- Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It is
- Thursday, March 19th and we'll begin with our public statement read by Commissioner Madera.
- We, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights
- of all people, regardless of age, race, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, gender,
- gender identity, marital status, economic status, and national origin. And we affirm the right of every
- person to live peacefully and without fear. And we will fight and resist at every step discrimination
- and harmful policies, whatever their source. We believe in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
- We also stand in support of our county public school systems, both RBB and MCCSC. All right, thank you
- so much. We'll now move on to our department updates. Ms. Kelly, good morning. Good morning, commissioners.
- According to the Indiana Department of Health, as of March 17th, COVID wastewater concentrations are
- continuing to trend down. Flu activity across the state is still high.
- The health department does still have combo flu A and B and COVID tests available for free. The public
- can walk in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive free tests. Currently, the Morgan
- County Health Department has vaccines available. The public can call 765-342-6621 for an appointment.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? None. Thank you so much for the update.
- Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you very much. Thanks for being here. Next, we have our veteran
- service officer, Stephen Rehler. Good morning, commissioners. I wanted to share a story, a veteran story
- with you this month. I've been sharing some with you by email, and I wanted to come to this meeting
- and share this in person.
- So this month, I'm proud to share a story of a veteran I personally served with. She's an extraordinary
- person who faced her challenges with the same gumption she brought to her service. From firsthand experience,
- I can tell you she was the tip of the spear. And seeing the VA deliver for her is exactly the kind of
- outcome that makes this work worthwhile.
- Activated by the Indiana Air National Guard, serving as a mobilized Hoosier Guardsman, performing Title
- 10 federal missions from Holman Field in Terre Haute, Indiana, the National Geospatial Intelligence
- Agency in St. Louis, and ultimately the United States Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt
- Field in Florida. She served as an imagery intelligence analyst supporting combat operations through
- the distributed common ground system for over a decade, day in and day out.
- several years she was my direct report when I served as the flight chief of the imagery intelligence
- analysis flight at home and field. It's rare that I get the opportunity to assist someone that I actually
- served alongside so this made this case especially meaningful for me. It's just a little emotional even
- telling the story today. Her work was critical. She directed
- Her actions directly affected life or death decisions on the battlefield. She monitored full motion
- video from armed predator and reaper unmanned aircraft in real time, often for hours on end, extracting
- actionable intelligence that guided combat missions and protected troops on the ground. Years of sustained
- exposure to these high stress operations led to severe service connected PTSD.
- which ultimately made it impossible for her to maintain steady employment after leaving the military.
- She attempted work in college, but the effects of her condition made it impossible to sustain either.
- We submitted a complicated claim for total disability based on individual unemployability. Last month,
- the VA granted the claim
- recognizing that her service-connected condition prevents her from maintaining substantially gainful
- employment. She'll now be compensated at the 100% disability rate, which is about $4,000 a month, providing
- long overdue stability for her and her daughter. Cases like this are a reminder of the work that we
- do in this office isn't just about paperwork. It's about helping that individual and their families
- on the other end.
- So thank you for your attention today. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. It's a amazing story.
- And where can veterans and their families get in touch with you if they have similar circumstances or
- need assistance with claims? Absolutely. I welcome all calls from Monroe County residents. Please call
- 812-349-2537. We're happy to help in any way we can.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. That's just a very good story
- to hear. Thank you. Senator? As a military brat myself and the likely parent of one in the near future,
- thank you very much. And this is not the first story that we hear. Thank you for sending us regular
- updates in our email. And they're always something I look forward to receiving. Thank you. Terrible
- circumstances, but you really
- you really help so much and that's your role and and you do it well and and you and your staff so thank
- you so much thank you so much i really appreciate your time huge community impact it is it's a big community
- impact a lot of veterans in minero county yes all right uh let's move on now to public comment uh this
- is time reserved for items that are not on our agenda uh if you wish to make public comment you may
- come up to the
- or raise your hand on teams. All right, seeing none, we'll move on to our next agenda item, please.
- Yes, I would like to move approval for the minutes of February 9th, 2026, February 16th, 2026 and March
- 12th, 2026. We have a motion and we have a second.
- Any comments, corrections, or edits? I think I forwarded them. Okay. All right. All those in favor of
- approving the February 9th and February 16th executive session minutes and the March 12th meeting minutes
- signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please.
- I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for March 19th, 2026 and for
- payroll for March 20th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and we have a second, Ms. Guyer. Good morning.
- The accounts payable claims docket for March 19th, 2026 totals $10,476,000.
- Sorry, messed it up. $10,470,851.86. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll
- docket for March 20th, 2026 includes $1,639,930.76 indirect costs and the remaining $696,683.74.
- were for indirect costs for a grand total of $2,333,614.44. Thank you so much. Comments or questions,
- Commissioner Madeira? I have none, thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Any public comment on
- this item? You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving accounts payable, March 19th, 2026 in payroll, March 20th,
- 2026 signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. I will note that we have received a report
- from the treasurer for February 2026 and with that we'll move on to new business, please.
- I would like to move approval for sound management memorandum of understanding funds named JDA programming
- funds number ninety one forty five in the amount of three thousand six hundred and eighty dollars second.
- We have a motion we have a second. Good morning. Good morning. I'm here pinch hitting for Christine
- McAfee while she enjoys spring break.
- So we recently requested an amendment to our JDI grants to allow us to spend some money that would have
- went unspent. And frankly, that's because some of our programs and services are being underutilized.
- And so we're asking rather than returning those funds to shift them to a community wide radio partnership
- that will allow us to better communicate the full scope of the services and the programs that we have
- available through our grant, not only just to the justice involved youth, but the entire community as
- a whole. So our goal is to hope increase awareness, improve access to the programming and strengthening
- our connection with the broader community. And with that, I'll entertain any questions that you have.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones?
- Just I know that you do have lots of very valuable programming. And hopefully, this will help more people
- hear about it. Here? None. Just I echo my colleague, Commissioner Jones. And I think that this is people
- still listen to radio. And we forget that. But this is incredibly valuable. Thank you. Thanks for doing
- this. It's a good idea.
- Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the sound management memorandum of understanding signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here. All right,
- next item please. Yes, I would like to move approval for super solution service agreement fund name,
- LIT special purpose.
- fund number 1114 in the amount of $3,400. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. I don't know
- that we have anyone here from YSB to tell us about it, but it is a cleaning contract for the Binkley
- House Emergency Shelter and thus is necessary. Any comments from my colleagues, Commissioner Jones?
- I don't know. Commissioner Madeira? No, but judging from what I know about my house and the state it
- gets, I can testify to how necessary a deep clean is quarterly on a quarterly basis. So I can firmly
- attest personally to the need for this. So there is no doubt in my mind. And there's no doubt that $3,400
- seems like a very reasonable sum for $800 per quarter. So yeah, absolutely. All right. And then an additional $200 for
- and carpet that's the yeah yes all right um let's see if there's any public comment on this item you
- raise your hand on teams or come to the podium glad we didn't get any questions i wouldn't be able to
- answer uh with that all those in favor of approving the super solution service agreement signify by
- saying aye aye motion carries three zero next item please
- I would like to move approval for resolution 2026-03, updated Monroe County ADA transition plan. Second.
- We have a motion. We have a second. We have Mr. Schilling joining us. He's not on break yet. Thank you
- very much. Dave Schilling from the legal department. And this resolution, 2026-03, and then the subsequent
- resolution on your agenda, 2604A and B relate to the ADA
- the county's ADA plan and the county's Title VI plan conducted a hearing on both of those plans last
- week and report that no one has provided any comment regarding the plan during those hearings or subsequent
- to those hearings. However, if anyone has comments, they may contact the ADA coordinator or the Title
- VI coordinator at any time.
- and also note that the staff groups that work on these plans are going to be meeting in June to see
- if there's any revisions that need to be made and they'll do that every year so we can we can stay on
- top of this. So this resolution the ADA transition plan appoints the employee services director as the
- ADA coordinator and just
- spells out the county's duties with respect to compliance with the ADA, and it includes our self-evaluation,
- which we've gone through the buildings and inspected them for ADA compliance, and any deficiencies are
- noted and scheduled for repair. And once we adopt each of these plans, we will be sending them to the
- Indiana Department of Transportation who monitors this.
- and so that we can continue to obtain federal funds. Sounds great. Thank you so much. Comments or questions?
- Commissioner Madure? I have none. This sounds, I appreciate all the hard work that went into this. And
- I think this will be great to have this done. It's very, very necessary. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't.
- I appreciate having an update and all the work that continues to go into identifying issues and correcting
- them. And we can see the list in the plan as well by building. Any public comment on this item? You
- raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. It looks like we have a commenter, Ms. Douglas. You'll
- have three minutes. Please give us your name and county of residence.
- Thank you so much. And this is just very impromptu. Maria Douglas, Monroe County resident, of course,
- and Monroe County Women's Commission member, among other things. But also, I just wanted to let you
- all know that Monroe County has received, as of last night, some state recognition
- for your ADA compliance in terms of providing a hybrid meeting and in terms of providing closed captioning.
- And I do want to take this time to remind everybody that ADA compliance is the foundation or let's say
- ground floor, right? That's what's, you know,
- called for by law, but I think that we can probably, as Monroe County, do even better to provide
- accessibility, especially to local government meetings and information. Thank you so much. Thank you,
- Ms. Douglas. We appreciate that. And yeah, it's the bare minimum. I agree. And we always strive to do
- more. So any other public comment on this item?
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving resolution 2026-03 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
- 3-0. Next item, please. Yes, I would like to move approval for resolution 2026-04, A and B, Monroe County
- Title VI non-discrimination plan and policy. Second. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Schilling.
- Thank you very much. This is the Title VI plan that we had a hearing on last week. There's two components
- to it. There is the plan, which is 2026-04A, and then 2026-04B, which occurs on page 15 of the plan,
- is the policy statement.
- this today that you sign both the resolution form that you have the second page of that and then turn
- to page fifteen on the plan and sign that resolution part B as well. Thank you so much comments or questions
- commissioner Jones. No I don't. Commissioner Madera. No I think it's just a great reminder especially
- now that these items are very in concepts policies are incredibly important.
- Absolutely, for sure. Let's see if there's any public comments on this item. And again, I will note
- that there weren't any comments on this document from the public at our hearing or since the hearing,
- but anytime anybody's willing, you know, wants to ask a question, they can contact us. Correct. And
- the Commissioner's Assistant, Angie Purdy, is the Title VI Coordinator at this time. Great. Thank you so much.
- Seeing no public comments. All those in favor of approving resolution 2026-04A and B signify by saying
- aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you very much. All right, next item, please. Yes, I would like
- to move approval for item E, notice of consent to use land. Second. We have a motion and we have a second.
- Yes, Miss Carney is a resident of spice would to neighborhood and she's expressed a desire to go on
- to a piece of property currently owned by Monroe County for the purpose of cleaning the property debris
- as well as planning pollinator garden. She's also applying for a grant through the city.
- And she believes that the city is going to require some contract showing that she has the authority
- to enter this land for the purpose of cleaning debris as well as playing this pollinator garden. So
- we prepared a notice of consent to use land for her to be able to use in her application to the city,
- which is due I believe on Monday. So we're, we're hopeful to get this passed and signed today. Great.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Medeira? I would just thank Miss Carney for her
- willingness to do this. This is an amazing project. And this is nothing. Our property gets beautified.
- And the neighborhood really gets to enjoy it. And pollinators get the benefit of it. And it's a huge
- win-win-win. And thank her for stepping forward and doing this and applying for the grant and taking
- the time and trouble and effort. So thank you. For sure.
- Commissioner Jones. Yeah, this is actually something that's very important. Worldwide, the insect population
- is crashing. There's been very little attention paid to this, but insects actually are what allow us
- to grow the foods that we eat. And much, much more than that, it's affecting bird populations that eat
- the insects.
- to see this worldwide disruption in the insect population is really very frightening in many ways. And
- every little bit that anyone can do to support insects is very worthwhile. I hope a lot of people will
- start planting a lot of plants that attract pollinators. And this may be something to highlight that.
- That's excellent, excellent point. Yes, thank you to Ms. Carney for approaching us. And thank you to
- our legal staff for pulling this together quickly, very quickly. And I encourage the city of Bloomington
- to award this grant. And it is neighborhood beautification, environmental support. It is, as my colleague
- says, a win-win-win.
- So excellent, excellent idea and so grateful that she and the residents came up with this. So very,
- very good. All right. Comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the notice of consent to use land, signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries three zero. I would like to move approval for the amendment to the 2024 Sophia Travis
- Community Service Grant for Redbud. Second. We have a motion and we have a second, Mr. Roddy. Yes. In
- December of 2024, Redbud books received a Sophia Travis
- community service grant to fund their youth programming for the calendar year 2025. Due to various issues,
- including some performers that canceled, they were unable to expend all those funds. A few weeks back,
- the Sophia Travis Grant Committee met and approved recommending that Redbud have until the end of this
- calendar year to spend the remaining grant fund. The amendment before the board would extend the time
- for them to expend those funds.
- Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? This seems very reasonable. Commissioner
- Madeira? Yes, absolutely. Our goal is to see these grant funds used and very reasonable. All right.
- Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- see none. All those in favor of approving the amendment to the 2024 Sophia Travis Community Service
- Grant for Redbud signify it by saying aye. Aye. Carries 3-0. Next item, please. I would like to move
- approval for ordinance 2026-07, 3521 South Roger Street Rezone. Second. We have a motion and we have
- a second. And I believe we, yes, we do. We have Mr. Myers joining us.
- All right, one moment, please. There he is. Oh, you got muted again. That happened. All right, one moment
- while I get this set up here. It's been a busy day in the office today. Surprising given spring break.
- It's like everything is done. Yeah, maybe.
- All right, thank you for your patience. And I've got my screen here and slideshow. All right. So this
- is the 3521 South of Roger Street rezone from PUD to RES. It is at 3521 South Roger Street and it is
- in Perry Township section 17. So the petitioner is actually the planned commission in this case. The
- way that this came about was staff was working with a property owner regarding this
- particular parcel and was discovered that the zoning on this property was incorrect. The property was
- zoned PUD Summersbee and through some research into the Summersbee PUD as well as the Summersbee subdivision,
- staff recognized that that zoning classification for this particular parcel was incorrect. So the request
- from the Planning Commission is to rezone this particular parcel from the PUD Summersbee classification
- to Residential 1.
- and this is to correct that error in the zoning map. The Summersbee PUD ordinance legal description
- does not include this land area as part of the PUD and there's an exhibit in the packet that details
- this. The subdivision plat for the Summersbee subdivision also does not show this particular property
- within that subdivision. Another piece of evidence as to why this zoning classification is incorrect.
- Another piece of evidence, a map created by the city of Bloomington in 2004 shows that the petition
- site has zoned RM15 and not the PUD summer speed. So all this considered, the site does have CBU sewer
- access. There is an existing two-family dwelling on the property that does have sewer connection and
- there is sewer lines that cut through the property as well.
- Through conversations with the property owner and their intentions for developing the property, they
- have provided information that they were interested they are wanting to further develop the property
- and possibly add more dwelling units. However, that main consideration of connecting to sewer has been
- a challenging aspect for them as CBU has stated that they will not extend the sewer services for further
- development on this property.
- Right, so this is located also in the Clear Creek watershed and the comprehensive plan has it as designated
- mixed residential. So here's the location map. We're in Perry Township, as I said, right off of South
- Rogers Street. Bachelor is to the southwest. And then on the right, we have the zoning map. You can
- see the gray there showing that it's zoned PUD, which is incorrect.
- and a lot of the area around it is zoned high development residential, and the plan commission is requesting
- the residential one district. The property is approximately 1.01 acres. Here we have a site conditions
- map. You can see the green lines there. Those are the sewer lines that I was speaking on earlier. We
- have the Bloomington Rail Trail to the east. Something to consider,
- with respect to this particular property is House Bill 1058. I'm unfamiliar if any further movement
- has occurred on House Bill 1058 since the last I reviewed this petition, but essentially House Bill
- 1058 was proposing that a property that has contiguity with a unit of government, specifically like
- the City of Bloomington, that contiguity can occur through a railroad corridor.
- It is staff's understanding that the Bloomington Rail Trail would act as a piece of land that could
- create that contiguity for voluntary annexation. But that is the extent that I know of this House Bill
- 1058 and its relationship with this property. The property owner themselves expressed possibly an interest
- in going through that if House Bill 1058 were to be made into law,
- But at this time, that is the extent of my knowledge with respect to this. Here we have some photographs.
- This is South Rogers Street. There's a driveway entrance onto the property. And then on the right, you
- can see the driveway onto the property and the dwelling in the back. And then here's some more photographs
- of the property. Again, South Rogers Street there and showing that existing structure on the property.
- and then just a few more photographs of the site. All right, now we have on the screen ordinance 92-43,
- which established the Summersbee PUD. And in its legal description, again, as I stated, it does not
- incorporate this particular parcel of record.
- Here on the screen is the Summersbee subdivision. Again, you can see that it does not show the inclusion
- of the parcel of this particular parcel. It should be down here to the south of the subdivision and
- it is clearly not incorporating it into the boundaries of this subdivision. Here we have the map that
- I mentioned earlier from the city of Bloomington that does show the existing parcel of record.
- and it being zoned RM 15 back then. And then now on the screen I have the information from the county
- development ordinance with respect to the residential one district or RES, including all of its primary
- uses and general development standards. We can come back to this if there are any questions. We did
- have a letter of support from the property owner. This letter of support came
- during the portion of the process where the recommendation was to rezone the property to the high development
- residential to match in line with the surrounding properties. However, through the Plan Commission review
- of the site, it came to fruition that the recommendation will be to rezone to residential one based
- on various factors through those Plan Commission discussions.
- Property owner was initially interested in the high development residential that would have coincided
- with some of their development goals, but it was ultimately the plan commission acting as the petitioner
- for this corrective rezone and their choice to rezone the property or recommend rezoning the property
- to residential one.
- Okay, so staff gave a positive recommendation and the plan commission forwarded it to the board
- of commissioners with a positive recommendation as well with no conditions of approval. So now I'll
- take any questions if there are any. All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner
- Medeira. I have none. Thank you for the detailed explanation as always. Commissioner Jones. Yeah, this
- is a mistake that needed correcting. Thank you for doing it. For sure.
- And we had asked for the one acre zoning because of the lots, the way it sits and its shape. It's pretty
- much the only thing that could be done with that property under our CDO. So we'll see what happens after
- this. I appreciate planning staff's attention to correcting this error. Let's see if anybody
- wishes to offer support, public comment in support of this petition. You can raise your hand on Teams
- or come to the podium. Anybody wish to speak in opposition to this petition?
- see none. Any final comments or notes? Commissioner Jones, Commissioner Madera. All those in favor of
- approving ordinance twenty twenty six dash zero seven signify by saying aye. I motion carries three
- zero. We don't have any appointments today, but it's a good thank you, Mr Myers. It's a good time to
- remind folks that we do have some
- board and commission openings that continue which include the library board and animal management and
- the health board so if you have any interest please go to our website and take a look around in fact
- there's right on the landing page of our website there is information about boards and commissions and
- how to apply. And while you're at our website, we have office hours available six times each month.
- Just go to the calendar, look it up, and click on the Teams link to share your comments, issues, concerns,
- phrase, whatever it may be.
- We always appreciate hearing from residents. And there is also a county alert notification system. Again,
- that's at in.gov slash county slash Monroe. You can sign up for notification about emergencies, including
- weather. And we are in springtime, so that's a good thing to do. And you can receive those notifications
- by text, phone, and or email.
- The next blood drives are Wednesday, April 8th and Thursday, April 9th. Wednesday, April 8th, 1 to 6 p.m.
- Thursday, April 9th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. These are held at IB Tech. Thank you, IB Tech. In rooms C130A
- and B, we ask that you go to redcross.org.
- To make an appointment. We are always in need of blood products in our community Else for the good of
- the order All right, we do not have a work session and our next meeting will be March 26 right here
- in the net you hill room at 10 a.m. And with that we are adjourned. Thanks everyone and