Good morning, I'm going to call to order this meeting Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday,
June 4th already it's June, and like to note for the record that I'm the only commissioner here and
present in the net you know room. Therefore, we're going to take care of a few agenda items, and then
we're going to recess until Commissioner Madeira can join us she's at another.
and appointments and she cannot be here. So we'll get through what we can in the agenda to begin with
and then come back for the remainder. All right, so I'm going to start with our public statement. We,
the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, renew our commitment to welcome and protect the rights of
all people, regardless of age, race, color, creed, disability,
sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, economic status, and national origin. And
we affirm the right of every person to live peacefully and without fear. And we will fight and resist
at every step, discrimination and harmful policies, whatever their source. We believe in diversity,
equity, inclusion, and belonging. And we also stand in support of our county public school systems, both RBB,
and MCCSC. And with that, we will move on to our department updates, as I do not need a quorum for that.
Is Lori Kelly here from the health department.
Good morning. Good morning. Sorry. I just have a few updates. According to the Indiana Department of
Health, we have not seen any changes in wastewater concentrations for COVID as of June 2nd. The Health
Department does still keep a free stock of flu and COVID tests for the public. Anyone can walk in Monday
through Friday
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to receive free tests. The health department will be offering free walk-in
testing and treatment services for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis every Thursday beginning June
25th from three to six p.m. Lastly, the department does have appointments available for free lactation
counseling services. Individuals can call 812-349
2075 for an appointment. Great. Thank you so much. I do not have any questions for you today. Appreciate
you joining us. Thank you. Any other department updates for us? You can raise your hand on Teams or
come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, I'll go ahead and open up public comment.
This is time for items not on our agenda. We ask each speaker to limit their time to three minutes per
person and to provide your name and county of residence when you begin speaking. Raise your hand on
teams or come to the podium. Hi, Commissioner Thomas. My name is Jonathan Pierce and I live in Floyd
County, Indiana.
I am the newly appointed director of field operations for Congresswoman Erin Houchin's office, and I
was in the area today, and I hadn't met you yet, so I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself, and
I won't need the full three minutes today, but just wanted to say hello, and I just wanted to offer
to be a friend and a resource to the county, whatever that looks like.
And I was hoping to give you my card. Is it OK if I can? If you would. Yeah, I was just going to ask
for that. Thank you. Perfect. Perfect. Well, I really appreciate the work that you guys do. And if there's
anything that I can do to support you all, please let me know. Thank you, Mr. Pierce. I appreciate it.
It's my pleasure. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Does anyone else have public comment for items not on our agenda? All right. Seeing none,
I'm going to go ahead and read. Oh, we have bids.
Can we do the bids today? Yeah, I think we can open the bids. I don't think we're going to. Great. Let's
go ahead. These are the Monroe County Highway Parking Lot and Maintenance Yard bid opening. It's item
A under new business. Yes. And I just reiterate two weeks ago, we had a passive resolution because we
were going to open them last Thursday, but there wasn't a meeting. So we just said we would open them
today at 10 a.m. And so that's what we're doing. And the first bid is from EMB Paving.
out of Bloomington, Indiana.
I'm reading this correctly. The base bid from EMB Paving is $162,117.33. There is an alternative item
which they have a bid of $12,753.67.
Second bid is from Milestone Contractors of Bloomington, Indiana. They have a base bid of $180,841.25
and an alternative bid of $19,130. Next bid is from Lent's Paving.
have a base bid of $142,651.
first glance I do not see an alternate bid but on further study if we find it we will certainly take
that into account. Next bid is from All Star Paving, Inc. out of Seymour, Indiana.
They have a base bid of $178,152.40 and an alternate bid of $7,951.62. All the bids that we received.
Okay, so we've received four bids and with that we will go ahead and take it under advisement.
recommendation hopefully at your next meeting. Okay, July. Okay. All right. Since I have not heard what
time we're going to be doing. Just go to 11. Okay, great. I'm going to go ahead and recess this meeting
until 11am.
Um, and if I need to extend that recess, I will come out and tell you at 11. Um, and I appreciate everyone
for being here and I apologize for the delay in continuing with our meeting. All right. We are resist
until 11 AM. Thanks everyone. Sorry. Thank you. Um, I'm going to bring this meeting back to order following
our recess. I appreciate everyone's patience. Thank you. Um,
and we are going to continue with our meeting beginning and I will note for the record that Commissioner
Madeira is here and present in the Natt U Hill Room and we will begin with item five please. Yes I would
like to move approval of the minutes for May 21st, 2026. I will second that. Any comments, corrections
or edits? No I have sent mine in. Okay thank you.
All those in favor of approving the minutes for May 21st, 2026 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
to zero. Next item, please. I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable
for June 4th, 2026 and for payroll for May 29th, 2026. I will second that. Ms. Gallardo.
Good morning. The accounts payable claims docker for June 4, 2026 totals $12,055,453.99. This includes
all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docker for May 29 includes $1,618,040.85 in direct costs.
and the remaining $608,673.64 were for indirect costs for a grand total of $2,298,714.49. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Medeo? I have none. 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 those in favor of approving the claims docket accounts payable June 4th, 2026 and payroll for May
29th, 2026 signify by saying aye. Motion carries to zero. I will note for the record that we have received
reports from the clerk's office for April, 2026 and weights and measures.
One measure in lots of weights, weights and measures, May 2026. Sometimes you only notice something
when you read it out loud. All right. We will move on to new business. Now, we've already handled item
A, which was the bid opening. And for item B, I'm going to go ahead and open a public hearing for ordinance
2026-21, the vacation of right-of-way
5109 North State Road 37 Business. You want me to go ahead and kick this off and kind of explain what's
going on? The county received, the commissioners received on I believe it was the 18th of May and I
think it had been filed with planning or another entity in the county before that a request to vacate
75 feet of right away along Old State Road 37.
According to Indiana code, we have 30 days from when we received that to have a public hearing on that
matter. And so that is what is being brought forth today. Commissioner should be able to reference it,
but I did speak with Mr. Ayers in highway. And my understanding, and they can correct me if I'm wrong,
is what is really being, is at the end, the end result of this is that they're asking to remove
75 feet of right-of-way in order to give us 50 feet of right-of-way so we'd have a net 25 foot change
between what we have today and what we would have at the end of this whole process. I guess my opinion
is I don't know why we wouldn't just vacate the 25 feet, but I expect we may hear why that shouldn't
occur that way as we move forward. But that's kind of it. This is a long old State Road 37.
The resolution meets highways, that ultimate resolution meets highways thoughts on this, and that allows
them to do some of the interior construction work on the subdivision. We have a petitioner present to
discuss this. I'm Doug Graham, I'm with the Fire and Fan Yo.
Okay. Great. Can you spell your last name so that we make sure we get in on record? Okay. Thank you,
sir. So I agree with your statement, sir. It was kind of a convoluted process. The reason I got set
at 75 feet in the first place, we prepared a type E
subdivision for Kelly to kind of adjust a lot lines between her and another property they own to the
north. And at the time, generally when we do that, we designate right away according to the thoroughfare
plan. At that time it said it should be 75 feet. So that's where we drew that.
We had that in, we had the mylar prepared, it was ready to go, and the county says, well, you know,
you may not want to do that because you're not going to have any parking out front, you're going to
have any room for landscaping. And so you would have to have a variance if you did that.
They also wouldn't tell us if they would support a variance at that time. That was kind of their policy.
They just say, well, you have to ask, well, will we get it? They said, well, we can't tell you. So we
kind of had a burden at hand. That plot was already prepared. It was going to pass. Or the one in the
bush was, we don't know if we would get a variance or not. So we just proceeded with that at 75 feet.
And then it came up this, well, now you need to do a plot plan, site plan, showing parking
landscaping, which, of course, there's no room for. That's why we needed to change it. Now, make an
even longer story for that one. Ben Ayers looked into that. The state highway back in the 40s, maybe,
had designated the right of way as 50 feet, which is what we're asking for now and which is what Ben
thinks that we should go for.
The state highway at that time didn't really record legal documents that actually established free title
to the state. So we, it's kind of like a limbo. So we're just, we're to make panning bin errors and
everyone happy. We'll dedicate that 50 feet and then they'll have room for the parking and our landscaping.
And the right away will be where the state thought they were buying to back in the forties and where
Ben thinks is a good idea.
So what is going in here? What is it? It's an existing business. It's premium and exotic. They sell
and lease trucking equipment, high-end tractor trailers and RVs. So there's nothing changing? No.
No use changing. Okay. All right. That actually makes sense. Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. So let's
see if there's anyone here who wishes to speak in favor of the vacation of the right-of-way. Anybody
here who wishes to speak in opposition to the vacation of the right-of-way?
but it's down now. Anybody else have public comment to offer? I just want to say this is Tammy Beerman
in the planning department. Yes, we are in support of this and we're going to do more of a corrective
plat so that we can make the site plan work out here. Just wanted to put in that two cents that planning
is good with this as well. Thank you. Thank you for that information. Appreciate it.
I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing and move that we vacate right of way from a 5109 North
State Road 37 business and 5141 North State Road 37 business. I will second that motion. All right,
we have a motion and we have a second. This up for public comment again, even though we just had our
public hearing.
just to be sure. Some suspenders. All right, seeing no commenters. All those in favor of approving the
vacation of right of way on North State Road 37 business signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
to zero. Next item, please. Thank you.
We'd like to move approval for Graber Post Buildings Incorporated Service Agreement, fund names 1,178
and 1,179, fund number county general, park non-reverting capital, and park non-reverting operating
in the amount not to exceed $27,770. Second, Ms. Whitmer. Yes, at the Will Dutmer Park, we have a 50-year-old
pole barn that we have probably done
almost nothing to. So hopefully the new roof and siding and doors will provide better security in another
20 years of good life. Great. Thank you. And thank you again for your patience this morning waiting
for us to resume our meeting. Do you have any comments or questions? No. Thank you for the upkeep as
always. 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 Graver Post Buildings Inc. Service Agreement signify
by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. Yes, I would like to move approval for the
request for approval of the Monroe County Nature Reserve Recreational Use Certification. I will second
that. And once again, we have Parks and Recreation Director Ms. Whitmer.
Yes, County Legal wrote up the certification, and I believe it's very well written. It's to provide
written certification to the Huntington trustee verifying and describing how the real estate is being
used for recreational purposes. The Park Board approved it. We need your approval. We'll give it to
the trustee. And if she approves it, which there should be no problem. And at that point, there's some
mathematical calculation, which I don't know, that she will
give a donation back to the Parks Department to help maintain this property. And we do this every year.
We'll be doing this every year around this time. Okay, I get, yeah, all right. Is that a yearly thing?
Good, good. Yeah, makes sense to me. Even though it's not open to the public yet. Correct, it's not
open to the public. This certifies our intention. Our intention and
that we show them their plans and I think they'll be happy. They just wanna make sure we're going on
the right path. Got it, no pun intended, or pun intended. All right, comments or questions? Nope.
All right, thank you for bringing this to us and we look forward to the annual renewal. Any public comment
on this item? Raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving Monroe County Nature Preserve Recreational Use Certification
signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Yes, I'd like to move
approval of the contract amendment for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant. Fund name PHEP,
fund number 8104 and grant amount of $25,000.
I will second that. Miss Kelly, thank you for your patience as well. I know you were on earlier. Please
tell us all about this. This is standard grant funding that helps to support our public health preparedness
division. We have two full time employees who work in that. So this helps to provide funding for continued
training as well as supplies that we can use in public health emergencies.
and for ongoing education to the public and services such as vehicle maintenance and cell phones.
All right. Thank you so much. Uh, comments or questions. Commissioner Madeira, any public comment on
this item? You can raise your hand on teams or come to the podium and thank the health department and
the health board for bringing this forward.
Seeing no public comment, all those in favor of approving the contract amendment for public health emergency
preparedness grant signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Thank you. Next item, please. Yes,
I'd like to move approval for the Cutters Soccer Club Memorandum of Understanding, the updated payment
schedule. I will second that. Ms. Whitmer. I hope not to confuse you. This is very simple. Let's keep
it simple, then.
Let's keep it simple. We signed an MOU with them in 2023 or so. Anywho, they missed their first payment.
So they requested the park board to take that first payment and move it to the last date on November
15th, 2028, which means their first payment now will be June 15th, 2026. They just needed a little more time.
And the park board granted them that, and we hope that you grant them that also. Because the creation
of the athletic fields is not dependent on one organization providing payment, but it will help down
the road when they do. Correct. And this is to go to replace the turf every 10 or 15 years. You may
need to replace it. This won't be all the money, but it's a good start. And they were gracious enough to donate
This money overall will be $60,000. And the park board has vowed to set aside $30,000 each year for
20 years for this process also. So we'll have it in one of our non-reverting accounts. And we'll show
everybody, oh, why do you have all that money? It's not our money. It's for this purpose. It's a good
plan. Thank you so much. Comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? No.
Yeah, it was interesting because when I read the synopsis first, I was very confused. Yeah. But then
when I read the MOU, it was very clear. They just need to move their payment. One payment. One payment.
One payment. Payments do not start on the 2028, November 15. That's how it reads. OK, thank you. Yes,
that's how I know. That's not my writing. No, that's OK. That's OK. We're good. We're good.
All right, so let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or
come to the podium. I think it's a really good, fair deal to split this because they are going to be
a predominant user of those fields and it's a good agreement. And I do want to emphasize this is not
a rental agreement. Right. Just for turf replacement. Right. It's just a contribution toward the inevitable
turf replacement.
Correct. Got it. Thank you. Other than I'm really happy just we have access to the synthetic turf because
it just extends the playability. Oh, they've been playing on it a lot. Yes. Any public comment? Raise
your hand on teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Cutter's Soccer Club MOU updated payment schedule,
signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries zero. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next item, please. Yes,
I would like to move approval for the kiosk agreement with Custom Control Systems Incorporated doing
business as precision kiosk technologies. Fund name court alcohol drug user fees, public safety lit.
fund number 2504-2508 in the amount of $19,800 per 12 months per kiosk. Excellent. I will second that.
Good morning.
I am here for approval of the MOU with precision kiosk technology for us to use an automated kiosk system
which includes a breathalyzer. So this MOU is allowing us to obtain and use up to two automated kiosks
with one anticipated in our community corrections office and the other placed out in the community where
our clients would have access to it 24-7. The kiosk can be used for breathalyzers
client check ins drug testing scheduling and data collection and it supports.
all the areas of our community supervision, including pretrial, our probation program, our court alcohol
and drug program, community corrections, and the problem solving courts. It's really just another way
that technology gives us a tool to help monitor compliance in a secure and consistent manner. And it
allows us to reduce some of that administrative workload so our officers can spend more time focusing
on case management interventions with our higher and moderate risk clients.
and there's no obligation for us to use the kiosk for every program or every client. We just plan on
implementing it kind of thoughtfully and where it makes operational sense. Really good. Thank you. This
is great. I don't know how they do it technology-wise, so I'm impressed and I'm glad that you all found
this because this is one of those questions about when we co-locate in the future,
wherever we do, where's that service going? And now it sounds like it's going nowhere. It's going to
be available, but Ms. Purdy. My concern is, is go on our network. I'm just doing that because Mr. Crown
is right here. He always writes me about things going on in the network. So I wanted to see. Have you
had that discussion? I believe Linda has, but if I'm,
I could be mistaken. We'll just make this contingent on TSD approval. Is that okay? Absolutely.
All right, perfect. I'm gonna go ahead and move to amend this. Thank you, Ms. Purdy, to amend this motion
to be contingent on TSD approval. I second. All those in favor of amending the motion? Aye. Aye.
All right, so we now have it amended.
motion. So I don't anticipate any issues because obviously other counties are using this, but we want
to do things by the book. All right. Any questions? I really, again, I don't understand the technology.
I don't know how they can do this, but this is great. And thank you for finding it. And let's see if
there's any public comment on this item. You raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
All those in favor of approving the amended motion for the kiosk agreement with custom control systems,
DBA, precision kiosk technologies, contingent on the approval of TSD, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion
carries 2-0. Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad you raised that. I just, you know, I think we need to add
that line to our agenda.
Yeah, please do that. Yeah, that would be great. All right. Thank you. Next item. Yes, I'd like to move
approval for the hoplite penetration testing agreement. Fund name cumulative capital fund number eleven
thirty eight in the amount of ninety thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. I will second that. Mr.
Krum. Good morning, everyone.
I have not been able to find any record other than a kind of cursory testing that our cyber insurance
carrier did where Monroe County's actually had a deep penetration testing done on all its networks.
For those who don't know what deep penetration is, basically you're contracting with a company as white
hackers to go after your systems just the same as any threat actor would do to try to discover revealed
vulnerabilities in your system
bring them up for remediation. I've been trying to find a company for about the last three years to
perform these services. Most of the companies I talked to, it was one-off testing for $50,000, followed
up by one follow-up testing included in that contract. So I've been working with the state IOT office
because this is a broader problem for the state, not just this county. They turned me on to this Hoplite
company who's willing to do, for $30,000 annually, they will
perform a deep penetration test, then they will follow up with us every 30 days to retest any remediations
we've done or test any changes we've made to our environment. I felt it best to go ahead and lock this
in on three-year terms, because as these services, more people on board, the price is going to go up,
not down. So they did agree to do a three-year contract with us on this, and testing would start immediately
upon approval.
Excellent negotiation skills, as always, sir. So are you going to be aware, or is your staff going to
be aware when they run these tests, or you just know that at some point they're going to throw a test
at you once a year? They're going to throw a test at us. I don't want to know when they're executing
it, because I want to test our monitoring ability to detect anomalies. And we see it all the time. We're
constantly seeing outside entities trying to get into our network. So, yeah. No, I want it to be a surprise
for us as well.
That's what it is. How will you know that's what it is when it when it starts. Well it won't. I'll have
to. We'll have to get the IP addresses everything we see coming in and then that's when I'll reach back
out to hop like hey is this you. OK. So perfect. I was just curious because it's just so fascinating
that there are good hackers and bad hackers.
Sometimes your bad hackers become good hackers. Usually after they've been arrested and spent some prison
time. But then they come out and make more money than I ever will. Got it. All right, thank you. No,
it's a good deal. Comments or questions? Sorry, I made a stupid mistake. No, I think this is excellent
because this is kind of where we're headed. And otherwise, we're just taking a chance. And so unfortunately,
it's also very expensive.
but it's less expensive by far than an actual hack is, so. That's exactly right. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Summer time reminds me of that summer. I'll never forget it. You didn't sleep a whole month. To not
be repeated. No, to not be repeated. All right. If there's any public comment on this item, you raise
your hand on Teams or come to a podium.
none all those in favor of approving the hoplite penetration testing agreement signify by saying aye
aye motion carries to zero next item please i would like to move approval for shi corporation lucidia
it agreement uh fund name 2022 geobahn fund number 4815 in the amount of twenty thousand two hundred
forty one dollars and 32 cents second so the primary
core network switches, which are the ones responsible for doing the bulk of the lift of moving your
traffic around your network. They're end of life. Some of them are pushing 20 years old, so we've gotten
our money's well worth out of them. We've already secured the new core switches. Those are already in
our possession. To get this project done, we're going to have to do it on a weekend, and we need to
be fast, because when we take these core switches down, we take the whole county down.
There's such a dramatic difference in the architecture of this new hardware compared to the environment
we're working in that we thought it best to leverage professional services to make sure that we can
get this done over a weekend and not drag this out for a week or more, or if we run into issues, not
being able to correct them timely.
are working with SHI Corporation. They're playing the middle man on this, which you're familiar with
their name. We buy a lot of things off them. But they've partnered with Lucidia IT Corporation, who's
actually going to come on site and help us get those core switches replaced. Great. And you're going
to alert employees to when this is going to happen? Yes. I was waiting on approval of the agreement
and then scheduling a time with Lucidia that works for everyone.
big impact is going to be obviously on our sheriff jail and you shelter. So I was going to want to coordinate
with all three entities to try to find, try to find the best time. They're in a great time for your
jail, but the best time that we could apply this. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you. It's really thoughtful.
Um, questions?
done, I think we need to get these things out of here before they have 21st birthday parties. Yeah,
there you go. Because you never know how drunk they're going to get. Right. Absolutely. That's what
they were going to do. Are these going to have a 20, are these new switches going to have a 20-year
lifespan as well? Or it seems like it seems to get shorter, no longer. Yeah. And well, to be honest
with you, these never were intended to run this long. We're about double past, typically, five, depending
on what the use load is on it, five to 10 years is what's what considered industry standard.
So, you know, we've enjoyed a long period of not paying for things. So, yeah, it's time to start doing
some more work. Sounds like a good plan. Thank you. Comments from the public? You may come to the podium
or raise your hand on Teams. It's not ours.
Maybe it's on. All right, seeing no public comment, all those in favor of approving the agreement with
SHI Corporation and Lucidia IT, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next item, please.
Yes, I'd like to move approval of the TRAC funding request, fund name to be determined, fund number
to be determined in the amount of $5,399.25. I will second that. Ms. Kelly, welcome back. We're going
to have to adjust these agendas so people don't have to pop back on and off. Sorry about that. Thanks
for coming back.
No problem. We received an award for this funding that would support us to purchase 75 bleeding control kits.
So our two full-time public health preparedness employees that I mentioned previously, they provide
these trainings for free to the public and to staff within our Monroe County schools. And during those
classes, they distribute these kits for those who participate. We have used in the past some of that
grant funding for the purchase of these kits and the
The program has been so successful that we've run through all of those. So we actually found this council
who was agreeable to provide us with funding so that we could continue providing these classes. Great.
Thank you so much. Questions, Commissioner Madeira? No, this is one of those things where you don't
think you need them until you do. And then it's catastrophic. So this is very, very
essential and I'm glad that we can get these distributed. Thank you. Yeah, it's sad that we need them,
but it's gratifying that they're provided. So absolutely hope they never get used. Let's see if there's
any public comment on this item. It's another great service from our health department. Thank you. Um,
the public comment, you don't see any, um,
All those in favor of approving the track funding request, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
2-0. Thank you. Thank you. Next item, please. I'd like to move approval for ratification of the 2026-2027
Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative grant contract, fund name JDAI coordination implementation,
JDAI programming, JDAI data analysis, and research.
fund number 9122, 9123, and 9175 in the amount of $80,000. I will second that. Mr. Williams, it looks
like you're going to present for us. Thank you. Hello, yeah. The understudy today for Christine McAfee,
who's the expert in this. But hopefully we're all accustomed to receiving this JDI grant over the years.
This is for the 2026, 2027. We're receiving $80,000. And I think the highlight I would like to point
out is that $60,000
$2,800 of that is going to support local programming within Monroe County. Really good. Really good.
Um, how does that amount compared to last year? It's about, I believe it's right around the same amount.
Yes. Seems like there's great programming. I mean, I, yeah, we're going to get the contracts coming
in next, but there's some really great programming. Uh, commissioner majority. Any questions?
I think in the last couple of weeks especially we've heard how important it is the community to have
these non-carceral alternatives and I think that now more than ever before both those plus anything
that keeps anybody especially at these core ages out of the system is just
and especially out of detention is just so important. And so I think for every dollar spent, you can't
even anticipate the amount of return you get. So I think this is just so precious. So appreciate this.
Getting to youth early in the process, and even in some cases, I know some of the counseling is just for
family conflict resolution, things like that, that will help prevent youth from going wayward. Huge,
huge benefit to the community. So thank you. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You
can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
All those in favor of ratifying the 2026-2027 Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, JDAI grant
contract, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Thank you. All right. Next item, please. Yes,
I would like to move approval for resolution 2026-21 regarding resolution 2025-58, notice to homeless
encampments. Second. Mr. Cockrell.
Yes, and I think I'm going to start with what this is not. This is not a change in the county stance
that was stated in that previous resolution, which basically said two different things. One, it said
we are not going to do any of our encampment removals without giving 30 days notice to those in the
encampment. And the second is that the members of the council
county commissioners are going to encourage, and the meetings have been occurring, a kind of conversation
with the city's leadership, county council, county commissioners, kind of figure out the best way to
handle these kind of situations. And if it were up to, I believe, the commissioners, that's the route
we would go in addressing these types of issues. Unfortunately, or, you know, the world is as it is,
the state decided to pass some legislation that indicated
some requirements on our law enforcement if they find people sleeping on public property without approval.
And so in that legislation it includes that the counties aren't allowed to have any policies in place
that may be seen as changing or in any way hindering law enforcement's ability to deal with that. What
this resolution does is essentially it gives notice to the individuals who are affected by this that
That legislation did change and it does affect the county's ability to maintain that 30 day notice provision.
Now I would say that the commissioners are willing to, if it's a commissioner started process where
we're going to do that, that that 30 days notice will still have some power and carry some weight, but
we have to be able to react to situations that are the result of this new legislation by state law.
So this is kind of giving people notice that,
This occurred and it kind of makes everything we had said in the original resolution as far as the 30
days notice, it kind of overwrites that. It makes it something that we can't necessarily maintain. So
that's what this is. It is not saying that we are now going to be able to go out three days from today
and start issuing notices that you have to leave and things like that.
clearly does not overwrite 257. And it also does not go into effect until July 1st, which is when that
state legislation. All right. So we're essentially almost 30 days out from that. Questions? Nope. So
this frustrates me a lot. And I think it's a very emotional issue for me. Sorry.
I think this is an issue I spent a lot of time thinking about. I think we have an obligation to protect
public spaces and the quality of life for all residents. We also have an obligation to say really clearly
that homelessness isn't solved by pushing people from one place to another. And poverty shouldn't become
a pathway into the criminal legal system. So people don't have to sleep outside because it's easy. They
sleep outside because they run out of options. Because housing is too expensive,
Shelter is unavailable and unsuitable, and treatment is hard to access, and the safety net has failed
them. And so the law may require local governments and law enforcement to respond, but our county's
response shouldn't begin and end with enforcement. It has to include shelter. It has to include mental
health care. It has to include substance use treatment and case management.
and affordable housing and serious coordination among county government and city government and service
providers and courts and law enforcement in the state. And we can acknowledge legitimate concerns about
public health and safety without dehumanizing people who are in a house.
And so our goal should be fewer encampments because more people have housing and not because people
have citations or warrants for jail time. And Murrow County should approach this moment with urgency
and with compassion and with realism because criminal penalties are not housing policy. So if the state
of Indiana is going to impose new obligations on local communities, then it also should help people
to help provide the resources needed to meet people where they are and to move them towards stability.
And I don't see that happening here. And so especially around SB1, this is going to hit communities
hard. It's going to hit humans hard. And so that's why I think you hear the tone in my voice that you
hear, because we're all human. And these are our neighbors. And these are our brothers and our sisters.
And I don't want to have to put my brothers and sisters and my neighbors in jail.
This really is horrible. Yeah, I appreciate it. And thank you for your emotive and logical, at the same
time, statement. I think this is another, I mean, on the one hand, looking at the facts of it, it's
another unfunded mandate from the state of Indiana. Terrible, because there is nothing
to help prevent folks not having shelters, so basic. I know that there are a lot of good folks in the
community. I know that there are a lot of agencies, churches, and other really well-meaning people who
are involved. I hope they are able to fill the gap because
beyond being an unfunded mandate, this is a human tragedy. And it is horrible to imagine what will happen
here in Monroe County, but across the state especially, where they may have different kinds of leaders.
It's now erecting another barrier for someone getting employment or getting a place to live because
now they will potentially have a record that they may not have had before. It doesn't solve anything.
It solves nothing, the state law. But it makes sense for us to step back and to say, look, we intend to
provide as much notice as possible if there is a county-based encampment that we are trying to move,
disassemble, and hopefully get people into housing and shelter and safe places and dry places and warm
places and cool places in the summer that we will follow through with our intention, but we can't step
on state law.
And that's the unfortunate thing, so yeah. It's a double cruelty. It really is. It's a double life sword.
It really is. So it's so hard. And it's a nationwide problem, but it's a local problem. And it's a statewide
problem, but it's a local problem. And as much as it's a local problem, it's an individual problem too, right?
We could just do so much better. I don't know how we can do better, but I hope we can do better and
figure something out. And again, thank you for your impassioned speech. Let's see if there's any public
comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium here in the NatU Hill Room.
Good morning, commissioners. This is Christopher M.G. from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce,
and I understand the gravity of this situation. You are where you are. The state legislation is an unfunded
mandate in that we have to react to it accordingly. But it is an opportunity to sort of rethink some
of the things that we do in making sure we're tying coordination with the city, the service providers
in this, and making sure
These encampments don't grow to where they become unreasonably harder to deal with. I think encampments
are not safe places. These are not ideal places for people to live. They need housing. They need shelter.
We hear from our employers or property owners on the safety, the property damage caused, and the lack
of clarity of who's responsible when these issues arise from a public and private property.
When July 1 comes, and we encourage you just to coordinate some of this, business shouldn't be left
guessing on the processes. We should be hitting interventions early. As mentioned, shelters,
mental health, caseworkers, those are all important. And it's important we do this early in the process
before the encampments become larger and become more of a problem that we did see last December, where
it seemed to sort of
rather than it should have, because of a lack of clarification, because of a lack of streamlining and
planning. So as much as we're sort of put in this situation, it does give us a chance, July 1, to hit
the reset button on it. I thank you for your time today. Appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else have
public comment on this item? You raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. I will note
that Commissioner Medeira has been working with city colleagues on this. It's an ongoing effort.
It's been going on for several months, really, and heading home is part of that as well. So we have
a member of County Council and we have Commissioner Madeira, and then we have a City Council member,
Mayor's Office, and heading home. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes
And I think the suggestion is a good one to find a way to reach out to business owners specifically
before July 1st and maybe that's something I'm sure the Chamber could help with that. I'm just going
to put you on the spot and ask you to help with that. But I'm sure you could help with that. And that's,
you know, but you have to have getting that plan done has been a little bit more problematic.
Yes. And I've been reaching out to the faith community and I'll be happy to reach out to the chamber
as well. So all those in favor of approving resolution twenty twenty six dash twenty one signify by
saying aye. I motion carries two zero. Can I just say one more thing. So the city had a doesn't have
a resolution there. They actually just had a policy so they also will nix their policy.
July 1st, and so you won't see them repealing anything for the members of the public out there because
they don't have a resolution. We did have a resolution and so that's why we actually have to explicitly
repeal ours. But both will be null and void because of the state law. As Attorney Jeff Cockrell said,
that's why we have to. It's not a change in policy. But it's still our intention to provide notice if
it's a county-determined, county-based action.
Uh, we cannot control what the public does, residents, businesses, et cetera. So that's the unfortunate
part. We can only control what we do. Yes. And it does have that private enforcement component. And
I believe if we did not enforce, then we'd have that, you know, state hand come down as well. Yeah.
Yeah. Uh, so thank you. Next. Uh, yes. Um, I'd like to move approval for ordinance, uh, 20,
26 dash 18, the revised building permit and license fee schedule.
I will second that. Schilling. Very much. Dave Schilling from the legal department here with Bobby LaRue,
the building commissioner. And this is an ordinance just to update the building permit fees. It hasn't
been done for probably 12 years, 14 years. Okay. And the recent legislation
been enacted that limits the county's ability to increase effective at the end of the year we can only
increase the fees one time per year according to tied to an index unless the council approves a hire
after a hearing so we're getting it done right now the
fees will not take effect, they cannot take effect for 180 days after publication. And last time we
were here, we spoke about possibly just having the start date for the new fees as January 1. So I propose
this amendment to section 3.
that that section would read the exhibit a fee shall become effective on the date 180 days after being
published in accordance with Indiana code 36248 E as amended or on January 1, 2027, whichever date is later.
And then the second amendment is the Scrivener's area right underneath that. It says it's so resolved
before it should be so ordained. So with those two proposed amendments, we would request your approval
of this fee. So did you incorporate those into the
you incorporate those amendments in already in the packet no they are not in the packet so I will you
know what I did is I went back to the that's what got me off track yes perfect thank you thank you great
thank you so much I'm gonna go ahead and move that we
I would like to amend ordinance 2026 dash 18 to reflect section 3 exhibit a fee shall become effective
on the date 180 days after being published in accordance with Indiana code as amended or on January
1st, 2027, whichever date is later. So ordained by the Board of Commissioners. Can I get a second on that?
And my name's Miss Beldens. My name is Miss Beldens. I already sent that one in. All right, so all those
in favor of amending the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye.
The motion carries to amend Ordinance 2026-18. Anything else that we need to know? No. Yeah. Questions?
No, no questions. Okay. I don't have any either. 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 the amended ordinance 2026-18 signify by saying aye. Aye.
Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. I would like to move approval for Ordinance 2026-19, amending
the Monroe County Code, Chapter 430, the Building Code. Second. Thank you very much. Dave Schelling
from the Legal Department again.
This ordinance just updates our what we call the building code, the Monroe County Building Code to reflect
recent amendments to state law, adding some definitions. There's a new procedure that applies to class
two structures which are your residential structures. The building department has to provide notices
and respond within certain amounts of time.
to applicants and there's an opportunity for applicants to employ a private inspector rather than using
the building department. So that this just the intent of this ordinance is to just update some of the
terms in our building code and to make it consistent with recent amendments to state law.
You presented this to us last time as well. Thank you for that. I don't have any questions either, but
once again, we're gonna have to amend 2026-19 to reflect the partners error on ordained versus resolved
at the very end, section two. Can I get a second for that? Yes, I'd like to second that and just
And what I'm trying to figure out, this is the one with the private inspector provision. Is that correct?
Private building inspector? Yes. Okay. Yeah. I think I just, I was looking through things. I think I
just answered my own question. Okay. I was trying to, yeah. You had me on tenterhooks. Okay. Sorry.
I was like, oh.
All right, let's see if there's any public comment on this item. Did you have anything you wanted to
add, Mr. Lueber? Okay. I was just going to answer the question if she, if Commissioner Madeira. Yeah,
no, I think I answered it. Okay. Thank you. Seeing no public comment.
All those in favor of approving the amended ordinance 2026-19 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
2-0 and I will note that we have the same thing for the next item if you could just make it part of
your motion. Okay.
I think I may be confused on that. But that's right. I can make the motion. I'm going to go ahead and
move to approve ordinance twenty twenty six dash twenty to amend Monroe County code chapter four three
three with the note that the Scrivener's error needs to be addressed to at the very end, which is I
believe in section three on this one. That's yeah, I didn't know what section. So can I get a yes, I
would like to second that motion. Thank you. The motion is second.
Thank you very much. This ordinance amends chapter 433, which is our contractor registration ordinance
and licensing ordinance. So there's electrical contractors, which the county is still authorized to
license. So this sets forth the process for licensing of electrical contractors. The state regulates
the licensing of
plumbers. And so we just we just require licensed plumbers to register with the county. That's basically
it. We've just updated some of the procedures and the terms that are in this our old ordinance.
We've changed, make them consistent with current practice and some of the statutory language. Thank
you so much. Questions? No, I just think all of this is frustrating because it starts at the state level
and then we have to
amend. And this is sort of the frustration I still have on 2026-19. And again, I answered my own question
there. Do you ever think that they're going to also make the changes that we've seen with plumbing on
the electrical side as well and just take everything up to the state? Bobby LaRue with the building
department.
It's a really good question. I know that most surrounding states have state issued license for electricians.
Certainly there are some advantages to that for electricians and for our department to be quite frank.
Licensing electricians is a lot of work for the board. We have to, we talk to a lot of people and we have to,
verify test results and do a lot of maintenance with those license. I don't have a great answer. What
I understand the history of this was that there was a certain in the past there were certain groups
of people who felt like they were going to benefit from state issued license and as it turned out those
groups didn't benefit from the state issued license and so the
the motion or the momentum to continue different type of state issued licensing is just petered out.
So I don't know if they'll ever... Sorry, I don't have a better answer other than to talk a lot. So
I'll just leave it at that. No, that's great. That actually was very helpful because it fascinates me
sort of like how these are different from state to state because this is actually much harder than plumbing.
You think it would just be the opposite. And I've asked that question. And why did we start with plumbing?
And the answer, and it's somewhat true, is that plumbing errors and cross connections can contaminate
communities, not necessarily, you know, electrical issues generally affect the structure that they happen
in. And contamination of potable water can affect a large number of people.
Oh, gosh. OK, so it's not particularly shocking. Sorry. Pardon. Sorry. You're getting underwater with
your jokes. Stop it. Excellent. Thank you so much. That does help shed light on it. And with that, Mr.
MG is packing up. Sorry. We're driving him out with the jokes. So yes, thank you so much. That does
make sense from that vantage point. Thank you. And that actually concludes my questions.
Yes, and Mr. Schelling, thank you so much for doing all of the due diligence just to bring these up
to snuff with the state, so thanks. Yeah, and I do want to thank both of you for being patient today
with our recessed meeting. Yes, thank you. The other thing is I think what's worrisome for me is these kinds of
Changes in state law and I think it's still true that about a third of state legislators are builders
or developers So I think it's Interesting to see what happens Fox and hen house and all of that Anyway,
all right any public comment on this item you raise your hand on teams or come to the podium and
motion carries. All those in favor of approving ordinance 2026 dash 20 as amended signify by saying
aye. I motion carries 2, 0, thank you thank you. I just say one other thing. I just wanted to say thanks
to Kirk Sylvester and and the building
comments in it over the last Several months to try to make these the best that they can and they all
three of them have been extremely gracious with their time And I really appreciate it. So thank you.
Thank you, sir Thank you for asking the questions because that's how the sausage gets made. There you
go. So yeah Yeah, thanks for your hard work and I apologize for holding everything up and looking at
feeble minded because I had I had put questions in a version of the PDF packet and then I can't I couldn't
find that version. So I was trying to find the portions of the packet that I had the questions on and
like trying to and I was like just yeah. So sometimes best laid plans if you can't find the file ready
for the new ready for the next item. Thank you. I'd like to move approval for the ratification of the
agreement between the Monroe County commissioners and in dot.
Uh, for the baby Creek road bridge, number six, 29 replacement funding. Oh, I'm sorry. Fund name, baby
Creek road bridge, number six, 29 fund number 81 67 in the amount of 1,689,600. Who's doing this one?
I can do it. Or you can do it since I go ahead and get started. Cause I'm scrolling down to it.
OK. All right. So this was this is a ratification because the index fiscal year was ending and the time
that we were going to be able to get this on to your agenda was not in alignment. And if we waited until
we could get it on the agenda such as today it would it would end up becoming null and void by India
and they would have to resend it.
So what this is doing is you guys had, I've reached out to you individually and you've approved the
signature of this. And this is just making it a formal approval of this particular project and fund.
Thank you. Let's ask her some really tough questions. What about the right of way and the public engineering
project portion of the, anyway, okay, we'll do that. I think ultimately this is a,
project that needs to be done. We've gone through a very lengthy process to prioritize bridges and determine
which is the most appropriate to fund. And this one was the next one to be identified to be done. And
these processes take such a long time, too. Yep. All right. So 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 ratifying the agreement between Monroe County Commissioners and INDOT
for Baby Creek Road Bridge 629 replacement, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Last item,
please. I would like to move to approve the change order number 6 with INDOT for the Vernal Pike Sunrise
Greetings Extension. Fund name, Vernal Pike Sunrise Greetings, fund number 8165 and the amount
of $148,481.69. I will second that.
I was not involved in this one. This is the final project tabulation on the Vernal Pike Sunrise Greetings
Extension. The project connects basically the back of Lowe's to Vernal Pike through the Sunrise Greetings.
I've always called it the bridge over the railroad because there's a railroad that hooks into the roundabout.
created when we extended Dan profile Parkway, sorry, profile. So this is, I think this is what is necessary
to close it out. Yeah. It looks like the final items, um, backfill additional asphalt grade conflicts,
the lineators sidewalk sections, uh, overruns were documented tickets and field calculations and justified
by each department.
So with that in mind, any public comment on this item? Thank goodness it's done. I just went through
that intersection yesterday. The other side of it goes to nowhere. Yes. Of that traffic light on Vernal.
If you're on Vernal, you can cross over the light. There's a light that goes both ways, but there's
nothing except a dirt patch.
I just had a question. What's a delineator? So in this case, the delineators west side of the bridge
and additional sidewalk sections, delineators typically are either railings or curbs or something, some physical
Sure, to separate. Yeah, it's a separation. And I wondered if all the overruns are going to pay those
tickets. We're losing our crowd. We're logging off left and right.
All those in favor of approving change or number six with end up for renal pike sunrise greetings extension
signify by saying aye. I motion carries zero all day three zero all day. Okay. Now that I've learned
to count. She is always now that I've learned to count. I do want to make a motion to appoint Becky
Hill to the Monroe County Library Board.
I second that motion. Her term, I think is completing one. She's aware it might not be a full four years,
but I think it's actually, I think I have to look at it. Yeah, we'll figure it out. But it was a real,
really great to talk to her and learned a lot. And she brings a lot of experience with her, which is
really great. So all those in favor of appointing Becky Hill to the library board, signify by saying aye.
I motion carries two zero. Um, so we've got a cray cray schedule for June. Um, first of all, um, Monero
County government will be closed on June 19th for Juneteenth. Um, and, um, our next meetings are a little
going to be a little strange, um, but in a good fun way and a good summertime kind of way. Um, so we
will only be hearing claims
We are not meeting next week at all, June 11th. We will be hearing claims only on June 18th, claims
and payroll by then, yeah. And June 25th will be claims only meeting. And then we're going to come back
to have our regular meeting on July 2nd.
those will be ratified. Yes, we'll have to ratify everything. So I appreciate everybody's willingness
to be flexible. We have, you know, the forum is difficult for us, and we're doing the best we can, but
we're also mindful of our need to take a vacation before we say something we shouldn't. Well, I'm talking
about myself again, but sorry anyway. I say lots of things I shouldn't. Apparently I do too.
So we are going to have an odd June schedule, but we'll figure it out. And if any department heads have
any questions, please contact Angie because she can manage it so well and keep us all in stride and
keep us all on point where we need to be in order to get things done.
your cockerel is also able to provide great legal advice about how the heck are we going to prove that?
Yes. So we'll figure it out. But if you have an issue, please contact Angie or Jeff. Don't ask me because
I do not know. And I will say something that probably isn't true. So we do remind folks that even if
we're not having our regular meetings, we do have
virtual office hours on teams each month for six hours. Go to the calendar at im.gov-counties slash
county slash Monroe slash and look at the calendar for dates and times. We are still accepting applications
for all boards and commissions. We still have some openings. So please go to our website and find out
more information, fill out an application.
We also, well, it's too late for today. There's going to be another blood drive in July. I don't have
the date here, but it'll be in conjunction with Ivy Tech. Thanks, Ivy Tech. But go to redcross.org to
make an appointment. They would appreciate it, although if you don't make an appointment, you will go
in. We also encourage folks to sign up for the alert notification system, the resident alert notification system.
And that sign up again is on our main website. Did you have anything you wanted to add at this point?
No, I would just say again, I'd emphasize your severe weather that I cannot overstate that because that
cannot it can come up very suddenly and just again,
you know, congratulations to Bloomington South and Bloomington North graduates this past week.
There you go. So we have a bunch of brilliant people going out there in our world, and they're going
to help make the world an even better place. And yeah. Awesome. It's awesome. Not there in Edgewood.
I know that we have. Did Edgewood graduate this past weekend as well? Yeah. I believe so. Oh, awesome.
OK. For some reason, I thought they graduated a week earlier, a week later.
I think their ceremony is a week before, but I think their school dates are probably about the same.
Okay, well then, absolutely. Congratulations, Edgewood is out. We have an Edgewood graduate. And to
all the private school graduates around here as well. All of those people leaving secondary education.
Yeah, moving on to something great. And thanks to those people who will be getting started on their,
I know most
if they're not getting started on life and they're, you know, they've got that one last hiatus of spring,
there are some who are going into the military and thank you there. And so, you know, just congratulations
and to all and be safe. Yeah. And I just want to remind folks that this weekend is the Bloomington Garden
Club garden walk.
And the ticket price is $10. You can go to BloomingtonGardenClub.org. There's four hours of viewing
time on Saturday and four hours on Sunday. And if you go to the New Hope Shelter, I will be there. Hosting,
co-hosting, I should say. So really, really spectacular gardens this year. Wow. So 10 bucks, cheap.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.