Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for this meeting in the county Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday,
April 30th. And I will know for the record that all three commissioners are here and present in the
Net you Hill room and we will begin with the commissioners public statement read by Commissioner Madeira.
We the Monroe County Board of Commissioners renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights of
all people. Regardless of age,
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. And we also
stand in support of our county public school systems, both RBB and MCCSE. All right, thank you so much.
And we will now move on to our department updates.
on update from the health department, please. Good morning, commissioners. According to the Indiana
Department of Health and Wastewater Scan, hospital admissions for COVID illness have decreased and wastewater
concentrations remain at low levels. We are seeing very low levels of flu and RSV
The health department still has free flu and COVID tests available for the public. Individuals can walk
in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive free tests. And lastly, we are proud to announce
the health department is scheduling appointments for vaccines. The number to call is 812-803-6364 for
an appointment or more information.
All right, thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? I have none. Thank you very
much. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next up, we have Mr.
Miller, Veterans Affairs Office. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. How are you today?
We're good. Great. I wanted to tell you a little story about a veteran that I helped to apply for the
Military Family Relief Fund.
which is a $2500 grant by the state of Indiana to help veterans who are veterans and families who have
significant financial hardship. Recently I worked with a veteran who found themselves in a situation
that many of us are just are only one unexpected event away from facing.
Falling behind on rent due to a sudden financial strain, things quickly snowballed. Late fees piled
up, other bills followed, and soon even the car payment was a risk. What started as a single missed
payment became a cascade of stress and uncertainty, threatening both stable housing and reliable
transportation. Two things that are essential for maintaining employment and moving. Veterans did everything
right. They reached out early.
They stayed engaged and remained committed to getting back on track. But applying for the Military Family
Relief Fund assistance is no small task. It is one of the most demanding and complicated applications
we ask veterans to complete. It requires detailed documentation of income and debt, monthly expenses,
and proof of hardship. And for someone who's already facing hardship
and significant stress, gathering all of this documentation can feel very overwhelming. Even when everything
goes right, approval is not guaranteed. What I found out recently that only 47% of applications are
approved. That is owed a lot to the fact of how complicated the process is.
In this case, however, the veteran did receive the money and they worked through the process. They provided
all the necessary document and again, they eventually were approved for the assistance. They were able
to pay their car payment and stabilize their financial situation. And again, this is exactly what the
MFRF, the Military Family Relief Fund, is for. It deserves
note of how critical it is and how difficult it is often to access. I share the story not just as a
success but also as a window into some of the challenges that our veterans face locally. I thank you
for your time and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much and I think this is also
a good example of why it's important to utilize the services of the Veterans Service Office
with these kinds of things. If you're a veteran in need, please call and can you give the number? Absolutely.
My phone number is 812-349-2537. Please do that early and often. There you go. Perfect. Thank you so
much. Appreciate it. Are there any other departments that wish to offer an update?
on Teams or in the NETU Hill Room. All right, with that we will move on to public comment. Public comment
is for items not on the agenda. It is limited to three minutes per speaker. You can raise your hand
on Teams or come to the podium here in the NETU Hill Room.
Seeing none, we'll move on to approval of the minutes and you could just make that one big motion if
you would like. I would like to approve the board of commissioners minutes for April 9th, 2026, the
board of commissioners minutes for April 23rd, 2026, the commissioner and council joint work session,
the minutes from the commissioners and council joint work session from January 22nd, 2026, and the minutes
from the commissioner and council joint special work session from February 9th, 2026.
We have a motion and we have a second. Any comments, corrections or edits? Excellent. All those in favor
of approving the minutes, April 9th, April 23rd, and the joint work session minutes from January 22nd
and February 9th, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. And we'll move on to the next item.
Again, if we could have one motion, that would be great.
Yes, I would like to move approval of the claim socket for accounts payable from April 23rd, 2026 and
ratification of the payroll from April 17th, 2026. And flipping the page, I would like to also move
to approve accounts payable from April 30th, 2026 and payroll for May 1st, 2026. We have a motion. And
we have a second.
Ms. Gallardo, can you tell us about the accounts payable for today and payroll for tomorrow, please?
Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for April 30th, 2026 totals $1,831,225. This includes
all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for May 1st, 2026 includes
1,671,376 and 77 cents in direct cost and the remaining 695,298 cents were for indirect costs for a
grand total of 2,366,379 and 75 cents. All right, any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No,
I don't. Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you.
I don't either. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or
come to the podium. All right. None. All those in favor of ratifying the accounts payable for April
23rd, ratifying the payroll for April 17th.
and approving the accounts payable for April 30th, 2026 and payroll for May 1st, 2026 signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you so much. I note for the record that we have received reports
from the clerk for March 2026, the treasurer for March 2026, and weights and measures for April 2026.
And we will now move on to new business, please.
I would like to move approval for the submission for the 2027-5311-5339 grant program and approval of
the resolution 2026-13. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Myers, we're going to miss
you. You're going to have to come just to give us public comment just to say hi. Lively, huh?
to see you. Thank you for having me very glad to be here after missing a couple weeks. So it's getting
a little nervous. This is my last day in Area 10. So I have Amy Garitas, who is my successor in the
crowd. So welcome her. So I'm very glad to have her here and pick this up. So we are here today for
the renewal grant for 2027.
We've put together the grant application, which will be for the operating portion will be $1,710,450.
Of that, the federal portion is $817,789. The state portion will be $311,595. And then the local match,
which makes up all of the difference, is $523,594.
in the fairs, which I'm not going to read. But this does plan for possibly having to cover what was
the staff that is covering the urbanized area, just so you know, first case scenario, thinking about
that. And then we have the capital portion that we're going to be putting in for, which is for four
bus replacements and one low floor mini-ban. That federal money will be $485,650 that the local match
Necessary is $85,350. We are as area 10 committing to provide that local match capital and on the operating
we are hoping to still have your support at the $80,000 level for the Monroe County portion. Service
area and we have commitments from the other communities as well. Support that operation. Excellent.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions?
No, this is just really critical and thanks for all your hard work on it. It's just vital. Rural transit
is really one of the lifebloods of our community. This is one of the things every year and I'm so glad
you can talk with your future. We have some big changes here. Good for you. I am going to say again,
thank you for
all you've done for our community at Area 10, such important work. And this is just one part of the
bigger puzzle. And this piece is so important. And I mean, managed to get INDOT to pay for the urbanized
area transit this year. Any chance that they might do it again next year? We don't know. OK. I will
say I'm sorry to say I did not get to the open house.
things got ahead of me and behind me and I couldn't get out there in time. So I apologize for that.
And Ms. Garitas, we look forward to working with you and we hope we can sit down soon and talk all things
transit when you're feeling like you have a moment to catch your breath. That would be great. It'll
be really wonderful. And again, thank you for everything you've done for this community and we wish you
every happiness in your retirement. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure working with you.
And of course, we serve. Yeah, yeah, important, important. Thank you. Let's go ahead and see if there's
any public comments on this item. You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
clarification for everybody involved. The 80,000 match is subject to council appropriation during the
2027 budget process. I just want to make sure that that's clear. Okay. I don't see anyone here for public
comments. So all those in favor of approving the submission for the 2027
5311, 5339 grant program and approval of resolution 2026-13 signify by saying aye. Motion carries 3-0.
Thank you so much. We'll miss you. All right. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for Nature's
Way Incorporated Irrigation System installation at the Monroe County Historic Courthouse.
Fund name 2025 five geobond fund number 4820 in the amount of $48,045 and 71 cents All right. We have
a motion and we have a second. Mr. Crider Good morning commissioners Richard Crider building and fleet
This request is to approve the proposal submitted by nature's way to install a new lawn irrigation system
For the turf areas, the existing irrigation infrastructure is problematic with brittle piping, corroded
wiring, and dated controls. Installation includes all new PVC piping, valves, valve boxes, sprinkler
heads, flow meter, backflow prevention device, and associated wiring. The system features communication
capabilities with maintenance for improved diagnostics and troubleshooting, rain sensing capability
to prevent unnecessary operation during precipitation,
Reduced need to manually enter the irrigation vault. Improved efficiency and reliability. And then my
favorite thing, which I didn't put on the agenda, is it will learn the flow rates of each station.
And at 2.30 in the morning, if somebody punts a sprinkler head off and we blow a geyser out into College
or Walnut, it will sense the change flow rate and shut that system down and move on to the next one.
That's big, yeah. Total installation cost, $48,000, $45.71. Yeah, that is important. Thank you. Comments
or questions? Commissioner Jones? Yeah, irrigation is awfully important in spite of the soaking that
we recently got. We've had pretty dry conditions this spring, which is unusual, whereas
We typically get dry conditions in the fall. If we go into that, having had dry conditions all summer,
it's going to be irrigation is going to be very sounds like a rather amazing system. It's impressive.
It must be. Yeah. What are we waiting for? Yeah.
You're all wet. All right. I will say that I can't tell you how many times I got calls from people,
like, oh, there's water streaming into the street or flowing over the sidewalk or whatever. So it's
been a while. It's been a long time coming. And so this will be good to get this taken care of. And
I like the new technology. It makes a lot of sense. It's a technology I have at home.
for my garden, so I needed to make sense. It's like, why not? Brain sensing and, you know. This is huge
news for the maintenance department. Yeah. So when is this going to be installed? I don't have a start
date determined yet. I think they're waiting to see this, and then we'll work on that. You're going
to avoid having this done around the 4th of July, and you're going to avoid having, right? Yeah, we
had a meeting and discussed all that.
Timing is key. I mean, we want the lawn to look nice for that day. So if we could be done before or
after, before would be great. But it'd be give it some time to, because obviously they're going to be
digging up. They will. But the machine they use makes a pretty narrow swath. I don't anticipate a ton
of damage. Excellent. Excellent. I appreciate you working on this. This is going to be really important.
So thank you. 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. Seeing none, all those
in favor of approving the Nature's Way Inc Irrigation System installation at Monroe County Historic
Courthouse, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Let's talk surplus.
These are my favorite resolution 2026 11 surplus property. I'd like to move to approve that resolution.
Perfect. All right, we're there. Mr. Grider. Okay, this request is to approve resolution 2026 11 declaring
the following items a surplus due to damage end of service life or replacement with new equipment.
office furniture from the prosecutors and treasurer's office to be disposed of as trash or sold a scrap
metal as appropriate. One freezer from probation department to be transferred to the solid waste management
district for recycling. One mower from the parks department that is up for replacement as part of the
equipment rotation schedule. These items are no longer needed for county operations and will be disposed
of or recycled as outlined in the resolution.
Perfect, thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? No, and I just, again, I really
appreciate the time and care that's taken to make use of every bit of equipment to its natural life
and to dispose of it properly when its natural life is over. Thank you. Commissioner Jones? Yes, I'm
very interested to hear that the Solid Waste District will recycle, freeze,
I think there was a small fee. It's good to know. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah, there's a because
of the free on there's a there's a there's a fee for that. Yeah, but it's not basic. Yep. Thank you
for doing this work and tracking all of this equipment and
furniture and everything else. So thank you. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. Can
you raise your hand on teams or come to the podium? Seeing none, all those in favor of approving resolution
2026-11 signify by saying aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval for
The Cassidy Electric Generator Replacement and Relocation Project for the Highway Garage and the Youth
Services Bureau, Fund Name 2024 Geobond, Fund Number 4819 and the amount of $382,000. Second. We have
a motion and we have a second. Mr. Crater. The Highway Garage currently operates with an existing generator
that does not have the capacity to support the entire facility
During a power outage to improve operational reliability and ensure full building backup power. This
project will replace the existing unit with a new appropriately sized generator. As part of this project,
the existing generator will be removed from the highway garage and relocated for reuse at the Youth
Services Bureau.
This request is to award a contract to Cassidy Electric in the amount of $382,000 for generator replacement
and relocation services to include removal of the existing generator at the highway garage, installation
of a new generator size to service the entire highway garage building, relocation and installation of
the existing generator at the Youth Services Bureau, installation of new transfer switches at both locations,
and associated electrical and site work required for full system integration.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones. It's great that this that you're going
to be able to reload. Always nice when things can be reused somewhere else in the county. Yeah.
No, I really appreciate, again, as Commissioner Jones said, the reuse and repurposing of the generator.
And again, this is not captured here at this meeting, but an extensive bid process. And thank
you. Electrifying. Yes, generating interest. 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.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Cassidy electric generator replacement and relocation
project for Highway Garage and the Youth Services Bureau signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
3-0. And one more for Mr. Kreider, please. Yes, I'd like to move to approve the Spring Point Architects
Professional Services Agreement for the Historic Courthouse. Fund name, cumulative capital, fund number
1138, in an amount not to exceed $11,500.
We have a motion and we have a second. If you'll remember the previous dumpster enclosure was destroyed
by a fallen tree. The goal is to build a durable enclosure out of stone or block with sturdy doors and
designed in a manner that complements the historic courthouse.
This request is approved the proposal submitted by Spring Point Architects in an amount not to exceed
$11,500 to provide professional services through the design and construction phase to include schematic
design, preparation of construction documents, assistance with the bid process, and construction
administration services. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira.
I guess just because it's going to contain a dumpster doesn't mean we want it to look like a dumpster.
And so I remember walking out and finding this. And so it's lovely to know that this is going to be
resolved and things back to normal. So thank you. This is going to be great. Yeah. Commissioner Jones?
Yeah, just this morning I was noticing how nice that garden is looking and then there's that dumpster
sitting there. There's actually a crew out there right now adding native plants to the area.
Nice. That's a nice little garden. It is. The rabbits love it. It is native. They should. They do.
And yeah, it was during a plan commission meeting when that tree went down and it went down on a plan
commission member's car. Fortunately, they were in the meeting, but unfortunately, we went outside and
there it was. So the dangers of being on a border commission, we just never talk about that.
But no, I really appreciate you looking into it. It's something we've talked about a couple times, and
it'll be great when it's done. So thank you for that. All right. Let's see if there's any public comment
on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor
of approving the Spring Point Architects
Professional Services Agreement for the Historic Courthouse signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
3-0. Thank you so much. Welcome, and I will add that I counted 98 rings on that oak tree. Wow. Wow.
Wow. That's, yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. But remember when we lost that one on the south side?
That was, that was terrible. And they cut it and then all this water just poured out of it because it
was, yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Next item please. Sorry. Okay. Oh, you're fine. I would like
to move approval for SheCorp Lumu Defender software agreement. Fund name cumulative capital fund number
1138 in the amount of $66,000 for a three year term. Okay. We have a motion and we have a second.
Good morning, everyone. In any IT environment, it's always advisable to try to stop threats or malicious
activity before they make it to your endpoints, which are your computers and your systems. Currently,
we're set up in a good posture where we have endpoint detection, where the threat makes it that far.
There's automated processes and everything like that. One thing we don't have is to cover our network.
basically an intruder can make it into the garage before we, not sure they're there, that escalates
after hours when we don't have network staff constantly monitoring that. So it's relying on a manual
process right now to detect and stop that. Lumoo is a product, a company that's been working with the
state for about a year now, trying to get a foothold in the state to provide services.
that give you that network detection layer. It's a 24-7 operation. It's predefined responses that we
dictate, so we're the second call. The company would actually, if a threat made it into our network,
they'd shut it down and then notify us, which is a big swap from how we do it now. The help desk gets
called of an issue, they investigate, then they're reporting it to the network team. So it takes that
whole delay out of there. Additionally, one thing that this program will do for us,
We did have the MS-ISAC, what's called malicious domain blocking, which prevents users from going out
inadvertently or intentionally to a bad website that could infect their machine. Unfortunately, with
federal cuts, MS-ISAC does not offer that service to us anymore underneath that membership that we had,
which we were paying about $3,000 a year to that membership. So this product also puts that layer there
as well, give us another coverage of security and keep an unintentional
activity for getting on our machines. One advantage to this getting on now, like I said, LUMU is trying
to get a foothold in the state. We met with them, we've been running their product under trial for about
90 days now. They did offer this to us at a 50% discount over their normal rate. That's why I went ahead
and locked it on a three year term to keep the discount as long as we can. Awesome, great thinking,
thank you. Commissioner Jones, comments or questions? A lot of sense.
Commissioner Madeira. So the normal cost for their product is going to be about $130,000. Yes, exactly.
Security is expensive these days, but it's far less expensive than a breach. Absolutely. I'd say next
to payroll, IT is probably one of your biggest overheads for any, whether it's government or whether
it's private business, and that's the unfortunate part of it. It only gets more expensive. We're all
in the wrong business. I'm just saying.
It would be great if they could give us more than three years at this price, seeing as what's going
on. But I appreciate that you found the bargain and signed us up. And it sounds like a good plan. And
we appreciate the protection of technical services infrastructure. So important. 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 SHI Corp LUMU Defender Software Agreement, signify
by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next. Approval for Smithville Internet Agreement for Highway
Garage and Health Services, fund name County General, fund number 1,000 in the amount of $99,840. We
have a motion and we have a second.
It was noted just recently that our contract with Smithville for Internet services to these locations
actually expired in November, so we were operating outside of contract. Smithville did not charge us
a standard rate. They kept us on the contracted price even though that had expired, so we'd worked with
them on that.
One thing it's important to note because it says fiber agreements for highway garage and the health
services building. This is not disservice to those locations. In the instance of the highway garage,
you're supporting the highway garage, the emergency management building, the sheriff's reserve building.
So these are for all our locations. That's just the main truncate point that it comes in at. During
this process, it was noticed that we had a unnecessary, what was determined as an unnecessary redundancy
in the system.
So this is actually, this new agreement is a reduction. We were previously paying $2,800 a month for
services to these locations, and that's now reducing that to $1,664. So we're actually seeing a $1,200
a month savings going on to that. Excellent. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner
Madeira? I have none. This sounds wonderful, actually. And again, we know that
This kind of access is expensive. We know that Smithville is a wonderful provider, and so we thank them
for their continued partnership with the county. Commissioner Jones? No, I haven't. And I appreciate
it's a local company. I think that makes a difference, and I think it's great that we can support them,
and they can support us. All right, let's see if there's any public comment on this item, and thank
you for saving us money. We hear the refrain.
again and again. Thank you again. Any public comment? All those in favor of approving the Smithville
Internet Agreement for the Highway Garage and Health Services signify by saying aye. Motion carries
3-0. Thank you. Next item, please.
I would like to move approval for the Monroe County Parks and Monroe County Fair Board Memorandum of
Understanding. Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Hello. This is a wonderful MOU. It's actually
an updated from one that we had previously, and it doesn't require us to do anything. It doesn't require
the Fair Board to do anything, just be great neighbors and to come to each other's need when need be.
I think the Fair Board has been wonderful working with us on this project. Thank you. Comments or questions?
Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. I'm glad that you cooperate with them. Commissioner Madeira? Nope,
that's great. My neighbors get along. All right. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand
in teams or come to the podium?
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Monroe County Parks and Monroe County Fair Board Memorandum
of Understanding signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Next item. I would like to move approval
for the Halderman Farm Management Agreement for the farming lease on the Monroe County Nature Preserve
Fund names county general food and beverage and parks non-reverting fund numbers 1,000 49 32 11 78 11
79 and 41 13 in an amount not to exceed $1,200 We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Whitmer. Yes,
the Halderman family are the Halderman farm management is going to manage about 100 acres on the Monroe
County nature preserve It's a continuation of the farming lease per court order in
Other than that, we've changed the calendar year, and this will be the last year for farming for harvest.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? None. Jones? Yeah, I was interested
in the plant soybeans, not for harvest.
Oh, that's next. Next slide. Oh, OK. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. More exciting for that one. We'll wait on
that. OK. It did all run together. It does. It does. Yeah, for sure. No, I think this is excellent.
You came and talked to us about this at a work session several weeks ago. I don't. Probably. I just
have a hard time remembering dates now because time is.
And that this is one good way to keep the property in good stead with trust and get us in a better position
to manage parts of it for the public's enjoyment. There's a lot of benefits to this. One, we get half
the profits.
It keeps invasive species away on those hundred acres. So win-win All right, let's see if there's any
public comment on this hand on teams or come to the podium All right, see none all those in favor of
approving the Halderman for management agreement for farming lease on Monroe County Nature Preserve
signify by saying aye and
aye motion carries three zero and we'll move on to the next item please okay another farming topic to
crop up um gentle farms llc service agreement i'd like to move approval for gentle farms llc service
agreement from morrow county nature preserve fund name food and beverage fund numbers 4932 in an amount
not to exceed six thousand five hundred dollars we have a motion and we have a second this is the soybean story
Yes, this is actually very exciting and I'll be here next week to see you with more agreements from
the US Fish and Wildlife and DNR and it's all one package. We are going to concentrate on the southern
part of the nature preserve and we're going to take X amount of acres out on the southern part, not
for harvest, but we're going to still need to put soybeans in there so we can prepare that for trees
and grassland prairies.
So everything works out really well. It's actually the same farmer that Haldeman will be hiring. And
we also will be making trails through those areas, which means we don't have to worry about trampling
someone else's crops because there are crops. They're the deer's crops, the little animals' crops. So
it's a win-win. And U.S. Fish and Wildlife told us, the biologists, that soybeans are perfect to prep this
for trees, and prep this for the grasslands that are coming in. So we're very excited, very excited.
It's amazing how you're bringing all these things together. It's a puzzle, and it's fun. Spinning plates.
All right. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones. Well, I already kind of made my comment. This
really is a good idea. The soybeans are going to be one of the best things to use for it.
The number of ways that it'll help out are rather. Oh yeah. I mean, it's a win-win for the wildlife.
It's a win-win for our trail making for grassland and for trees. If we're invasive, I mean, yeah, every
time we're planning things, we're not, we're pushing invasive off. So, uh, commissioner, do you have
comments or questions? So the animals will actually eat the soybeans. That's awesome.
And I guess once they make the trails, it'll allow them to define the boundaries. So in a sense, the
soybeans will mark where we intend the trails to go. Now, really, like say here's a farm field. We're
going to make our trails in the farm fields. We're going to put a grassland within or trees within.
So we're building
People keep asking me, are you gonna build trails in the forest? No, we're doing it the opposite way.
We're building trails and then putting the forest and the grasslands in the middle and around. So it's
just more efficient to do it in a field than going through established older trees in a ravine. And
then when we're making our trails,
they're not being harvest, we don't have to worry about, oh, we shouldn't trample that because it's
supposed to be harvest. And when I mean trample, we're making a path. We're not just willy-nilly driving
all over the place. Right. Right. That makes complete sense. Thank you. I appreciate your work on this
really good soil enrichment and everything else. 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 Jet L Farms LLC service agreement for Monroe County
Nature Preserve signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. Thank you so much. I'll see you next
week with more details on the grasslands and the trees. It'll be even more exciting. Perfect.
Thank you. Excellent. All right. Next item, please.
Yes, I'd like to move to approve ordinance 2026-13 to amend the Monroe County code chapter 287, election
administration. Fund name election, fund number 1215. Second. All right, we have a motion and we have
a second. Governor King, good morning. Good morning. What's before you is an ordinance that amends the
election administration code in the Monroe County code pursuant to Indiana code
The commissioners set some of the compensation for absentee board workers and the council set some.
And for two particular groups, the counters and the couriers, their compensation is set by the commissioners.
So what the amendment does is to provide counters and couriers who do work on election day sometimes
the same amount
the same meal allowance that the precinct election workers get. And I've copied the exact same language
in the code that is there for the precinct election workers. So it sets a not to exceed amount and then
delegates the authority to the election board to send the exact amount. All right, comments or questions?
Commissioner Madeira? No, I think this is good because these individuals also should have those types
of benefits and that
leaves the purview within the people who should exercise that purview. Thank you. Yeah, that's just
a good idea. Thank you. Yeah, I fully support this. This was approved by the County Council on Tuesday.
The County Council approved their set of absentee workers. Oh, OK. It's a different set, but it's the
same concept. That was what I got confused about. OK, perfect. Thank you so much. 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.
None. All those in favor of approving ordinance 2026-13 signify by saying aye. Motion carries three
zero. Thank you. Next item please.
I would like to move approval for sound management LLC for digital and radio advertisements for the
2026 election cycles. Fund name election, fund number 1215 in the amount of $6,003. Second. We have
a motion and we have a second. Clerk Brown, thank you for joining. I don't know how you got away. Barely,
just barely. They let you dig out with a spoon. A little bit. Oh my gosh. Well, welcome. We won't keep
you. Thank you. I appreciate that.
commissioners this um request is similar to ones that you've received in the past where we use a number
of avenues to let the public know that early and absentee voting are underway and so um it is similar
to what you've signed before and i am prayerful that you will sign it because if i can call them as
soon as i leave here that will start asap and whatever we don't get used
during up to the primary and through election day will roll over and there will be more advertising
then for the general election. Perfect. Thank you so much. All right. Comments or questions? Commissioner
Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madero? No. Thank you so much. This is a vital function. Absolutely.
Yeah. Thank you for bringing this forward. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You
raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. And while we're waiting, we've had very successful early vote.
Well, I thought I was going to wait until you took your vote, but I thought you might like to know that
as of ten o'clock, just before I walked over for this meeting, we had three thousand three hundred and
fifty five total check ins. And that's just your in person. We are also, of course,
We've sent out mail ballots and overseas military and our travel board has started. If you look back
to 2022 as well as 2018, we are setting history in Monroe County, not unlike what you're seeing as you
watch the news in other counties. And so the numbers don't sound high like it would in a presidential
election. But in terms of comparing those numbers to previous, we are having a historical turnout. And
this is a wonderful time to plug
all the people that are over there. I check in every day with them. They're asking for donuts. I am
getting those with my own personal money to make sure that they have some sustenance. But we're incredibly
grateful. I have not heard of any negative experiences in terms of voting. The only issues that I've
had, if you are able to intercede on our behalf, is if you put
501 North Morton into your GIS or GPS on your phone. It is taking you around to the city side. So that
is confusing some voters. And I don't know how to fix that. I did it myself while I was sitting in 501
North Morton and it wanted me to take this long. There's actually a way to do that. And I think if we
let Greg know, he knows what to do.
Because you can actually do a report to Google. We can do a report to Apple depending on which it is.
But if we hand it off to Greg, let's see what we can get done. And then the only other thing is our
training upstairs for our
our election day poll workers, there are still areas of the floor outside of that where the floor is
higher in some areas and lower in others. So far, we have not had anyone to, you know, experience any
harm or danger, but of course, that is concerning, you know, and so if there's anything that can be
done about that. All right, we'll do that. OK, thank you. Let's go ahead and say we're waiting for public
comment. Did get any?
Um, all those in, uh, favor of approving the sound management LLC agreement for digital radio advertisements
signified by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. And would you please share with the public
the remaining early voting hours? Absolutely. Um, so this is the last week ahead of well, Monday until
noon, but the rest of this week, um, 8 AM to 6 PM.
all you have to have is your government issued photo identification such as your driver's license or
a passport and you will be issued the ballot that you would have been issued at your polling site on
election day on we do have Saturday voting this is the second Saturday that is nine a.m. to four p.m.
and then Monday eight a.m. until noon if you do not vote by noon on Monday you will report to your
a sign polling site. I am hopeful that every voter that has experienced a change in their polling location,
I believe the article said 13% of Monroe County voters has received the postcards that we sent out.
We also sent out a postcard that gives you the three different ways that you can vote in person, mail,
travel board, in addition to early in person voting. And so that is
what we have until you report at six a.m. on election day and we appreciate the I believe it is three
point seven percent of Monroe County voters who have already turned out and we've got an incredible
team of people waiting for anyone else who wishes to vote we're ready for you excellent excellent and
yes and election day is six a.m. to six p.m. because Indiana thinks we're all still farmers anyway
of us are. Yeah, it works for you. All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming. Have a great
day. You too. All right. Next item, please. I would like to move to approve ratification of authorization
to execute documents to participate in the six remnant defendants opioid settlement, fund name, opioid
settlement, and the amount of percentage of payment.
We have a motion, and we have a second, and we have Mr. Roddy joining us to tell us all about it. Good
morning. Yes, morning. As the commissioner is aware, there's been a class action suit with numerous
opioid distributors, dispensers. The county's received money from other defendants in this before. There's
since been a new settlement with what's called six remnant defendants. They're listed below. We have
to opt in by May 4th, which is Monday.
Mr. Cockrell was actually the one who is the authorized signator. So he was the one that signed this
agreement. It has been submitted to the attorneys we have on retainer to submit this then to the settlement
class. So we're here today just for ratification of the opt-in. Okay, thank you so much. So comments
or questions, Commissioner Medeira?
I have none. This is one of those things that we just have to get done. It's incredibly important and
moving forward. Mr. Jones? No, I have no question. We heard about this last week. So it makes perfect
sense. And the state has determined how this money can be spent in terms of treatment.
prevention, et cetera. So it's not just free money. It actually has to help alleviate the problem that
folks like this cause. All right, let's see if there's any public comment on this. Raise your hand on
teams or come to the podium. None.
All those in favor of ratifying the authorization to execute documents participate in the six remnant
defendants opioid settlement signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you. And we'll
move on now to item N. I'd like to move approval for item N resolution 2026-14 building code interlocal
agreement. Second. We have a motion and we have a second and we have Mr. Schilling joining us.
Thank you very much Dave Schilling from the legal department presenting to you resolution 2026 14 the
approval of this resolution would approve and amend and extend the building code local between the city
and the county and it would authorize the president the commissioners to sign the agreement on behalf
this interlocal documents
also have to be approved by either the local council or by the attorney general and the county council
approved this Tuesday. So this agreement is a renewal of one that has been in place since 1995. Over
the last 30 years, the city and the county have met on numerous occasions.
the agreement to reflect changes in the statutes, changes in software capabilities, and this practice
is specifically called for in the agreement because both parties recognize this continuous maintenance
of an agreement
important to the health of these long-term agreements. And with respect to the changes and the extensions,
Building Commissioner Robert LaRue suggested five or five changes about the city agreed to four. One
that changes relates to a state law requirement for stop work orders. The city had
previously has always required us to respect their waiver, a waiver of fees on certain projects and
we just ask them to present us a written statement as to which projects are going to be available for
that. We have payments that
agreement had previously called for being paid quarterly to the city fees collected being paid quarterly
to the city. I think for years, that's been done monthly. So that change was added to the agreement.
Like the actual we have extension is now for five years, the term of this agreement is five years. And
that's the way it traditionally had been buried where it went to
for maybe three or four years. This is back to five years, but the parties have the opportunity to terminate
the agreement back to the following year if the termination notice is provided before July 1, and that
will give both parties, that's the budget process beginning for both parties, and so they will be able
to respond to any budget impacts, gather that information,
And so that's the agreement, and we present that to you for your approval. Thank you so much. Comments
or questions? Commissioner Jones? I know I've heard before. Commissioner Madeira? No, I have none.
And again, because it is so flexible, I think that's a key provision. So thank you. I'm not worried
about the five years because of that ability to
to notice rescind the agreement if necessary. I have sort of a technical question. If the city wants
the fees for inspection services and permitting waived on a particular property, that doesn't happen.
No. So Mr. LaRue is shaking his head behind you. So that's why I'm looking. So maybe I'll ask him what
the fee waiver involves.
The fee waiver is a city fee and not the building permit. Okay. So it's just the city saying we're not
charging you, but you still have to pay you for the work being done in our building department. Okay.
Perfect. Thank you. That's why I needed clarification. All right. Excellent. If there's any public comment
on this item, raise your hand on teams.
to the podium. Our building commissioner is here. I don't know, Mr. LeRoux, if you have anything you
want to add. I wanted to be here in case you had questions. And I do. Yeah, the fee waiver, it's been
in the ordinance for a long time. It has.
we have never received any documentation about about not collecting on behalf of the city because that's
we do collect their certificate of zoning compliance fees at the time of issuance of the building permit
and so I just asked for clarification as when this is supposed to be in place and if you could write
me a letter so we can put it in our in our permit application so everybody understands what happens
perfect great thank you so much
And I know in the past we've had the renewals of these agreements more often annually because we were
getting new software and instituting that and the city has software and we have software and do they
talk to me? It's been a process, but overall this is another example of city county cooperation and
how important it is for both entities. So yeah, please.
So you all are aware that state law changes a bunch that affects our departments. The city, class two
structures for single family homes, duplexes and townhouses, there's a mandated new process. City, the
softwares don't need to talk to each other. City does what it needs to do, produces a document that
we receive and we do what we need to do after
after we receive that document. Commercially, class one structures, it works different. It's the same
process. I think our process is better than what the state has prescribed. Same process, class one.
And the city's been fantastic about utilizing OpenGov to receive documents and provide the things that
we need there to properly administer those.
That's been working great, and it allowed to get a whole section out of the interlocal about who's shuttling
what, when, where, and how, right? Yes, yes. Thank you so much. And I don't see any public comment.
So all those in favor of approving resolution 2026-14 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you both for being here. Excited, please.
I would like to move approval for Ordinance 2026-16, amending the Monroe County Code Chapter 270 for
the Rainy Day Fund. We have a motion. We have a second. We have our auditor, Ms. Gregory, joining us.
It's like the parade of department heads and elected officials today, and it's lovely to see. Good morning.
Good morning. Thank you for having me. So I'm here today just asking for your approval of the slight
adjustments to the Monroe County Code.
your weather has become more and more common and the associated damage. We are trying to bridge the
gap between insurance reimbursements and being able to expend and pay for services immediately. So here
we come with the rainy day fund to be put to that use and the two very minimal updates just allow for the money
received from reimbursements to go back into the fund where the expenses originated, which will be rainy
day in this case, of course. And then it also just provides a little direction for how departments access
this funding, which would be through the county. Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner
Madeira? I know this makes perfect sense. And again, the airport insurance has proven to be, I think,
more expensive than anyone figured as well.
And so when we have these unexpected costs, I think it's very important to be flexible in how we pay
for them. Thank you. This makes sense because we are getting large reimbursements from the insurance
company and the cost of those repairs is
is huge. It really is big. And I'm grateful that it's being taken care of. Mr. Labarty is managing that
part of it. And this will help ensure that we are spending the money out, but then getting our reimbursement
back in, and we're not actually touching the rainy day fund in the long term. Just short. And after
all, it is called the rainy day fund. It is. Yeah. And it didn't say tornado day fund. I think we need
a new tornado day fund.
Unfortunately, we do. All right. If it goes out, then it must come in. Yes. Yes, for sure. All right.
Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the
podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving ordinance 2026-16 signified by saying aye.
Aye. Motion passes 3-0. Thank you again for being here. Next item please. I would like to move approval
for ordinance 2026-14 to amend ordinance stop 86-06 and no trucks 89-01. We have a motion and we have
a second. Ms. Ridd. Good morning.
Um, so we, uh, had these requests taken to the traffic commission board and they were unanimous, unanimous
approved. Um, so it's no trucks on Fluck Mill road due to the, um, uh, the bridge that is overhead.
And then to delete the stop sign at Bell's road for Kinzer Pike, the stop sign will still remain, but
it's actually a city intersection. So it does not need to be an art ordinance. So housekeeping item.
Excellent, thank you. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you. Any public comment
on this item? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of approving
ordinance 2026-14 signify by saying aye.
I motion carries a three zero next item please yes I would like to move to approve in dot change order
number nine for Fullerton Pike phase three but name Fullerton Pike fund number forty nine twenty two
in the amount of one thousand nine hundred and forty dollars and eighty two sets we have a motion we
have a second we have
So after the mailboxes that were installed in some of the areas, it was brought to our attention that
the mail carrier was having to back up into traffic to be able to meander in the area. So actually we
approved the contractor to adjust the locations of those mailboxes. So it was for the safety of the
mail carrier to take this change order on. Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Jones?
No, thank you. I don't have any either. I think it's smart move. It's safety issue for everyone. Let's
see if there's any public comment on this item. Raise your hand in teams or come to the podium. That's
postal service would be given priority. All right. All those in favor of approving the change order
number nine for Fulton Pike phase three signify by saying aye. Motion carries three zero.
Next item, please. In our last, connect the end dots item today. I'd like to move to approve and not
change order number five for Vernal Pike Sunrise Greetings Road Bridge Project Fund Name Westside TIF
Fund number 4920 in the amount of $10,672 and 26 cents. We have a motion. We have a second. Ms. Ridge.
This change order was due to making some adjustments to the railing for the current specifications as
they are when it was constructed.
So, that was the need for this change order on the project. Thank you so much. Comments or questions?
Commissioner Madera? No. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. I thought those railings were pretty tall,
but they look tall. They do look tall. They're just tall. But they're still too short. All right. Let's
see if there's any comment on this item.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving change order number five for Vernal Pike Sunrise Greetings
Road Bridge Project, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. I think we're at a good point where
we can take a quick break here. Just a short recess. Let's say we'll be back 11. Let's say 11.
Is that good? 1125? All right, so we are going to be in recess until 1125. Thank you, everyone. We are
in recess. I'm gonna call us back to order, yes? Good? Yes. Excellent. We will move on to item S, please.
Yes, I would like to move approval for the purchase agreement for the justice complex in North Park.
Funded it.
ban and edit fund numbers 4816 and 1112 in the amount of $11,375,000. All right, we have a motion and
a second. Where do we want to start with this? Mr. Beratti, do you want to start or? I can. This is
a purchase agreement for North Park. This is similar in substance to the one that was presented
for the commissioners. I believe it was last year. The only major changes that have occurred and it's
pretty can correct me if I'm wrong, but obviously the operative dates for closing and things of that,
as well as due diligence periods have changed. There's a small change with regard to what is referred
to on the property. And then also we are under the new terms of the contract allowed to build just a
jail, not a complete complex, although we could eventually build
I will note that the purchase price has remained unchanged. Yeah, because it was based on appraisals.
And they're still active. In other words, the appraisals are still good because it's been within a certain
time period. Thank you, Ms. Purdy. You want to add anything? No. OK. You got it all right? All right.
So yes, so this does not require
the entire justice complex to be at least bit out before the jail can open as the previous purchase
agreement had on it. And we appreciate the seller's flexibility and kind of open it up to see what my
colleagues want to add here. Do you want to reference this, the amended
private settlement agreement that has brought us here? Yes. We can certainly have that discussion because
we do have a timeline that have occurred
Um, so, uh, December, um, 2025, um, the fault agreed to a private settlement agreement to extend our
deadline for getting something done or started to April 15th. And then we had joint meetings with the
council, the county council in January and February, which the minutes were just on the agenda, which is weird.
to continue discussions about that project with that April deadline in mind. There was general agreement
that indeed the current facility is unconstitutional. And no, it cannot be renovated yet. Somehow all
of these things have come back to light again, and that's mystifying. And talks stalled on questions
of multi-floor, single-floor,
Et cetera. The council then passed a resolution, I don't remember the date, but it was a resolution
that set April 7th as their own internal deadline to complete site selection and identify funding. Well,
in a sense, that resolution itself identified funding because it shows existing revenue captured plus
future revenue
will exceed $170 million, which is more than we think ballpark-wise, a new jail-only facility will cost.
So in a way, they already did address that. That's why they asked for it to be attached. Yeah. But it
did say that April 7th, site selection and funding identified. Well, funding's been identified.
But here was that date and it came and went and we had executive sessions and they missed their deadline.
Meetings with Mr. Falk. Yes, we had meetings with Mr. Falk, a couple of them. And in one of those meetings,
a council member said, could we get 30 more days? Sheriff didn't ask, we didn't ask, I didn't ask, I
was the only one there. By state statute, by state law,
I was the only one who could be there. And they asked for 30 days and he agreed. So now we're looking
at the end of May as the new deadline from the ACLU. So the private settlement agreement is in a sense
putting on hold the lawsuit again, the lawsuit from 2009. And that lawsuit was filed against the board
of commissioners and the sheriff of Monroe County, not against the council. So we were,
The council had already missed their April 7th deadline and we were on the verge of, as a county, missing
the April 15th deadline. And I, for one, and I think my colleagues would probably agree, I'm grateful
and I feel like we're lucky and fortunate that Mr. Falk agreed to extend the deadline because nothing
was happening. And yeah, but we have more to do and we can,
talk through that as well, if anybody would like. We had originally approved North Park with the other
contingencies on it because we had thought at the time before the state legislature in its infinite
wisdom made it impossible, we thought at the time that we could build a co-located facility with LIT.
et cetera, and then the legislature did what they did. But that had been approved in October of 23.
No, 4. 24 by the council. And in that process, after October 24, DLZ continued to work. They'd already
done the programmatic questions, you know, how much space does each department need, what do they need
it for, et cetera. But it was really time to put that design together.
And Scott Carnegie from DLC is here today if my colleagues have questions. But then there was that process
of reducing the budget because we came in over the 225 benchmark that we had said we wanted to stay
under. And when that happened, we got back to the drawing board with every unhappy department and county
government because everything had to be cut. And cuts were made and we were back down
to 225. And all of this work was done over $4 million worth of design work based on the fact that nobody
in the council said, nope, we don't want North Park. We went based on their previous vote saying, yes,
let's move forward with this purchase agreement. How are we to know they changed their minds? So when
the vote came last October that said, nope, we're not interested in North Park.
No reasons, they keep saying they've said, but they haven't. And that's why we're where we are. As we've
looked at this whole process, we have had to look at all these different priorities. Some costs part
of it, but most of it having to do with single floor location,
room to expand the courts if needed, et cetera. Transit, where it fits in the community, listening to
the residents. We've gone out and had meetings with residents at three of the locations as we went further
into the study process for those locations and those years ago. And time was always there as an issue,
like how quickly can we get this done?
But given the ACL lawsuit, time is now the priority, right? It's jumped way up because a building will
take a certain amount of time to build no matter what. But the problem is all these other lots and sites
and things don't meet the requirements of time. There is no possible way to meet
the ACLU's deadline. And based on what the community could see in Mr. Falk's interview and the Herald
Times, and I can attest to, I can attest to his mood at these meetings, he's done playing around. We
are not in a position to go back to him and say, oh, can we do another 30 days? I don't think he's gonna
accept it personally. And I think he made that very clear in the interview. So I don't feel like I'm,
telling secrets out of school here. But that's why we're in the position we're in. And no site is perfect.
If somebody is looking for the perfect site, they will do what has been done. They will dither and dither
and dither, paralysis by analysis, and nothing will get done. Meanwhile, we have inmates who do not
receive constitutional care in our facility. And to me, that's part of that time priority.
and it needs to be brought back up to the top again as well. I would like to hear from my colleagues
on this because we do have a lot to say. A lot of things have been said without us there. Are we gonna
take that time at the end of the meeting or would you like to take that time now? I think you should
do that now.
I think this is a good time to talk through our options and what's going on. I think for the public
certification, I think it's a good time. So I think that much of what I've said, I've already said publicly
in various comments on social media.
I think this is a difficult moment for Monroe County government. I think the issues before us are serious
and the stakes are high and the decisions are being asked to make will affect taxpayers and public safety
and people housing or jail and county employees and service providers and our broader community actually
for decades. But it's because these stakes are so high.
that we have to approach the decisions we must make regarding the jail and extension agreement with
collegiality, with respect, and with a shared commitment to public service. And I think reasonable people
can disagree about the process, the timing, location, costs, and policy. These types of disagreements
aren't only expected in local government. They're part of healthy democratic decision making. But there
is too much at stake to let disagreement become distrust or give rise to personal accusations.
And it can't prevent us from doing the work that the public elected us to do. Also, we have to see the
path forward more clearly by looking ahead. We stumble if we continuously look back over our shoulders.
The 17-year history of this must be a hand on the back that shoves us forward and not a grip on our
shoulder that holds us back. So I'm going to vote today actually for this purchase agreement.
And I think, as my colleague Commissioner Thomas said, it shows that we're moving forward in good faith.
that we're understanding that Monroe County remains under a serious legal threat and that we have serious
legal obligations relating to this jail's unconstitutional condition. So this extension agreement, thank
God we got it, it reflects the reality that our county must continue moving forward towards a workable
solution. It also reflects the urgent need for both us as commissioners and the council to make decisions
within a defined timeframe.
including the requirement that we both approve a purchase agreement by the May 29th deadline. But no
one should mistake this urgency for coercion. This urgency comes from the human rights of the inmates
in our jail, from the jail conditions, from the risks to county employees, and from the risks of renewed
litigation. We as commissioners did not create these realities. We're just acknowledging them. We're
attempting to manage them responsibly.
Our mutual goal is to work together to avoid a lawsuit if that can be done reasonably and responsibly.
Litigation won't build a jail, and it won't improve conditions for the people incarcerated in the county.
It won't expand programming, treatment, reentry services, or transportation. It won't save taxpayer
money. Instead, it would consume taxpayer dollars and other public resources that could otherwise go
towards these ends.
It will increase uncertainty and it will place critical decisions in a judge's hands rather than the
county's. That's why collegiality matters and why we must embrace it now more than ever. Collegiality
doesn't mean constant agreement and it doesn't mean silence or abandoning our deeply held concerns.
It just means that we pledge to keep listening, sharing information and working together from a shared
premise that everyone
at the table has a responsibility first and foremost to inmates and second to Monroe County residents
to get this job done. Respect matters as well. The public deserves to see hard issues debated fully
and honestly without the debate becoming one in which integrity itself is called into question. Disagreements
are inevitable in public service. Wars of words and public labels are especially serious for elected
officials and licensed professionals
since reputational harm can carry consequences beyond the political moment into our professional lives.
We have to ask those hard questions. We have to demand financial clarity. We have to insist on transparency.
We have to scrutinize provisions of agreements, and we have to do so in a way that preserves trust and
keeps communication open and temperatures down. But we also need courage. It's far easier to delay,
accuse, and retreat into procedural conflict or wait for someone else to make that hard decision.
Leadership requires us to confront the hard facts in front of us and insist on answers. It means creatively
chasing not only the either or option, but the both and. The current jail isn't functioning
as a constitutional facility. The county faces real legal exposure if we fail to act, and we now know
the terms. The extension agreement and the May 29th deadline isn't an abstract date. It's part of a
negotiated effort to keep us moving forward and out of court.
So today's purchase agreement is a large step towards that effort, even as we continue conversations
with our city partners and explore other options towards avoiding this lawsuit. So as we move forward,
it doesn't mean that we ignore these concerns. It means that we identify them and address them seriously.
If there are questions about transportation to North Park, we will answer them. If there are concerns
about access to services, we will discuss how to build those services into the plan.
If there are reservations about costs, we have to discuss them openly. We will address plans for design,
programming, staff, and long-term operations. These two will be part of the public conversation. The
commissioners and council have different roles, but we're all part of the same county government. The
county and city governments have had different spheres of authority, but we're both charged with safeguarding
our communal wellbeing. Our constituents don't benefit when we act as adversaries.
They benefit when we solve problems together, when we recognize that no single office, no single branch,
and no single elected official can solve this issue alone. So this isn't a time for division, it's a
time for steady leadership, for lowering the temperature and focusing on facts and working together
at the issues at hand. We can disagree with that becoming dysfunctional and that's what our public service
requires and what we remain committed to doing. So let's get this done and get this done right because
we have so much more that we all need to do together.
Thank you. Sorry I took so many words to say it. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. Did you want to add
anything at the moment? Well, I agree with everything that my colleagues have said so far. I'd just
like to say that I think that the people who keep on being forgotten in this discussion or ignored or
unimportant
are the people who are in our jail. I can't imagine what they think watching these arguments go on that
to them must seem pretty petty. It's just really sad that we have forgotten apparently about that population
that is suffering
this time and we aren't actively moving forward to do that. Thank you. That's well said. I would add
here a couple of things too because we've been hearing a lot.
One of the things that we've heard is that members of the council have stated that the parameters of
the private settlement agreement was established without their input. Yes, that is true. Why? Because
they are not party to the lawsuit. It was up to us to work with the sheriff to agree to the private
settlement agreement. Yet it was a county council member who had asked for that 30 day, it turned out
to be about 45 days, but that 30 day extension.
And again, thank goodness. Thank goodness we got that. I think it's been very clear. He says he's done
playing games. This is it. But to use terminology like lies and coercion, I think, is a real disservice
to the process. And it doesn't fit. It sets a terrible example for our community.
It does nothing to address, as Commissioner Jones pointed out, the lack of constitutional care in her
jail. It just undermines our government processes. We have systemic issues that have to be addressed,
and I think it's become clear that these issues need to be addressed. Our staff has been disrespected,
and I appreciate what Commissioner Madeira said. If a staff member says to a group of
elected officials, we spoke with X and received information Y. That statement should be taken on good
faith. Automatically doubting it, interrogating it, demanding proof damages morale of Monroe County
employees who are dedicated and work so hard every day for this community. It also undermines claims
of collaboration. Sowing distrust is destructive and there is no
place for it. We expected as well. This is not a competition or rivalry. We will not always agree and
we shouldn't. But we should speak with one another rather than speaking about someone else. Yet here
I am speaking about someone else. But I feel like the time has passed. I have let this go on long enough.
And I will not let it go on anymore.
And I will call it out as I see it. There were even some things mentioned Tuesday by council members
that suggested an assumption that we as a board are not to be trusted. You know, there's no place for
this. What benefit does this bring? This malignancy of disrespect has infected the public discourse
and public media, social media, public meetings,
and you know, social media, get behind a keyboard, you're anonymous, you can say whatever you want,
it doesn't have to be true, and most times it's not. The people in Monroe County need to know that we
are more interested in solving the problem than scoring political points. So I've joined my colleagues
in asking our colleagues on the county council to lower the temperature here. Let's focus on
the project. We've tried to. Now I've had to point this out at a public meeting and I will do it at
every opportunity here after. Because our staff deserves. So. Here's the thing. I appreciate that the
city is interested in this project. A lot on their plate. You know we we just kind of
They've got to figure out the Convention Center Hotel. They've got Hopewell. I don't know what's going
on with that. They've got a lot going on. Great, thank you for your interest. But here's the thing.
There were things said at the meeting last week at the City Council that need to be addressed because
something gets said just flippantly off the cuff
build a little fear or to get people excited or ginned up for something. And it turns out to not be
true. It takes so long to dispel that. So I'd like to take a shot at dispelling some of the things that
we heard. And I invite my colleagues to chime in if they heard something I didn't, because there was
a lot that was said. At one point, a city council member claimed that this project, co-located project,
was going to cost each resident of Monroe County $5,000.
Well, even with a low ballpark census number, that's $800 million. No, we are not talking about $5,000
per person. There are questions about the facility size. Well, if you build it big, you'll fill it.
There is a functional bed space with a 400-bed facility, and that's about 323 beds. It allows
the jail staff to separate out felon misdemeanance, to acknowledge gender identity, it allows them that
ability that they don't have now, the way they should. And this number came out of multiple studies
conducted by this county as the
number that we should aim for, and ACLU has accepted that number. Now, Vigo County, just a few years
ago, we went to Vigo County with DLZ and some of their staff to look at their jail. It was almost ready
to open. And I heard a little murmuring from somebody who was on the tour from Vigo County who said
something along the lines of, well, the county council cut the budget. And I didn't think much of it,
because I'd heard that every single jail
We toured. We heard that, right? We heard that in Arizona. We heard that in Kentucky. We heard that
everywhere. So I didn't really pay much attention, but it turns out that their jail is actually too
small. And they are now being forced to build it in Vigo County. So there is a danger in building it
too small. And not something I think any of us feels like doing.
Again, we cannot renovate the current site. I was kind of mystified that people were talking about it
on the city council and acting as though nobody had thought about it at the county. And yes, we've done
our due diligence. We have supporting documents on our website. So no, we don't need a copy of that
study because that's where that study came from was our website. So we're good.
And I also want to make it clear to all the residents of Monroe County, despite the fear mongering of
$5,000 per person, this is actually a tax, a local income tax that is already being collected. There
is some that has been set in reserve. The City Council, by the way, is the one who passed this tax increase
in 2022. Thank you, City Council. So yes, thank you for your help. We appreciate it. And that income tax,
money has been collected, set aside, that plus future tax revenues will pay for a new jail. I can say
for me, and I don't know how my colleagues feel, but obviously with the way the legislature is and the
way they're changing all of the tax structures, after 2029, when everything switches over and the sky
opens up or the earth opens up, and I'm not sure which,
We will, I want us to talk about co-location because to me, I know this is Mr. Falk's interest and our
sheriff's interest. It's in our interest to get this jail done, to provide constitutional care.
But long-term, there's a huge cost to keeping two buildings going when you really only need one. I would
like us to pursue co-location at the appropriate time and finish this project the way it should be.
That's another battle for another day. But just to be clear to everyone, this is not a new tax. This
is a tax that's already being collected and it will cover the cost of building a jail facility and purchasing
the property. So to my city friends, thank you for your interest. Here's what we need your help with.
We do need to provide transit. Now we're already providing you transit thanks to rural transit.
as a shadow service to the urbanized areas outside of Monroe County. We're already doing that. And the
council supported it. Thank you, council, county council. And great, we're already doing that. We can
figure out a way to make a route to go anywhere in the county, including North Park. It can be done.
If BT wants to help us, Bloomington Transit, great, let's talk about it. That's something the city can
help us with.
The other thing the city can help us with, and my colleague, Commissioner Madeira, can speak to this
more directly, is with opioid funding. We just heard today about more funds coming our way. We have
this pile of opioid funding. It's limited in how it can be spent. Why can't the county and the city
get together, share the money, and provide substance use disorder treatment, inpatient, outpatient,
mental health treatment? Why can't we use the money for that?
That would be a help to Monroe County government. That would be a help to every resident of this county.
Every resident. And it would help keep our incarceration rate down. Great. Let's do that. Just because
the cells are there doesn't mean they're going to be full. And they don't have to be full. But this
is a priority now. And again, time has floated to the very top of the priority list. We can't wait.
We cannot wait.
When the council rejected North Park again, didn't know. Oh, why? Heard things, nothing directly. There
was an effort then by the county council to rehash everything. Start from square one and let's look
at every property again. Well, we've done that. We've done our homework. We've been doing the homework.
We've been doing the research. The properties that may have worked had studies, environmental studies
done on them.
We talked about where designs could go and what's going on. We've done that, but we said, fine, let's
go back and do it again. And we did it again. And guess what? We're at the exact same place minus six
months. This has to stop. Now, I'd like to say a few words about the other sites because I think
That's something the public may be interested in. Fullerton Pike near the corner of I-69 was one of
the sites we've looked at. We spent about, DLZ developed a basic design. We did a petition. We went,
because it's in the city of Bloomington, we went to city planning, went to the city council and didn't
see anybody.
I had one, there was one county council member showed up at one meeting, but we were there to fight
for it, to ask for a rezone so we could put a jail and criminal justice facility there. We lost a year
of time, the vote was no. Different mayor, different city council, that's fine, but that was a year.
This is how things get backed up the way they get backed up. Because while you're doing that, you kind of,
put all your eggs in that basket because you can't just put in six petitions for six different sites
and you know you you one at a time you have to do it and that takes time and it's further from downtown
Bloomington where we sit right now than North Park is it's in the city well what does that get you a
longer commute a longer drive there's nothing else there what's the benefit I don't know
We own Thompson. We own that property. That's a huge plus. And we recently spoke with, the last few
months, we spoke with city planning, who told us that it will take six to nine months to get a petition
through city planning and the city council. And that's because, and we would first have to do a design
and a petition, which would take probably a month. I don't know.
just to get the proposal in front of the city officials. There is no way to shorten that process. My
friends in the city seem to think like, well, maybe there's some way we could do this. And without being
undemocratic, there's no way to do that. You have to go through that process. It's a public process
with public input. I cannot imagine that they're claiming they can just
make a decision about planning. I imagine developers will line up around the block for that deal if
they don't have to have the democratic public process engaged. Mr. Falk stated clearly he will not be
okay with another entity, i.e. the city of Bloomington, making a decision for us to be in a position
to make a decision about whether or not we get that jail site. And there's no guarantees that that would
happen. Now let's say, let's just say that worked out.
Let's say that Ken Fahl decided for some reason that he's okay waiting another year to see if that works.
We have other questions about that property that need to be addressed. And now we did get some good
news from the city about some of the slope issues and the potential for a different roadway, which would
eliminate us having to buy a million other piece of property to access Thompson. So there was some good
news in there. And I had a couple of weeks of hope that things would get better.
and that there was a possibility. Not my favorite spot, but fine, let's go for it. But we still have
cars features to deal with. We still have the timing of the construction of the road from the summit
development into Thompson, which we can't control and the city really can't control. We have the issue
of fill dirt and most traveling. And the thing that will take the longest is we have to have high voltage
power lines moved, which Duke Energy says will take at least a year and a half. And that, of course,
isn't free either. None of these are free.
Um, we know from our work in highway, if you look at the Fullerton project, you look at the sample road
project, we always struggle a bit with some of our utility providers, especially electrical providers,
because they have other priorities. So a year and a half would be very optimistic. Well, let's take
that. So even if everything worked out perfectly, we would be years away from breaking ground.
Are you going to tell that to an inmate who is not receiving constitutional care? Well, I just really
want this in the city. Is that worthwhile? North cart shovel ready, shovel ready. I never say that,
but I did say that shovel ready. It can go out to bid this year. Construction can begin early 2027.
First law potentially.
It could be open. The jail could be open by 2030. Now, this would be a facility that, and I'm looking
at Scott Carnegie who's like, yeah, if everything goes well, yeah. I mean, there's weather. There's
all kinds of things that can happen. But that's the hope. That's the hope. It's doable. It's not guaranteed,
right? And I hope I've said that correctly, Mr. Carnegie, that it's doable, but it's not guaranteed
that it would happen.
Um, we, um, the, the purchase agreement needs to be done before Mr. Falk's deadline at the end of May.
The council needs to initiate the bonding process by July. The bond has to be completed by the end of
July. End of December. Sorry. December of the year. Sorry. Everybody's looking at me like, oh no. Sorry.
It's a lot here.
We can figure out transit. We will figure out transit. We've done it already. We can do it again. We'll
figure out transit. I mean, one of the things that we don't even provide now is what if somebody is
released and it's Sunday? Because buses don't run on Sunday. So we can look at things like getting a
ride share contract, a cost per ride. It's like what DT does for their micro system. We can look at
getting a contract.
and making sure people get somewhere in the county. And it won't cost us that much. And that would be
worth doing. So again, even if everything went perfectly great with Thompson, we are years away from
starting. And Mr. Faulk will not abide by that. And I don't think we're interested in pursuing that
chase. So.
speaking far too long but I need to say this and I apologize. I don't because I'm gonna say it. We're
in the bottom line. This has gone on long enough. If Monroe County fails to meet the provisions of the
settlement agreement we're going to look at the council and ask why. That the failure to abide by this deadline
I've heard it, oh, I'm shaking in my boots about the ACLU. Oh, you should. We don't know what a judge
is going to order. Why would you give that, why would you abdicate your responsibility and decision
making to a judge? And if that, that could be punitive, it could be, I'm looking for the right word,
injunctive, right? It could be both, we don't know.
And to have counsel talking about, well, it only costs a million dollars a year to move inmates to another
jail. Oh my gosh. And that's in perpetuity. And that gets us nothing built. That builds us nothing.
Unitive damages build us nothing. If you want a federal judge to decide how big that jail could be,
because man, they could decide on something else. They could decide on a much higher number if they
wanted. I don't know why they would, but they might.
If you want to hand that responsibility over to a federal judge, that is a shame. And it shouldn't happen.
We cannot prioritize fighting over constitutional care. We have to provide constitutional care. And
that impacts the safety of our officers in that jail. That matters. Let's do the right thing.
And I look forward to seeing the council consider this. It is on their agenda in May. Let's go forward.
Let's move forward together and do the right thing. The time has passed, but the time is now. And I
appreciate everybody's patience with me. Did you have anything you wanted to add? I think everything
has been covered, at least. Hopefully we can move forward.
I think we have different ways and different modes of expression, but I think that the key phrase really
is, don't look back over your shoulder, look forward, and come together, and we pledge to work
productively, respectfully, and collegially. And so that's something we have to do, and creatively.
And so we don't know. I think we're going into a lot that we don't know with this process. Every process
is different with the ACLU. They have done this 12 times before. Interestingly, none of the 12 counties
that they have sued get out of jail free.
And so all of them find themselves in settlement agreements not all of them have to build a new jail
because that's not what is required of each county some of them just have to make changes to a to existing jails.
Here, I think we would have to not only make changes to this existing jail to remain constitutional
because we kind of get a free pass while the settlement agreement is in place. When the settlement agreement
is dismissed, we have to have a constitutional jail suddenly. That will require transferring people
out of the county from what I understand that includes or could include, in 2021 dollars, a cost of
$75 per inmate
per resident per day with an average of 50 estimated transfers. And so that's going to have, that's
the million dollar a year expense, but that also includes $100,000 in 2021 dollars for a van and six
additional guards per year. So that's 500,000 in 2021 dollars for how many years? So that is easily
another two million. But we also have to make remedial changes to the jail structure
that we never recouped the cost of. And so those costs are estimated in 2021 dollars, three to 11 million.
And so that's a big range. And so we don't have $11 million. We don't even have $3 million to put into
a building that is dead.
every single aspect of that building is dead from the jail which has mold in the showers to the offices
which have sewage pouring into judges offices and we're just getting the remediation emails out to people
for what is certain to be another long spring and summer
for our employees in that building. It is a sick building, it is a dead building, and every day we have
to stay in that building and our employees have to stay in that building is a day that we wish our employees
did not have to stay in that building. But we have to build a jail now and we have to build a jail as
fast as possible. And so we're looking for the most expeditious way to do so that does not involve a
lawsuit. But we will move forward and we also have to look again for the
interests of our citizens. They have voiced opinions that we do very much appreciate and we do want
to build, we looked to build a jail downtown. We looked very hard. It turns out most of the downtown
is in a floodplain. It also turns out that a lot of the properties that were for sale, they did not
want to sell to the county to build a jail. Nobody wants a jail in their backyard. That is a frank truth.
or in their front yard or in their side yard or anywhere around them, quite frankly. And so we were
an unpopular neighbor, but we worked diligently with the council. We worked collegially and we will
continue to do so and we will work with as many people as we can to creatively find a way. Just because
we move forward with this purchase agreement, by the way, does not mean that if a better option presents
itself, we don't have to go
down this road. If we have a better option that presents itself tomorrow, we can go with that option.
But this is the option that is before us on the table today. So to all of those who say the commissioners
love North Park, this is not so much a vote for North Park as it is a vote against this lawsuit. And
it is not, I think, a site that
even the commissioners wanted any of them, even when they looked at this the first time, it is the only
viable site they saw when they looked at the accumulation of properties that they considered. So I think
that that's where we find ourselves today. Thank you. And I'm going to offer
my own opinion on if something else comes up. I don't think there's any possibility that anything else
can come up and be ready for a bond, a bond initiation in July because you would have to have everything
else done. I just don't see that that's even possible. I mean, we should work. It's just not, we've
kind of as a county, we've backed ourselves into this corner and the time is now.
make the right decision, make the hard decision. One of the things we can do is we could sell Thompson.
That could put that property back into the tax rolls for the city. It could become housing. We could
use part of it maybe for substance use mental health treatment. I don't know, but you know, and then
once we get everyone hopefully to North Park in the co-located facility, that's a healthy building,
we can sell that building. And that again becomes another
part of the tax base for the city of Bloomington, and it could be offices. Lord help me if it's more
student housing, because I will just scream. But looking at the occupancy rates, I don't know why that
would be. But anyway, there are benefits to see Bloomington as well. And nothing is perfect. We have
found a very good solution. We're out of time.
We have no other choice. That's where we are. And we've got other problems to solve and other things
to deal with. Let's move on. So anything? Not around. We pledge to do so respectfully. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Absolutely. No name calling. I call myself names, but that's a whole nother. All right,
so. I'm lucky some days if I can remember my name. There we go. All right. So let's hear from the public.
I'm sorry, publicly had a whole lot to talk through because we've been hearing a lot of things that
aren't true and we had to address them. Anybody wish to speak on this item? You raise your hand on teams
or come to the podium. Your patience will be rewarded, sir. You did, thank you.
First of all, thank you both Commissioner Thomas and Commissioner Madera for being at the City Council
meeting the other day. It was really helpful. I know you were online, but you were there and you were
present. And what was also interesting is that you actually had a dialogue. And I thought, this is what
we need more of, you know, to have this kind of discussion. It was very substantive. It was very meaningful.
And we just need more of that. And to see it in action,
It was also very civil and very grounded and helpful. So I just want to acknowledge that. I also want
to acknowledge that 17 years is really, I think, perceived as a failure in leadership. And I'm talking
about a collective leadership here. And there's no way around that. And I think a lot of things that
you explained today were instructive.
but we have to have a bit of introspection and acknowledge that we could have done better and we could
do better. But I agree with all three of you, we need to look forward. And in that context, I do appreciate
the complexity of this situation, but that's why we elect you folks, or appoint really good people to
work with the electeds. So this is part of the job. And in that context, I think there's a lot of work,
it seems to me, my perception, is being discussed at meetings
But my plea that I've made to, before the mayor, before the city council, before the county council,
just the other night, is to please do the heavy lifting, the hard work between meetings. There's a lot
of work that needs to be done, even if this proposal goes through. That's my plea. I also think you
acknowledge Commissioner Thomas to characterize the ACLU as the bad guy here. And I know Jody, Commissioner
Madera, you said the same.
I think they've been beyond patient and to somehow suggest that they're trying to wrest control from
the local government. It's actually we've been ceding control to the, not just the ACLU and the litigators,
if you will, but to a judge or a CIB because we're not governing, we're not handling this head on.
So finally, in the context of calling ACLU the enemy, it reminds me of a,
Some of you have heard this already, but an old Pogo comic script that says, we've met the enemy and
the enemy is us. And I just want to make sure that in the spirit that you've said, and I think Commissioner
Videra, you said, let's find some common ground. Let's find a way that we can work together.
We may agree, disagree, but we have some of the brightest, most dedicated, I got choked up talking about
this, some of the best people in elections.
office in this county in the city. We figure this out. We can do this in my plea. And my prayers is
that we just do that. Let's get this done working together. Thank you. Mr. Richardson, would you give
your name and county? Sorry, I forgot to ask. It's my fault. Thank you so much. We can do this. Thank you.
Anyone else? I have public comment. We've probably talked them out of late meeting. Okay. All right.
So let's move on. All those in favor of approving the purchase agreement for the justice complex in
North Park signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. We even drove the lawyers out of the room.
We did. I hope I'm doing everything legally right now.
Whenever he leaves, I'm like, oh, don't let me forget. He will return. Yeah. All right. So thank you,
everyone, for being here. Let's see. Is Mr. Smith present from the planning department still? Got to
be on his 10th cup of coffee. He is. Great. Excellent. Can you go ahead and make a motion on the next
last item?
I would like to move to approve Ordinance 2026-12 Highlands Parcel EPUD Outline Plan Amendment 2. Second.
We have a motion and we have a second. Mr. Smith, your patience is undeniable and appreciated greatly
by all of us. Please tell us about this. Absolutely. Give me a second here to share my screen.
Okay, can everybody see that screen okay? I will take that as a yes. So the request before you is an
outline plan amendment. The second one to be exact, which pertains to the Highland PUD, specifically
parcel E. This is also known as the Lynx Edge subdivision or perhaps more commonly known as the WIC
apartments.
This site is located off of South Rockport Road. So from South Rockport Road, you turn on to South Wickens
and then it'll be on the left-hand side, Rangeview Circle. This pertains to the entire inner loop of
South Rangeview Circle. So the purpose of this outline plan amendment
is to make South Rangeview Circle, which is the street before you, a private road instead of a public
road, which is what it was originally approved to be a public road. So changing that road classification
from a public to a private road would mean shifting that responsibility for maintaining that roadway
to that of a private entity. So in this case,
that private entity would be a developer. If the developer were to sell this property to either another
developer or maybe they would create an HOA, that shifting of the responsibility would go to whoever
that private entity would become. So upon inspection of the roadway, County Highway had noted several
deficiencies. I included a list here on the screen. I'll just go through those briefly.
There were a number of issues pertaining to sidewalk cracking, cross slopes for the sidewalks in the
right of way were greater than 2%, which for the public's input, that means it is not ADA compliant.
The proposed buildings were built at a higher elevation than what the plans called for. There were mailboxes
located within the right of way. Parking stripes were painted incorrectly. There were also private signs
that were located within the right of way.
Also, they had noted that there was a manhole that was uneven with the street. And the highway department
felt that their sand trucks that would go through or their plow trucks would not be, the roadway would
not be wide enough when you encompass the incorrect parking striping that has been developed here on
the site. So the development otherwise has been
completed. So there have been certificate of occupancies issued for all the buildings. So they are being
to our knowledge inhabited. But to resolve many of these issues, especially as it pertains to ADA compliance,
that would likely require deconstruction of existing driveways, sidewalks, and potentially
absolute worst case scenario being deconstruction of the existing structures on site. On the screen
is the approved phasing map. So much of the deficiencies that the highway department had noted are in
phase one and phase two. I don't believe there were any in phase three specifically, but certainly the
outer loop there.
I did want to provide just at least a brief background on petition. So this subdivision is in the Highlands
PUD, which was originally approved under the city of Bloomington jurisdiction back in 1996. So that
is ordinance number 96-05. And then in 2018, the developer did receive approval for the current subdivision
and development plan with a revision to the outline plan
having been approved by the board of commissioners to have a reduced setback from 25 feet to 15 feet.
It was noted at least during that time that the developer would have preferred to have a privately maintained
street. However, during the course of those meetings, the plan commission had felt that
Making the streets private would be shifting an economic burden onto future residents of the subdivision.
So ultimately, they voted to keep Rangeview Circle as a public road, not a private road. So that is
what the developer should have developed Rangeview Circle to be, which is a public road.
And of course, there's a timeline of events that occurred. I had already briefly mentioned that in 2018,
this had received approval in its current form for the development. This did go to a number of different
meetings, ordinance review committee. This was reviewed twice at planning commission administrative
meetings. And then it also had two planning commission regular sessions
happening this year within the past couple of months. And on the screen here, you'll notice there's
a lot, there's a lot going on here. Planning staff did take initiative to try to create a visual aid
for Plan Commission, but also Board of Commissioners to
really see where all of those deficiencies that the Highway Department had noted are located. So I included
on the left-hand side of the screen directly from the Highway Department's inspection report noting
the deficiencies. Planning staff had met with the developer and the developer's engineer, Daniel Butler,
with Bynum-Fanhiel.
And we just went through the list step-by-step through each individual item that was marked as deficient
and just, I mean, really straightforward conversation. Are you willing to make this improvement? Yes,
no. And then we just went through the entire list. So on this particular screen, these are the deficiencies
the developer ops not to make improvements for.
So again, those include the sidewalks, asphalt, curb and gutter, private signs, the manhole, and the
parking stripes. So all of that is located here on the screen. I can or Highway can also explain in
more detail exactly what they would expect for the developer to come into compliance
with their standards, but I will keep continuing with the presentation here. And then on the screen
before you are the deficiencies the petitioner is willing to make. So you'll notice that there is range
view circle in Wiccan Street. Wiccan Street is not part of this particular
area, but certainly a street that Rangeview Circle connects to and derives access from. So the developer
and the petitioner's representative or engineer, Daniel Butler, didn't foresee an issue with making
these improvements. Planning staff, as far as to our knowledge, we're not entirely sure a timeframe of when
these improvements will be made. I do know that the developer has been communicating with the Highway
Department to what capacity, I'm not sure. Perhaps the Highway Department could elaborate a little more
on that. But as far as planning staff is aware, the developer is willing to make these improvements.
And then on the screen before you, I have some site photos of the site. So again,
As I stated in the beginning of the petition, the development has already been completed. To our knowledge,
the units are being occupied. This photo is depicting issues with slope and the driveways that were
constructed. Highway Department noted in their report
their concerns with the driveways. Also the parking stripes. This particular area also includes the
ADA non-compliance. And just some other site photos showing sidewalks, mailboxes,
The petitioner or I should say the developer is required to maintain landscaping in perpetuity. So if
there are any damages to any of the plantings that are on site and they end up dying and they are no
longer viable, they will have to replace those. It did include a letter that was signed by the highway
director, Lisa Ridge,
the highway department's position as well as their concerns. They had initially been in support of keeping
the Rangeview Circle a private road. And that is primarily based on the fact that they cannot take in
liability for accepting a road into the county road inventory that doesn't meet county standards. And
this is also in the packet.
On the left-hand side of the screen, this was staff's recommendation to the planned commission. We detailed
two different scenarios, one in which planning staff's original recommendation was to forward a positive
recommendation to the county commissioners due to the physical constraints of the site and based on
the highway and stormwater reports, we had
that we had included in that recommendation, and then we also provided an alternative in the event that
the planning commission opted to send a negative recommendation to the county commissioners and what
that would look like. The planning commission ultimately did vote five to two to forward just a negative
recommendation to the commissioners, and I will take any questions.
Thank you so much. We were having mic problems, but I do appreciate all your time and attention to this
very detailed petition. I just want to see if my colleagues have questions or comments at this point.
No, and I'll just note that I have to abstain from this vote. Okay, thank you. I think one of the things
that's unusual, just as the
who sits on the Planning Commission is that we typically support staff recommendations, but there was
a clear discussion at that March 17th meeting about the tradition of noncompliance from this particular
developer. And that's really unfortunate because, you know, Monroe County gets a bad rap as does the
city for having
zoning requirements. Um, you know, yeah, your driveway can't be at a 45 degree angle, things like that.
Um, but it's really up to the developer to comply because they're the ones with the petition. Um, and
you know, at any point, for example, the reason those driveways are so steep is because the houses are
built at a higher, um, level than they should have been a higher, a higher point on the ground.
And before building, that developer should have come to the planning department and said, hey, I hit
a whole bunch of rock. What can we do? And we would have figured something out. And it's just unfortunate,
because that communication has to be a two-way street, and we count on people doing the right thing.
I think the things that I found interesting was
There's an unwillingness to change the parking stripes. And that's pretty much a almost zero cost kind
of thing you can do. That to me, I don't understand. But there's also things on, I think it's still
on the Wickens property, which is the other. But sidewalk has to be replaced due to rain. Well, rain
should not wash out a sidewalk. So something else is going on there.
And it's either a drainage problem or the sidewalk was put in before the drainage was corrected.
I don't know. But that should never happen. But these things all just kind of build up on one another.
And it was a pretty resounding message from the County Planning Commission members about this. I do
want to say that I think
It's unfortunate that we're in this position. And it was not an easy vote for me to take because I would
much rather just get this done the right way in the first place. But there has been a lack of compliance
on a number of these projects. And that's the issue.
think in a way we feel a lot like Ken Falk and we're just like, we've had enough. We just need this
done right. The carrot that was offered was to do the other project right. And well, that's your project.
So yeah, you should do it right. So not much of a carrot. I really hope that this can get resolved.
I think it can. I think it can. But I think to just allow developers to do what they want and then come
back and go, well, didn't work out according to the plan I gave you.
I built it differently. Oh, well, let's just take it out of, we won't just put it in county inventory
and it's okay. Well, ADA compliance is universal. You know, that's the important thing. So let's see
if we, I don't see Mr. Butler here. Petitioner or petitioner's representative here?
I do not see them on the list. Okay, well, that's too bad. Does anybody wish to speak in favor of this
petition, meaning going against the Planning Commission vote? Anybody wish to speak in opposition to
this petition? Or have any other public comment?
With that, we're going to come back. Commissioner Redira has stepped away. Are you ready to vote on
this item? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and ask to approve ordinance 2026-12 to signify by saying aye.
That's a vote of two zero and one absent slash abstention. So the motion passes. All right. I would
like to make a motion to appoint Linda Williamson to the property tax board of appeals, which is run
through the assessor's office. This would be a one year appointment.
Um, ending May 1st of 2027. Um, all those in favor of approving her appointment. Did you second? Oh,
sorry. Uh, so this is a thank you. Um, you can tell I'm tired. It's been a long day. Um, okay. So we're
still at the vote. We haven't voted yet. Okay. So we have a motion and we have a second. Thank you.
Um, parliamentarian.
Jones. All those in favor of approving the appointment signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
And Commissioner Madera, yes, is back. I want to thank Ms. Williamson for her willingness to serve.
And we're grateful that we have what will be a full board for Assessor Sharp, which she really needs.
It's a lot of work. It's important work, and we thank everybody who does it. So just a reminder that
early voting continues at 501 North Morton. That's the North showers area and parking lot. The door
opens onto Morton and early voting continues today until 6 p.m. tomorrow, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. That's May
1st already. Saturday, May 2nd, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
and Monday, May 4th, 8 a.m. to noon. After that, as the clerk pointed out today, May 5th is election
day. And if you have questions about where you're supposed to vote, check your mailbox because we all
got postcards. Or you can go online to our county website for assistance. And
just because we've had a long meeting, and we do actually have a work session, by the way. Sorry. We
are still accepting applications for boards and commissions. Just go to our website, iam.gov slash county
slash Monroe to find out what's available. We still need somebody to serve on the library board.
Unbelievable. Such an important job. If you aren't willing to do it, is someone you know willing to
do it? Think about it.
We have a blood drive on election day, Tuesday, May 5th, 1 PM to 6 PM, and Thursday, May 7th,
10 AM to 3 PM. That's at Ivy Tech. Thanks, Ivy Tech. Make an appointment at redcross.org. And a reminder
to please sign up for the alert notification system. Our resident alert system will let you know when
there's a tornado warning, like it did last week, or a flood warning. Or this week. This week. I'm sorry.
Yeah, it was this week, wasn't it?
It feels like it was last week. It was this week. It was this week. I was sitting in the pantry. We
have a new county motto. We spin you right round, baby, right? Right? That's it. That's it. We're going
to have a mascot. We're going to do everything. We're going to do. We're going to sell shirts. We're
going to do everything we can. That was crazy. Yeah. But, you know, I've trained my dog to come to the
pantry because that's the lowest
floor of the house, the most interior room I could find without a window. But yeah, it's crazy. It's
crazy when those things come up. One of your neighbors had a tree go over their house. Oh, they were
trapped. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. But everybody's fine. We're all good. No injuries. Well, minor injuries,
but nothing serious. And we got through it. But hey, if you want to know about stuff before it hits,
I highly recommend you go to iam.gov slash county slash when you're on sign up for the Resident Alert
System. It's free. There are services out there. We pay two, three bucks a month for this service.
It's free. We're covering the cost. Every county resident, whether they live in the city, town, or not,
can sign up, text, email, and or phone call. Anyway, we do have a work session. Probably would have
helped if I'd had breakfast.
So I guess we can come back at one for the work session, okay? A couple items on there. Hopefully they
won't take terribly long. So we're gonna adjourn this meeting. Our next meeting is May 7th, next Thursday,
right here in the NETU Hill Room. And then we'll come back at one o'clock for our work session. And
thanks everybody for your patience. And I hope that we've explained ourselves well. Can I spare some
things in there? Please.
Just a couple of remarks. Thank you so much for, I'd like to express my appreciation for all the law
enforcement and first responders who were there on Saturday and who did a great job with the unfortunate
incident that occurred at Little Five and just how the community has come together since then. Because
some incidents, although unforeseeable, really test the community. And we have great, great, great emergency
personnel.
There's no better way to express my appreciation, I think, than just saying it. And so we are grateful.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And however, whatever other public response they've gotten, you know, let's
let the loudest voices be one of appreciation and respect. And so also, you know, just get out there
and enjoy the weather. I know that we've had tumultuous, dry,
in spring, but graduation is almost upon us with Indiana. University getting out soon, and so we have
another bunch of happy events occurring, and so lots of celebrations about to occur. Yeah. And then
the high schools at the end of May, right? Nope, that's never going to happen because, nope, we're never
going to acknowledge that. Oh, sorry. Sorry. No, I mean, it's a joyful time. It's a beautiful time in
Bloomington.
I kind of appreciate the cool spade weather, because I've got a lot of holes to dig in my garden. And
it's a little wetter now and cooler, so we can do it. But yeah, it's important to thank our first responders.
They did amazing. See, that felt like two weeks ago. Yes, absolutely. Yes. But yeah, they did a great
job. And the hospital had their own flooding issue. I mean, there's stuff going on all around this community.
Those folks stepped up, and I want to thank our jailers, jail staff, and sheriff, because they had to
deal with little five. Not directly, but indirectly. Well, it's yes, directly. So they had to deal with
it. So thank them, too, in the mix. They may have been behind the scenes, but they had a lot of extra
work. Judges, prosecutor, public defender. It's a busy time. It's a busy time, and they all worked hard.
did their utmost to keep us safe in a state where anybody can carry a gun anywhere. Yes, absolutely.
And thanks, state of Indiana. And our next meeting is after the primary. So that will be as well. Oh,
yeah, right. See, time just flies. But yeah, OK. So thank you all. Thank you. Yeah, be sure to get out
and vote. Appreciate it. Thanks, everyone. And we're adjourned until 1 o'clock for our work session.
Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up.