was the same for the people that live there. And yeah, 01:12:11.434 --> 01:12:12.446 - I do I want to 01:12:12.610 --> 01:12:20.214 - I express my support for everything that everyone said regarding the apartments and the affordable housing. 01:12:20.214 --> 01:12:27.466 - I support all of that and yeah, basically just wanted to learn some context and express my frustration 01:12:27.466 --> 01:12:35.140 - at the way that all of this has happened and the lack of information that it seems like anyone has received. 01:12:35.140 --> 01:12:42.462 - In that email, it said, we work with you to extend leases, have flexibility, et cetera, and then when I 01:12:42.946 --> 01:12:50.827 - tried to take them up on that. I was basically told, oh, actually, no, that's not true. We need to stick 01:12:50.827 --> 01:12:58.407 - to the July 7th date, which again, I realized that I think that the affordable housing issue is much 01:12:58.407 --> 01:13:06.137 - more important, but just since several people had mentioned the businesses, it seemed like maybe there 01:13:06.137 --> 01:13:11.166 - was some lack of clarity there. I just thought I would offer that. 01:13:11.810 --> 01:13:19.202 - Thank you. I have a quick follow-up question just for my notes. So you have a business lease right now 01:13:19.202 --> 01:13:26.378 - in that area. And that's okay, not a residential lease. Correct. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thanks 01:13:26.378 --> 01:13:33.554 - for being here. But we were not given the year long notice that you mentioned that another business 01:13:33.554 --> 01:13:37.214 - had been given. Right. Thank you. Next up, please. 01:13:42.306 --> 01:13:48.639 - I'm going to turn it over to you. Please everyone who is speaking or has spoken if you would sign in 01:13:48.639 --> 01:13:55.035 - before you go today, that would be helpful for our minute to do so. Could I get some paper and a pen? 01:13:55.035 --> 01:14:01.682 - It's on the table behind you. You don't have to do that right now. You can do that just before you leave. 01:14:01.682 --> 01:14:08.015 - I'm just asking everybody in the room. It's a tutorial for everybody online. There you go. Hello. My 01:14:08.015 --> 01:14:10.398 - name is Joffrey Livingston, and I'm a 01:14:10.818 --> 01:14:21.685 - I lived here briefly a couple of years ago, and then when I was looking to renew a lease, it was just 01:14:21.685 --> 01:14:32.871 - a massive challenge, and I had a lot of proofs in my own life that I could look around, and it was still 01:14:32.871 --> 01:14:39.902 - taking an incredible amount of time. If Bloomington wants to have 01:14:40.354 --> 01:14:51.256 - affordable housing and actually impact the housing crisis, there needs to be a housing first model and 01:14:51.256 --> 01:15:01.840 - perspective in how we approach businesses moving in, how we approach the displacement of residents, 01:15:01.840 --> 01:15:09.566 - and the fact that folks live in a place should take precedent over every 01:15:09.730 --> 01:15:18.037 - aspect of the decisions being made in that area. Whether it is having to do with previous eviction notices 01:15:18.037 --> 01:15:25.955 - in the past regarding the homeless community, whether it has to do with the affordable housing that's 01:15:25.955 --> 01:15:34.262 - being built that is not actually affordable because the average cost of a home is around in the affordable 01:15:34.262 --> 01:15:39.230 - housing that I know is being built around, I forget which area, 01:15:39.554 --> 01:15:48.243 - but the average housing, somebody who was working on that brought it up to the council and said that 01:15:48.243 --> 01:15:57.275 - the average cost was around $290,000 a home. That is not affordable housing. Everybody should know that. 01:15:57.275 --> 01:16:05.878 - If you do not know that, you'd need to rework your definition of affordable in 2026 and forward. So 01:16:05.878 --> 01:16:06.910 - this issue, 01:16:07.170 --> 01:16:15.819 - is going to continue to be an issue unless the fundamental perspective on the importance and the priority 01:16:15.819 --> 01:16:23.979 - of folks living somewhere is shifted. A housing first model does not just mean that everybody needs 01:16:23.979 --> 01:16:33.118 - to be provided a home or that everybody needs to be provided a roof over the head as a first measure. That is a 01:16:33.346 --> 01:16:41.592 - that would be a great place for us to be and a goal that we should work towards. But it also means that 01:16:41.592 --> 01:16:49.679 - putting the housing needs of residents that already live somewhere should be a priority as opposed to 01:16:49.679 --> 01:16:57.687 - businesses moving in residents are more important than businesses. Thank you. Thank you. We have one 01:16:57.687 --> 01:17:02.206 - more person online, Mr. Spoonmore. We'll need to unmute. 01:17:04.034 --> 01:17:12.179 - Good morning commissioners. Eric Spoonmore, Monroe County resident, president, CEO of the Greater Bloomington 01:17:12.179 --> 01:17:20.101 - Chamber of Commerce. I agree entirely we have an affordable housing crisis here in Monroe County. Although 01:17:20.101 --> 01:17:27.506 - I think some of that may have been kind of brought on ourselves over the last few decades. And I do 01:17:27.506 --> 01:17:31.134 - get a little wary of government getting into the 01:17:31.714 --> 01:17:38.932 - landlord business. We've seen some of the challenges that that's presented for the city of Bloomington 01:17:38.932 --> 01:17:46.009 - recently as well too from a legal standpoint. I do think that we can address this affordable housing 01:17:46.009 --> 01:17:53.367 - crisis in multiple ways and especially through land use policies and zoning policies that make it easier 01:17:53.367 --> 01:18:00.305 - for housing developments to be constructed in Monroe County rather than rejecting them or severely 01:18:00.305 --> 01:18:01.566 - restricting them. 01:18:01.666 --> 01:18:09.899 - Thank you. Thank you. OK. Well, I do, on behalf of my colleagues, want to thank everyone for coming 01:18:09.899 --> 01:18:18.380 - out today and providing your input and giving us some things to think about. And we'll take that under 01:18:18.380 --> 01:18:25.790 - advisement. And our next, we should move on to our next item as the hour is getting late. 01:18:29.986 --> 01:18:38.858 - I would like to move approval for the minutes for February 26th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and 01:18:38.858 --> 01:18:48.085 - we have a second. Any comments, corrections or edits? Okay. All those in favor of approving the minutes 01:18:48.085 --> 01:18:56.158 - for February 26th, 2026 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. 01:18:56.834 --> 01:19:04.873 - I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for March 12th, 2026 and for 01:19:04.873 --> 01:19:13.071 - payroll for March 6th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Miss Gallardo, please tell 01:19:13.071 --> 01:19:21.747 - us all about it. Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for March 12th, 2026 totals $1,937,276.76. 01:19:21.747 --> 01:19:25.886 - This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. 01:19:26.018 --> 01:19:32.907 - The payroll docket for March six twenty twenty six includes one million six hundred three thousand five 01:19:32.907 --> 01:19:39.597 - hundred four and sixty six cents in direct costs and the remaining six hundred seventy nine thousand 01:19:39.597 --> 01:19:46.221 - seven hundred ninety and eighty four cents were for indirect costs for a grand total of two million 01:19:46.221 --> 01:19:53.044 - two hundred eighty three thousand two hundred ninety five and fifty cents. Thank you so much. Comments 01:19:53.044 --> 01:19:55.230 - or questions from my colleagues? 01:19:56.226 --> 01:20:05.134 - I have none. Okay. I don't either. Let's go to public comment. If anybody has public comment on the 01:20:05.134 --> 01:20:14.399 - claims docket, please raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those 01:20:14.399 --> 01:20:23.485 - in favor of approving the claims docket accounts payable March 12th, 2026 and payroll March 6th, 2026 01:20:23.485 --> 01:20:25.534 - signify by saying aye. 01:20:25.954 --> 01:20:36.096 - I motion carries three zero we have not we don't have any reports today to note and we're going to move 01:20:36.096 --> 01:20:46.823 - on to new business and our first item of business is a hearing on the revised ADA Americans with Disabilities 01:20:46.823 --> 01:20:54.430 - Act in title six plans and I'm going to go ahead and open that public hearing 01:20:55.842 --> 01:21:03.781 - Thank you very much. Dave Schilling from the legal department, and we're presenting some draft plans 01:21:03.781 --> 01:21:11.721 - for you, which revise our existing plans. And so these relate to the Americans with Disabilities Act 01:21:11.721 --> 01:21:20.446 - and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. And both of those bits of legislation are designed to remove barriers to 01:21:20.610 --> 01:21:29.989 - public services and programs based on disability, race, ethnicity, and so forth. And so county staff 01:21:29.989 --> 01:21:39.646 - has met to work on the previous plan to update it. And these are the plans that we are presenting. They 01:21:39.646 --> 01:21:50.046 - have been put online and this hearing has been advertised. And I'll just go through a few features of each plan 01:21:50.178 --> 01:21:59.283 - They have a similar structure. There's policy statements in there pledging our desire to fulfill our 01:21:59.283 --> 01:22:08.388 - obligations under these acts. And there's educational component requiring the education of staff and 01:22:08.388 --> 01:22:15.870 - so forth on these obligations. There's assurances for our content where we assure. 01:22:16.450 --> 01:22:26.138 - Contractors will be aware of these obligations and fulfill them in all the public works that they do. 01:22:26.138 --> 01:22:35.731 - There is a complaint process where people can contact our ADA coordinator or Title VI coordinator if 01:22:35.731 --> 01:22:43.710 - they have any complaints that they would like to have addressed relating to access. 01:22:44.130 --> 01:22:55.089 - The county last adopted a plan in 2019. There's a few differences or a few things that have come up 01:22:55.089 --> 01:23:03.198 - since then that are reflected in this plan. One, we're supposed to really 01:23:03.650 --> 01:23:11.577 - revised these plans every two or three years and that hasn't been done. And so in this plan, we've built 01:23:11.577 --> 01:23:19.505 - in a schedule, a review schedule. So every year in June, staff will meet to review items to see if we've 01:23:19.505 --> 01:23:27.508 - had any complaints. We have a list of questions and topics that each department head will have to address 01:23:27.508 --> 01:23:31.358 - so that we can ensure that we get the correct data 01:23:31.522 --> 01:23:40.661 - to move forward and to revise our plan. With respect to the ADA, we've performed self evaluations in 01:23:40.661 --> 01:23:49.710 - the past to ensure that our buildings comply with the ADA requirements. And in our last plan, there 01:23:49.710 --> 01:23:59.121 - was a list of projects needed to bring us into compliance. And we've completed almost all of those from 01:23:59.121 --> 01:24:00.478 - our last plan. 01:24:00.642 --> 01:24:09.404 - And so the ones that haven't been completed are kicked over into this new revised plan. And one thing 01:24:09.404 --> 01:24:18.166 - that relates to this one development is that the county has obtained facilities maintenance software. 01:24:18.166 --> 01:24:26.757 - So once we get a complaint, it's gonna be easy. Richard will put it into the software and that will 01:24:26.757 --> 01:24:28.990 - be on a program schedule. 01:24:29.090 --> 01:24:39.857 - We'll know exactly what needs to be done to bring the county into compliance. And of course, the ADA 01:24:39.857 --> 01:24:50.625 - extends to all our facilities, including our website. And so since the last adoption of the ADA, the 01:24:50.625 --> 01:24:56.062 - state is now hosting our website and all the Proag 01:24:56.834 --> 01:25:06.097 - guidelines requirements are satisfied by the state. Programs hosting our our our website and our staff 01:25:06.097 --> 01:25:15.361 - has even gone farther to try to bring him to bring in proag to compliance and so I think we're in very 01:25:15.361 --> 01:25:21.566 - good shape on that with respect to title 6 on the website. There is. 01:25:21.954 --> 01:25:30.336 - I mean, one of the concerns of Title VI is the language barrier. And so on our website now, there's 01:25:30.336 --> 01:25:39.306 - up in the right corner, you can click on that to have the website translated into any number of languages. 01:25:39.306 --> 01:25:48.023 - And of course, since the last adoption, Google Translate has become popular and is available to anybody 01:25:48.023 --> 01:25:50.622 - who needs help in that regard. 01:25:54.690 --> 01:26:02.694 - covers everything. If you have any questions, be happy to answer those, or we can open it up to public. 01:26:02.694 --> 01:26:10.929 - I think just going forward, what I proposed is we conduct the hearing today. If any comments are received, 01:26:10.929 --> 01:26:18.856 - we can discuss those. But if none are received, at your next meeting, I'll come back with a resolution 01:26:18.856 --> 01:26:23.166 - adopting these documents. That was one of my questions. 01:26:23.330 --> 01:26:34.825 - questions. Commissioner Jones comments or questions. Just that I'm pleased to hear that this is going 01:26:34.825 --> 01:26:46.884 - to be reviewed yearly and brought up to date and it sounds like it should run more smoothly in the future. 01:26:46.884 --> 01:26:51.166 - Yes, I agree with Commissioner Jones. 01:26:51.266 --> 01:27:00.842 - What's not included in here is polling sites for elections. Yeah, those are all taken care of under 01:27:00.842 --> 01:27:10.418 - HAVA, I believe. OK. And they have the clerk has hired somebody specifically to ensure that they're 01:27:10.418 --> 01:27:18.558 - in compliance. Perfect. I just want to make sure that that's covered. And there is a 01:27:18.658 --> 01:27:26.351 - piece in here about contacting human resources director. I think we go, we call employee services now. 01:27:26.351 --> 01:27:33.969 - So if you could change that, that would be great. All right. With that, we'll see if there is anybody 01:27:33.969 --> 01:27:40.766 - in the public who wishes to speak. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. 01:27:50.466 --> 01:27:58.458 - I see none. If you could bring that back for us next week, that would be great. All right, thank you 01:27:58.458 --> 01:28:07.161 - very much. Thank you so much. I would like to move to approve Tyler Technologies memorandum of understanding, 01:28:07.161 --> 01:28:15.469 - fund name, county general fund number 1,000 in the amount of $475 and 94 cents. Second. We have a motion 01:28:15.469 --> 01:28:19.742 - and a second. Mr. Miller, our veteran service officer 01:28:20.418 --> 01:28:27.047 - Good morning. Good morning. Thank you again for having me. This is a relatively low level change to 01:28:27.047 --> 01:28:33.874 - a memorandum of understanding for the claims management system that we use. It's our bread and butter, 01:28:33.874 --> 01:28:40.636 - really. It's what we do and spend our heads in all day. So we really appreciate you considering this. 01:28:40.636 --> 01:28:47.397 - Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. 01:28:47.397 --> 01:28:48.126 - Thank you. 01:28:49.506 --> 01:28:58.861 - I don't have any either. It makes a ton of sense. All right. Let's see if there's any public comments 01:28:58.861 --> 01:29:08.032 - on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those 01:29:08.032 --> 01:29:17.571 - in favor of approving the Tyler Technologies MOU signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. 01:29:17.571 --> 01:29:19.038 - Thank you, sir. 01:29:21.122 --> 01:29:28.953 - Next, we have the 2025 OSHA 300 report. Mr. Elgar is joining us to provide us this information. 01:29:28.953 --> 01:29:37.354 - Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for having me. For anybody watching, my name is Seth Elgar. I'm the 01:29:37.354 --> 01:29:45.022 - Assistant Director of Human Resources in the Employee Services Office here in the courthouse. 01:29:45.218 --> 01:29:54.158 - In the report, I highlight that even though we had more or less the same number of workplace injuries, 01:29:54.158 --> 01:30:03.099 - I'm happy to report that those were 81% less costly in regards to the claims that were filed that were 01:30:03.099 --> 01:30:12.126 - medical in nature. 2024 was a little bit of an outlier in that we had some major claims that befell us. 01:30:12.226 --> 01:30:21.456 - So it's good to see that that did not repeat itself. Slip and fall continues to be something that is 01:30:21.456 --> 01:30:30.868 - not only preventative, but the bulk of what our claims are. So we're putting our heads down and really 01:30:30.868 --> 01:30:39.550 - focusing with the folks from IPEP to come up with in-person and virtual learning, just support 01:30:39.842 --> 01:30:46.116 - resources for people to remind them that we need to watch where we're going. We need to be certain of 01:30:46.116 --> 01:30:52.328 - the terrain we're navigating and things like that to mitigate these kinds of accidents. Thank you so 01:30:52.328 --> 01:30:58.848 - much. Let's see if my colleagues have questions. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. Commissioner 01:30:58.848 --> 01:31:05.245 - Madeira? No, thank you. Mr. Cockrell, do we have to vote to accept this report or is it just that we're 01:31:05.245 --> 01:31:08.382 - receiving the information and we have received it? 01:31:09.442 --> 01:31:15.148 - I mean, I think you could go either way. I mean, my recommendation is so we get in the minutes that 01:31:15.148 --> 01:31:20.912 - you just accept the report. OK. That would work. You don't have to vote on that. Yeah. All right. So 01:31:20.912 --> 01:31:26.504 - I'm going to go ahead and accept the report with gratitude. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. 01:31:26.504 --> 01:31:30.270 - All right. Thank you, Mr. Cockrell. All right. Next item, please. 01:31:31.298 --> 01:31:38.805 - Yes, I would like to move to ratify the Bobcat of Ellisville Equipment and Implements Fund Name, Food 01:31:38.805 --> 01:31:45.576 - and Beverage Fund number 4932 in an amount not to exceed $92,960. Second. We have a motion. 01:31:45.576 --> 01:31:53.009 - We have a second. We have our Parks and Recreation Director Ms. Whitmer joining us. Yes, this is for 01:31:53.009 --> 01:31:58.750 - a compact track loader in a smooth bucket, a tooth bucket and a brush cutter. 01:31:59.234 --> 01:32:07.230 - not to exceed $92,960. It'll be used for the construction in the ongoing maintenance at the Monroe County 01:32:07.230 --> 01:32:14.925 - Nature Preserve. It'll be used by our staff, of course. Right. Thank you so much. All right. Comments 01:32:14.925 --> 01:32:22.620 - or questions? Commissioner Madera? Nope, none. Commissioner Jones? It makes sense that this equipment 01:32:22.620 --> 01:32:23.902 - would be needed. 01:32:24.258 --> 01:32:34.180 - I thought you were gonna say something about the scoop is. All right, any public comment on this item? 01:32:34.180 --> 01:32:44.391 - Seeing none, all of those in favor of ratifying the Bobcat of all spill equipment and implements purchase 01:32:44.391 --> 01:32:50.942 - signify by saying aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item please. 01:32:51.394 --> 01:32:59.787 - Yes, I would like to move to ratify Richard's small engine implements. Fund name, food and beverage, 01:32:59.787 --> 01:33:08.180 - fund number 4932 in the amount not to exceed $26,898. Second. We have a motion and a second. Yes, we 01:33:08.180 --> 01:33:15.742 - are asking for a grapple, forks, power rake and wire harness for the compact track loader. 01:33:15.938 --> 01:33:24.591 - and we would like to buy those implements from Richard Small Engines, not to exceed $26,898. This is 01:33:24.591 --> 01:33:33.329 - also for the Monroe County Nature Preserve. Excellent. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, 01:33:33.329 --> 01:33:42.153 - I don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madeira? No. I don't either. We did already hear this item. Let's see 01:33:42.153 --> 01:33:44.894 - if there's any public comments. 01:33:45.058 --> 01:33:55.303 - Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the Richard 01:33:55.303 --> 01:34:05.744 - Small Engine implements purchase signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please. 01:34:05.744 --> 01:34:14.526 - Yes, I would like to move to approve the Bledsoe-Rigert-Cooper James Engineering Addendum 01:34:14.690 --> 01:34:22.861 - and Travis easement. Fund name, 2017 Geobond, fund number 4810, in an amount not to exceed $2,500. Second. 01:34:22.861 --> 01:34:30.649 - We have a motion and we have a second. Please. Yes, and Mr. Cockrell knows about this also, but we've 01:34:30.649 --> 01:34:38.438 - been working with Mr. Travis. He is, we believe, going to gift us an easement that the public can use 01:34:38.438 --> 01:34:40.958 - for a trail. In our first round, 01:34:41.346 --> 01:34:49.559 - he thought his easement was going to look like X and he's like, oh, I need to make it adjustments. So 01:34:49.559 --> 01:34:57.611 - this is going to be those adjustments and he'll be on site when we go out with the survey crew this 01:34:57.611 --> 01:35:05.825 - time. Okay, comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No. So this 01:35:05.825 --> 01:35:10.334 - has already been done, but it's going to be done again, 01:35:10.498 --> 01:35:18.218 - $2,500 is the additional cost. Correct. Oh, correct. To bring the survey crew back out. To revise. Yes. 01:35:18.218 --> 01:35:25.790 - Got it. To revise it to the specific. Yeah. And this is a wonderful gift. So we appreciate it. And it 01:35:25.790 --> 01:35:33.214 - has bond coverage, so we're good. Say again. It's covered by the bond. Yes. Yes. So we're good. OK. 01:35:34.050 --> 01:35:43.527 - Excellent. All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. 01:35:43.527 --> 01:35:52.472 - Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Blitzer, Rigger, Cooper, James engineering addendum 01:35:52.472 --> 01:36:01.771 - for the Travis easement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you so much. Thanks 01:36:01.771 --> 01:36:03.454 - for your patience. 01:36:03.906 --> 01:36:11.040 - All right. Next item, please. I'd like to move approval for the soft choice agreement for core view 01:36:11.040 --> 01:36:18.530 - software. Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138 in the amount of $26,220 and 80 cents. Second. 01:36:18.530 --> 01:36:25.950 - We have a motion and we have a second. Mr. Crown, good morning. Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone's 01:36:25.950 --> 01:36:29.374 - well. First item I have for you this morning is 01:36:29.506 --> 01:36:36.010 - regards to our Microsoft 365 environment that we've fully implemented four years ago. That's comprised 01:36:36.010 --> 01:36:42.641 - of 10 different administrative components to that suite. Any change made in one administrative component 01:36:42.641 --> 01:36:49.019 - has a ripple effect on one or more components across that whole environment. One of the big problems 01:36:49.019 --> 01:36:55.902 - with the way Microsoft designed the system, and I understand why they did it from a security standpoint, but 01:36:56.130 --> 01:37:02.408 - It's all broken down, like I said, into 10 consoles. You don't get a picture, a complete picture from 01:37:02.408 --> 01:37:08.933 - any one perspective. You have to go into each one of those consoles. Additionally, to make simple changes 01:37:08.933 --> 01:37:14.718 - for user access and things like that, you have to go into one or more component to configure, 01:37:14.718 --> 01:37:20.996 - make configuration changes. So if you miss any one of those, this over here on the left's not working 01:37:20.996 --> 01:37:25.982 - because you missed two things over here on the right. So multiple companies have 01:37:26.146 --> 01:37:32.983 - come together to try to address that creating their own software packages that incorporate all those 01:37:32.983 --> 01:37:40.090 - into one palatable console. I've spoke with several of them core view. It's the most for our needs seems 01:37:40.090 --> 01:37:46.926 - to be the most most robust solution at a competitive price point. I am only looking to do this for a 01:37:46.926 --> 01:37:53.695 - one year agreement to start out just to make sure that it meets our needs rather than make a longer 01:37:53.695 --> 01:37:54.846 - term commitment. 01:37:56.802 --> 01:38:03.413 - Thank you so much. You answered a question that I had. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No, 01:38:03.413 --> 01:38:09.960 - I don't. Commissioner Maduro? It doesn't sound like a hard choice to go with soft choice. So did you 01:38:09.960 --> 01:38:16.442 - get a chance to see a trial of this software first, and so you think it's going to be what we need? 01:38:16.442 --> 01:38:23.053 - But you really want to try it out for a year? Exactly. I went through multiple demonstrations through 01:38:23.053 --> 01:38:24.414 - different providers. 01:38:24.578 --> 01:38:31.571 - We actually implemented this on a trial basis incorporated into our 365 environment. It is actively 01:38:31.571 --> 01:38:38.564 - there now. We don't have the full abilities because we are on a trial period, but it gave us enough 01:38:38.564 --> 01:38:42.270 - scope that even the daily tasks that we run into it. 01:38:42.402 --> 01:38:49.149 - sped that up dramatically. We've got one place to go to. You make a few clicks, it's taken care of. 01:38:49.149 --> 01:38:56.233 - So it's also expedited our ticketing process for the users on the back end of that. Excellent. Excellent 01:38:56.233 --> 01:39:03.183 - news. Great. I'm glad you found this. Let's see if there's any public comment. You may raise your hand 01:39:03.183 --> 01:39:05.342 - on Teams or come to the podium. 01:39:09.762 --> 01:39:16.264 - Seeing none, all those in favor approving the soft choice agreement for core view software signify by 01:39:16.264 --> 01:39:22.957 - saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for Toshiba 01:39:22.957 --> 01:39:29.077 - desktop printer support. Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number 1138, the amount of $61,006 01:39:29.077 --> 01:39:34.878 - and 20 cents. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Mr. Crone, tell us all about it. 01:39:35.234 --> 01:39:41.815 - So as far back as my knowledge, which goes back to 2004, Monroe County has contracted out our small 01:39:41.815 --> 01:39:48.527 - desktop printer support with the staffing and the price points to try to buy hardware and things like 01:39:48.527 --> 01:39:55.108 - that parts. It was more cost effective to go with a contractor. That contractor that we worked with 01:39:55.108 --> 01:40:01.887 - for many years changed hands and we've parted ways with the company since they've resold. So for about 01:40:01.887 --> 01:40:04.190 - the last six months, my office has 01:40:04.290 --> 01:40:11.106 - been picking up doing the printer service, buying the toners for the departments. The problem with that 01:40:11.106 --> 01:40:17.792 - is we don't have the buying power. So we still pay a little more for toner than we can get it for. We 01:40:17.792 --> 01:40:24.280 - still pay a little more for parts. So Toshiba, who is also our largest enterprise copier supplier, 01:40:24.280 --> 01:40:31.031 - came in, did what's called an FM audit. We installed software on the back end that picked up all those 01:40:31.031 --> 01:40:34.046 - desktop printers, and they did an assessment. 01:40:34.850 --> 01:40:40.578 - With their assessment and then based on our invoices, we're currently spending about $1,500 a month 01:40:40.578 --> 01:40:46.592 - just on toner for these desktop printers. That's not even counting the parts. Toshiba, with their buying 01:40:46.592 --> 01:40:52.378 - power, has offered not only to supply the toner, just like they do for our large enterprise copiers, 01:40:52.378 --> 01:40:55.070 - but they will also provide the repair support. 01:40:55.170 --> 01:41:02.564 - at a little over $1,000 a month. So we're looking to save approximately $500 a month. This is a 60-month 01:41:02.564 --> 01:41:09.747 - contract that we estimate to save the county $30,000 over the life of that duration. So it will speed 01:41:09.747 --> 01:41:16.860 - things up for the users who have the printers down, and it will save us money at the same time doing 01:41:16.860 --> 01:41:22.846 - it. Excellent, excellent. Great, great work from our Director of Technical Services. 01:41:22.978 --> 01:41:31.925 - So comments or questions, Commissioner Madera? I have none, thank you. No, I don't think. Good work. 01:41:31.925 --> 01:41:41.050 - I see if there's any public comments. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, 01:41:41.050 --> 01:41:50.263 - all those in favor of approving the contract for Toshiba desktop printer support signify by saying aye. 01:41:50.263 --> 01:41:52.478 - Aye. Motion carries 3-0. 01:41:52.834 --> 01:42:00.558 - Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for waiting today. All right. Next item, please. Yes, I would 01:42:00.558 --> 01:42:08.283 - like to move approval for ordinance 2026-10, approving the interlocal cooperation agreement with the 01:42:08.283 --> 01:42:15.931 - Bloomington Transit regarding the Park 48 route. Fund name, edit, fund number 1112 in the amount of 01:42:15.931 --> 01:42:22.814 - $184,104. Second? We have a motion. We have a second. Mr. Cockrell, tell us all about it. 01:42:23.138 --> 01:42:30.343 - But this is a kind of a continuation of the line 13 that we started last year. I believe the price went 01:42:30.343 --> 01:42:37.549 - up from $170,000 to $184,000, $104,000. The route's the same. The times are the same. I think the other 01:42:37.549 --> 01:42:44.546 - difference is since we're doing this approval in March, the April payment will be a catch up for the 01:42:44.546 --> 01:42:49.950 - first three months. This will still have to go to the council because it's an 01:42:50.082 --> 01:42:57.195 - an ordinance approval of an interlocal. And so the interlocals go through either the attorney general 01:42:57.195 --> 01:43:04.239 - or the fiscal bodies, and we always go through the fiscal bodies whenever we can. So basically, it's 01:43:04.239 --> 01:43:11.492 - just to continue that line for another year under the same terms we had for last year. All right. Thank 01:43:11.492 --> 01:43:18.814 - you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Maduro? No, thank you. 01:43:19.234 --> 01:43:30.982 - I just want to clarify something that came up Tuesday night, apparently trying to roll this into the 01:43:30.982 --> 01:43:43.427 - urban transport that are using real transit for so rural transits contract with the USDA and that provides 01:43:43.427 --> 01:43:48.894 - multi county inter county service and then the 01:43:49.186 --> 01:43:59.728 - state of Indiana changed the map of so-called urbanized areas. And when they did that, those rural transit 01:43:59.728 --> 01:44:09.580 - buses could not go there. And so we had fortunately, fortuitously, already purchased electric buses 01:44:09.580 --> 01:44:19.038 - for rural transit. Those are being used for the urban, urbanized area. We paid for both Line 13 01:44:19.138 --> 01:44:27.586 - and the urbanized area transit with ARPA money. Ellisville, we went multiple times to their meetings 01:44:27.586 --> 01:44:36.200 - and they refused to pay. We want to make sure that residents have the same service they've always had. 01:44:36.200 --> 01:44:45.066 - This year fortuitously, again, the state of Indiana INDOT has paid for the urbanized area transit through 01:44:45.066 --> 01:44:48.830 - rural transit for this year. Thank goodness. 01:44:49.058 --> 01:44:58.292 - Um, so let's, um, hope in dot feels as generous next year. Uh, but anyway, I just wanted to give that 01:44:58.292 --> 01:45:07.436 - background. Uh, let's see if there's, uh, any, uh, public comments on this item. Being none. Um, all 01:45:07.436 --> 01:45:17.214 - those in favor of approving ordinance, 2026 dash 10, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. 01:45:18.082 --> 01:45:24.747 - Uh, next item, please. Yes. I would like to move approval to ratify acceptance of the quote from Monroe 01:45:24.747 --> 01:45:31.476 - site work LLC for tree removal. Fund name, cumulative bridge fund number 11 35 in the amount of $39,000. 01:45:31.476 --> 01:45:38.462 - Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Ridge. Thank you for your patience. Tell us all about it. 01:45:39.330 --> 01:45:46.693 - Good morning. This is just to ratify. I brought this up at the work session. We were on a time crunch 01:45:46.693 --> 01:45:54.129 - to get the trees down before bat restriction starts April 1st. So this is just ratified the acceptance 01:45:54.129 --> 01:46:01.564 - of that quote. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? I have none. This looks 01:46:01.564 --> 01:46:08.350 - great. Thanks. No, I don't. Thank you for working on this. See if there's any public comment. 01:46:09.538 --> 01:46:20.512 - Raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. None. All those in favor of ratifying the acceptance 01:46:20.512 --> 01:46:31.486 - of the quote from Monroe site work LLC signify by saying aye. I motion carries 3 0 next item please. 01:46:32.290 --> 01:46:40.589 - Yes, I would like to move approval for the in-dot revised agreement for Fullerton Pike phase three funds 01:46:40.589 --> 01:46:48.494 - named Fullerton Pike fund number 8169 in the amount of $5,025,027,156 and 40 cents. Second. We have 01:46:48.494 --> 01:46:56.556 - a motion and we have a second. Ms. Ridge. So this contract was originally to expire June 30th in 2026 01:46:56.556 --> 01:47:00.350 - and dots extending that so we can work through, 01:47:00.674 --> 01:47:07.545 - still need to do the punch list items, the walkthrough and things like that. So this gives us an extension 01:47:07.545 --> 01:47:14.095 - onto that to be able to finish out the project. That five million number is not new additional money. 01:47:14.095 --> 01:47:20.710 - It is not additional money. It's pretty much correcting what's been given at the time when it was let. 01:47:20.710 --> 01:47:27.196 - All right. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh, comments or questions, commissioner Jones. No, I don't know. 01:47:27.196 --> 01:47:27.902 - Thank you. 01:47:28.546 --> 01:47:39.538 - All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. None. 01:47:39.538 --> 01:47:50.315 - All those in favor of approving the in-dot revised agreement for Fullerton Pike Phase 3, signify by 01:47:50.315 --> 01:47:56.350 - saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. 01:47:56.674 --> 01:48:05.620 - Yes, I would like to move approval for the end agreement for Rockport Road Bridge number 308. Fund name 01:48:05.620 --> 01:48:14.309 - Rockport Road Bridge number 308, fund number 8186 in the amount of $1,679,962.89. Second. In motion, 01:48:14.309 --> 01:48:20.158 - we have a second. So this project went to letting February 12th and 01:48:20.290 --> 01:48:28.763 - Um, so this is to actually increase the funding just a little bit to bring it to the 80, 80, 20 split. 01:48:28.763 --> 01:48:37.236 - Um, the contract is actually awarded to CLR construction and we will begin the project. It'll be a 20, 01:48:37.236 --> 01:48:45.956 - 26 construction season. Wow. This year. Amazing shins commission right here. Nope. This is great project. 01:48:45.956 --> 01:48:49.822 - Looking forward to getting it done. Mr. Jones. 01:48:50.050 --> 01:49:01.947 - No, I don't. Any public comments? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Being none, all those 01:49:01.947 --> 01:49:13.844 - in favor of approving the endowed agreement for Rockport Road Bridge number 308, signify by saying aye. 01:49:13.844 --> 01:49:19.678 - Aye. Motion carries three zero. Next item, please. 01:49:20.066 --> 01:49:26.310 - I would like to move approval for ordinance 2026-09 to amend traffic ordinance 86-06 stop location. 01:49:26.310 --> 01:49:32.553 - Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Ms. Ridge. And this is basically just some cleanup work 01:49:32.553 --> 01:49:38.859 - that intersection actually is within the city of Bloomington boundaries. Um, so it's basically taken 01:49:38.859 --> 01:49:45.477 - it out of our jurisdiction, our inventory. Um, and that is the responsibility of the city of Bloomington. 01:49:45.477 --> 01:49:49.598 - Thank you so much. Uh, comments or questions, commissioner Jones. 01:49:49.730 --> 01:49:59.863 - No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No. Any public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on teams 01:49:59.863 --> 01:50:09.900 - or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving ordinance 2026-09 signify by saying 01:50:09.900 --> 01:50:19.550 - aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Now we're going to the item from the work session is now the new item 01:50:19.842 --> 01:50:26.998 - And yes, I'd like to move approval for milestone change order number two red, but height stormwater 01:50:26.998 --> 01:50:34.369 - project fund named stormwater fund number 11 97 in the amount of $14,263 and 60 cents. Second, we have 01:50:34.369 --> 01:50:41.955 - a motion. We have a second. Ms. Ridge. Thank you for moving this up. Also, this will go to the stormwater 01:50:41.955 --> 01:50:44.030 - board at their next meeting. 01:50:44.226 --> 01:50:51.412 - And I apologize for getting that out of sequence, but it has to do with the timing ordering of the materials. 01:50:51.412 --> 01:50:58.271 - We wanted to do this project last fall, but just ran out of time and weather complications. So we wanted 01:50:58.271 --> 01:51:04.803 - to get this started. The contractor was given the notice to proceed on March 1st. So the water line 01:51:04.803 --> 01:51:11.531 - that is in the location is extended out farther from the project. So we needed to extend our pipe over 01:51:11.531 --> 01:51:12.446 - the coverage. 01:51:12.706 --> 01:51:19.320 - This is what the change order is for, and to not stall the project any longer and be able to keep it 01:51:19.320 --> 01:51:26.196 - on a timeline to get it done in the next 60 days. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner 01:51:26.196 --> 01:51:33.072 - Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. We'll be seeing this again. Any public 01:51:33.072 --> 01:51:37.918 - comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. 01:51:50.402 --> 01:52:00.753 - All those in favor of approving the milestone change order number two for Redbud Heights Stormwater 01:52:00.753 --> 01:52:11.932 - Project signify by saying aye. Aye. Carries 3-0. Item. I would like to move approval for ordinance 2026-07, 01:52:11.932 --> 01:52:19.902 - 3521 South Rogers Street Rezone. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. 01:52:20.226 --> 01:52:34.845 - Mr. Myers waiting for us patiently, I believe online. May not be there. Through Myers online or somebody 01:52:34.845 --> 01:52:48.350 - from planning. Asking our wonderful TSD staff up in the booth in the balcony. Okay, well, I will 01:52:48.962 --> 01:52:57.735 - I suggest we continue this item. I'm going to make a motion to continue this item to our next meeting. 01:52:57.735 --> 01:53:05.742 - Would that be okay with falling off? We'll see what happens. It may get bumped again. Second. 01:53:05.742 --> 01:53:14.174 - Thank you. That was my motion. I was going to say, so that was my motion. All right. Any concerns? 01:53:15.906 --> 01:53:25.596 - All right, so all those in favor of continuing ordinance 2026-07 to the March 19th meeting signify by 01:53:25.596 --> 01:53:35.381 - saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. All right. Next we have item, the next item. I'll just say 01:53:35.381 --> 01:53:43.646 - the next item. Our lettering is all off right now. Yes, I would like to move approval. 01:53:43.842 --> 01:53:50.457 - for ordinance 2026-08, the amendment to SUDAC membership. Second. All right. We have a motion and a 01:53:50.457 --> 01:53:56.807 - second and we have Ms. Turner King joining us to tell us all about it. Thank you. Good morning, 01:53:56.807 --> 01:54:03.553 - commissioners. So this might feel like deja vu because at the last meeting you did adopt an amendment 01:54:03.553 --> 01:54:08.382 - to the SUDAC composition. However, I realized mid SUDAC meeting that the 01:54:09.634 --> 01:54:16.520 - The draft that was passed was not the most recent and current draft. So I apologize for that. But what 01:54:16.520 --> 01:54:23.673 - was before you today is the correct draft. So it creates a nine-person board for SUDAC, one representative 01:54:23.673 --> 01:54:30.692 - from the Justice Department, and five individuals with professional experience in substance use disorder 01:54:30.692 --> 01:54:34.302 - and or lived experience. And then it clarifies SUDAC. 01:54:36.450 --> 01:54:43.126 - Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Thank you. Commissioner 01:54:43.126 --> 01:54:49.802 - Jones? No, I don't. Thank you for bringing this corrected item to us. We do appreciate it. Let's see 01:54:49.802 --> 01:54:56.478 - if there is any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. 01:55:06.018 --> 01:55:16.429 - Seeing none, all those in favor of approving ordinance 2026-08, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carried. 01:55:16.429 --> 01:55:26.358 - The budget has been taken off our agenda for now. Apparently we've received something, so maybe we can 01:55:26.358 --> 01:55:35.998 - bring it back. But we do have the next item, which now we're back on lettering, correction. Item Q. 01:55:36.194 --> 01:55:43.840 - I would like to address approval of Tall Cop says stop is the Recovery Summit presenter. Second. We 01:55:43.840 --> 01:55:51.563 - have a motion. We have a second. So what is before you is considered for consideration is a contract 01:55:51.563 --> 01:55:59.362 - with Mr Jeremy Galloway, who does business as Tall Cop says stop. Mr Galloway would be a presenter at 01:55:59.362 --> 01:56:06.014 - the Recovery Summit that is hosted by Sudak and is set to begin September 1st and 2nd. 01:56:06.338 --> 01:56:13.061 - community. Um at the Bloomington Convention Center, Mr Galloway would be presenting for breakout 01:56:13.061 --> 01:56:20.060 - presentations, and the theme of his presentations would be on drug trends within our local community 01:56:20.060 --> 01:56:26.991 - and best practice recovery aspects to address those trends. Right Thank you so much. Um comments or 01:56:26.991 --> 01:56:28.862 - questions. I'll start with 01:56:29.186 --> 01:56:35.881 - I believe also that he gives us personalized feedback on those trends. Is that correct? Correct. 01:56:35.881 --> 01:56:43.198 - So Mr. Galloway would do what is called a community scan where he comes the night before his presentation 01:56:43.198 --> 01:56:50.377 - and gathers community data. And then at his presentation, he would talk about what he observed and ways 01:56:50.377 --> 01:56:56.382 - to address that. Oh, nice. Any questions or comments, Commissioner Jones? I don't. OK. 01:56:59.202 --> 01:57:08.174 - any public comment on the site and you can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. And I know 01:57:08.174 --> 01:57:17.323 - we have sufficient money in the budget to pay for this. Budget yet there's already existing funds okay. 01:57:17.323 --> 01:57:26.119 - Seeing no public comments all those in favor of approving the tall cop says stop as recovery summit 01:57:26.119 --> 01:57:29.022 - presenter signify by saying aye. 01:57:29.346 --> 01:57:46.373 - Motion carries three. Thank you. I'm real soon. OK. So I do want to wish all of the folks in our community 01:57:46.373 --> 01:57:59.262 - happy Women's History Month. It's important to recognize the work that women do. 01:57:59.394 --> 01:58:11.434 - seen and unseen for our families, our communities, our workplaces, and within local government. So everyone, 01:58:11.434 --> 01:58:22.812 - just a couple of really quick announcements. We do have some remaining board and commission vacancies. 01:58:22.812 --> 01:58:27.230 - There is a library board, health board, 01:58:27.618 --> 01:58:35.302 - and animal management all have vacancies. So if you're interested, go to our county website, in.gov 01:58:35.302 --> 01:58:43.447 - slash county slash Monroe, and you can search around and find that list and you can see some past minutes 01:58:43.447 --> 01:58:51.131 - and see what they do. And a very handy feature, you can find the application there and you can fill 01:58:51.131 --> 01:58:57.278 - it out and submit it online. We'd like to hear from you, so please consider it. 01:58:57.442 --> 01:59:06.426 - We also want to remind folks to utilize our alert notification system, go to our homepage, take a look, 01:59:06.426 --> 01:59:15.410 - sign up, and you can be in the know for things like yesterday's flood warning and today's wind warning. 01:59:15.410 --> 01:59:19.902 - No, that wasn't on our alert, but tornado warnings. 01:59:20.034 --> 01:59:39.012 - and we do have virtual office hours six times each month. Go to that home page. I n dot gov slash county 01:59:39.012 --> 01:59:47.326 - slash Monroe. And take a look and join us for 01:59:48.674 --> 01:59:58.200 - next. Blood drives are Wednesday, April 8th and Thursday, April 9th. April 8th, 1 to 6 PM Thursday, 01:59:58.200 --> 02:00:08.584 - 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 02:00:08.584 --> 02:00:18.110 - first at redcross.org. Anything else for the good of the order? I just like to say a couple things. 02:00:18.274 --> 02:00:23.528 - I'd like to thank everyone who came to give public comment. As Jeff noted, my understanding is that 02:00:23.528 --> 02:00:29.150 - our hands are also bound by restrictions on the funds that were used to purchase these properties in 2010. 02:00:29.314 --> 02:00:34.849 - These are state laws that we can't work around, but we're also bound by assurances that we as a county 02:00:34.849 --> 02:00:40.439 - made to the CIB. These assurances were made alongside the city in good faith in building the convention 02:00:40.439 --> 02:00:46.028 - center. We both pledged to work together to give the CIB what it needed. Several people who gave public 02:00:46.028 --> 02:00:51.939 - comment mentioned giving these properties to the city. The city is equally invested in making this convention 02:00:51.939 --> 02:00:52.638 - center work. 02:00:52.770 --> 02:00:59.044 - We are now far, far past the point of no return on the road to the Convention Center expansion. As any 02:00:59.044 --> 02:01:05.561 - survey of Herald Times or B-Square articles reveals, this process is often non-transparent for all parties 02:01:05.561 --> 02:01:12.200 - involved in it, because there are often surprises and negotiations with one hotelier, and these negotiations 02:01:12.200 --> 02:01:15.550 - may end up at any point where the CIV couldn't foresee 02:01:15.938 --> 02:01:21.353 - And these may bring any party to the point where it needs properties that it couldn't foresee in the 02:01:21.353 --> 02:01:26.821 - beginning. So it's a moving target. We're bound to facilitate, as the city is, what the CIB requests. 02:01:26.821 --> 02:01:32.450 - And we're all whirling with developments as they occur. If Bloomington Monroe County are going to invest 02:01:32.450 --> 02:01:37.972 - in expanding the convention center, it has to ensure that the project can succeed as a whole. And this 02:01:37.972 --> 02:01:39.902 - means having nearby hotel capacity. 02:01:40.034 --> 02:01:45.159 - This is needed to attract conferences, overnight visitors, and larger events that will bring people 02:01:45.159 --> 02:01:50.541 - downtown and generate economic activity for local businesses. But at the same time, we need to be honest 02:01:50.541 --> 02:01:56.179 - that these apartments aren't just parcels on a map, they're homes. We are facing real pressure in Bloomington 02:01:56.179 --> 02:02:01.407 - on housing affordability, and every loss of existing residential units matters, especially when these 02:02:01.407 --> 02:02:06.686 - serve as affordable housing. So whether or not we support that transfer, we can't ignore that reality. 02:02:07.138 --> 02:02:12.581 - economic development and housing stability must be pursued together and not in opposition. And so preserving 02:02:12.581 --> 02:02:17.625 - and expanding affordable housing must remain a priority for everybody. So this means recognizing the 02:02:17.625 --> 02:02:22.669 - need to replace lost units, support displaced residents, and continue investing in housing units for 02:02:22.669 --> 02:02:28.012 - working people and families. And I think that we are working towards that as a county and we will continue 02:02:28.012 --> 02:02:31.358 - to do so. So thanks. Thank you. Anything else, Commissioner Jones? 02:02:32.130 --> 02:02:40.192 - All right. All right. We do not have any work session items now that we moved that one. So we are adjourned 02:02:40.192 --> 02:02:47.807 - until March 19th, 10 a.m. right here in the NatU Hill Room and on Teams. Thanks, everyone. Thank you, 02:02:47.807 --> 02:02:50.718 - TSD. Thank you, Katz. We're adjourned.