- Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting of Monroe County Board of Commissioners.
- It is Thursday, August 13th already. And here and present in the NatU Hill Room is Commissioner Madera
- and myself. And we're going to begin 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. We also stand in support of our county public school systems, both RBB and
- MCCSC. And with that, we will begin with our department updates.
- Ms. Kelly from the Health Department. Good morning. Good morning, Commissioners. According to the Indiana
- Department of Health, wastewater concentrations of COVID are trending upwards, but overall levels remain
- low. The Health Department does still have free COVID and through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to receive
- free tests.
- And lastly, the Morgan County Health Department has vaccines available. You can call 765-342-6621 for
- an appointment. Great. Thank you so much. Any questions? No. All right. Not for me either. Thank you
- so much for joining us today. Thank you. All right. Mr. Miller, Director of Veterans Affairs. Good morning.
- Good morning, commissioners, Nancy. I wanted to share a story today with you about a veteran's breakfast
- that I went to in July. In the middle of July, July 14th, I had a chance to attend a veteran's breakfast
- in Ellisville, where there were about 21 Vietnam or Vietnam-era veterans there. The couple came and
- a couple left through the course, so I had an opportunity to talk to a lot of different people.
- I gave a presentation on the new property tax credits and the other services we provide through my office,
- including VA disability, survivor pensions, vocational rehab, and several other state benefits, including
- tuition and fee exemption for children of disabled veterans, veterans license plates, reduced fee hunting
- and fishing licenses.
- who's your golden passport half price State Park pass, and we discussed the Indian veterans Memorial
- Cemetery in Madison. After the presentation I sat between two Marines, both of them were combat veterans
- from Vietnam and they had amazing stories. Some were sad. Some were funny.
- and the funny ones were really funny. They meet every Tuesday and they do a great job. I also wanted
- to provide a quick update on the work we're doing with the property tax credits for veterans in the
- county. We've held since July 10th, we've had walk-in hours on Fridays from eight to noon. The first
- three Fridays we had 30 veterans each. The fourth Friday we had 40 and then last Friday we had seven.
- We are moving along and we're going to have these walk in hours really for the rest of the year. But
- right now we scheduled them through August and September each Friday from eight to two PM. No need to
- make an appointment. Just bring in the required documents.
- and I wanted to make sure the folks knew how to get a hold of me if they have questions or concerns
- about veterans and surviving spouse matters. My phone number is 812-349-2537 and please call any time.
- Great thank you so much. Very welcome. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right any other department updates?
- see none. We'll move on to public comment. Public comment time is reserved for items not on our agenda.
- We ask each person to limit their time to three minutes per person and to please provide your name and
- county residence before you begin speaking. You may raise your hand on teams or come to the podium.
- Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Steve Malone. I'm a member of the Substance Use Disorder Awareness
- Commission, otherwise known as SUDAC. I just wanted to let everyone know, if you haven't already heard,
- that we're going to host a summit, the Monroe County Recovery Summit, day and a half on September 1st
- and 2nd. We're very excited for this featured speaker, Jermaine Galloway. He's a nationally known speaker.
- We'll do an all day presentation on emerging drug trends, substance use, and practical community based
- prevention strategies for Monroe County. He's also known as the tall cop. You can look him up on Facebook.
- He speaks all over the country. He's got a Facebook page as well. So it's $125 and breakfast and lunch
- will be provided on the first day and I believe breakfast on the second day as well. You can go to Eventbrite and
- register there please it's going to be a very worthwhile event at the Bloomington I didn't know was
- a Bloomington Convention Center now but it's at the Bloomington Convention Center and I'm happy to read
- this with Angie if she wants to take this just in case I'm a flyer for this so any questions I'm happy
- to answer otherwise and there will be CEUs available and CLEs available as well for this event okay
- so for those in the community yeah that's huge
- Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming in. Absolutely. Thank you. Any other public
- comment? Seeing none, we'll move on to approval minutes. You can combine those, please. Yes, I'd like
- to move approval of the minutes for July 23rd, 2026 and August 6th, 2026. I will second that. Any comments,
- corrections, edits? None.
- All right. All those in favor of approving the minutes for July 23rd and August 6, 2026, signify by
- saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. We will move on to ratification of the claims docket, please.
- I would like to move to ratify the claims docket for accounts payable for August 6, 2026 and for payroll
- for August 7, 2026. I will second that. Any comments on those dates? No.
- I don't either. And we should take public comment on the ratification. Anybody like to comment on the
- August 6 or August 7th claims and payroll? Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the claims docket.
- Accounts payable August 6, 2026 and payroll August 7, 2026. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
- 2-0. We'll now move on to today's claims docket, please.
- Yes, I would like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable for August 13th, 2026.
- I will second that. Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for August 13th,
- 2026 totals $2,056,985.73. This includes all emergency claims and adjustments. Thank you so much. Any
- comments or questions? Any public comment on this item? You can raise your hand on Teams or come to
- the podium.
- none all those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable august 13th 2026 signify by
- saying aye aye motion carries two zero thank you ma'am i will note for the record we receive reports
- from weights and measures for july 2026 in the clerk's office for july 2026 we'll now move on to new
- business please i would like to move uh move approval um excuse me i would like to move to approve the
- indiana department of health amendment number three to contract number 80
- that we received from the Indiana Department of Health. So this supports our harm reduction specialist.
- Our harm reduction specialist provides free testing for HIV and hepatitis C.
- provides referral services to care coordination, naloxone distribution, and works with the Indiana Recovery
- Alliance. Great. Thank you so much. Great program. Any comments, questions? None. This is critical.
- All right. Thank you so much. Any public comment on this item? You raise your hand in teams or come
- to the podium.
- All those in favor of approving the Indiana Department of Health Amendment number three to contract
- 85985, signify by saying aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank you, ma'am. Next item, please. I would like
- to move approval of the annual report of the 2025 Community Corrections Grant. I will second that, although
- we don't really have to approve it. We're just going to hear it. Good morning. Good morning. May I have
- permission to share my screen? Sure.
- please allow her to share. It is back to straight. Thank you thank you.
- Well, good morning. My name is Becca Streit. I'm the Community Corrections Director and Deputy Chief
- Probation Officer. Every year, I come before you to provide you an update about the previous year status
- of Community Corrections. We're doing it a little late this year, primarily because I was hoping to
- be able to come bring information about what to expect in 2027.
- We have half the news, so we figured we'd go ahead and come.
- see what happens. I did want to introduce the community corrections team. We have Chris Carlisle, he's
- the director of our home detention division. Steve Malone, our director of problem solving courts. And
- then Chelsea Walters, she pulls double duty. She's our pre-trial director and our director
- of our evidence-based practices and continuous quality improvement for the whole department. And these
- guys and their team are
- what you're about to see is why it's working. So community corrections is a part of the Monroe County
- Probation Department. We are one of only a handful of counties where community corrections and probation
- is unified. So all of our community corrections officers are certified probation officers. We're all
- trained in evidence-based practices. Really the difference is where our funding comes from.
- this is a simplified version of our organization chart just so that you can get an idea that again,
- Community Corrections fits under the Board of Judges. We also Community Corrections has the Community
- Corrections Advisory Board that meets on a quarterly basis to review policy and they're the ones that
- are also responsible for helping me pass and approve the grant. And then with
- In the community corrections division, what you're going to hear about today are problem-solving courts,
- our home detention, and community alternative supervision program, and our pretrial services, as well
- as a bit on day reporting, drug testing, and our community service. Community corrections and Monroe
- County dates back all the way to 1983. That's how long we have been receiving funding from the Department
- of Correction.
- We again are unified with the probation department, and we're funded through various budgets, primarily
- grants, user fees, and then some local money. And then this is just a highlight. There's a lot going
- on with community corrections. And of course, this doesn't even cover the probation side of the department.
- The purpose of this presentation today is to primarily focus on 2025, but towards the end of
- the presentation, I'm also gonna give you a little sampling of what it looks like in 2026 and beyond.
- So in 2025, we received about $1.5 million from the Department of Correction, and that funds our community
- corrections program, specifically our home detention, our drug treatment court and mental health court,
- and then our pre-trial services.
- The Department of Correction has flatlined our grant funding for, I believe it's now six years, and
- spoiler alert for 2026 and beyond it, unfortunately, the funding is reduced and it gets worse. Our Community
- Corrections Program also receives funding from the Indiana Office of Court Services through the Indiana
- Supreme Court. That specifically funds our Veterans Court,
- part of our pretrial services program. And then all four of our problem solving courts receive some
- money, not for personnel, but for bus tickets, what we call barrier busters, incentives like gift cards
- for our problem solving court participants, staff training and drug testing supplies so that our participants
- in problem solving courts don't have to pay for their drug testing. For Indiana Office of Court Services,
- that's the part where we don't have news yet for 2027.
- This is just a visual to let you know that grant funding by the state has been flatlined. It is not
- keeping up with program needs, with personnel costs. Across the state, we're being very vocal up at
- the state level, but this is the reality of what's happening right now. A few highlights about Department
- of Correction grant funding, again,
- Our funding for community corrections program comes from many places. The grant is our biggest. But
- it also comes from project income or user fees, so clients paying to be on home detention, for example.
- Those rates have been significantly down. Monroe County courts and probation and community corrections,
- we do not file violations on individuals because they can't pay. That has never happened, and it will
- never happen.
- But that being said, we then have to make up the cost somehow, and that's why our user fees are declining.
- Our Department of Correction grant only funds personnel. It does not fund any program costs like supplies.
- So I want to just highlight a few of our successes from each division just to give you and the public
- and hopefully the state an idea that these programs are working. We have something called the Community
- Alternative Supervision Program or CASP and that is a diversion from
- incarceration. So that includes home detention. The courts can place people on home detention in lieu
- of sending them to prison to serve their sentence. They are receiving jail credit when they're on home
- detention.
- Our Community Corrections or CASP program is also responsible for our drug test collection and our community
- service. This is a snapshot of 2025. You'll see that we received 124 home detention referrals, collected
- over 12,000 drug tests, and administered over 20,000 alcohol breath tests. Our drug and alcohol test
- positive rate sits right about 11 and a half percent.
- And our participants in the program have completed over 4,000 hours of community service, all here in
- Monroe County. You'll also see that for our home detention participants specifically, they have a 92%
- discharge success rate. And in a little bit, I will share with you just some of the work that goes on
- behind the scenes of why that success rate is so high.
- For problem-solving courts, Judge DeKoff presides over all four of our problem-solving courts. Drug
- Treatment Court started in 1999, and since then, we've, of course, added reentry, mental health,
- and veterans. Every three years, we are required through our certification from the state
- that certifies our problem-solving courts, we're required to have a program evaluation completed by
- researchers. And a few of the highlights from our most recent program evaluation in 2024 is that we
- have high levels of satisfaction from participants in the program, and then it's also making a difference.
- I know a lot of times in criminal justice, we talk about the recidivism rate.
- There is also something called the desistance rate. And this is actually highlighting the successes.
- So rather than looking specifically at the recidivism or people who are reoffending, I wanted to highlight for you
- the people that are being successful from problem-solving court. And I won't go through all of these,
- but just to highlight a few, you'll see that drug court, after one year post-graduation, 86% of those
- participants are not reoffending. After three years, it's 76%. And you'll see that across the board.
- Mental health court, of course, is a little lower, but that's to be expected given the population and
- the needs of that population in that court.
- highlighting the graduates. So these are the number of graduates that have graduated since
- the problem-solving courts have started. So drug treatment court, 560. And then some of our newer courts,
- you'll see we've had over almost 700 successful graduates as of June 1st of this year. And then to highlight
- a few of the successes, you'll see drug court,
- 71% in 2025 successfully graduated. Reentry, 59%. A note about reentry. While reentry court is not one
- of the courts that's funded by the Department of Correction, reentry court
- takes individuals who have been to jail or prison. And in fact, the majority of participants that come
- into reentry court are actually from our local jail. Not so many from prison around the state, but from
- our local jail, we're getting those people out and into a problem-solving court.
- Veterans Court, we've had an 87% successful discharge. And Mental Health Court, again, it's to be expected
- that that success rate is a little lower, but still 34% in 2025. And then pre-trial services. So actually,
- in October of this year, we will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary. And Chelsea was...
- on the team, as well as myself, that originated pretrial. So we're particularly proud that we're now
- 10 years later. We have had 70% or above success in pretrial defendants appearing for court. And we've
- assessed over 16,000 defendants since pretrial started.
- What we do with pretrial in a nutshell is anybody who is arrested and booked into jail then receives
- a assessment, which determines their likelihood of failing to appear for court or reoffending during
- that pretrial period. Anybody who is booked into the jail and didn't bond out, we go see the next business
- day. Anybody that was booked into jail but did bond out also has to come and see us in the office, and
- we complete an assessment on them.
- And I really want to highlight some pretrial successes. Unfortunately, in 2026 for this year, the Department
- of Correction did not fund any pretrial programs across the state, despite the success of the program.
- The pretrial safety rate, this looks at the rate of defendants who during the pretrial period, so the
- time from their arrest to the time that their case was disposed, that did not
- that were not re-arrested. We divide this up by their risk assessment result. So you'll see that if
- somebody assesses low risk on the pretrial assessment, 99% of them are not being re-arrested during
- their pretrial period.
- And then you'll see the delineation between high, moderate, and low. And seeing that stair step means
- that that assessment is working. That assessment is also validated to our local population. The pretrial
- success rate looks at defendants who were not rearrested and who did not violate with a technical offense
- like a dirty drug test or not showing up. And again, you'll see that the low risk
- the assessment is working. It is showing that those low risk people are doing just fine outside of the
- jail. This is the pretrial release rate by risk level. So this is the frequency at which people are
- being released from jail post arrest. You'll see between that and their case being resolved. So you'll
- see again that the judges are releasing the low
- risk people nearly 99% of the time, they are not lingering in jail waiting for their case to be resolved.
- And even the high and moderate risk you'll see across the board are being released at some point during
- their pretrial period.
- And then this is the pretrial length of stay in jail by risk level. These are the average number of
- days somebody is staying in jail. And these numbers are actually a little exaggerated, because if somebody
- is booked in the jail at 1159 PM, that counts as one day. We don't have a way to get that specific.
- So again, you will see that our low-risk individuals who are arrested, they are not sitting in jail
- that long. And typically, the four or five days, that usually accounts for a weekend when the courts
- are not in session. So why is all of this working? Our department is very invested in evidence-based
- practices.
- using what the research tells us to use when working with clients and participants in these programs.
- We have invested a lot of resources in our probation officers and personnel in order to train them and
- and keep them trained in all sorts of skill work and interventions with our clients. So just to name
- a few, we are trained in certain assessments, so risk assessment, substance abuse assessments. When
- somebody comes on supervision, we're doing a full history, trying to figure out from them what
- was going on in their lives. I mean, we do a whole history of what was going on in their lives when
- they were arrested or previous offenses. We're figuring out what's driving their behavior. And then
- we are intervening by applying cognitive behavioral interventions that help the clients figure out how
- their thinking connects to their behavior.
- We focus on the National Institute of Corrections, eight principles of effective intervention. You'll
- see those listed here. Again, it's about increasing intrinsic motivation, assessing their needs, targeting
- those needs.
- And then with Chelsea, I mentioned our continuous quality improvement division. We have an entire group
- of probation officers whose sole position is to give coaching to all 50 of our probation officers to
- make sure that our skills are up to par to be using this with clients.
- We also apply the risk needs responsivity principle. We target specific people for interventions. We
- figure out what their needs are. And then we also address any responsivity needs, such as housing or
- employment or even literacy that might prevent them from being successful. I also want to pause a moment
- on this just because I think it's important. Research has identified
- eight primary criminogenic needs of individuals who are coming into the justice system. The top four
- are there on the left, antisocial behavior, antisocial personality, personality and temperament,
- and peers. If we focus on those top four with our clients, research tells us that we'll have better
- success. The clients will have better success. And I always like to point out, you'll see that on the
- right side, substance abuse is actually a secondary
- need. That's not to say that we don't focus on it, but focusing on substance abuse alone is not going
- to see results. So, 2026 and beyond. For 2026, we do have our information from the Indiana Department
- of Correction about what they're funding for 2027. So, in 2026, you'll see in that column, they
- It's a shock to the system for twenty twenty seven they are not funding problem solving courts for our
- county and many others they're only funding committee corrections and they flatlined it.
- Community corrections for the state of Indiana had to cut 11% across the board, so they were working
- with a lot less funds.
- This is, I won't go through all of this, but the total is what I want to focus on. In 2026, the Department
- of Correction awarded a total of $64 million. In 2027, all counties total requested 80 million in funding,
- but for 2027, they're only funding about 53 million. So we are not alone in receiving those cuts.
- Unfortunately, we know research and statistics tell us the majority of people in the criminal justice
- system either remain in the community on community supervision or if they are released or sent to prison
- or jail, they are eventually released. And we just hope that resources are pointed again in the future
- to community supervision because it does work.
- So I appreciate your time and your support. And I really appreciate all of our staff for working as
- hard as they do despite lack of support sometimes from the state level. So thank you. Thank you so much.
- And you do a lot with very little. And I'm sad to see problem-solving courts not being funded. That's terrible.
- It's also coming down from the federal level as well. I was working on a Bureau of Justice Statistics
- grant that got defunded on problem-solving courts. And so thank you very much for everything you do.
- And not all problem-solving courts demonstrate efficacy, but ours are among those that do. Thank you.
- Thanks to everybody. Thanks very much. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here, everyone. Appreciate
- you. All right, let's move on to item C, please.
- I would like to move approval for Denny Excavating Incorporated Agreement. Fund name, food and beverage,
- fund number 4932, and the amount of $94,000. I will second that, and it's a not to exceed amount of
- $94,000, I will note. And Ms. Whitmer, Director of Parks and Rec. Yes, we're hoping once this is signed,
- that this demo project will be done by September 25th. And I'm also going to say we may or may not need
- a change order to this. The park staff has found some items on the property that needs to be disposed
- of. So we'll work with the vendor to see if they'll take them. Thank you. All right. That sounds like
- a fairly short timeline too.
- Yeah, I appreciate it. And thank you for getting this done. This is moving forward with the nature preserve.
- So thank you. 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 agreement with Denny Excavating Inc, signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please.
- Yes, I'd like to move approval for the Indian Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife
- Cost Share Grant Agreement, Fund Name Parks Non-reverting, Fund Number 1179, in the amount of $3,702.05.
- I will second that. Ms. Whitmer? Yes, this is part of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Cost
- Share Grant Agreement that we are also working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. It's
- intermixed. So if you sign the agreement they'll give us three thousand seven hundred two dollars and
- five cents and we will plant a prairie. Excellent. Simple as that. Great plan. Comments questions? Can
- we call them the prairie prairie? Yeah that would be nice. All right any public comment on this item?
- It's very exciting to move forward with this. Seeing none all those in favor of approving
- The agreement with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife cost share
- grant signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Thank you. All right. Next item, please. Yes,
- I'd like to move to ratify the emergency contract with Bounds Flooring, Incorporated for flood damage
- repairs, fund name 2016 Geobahn B, fund number 4808 in the amount of $23,682.80. I will second that.
- Mr. Crider.
- You have quite a bit for us today. Good morning, commissioners. On July 24th, there was a sewer line
- backup in the justice building that affected both the court's administration area and clerk's office.
- The backup resulted in damage and replacement of carpet, drywall, ceiling tile, and light fixture lenses
- that were affected in both offices. That brings me to a pair of agenda requests before you today. The first
- is the request to ratify an emergency contract with bounce flooring in the amount of $23,682.50 for
- the replacement of carpet in the court's offices following damage caused by flooding at the Charlotte
- Zittlow Justice Center on Friday, July 24th. Thank you so much. Thank you for your quick attention to
- this issue. Questions? Leaps and bounds. Leaps and bounds.
- I have no other questions. 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 ratifying the emergency contract with Balanced
- Flooring Inc. for flood damage repairs signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries. 2-0. Next item, please.
- Yes, I would like to move to approve Bounds Floor Incorporated Clerk's Office Carpet Tile Replacement
- Fund Name 2016 Geobond B Fund Number 4808 in the amount of $35,362.63. I will second that. Mr. Crider.
- This request is to approve the proposal submitted by Bounds Flooring in the amount of $35,362.63 for
- the replacement of carpet tile.
- throughout the clerk's office to update and provide a consistent appearance due to the immediate need
- to temporarily replace carpet tile in areas affected by flood damage. Thank you so much. Yes, questions.
- Nope. All right. Our questions, no, no bounds. Any public comment? Raise your hand on teams. Come to
- the podium.
- see none. All those in favor of approving the bounds flooring in clerk's office carpet tile replacement
- signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Next item please. Yes I'd like to move to ratify
- the Herald Fish contract for Justice Building Control's update phase four, fund name 2025 Geobahn, fund
- number 4820, in the amount of $59,100. Second. Mr. Crider.
- Commissioner Madeira previously signed off on proceeding with phase 4 of the controls update to allow
- the project to continue moving forward. The phase 4 contract consists of two components, engineering
- services and site work for air handling units 3A, 3B, and 301. This request is to ratify the contract
- with HFI in the amount of $59,100 for phase 4 of the Justice Building Controls Update Project. Thank
- you so much. Questions?
- We're not blaming you. All right. I have none. Thank you for working on this, moving this project forward.
- 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 ratifying the Herald Fishing contract for the Justice Building Controls Update
- Phase 4, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next two items combined, please.
- Yes. Combining H and I, I would like to move approval for the BTEC Fire and Security James Driver Reserve
- Operation Center Fire Alarm System, Fund Name 2016 Geobond B, Fund Number 4808, in the amount of $7,296.52,
- and the BTEC Fire and Security James Driver Reserve Operation Center Access Controls, Fund Name 2016
- Geobond B, Fund Number 4808, in the amount of $16,131.69. Thank you. Seconds. Mr. Preyer.
- This request is to approve the proposal submitted by BTEC in the amount of $7,296.52 to provide and
- install a fire alarm control panel, associated wiring, and all related devices, including three years
- of monitoring services, and also to upgrade the access control system at the reserve station
- This project includes the installation of access control panels controllers associated wiring electrical
- hardware and a proximity card readers at three exterior and one interior door in the amount of sixteen
- thousand one hundred and thirty one dollars and sixty nine cents Thank you so much comments or questions
- You know all things that we need. Yep, definitely
- Thank you so much. This is going to be really helpful. And let's see if there's any public comments
- on this item. You raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of
- approving both B-Tech Fire and Security System
- agreements one for the James Driver Reserve Operations Center fire alarm the other for the James Driver
- Reserve Operations Center access control signify by saying aye aye motion carries to zero next item
- please I would like to move to approve elite electric LLC
- I'm going to bring us back to order. And we are on item J, please. All right. Item J, I would like to
- move to approve Elite Electric LLC James Driver Reserve Operations Center LED lighting upgrades. Fund
- name 2016 Geobahn B. Fund number 4808 in the amount of $6,000. Second, Mr. Kreider.
- The existing light fixtures located in the garage are failing or have failed. This request is to accept
- the proposal submitted by the electric LLC in the amount of $6,000 to replace nine light fixtures and
- add an additional five light fixtures with new LED light fixtures plus installation of additional circuits
- to the panel to support. All right, thank you so much. Comments, questions? I don't have any.
- 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.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Elite Electric LLC James Driver Reserve Operations
- Center LED light upgrade signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Item K, please. Yes, I would
- like to move to approve Evans Time employee garage gate access system replacement, fund name 2023 Geobond,
- fund number 4817 in the amount of $20,520.80. I will second that, Mr. Kreider.
- Okay, this request is to accept the proposal submitted by Evenstime and the amount of $20,520.80 to
- replace and upgrade the employee garage gate access system. This includes replacement of the existing
- gate arm and components for the entering and exiting lanes along with upgrading the system to include
- a vehicle count feature that displays when the parking garage has reached capacity. Great.
- Thank you so much. Comments, questions? No. So the display is just going to say garage full, but it
- says that now it doesn't work. I'm not ready to do that. Yeah, it's a problem. All right. Got it.
- Thank you. Any public comment? Reach your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right.
- seeing none. All those in favor of approving the evens time employee garage gate access system replacement
- signify by saying aye. Motion carries to zero. And next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move to approve
- the Herald Fish Incorporated Monroe County Government Center Showers North Heat Pump replacement and
- relocation. Fund name 2022 Geobond, fund number 4815, the amount of $16,670. I will second that. Mr. Greider.
- The existing heat pump serving the reception area and voter's registration requires replacement. Rather
- than installing the new unit in its current location above the work area, the replacement will be relocated
- to the adjacent lobby, reducing impact on staff by allowing future service and repair work to be performed
- without disrupting daily operations. This request is to accept the proposal submitted by HFI in the
- amount of $16,670 to remove the ceiling tile grid
- existing heat pump, provide and install new heat pump and necessary components, confirm operation, and
- then reinstall ceiling grid and tile. All right, thank you so much. Comments, questions? No one's going
- to get hot when they hear it. No. So, nope. 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 Herald Fish Inc. Monroe County Government Center Showers
- North Heat Pump Replacement and Relocation signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero. Thank
- you so much. Next item please. Yes, I'd like to move to approve the Bio 1 LLC Thompson Property Encampment
- Cleanup Contract, fund name County General, fund number 1,000 in the amount not to exceed $70,000. I
- will second that, Mr. Crider.
- This request is to approve the proposal submitted by bio one and amount not to exceed $70,000 to provide
- cleanup services associated with the encampments located on the Thompson property for up to an anticipated
- time span of 20 days. I have no questions. Do you know any public comment on this item? You raise your
- hand on teams or come to the podium.
- none all those in favor approving the bio one LLC Thompson property encampment cleanup signify by saying
- aye aye motion carries two zero next item please I would like to move a move to approve VET environmental
- LLC Monroe County Curry building mold remediation fund name county general fund number one thousand
- in amount not in an amount of seven thousand three hundred and fifteen dollars I will second that Mr. Kreider
- This request is to approve the proposal submitted by VET Environmental in the amount of $7,315.11 to
- perform mold remediation in the targeted areas identified during recent environmental testing at the
- Curry Building. Great. Thank you for pursuing this. Comments, questions? None. Any public comment on
- this item? You raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. It's ongoing for one time.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Vet Environmental LLC Monroe County Curry Building
- mold remediation signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. I would like to
- move to approve Alexander Electric LLC Youth Services Bureau light fixture updates, fund name LIT special
- purpose fund number 1114, an amount of $19,492.
- I will second that Mr. Crader. This request is to accept the proposal submitted by Alexander Electric
- in the amount of $19,492 to replace and upgrade light fixtures and the use shelter at the Youth Services
- Bureau. Three quotes were requested for this project. The proposal was presented that was presented
- was the most responsive and complete addressing the full scope of work requested which includes replacing
- existing light fixtures with new energy-efficient LED fixtures throughout the facility, including
- tamper-resistant fixtures in the dorm area. Great. Comments, questions? I always like to support bright
- futures. Any public comment? Raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. I have an idea.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Alexander Electric LLC Youth Services Bureau light
- fixtures update, signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move to approve the BTEC Fire and Security
- Monroe County Government Center Showers North Security Enhancements Voter Registration IT Maintenance
- Room, Fund Name 2023 Geobond, Fund Number 4817 in an amount of $8,938.34. Second, Mr. Crowder. This
- request is to approve two proposals from BTEC in the combined amount of $8,938.
- and 34 cents to enhance security in the election central IT maintenance room by installing surveillance
- cameras and access controls as requested by the voter's registration office. The first proposal in the
- amount of $2,738.34 includes the installation of three surveillance cameras to provide coverage of the
- room. The second proposal in the amount of $6,200 includes installing new door hardware, proximity card
- readers, and all necessary wiring to provide secure badge access.
- Thank you so much. I'll vote for this. How about you? Yes, absolutely. All right. Any public comment
- on this item? We have a hand raised on Teams. Yes. Ms. Farris.
- I just want to say thank you so much to Richard Crider and the maintenance department for ensuring that
- this is going to be taken care of. I want to say thank you to each of you as well, but also just to
- make sure that this is being very clear and comes across as we are ensuring that there is as much security
- measures as possible for all of the election equipment, but also for the staff in our office. We are
- still waiting on a couple of more things to be completed in the office to
- We finished that security measures and once everything is completed, we believe that we will be one
- of the most safest options and offices within the county for voter registration for the first time since
- I've been here for three years. Thank you so much. We appreciate that. Thank you. Great. Any other public comment?
- All those in favor of approving the BTEC fire and security Monroe County Government Center Showers North
- security enhancements, voter registration, IT maintenance room signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
- 2-0. Can we do the last item, please? Yes, I would like to move to approve Nature's Way Monroe County
- Government Showers North Landscaping Services Fund Name 2020-2021.
- 2021 2022 show bond funds number 4815 in the amount of $5,841 so easy for you to say I will second nature's
- way has completed the demolition and cleanup associated with the landscaping update at the showers building.
- There will be no new plantings until the fall, but the beds will require ongoing maintenance. This request
- is to approve the proposal submitted by Nature's Way Inc. in the amount of $5,841 for landscaping,
- maintenance, and showers building for the remainder of the 2026 season to include weed control and fall
- cleanup. Thank you so much. Comments, questions? All right. Let's see if there's any public comment
- on this, how our garden grows. No weeds.
- Seeing none, all those in favor of proving nature's way, Monroe County Government Center Showers North
- Landscaping Services signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 2-0. Commissioner Madure has to leave,
- but I'm going to go ahead and finish with announcements and things if that's alright. Sure, I actually
- did have some remarks. Please.
- So there were some remarks made at the end of Tuesday's council meeting that I just wanted to address.
- So I wanted to correct an implication made by Councillor Henry with respect to the Justice Centre. I
- think every, and these remarks are on my behalf, we have not had a chance to confer, create a statement.
- Every employee has the right to a safe and clean workplace. When employees raise concerns, these concerns
- deserve to be heard, investigated, and addressed. But hearing an allegation isn't the same as establishing
- that allegation is fact. And that certainly isn't evidence that commissioners knew about a hazardous
- condition and chose to ignore it. So I think counselor Henry's arguments rest on two unsupported leaps.
- The first is that reports that the Justice Center was, quote unquote, not cleanly established that remains
- unsanitary.
- They don't. Iosha's letters related to employee allegations. The letters themselves expressly stated
- that they were not citations and that Iosha had not determined that alleged hazards existed. Iosha's
- visit is part of determining the facts and should not be represented as proof of a violation before
- a process is complete. The second and more serious leap is the suggestion that if some area still requires
- attention, the commissioners must have known about it and deliberately chose to do nothing.
- That's not logical or accurate. And so before accusing public officials of knowingly allowing employees
- to work in a sanitary conditions, one should establish what condition existed, when it was reported
- to whom, and what happened in response. The document response was definitely not nothing.
- After the July 24th incident, the building was closed for four working days. Professional remediation
- crews were brought in an hour after the incident. Damaged carpet, drywall, and other materials were
- removed as necessary, and affected areas were cleaned, sanitized, and dried. And the cause also matters.
- The sewage backup occurred after materials were deliberately flushed to the jail's plumbing system.
- The later drain cleaner exposure was a separate incident involving an operational decision
- by jail maintenance staff to use an unfamiliar product. The commissioners didn't director authorized
- that substitution.
- These events have to be assessed and prevented from occurring, but they should not be collapsed into
- a narrative that the commissioners knowingly chose to tolerate unsafe conditions. We're statutorily
- responsible for county facilities, but responsibility for responding to an incident isn't the same as
- having caused it, and it isn't proof of indifference. So our performance should be judged by whether
- we respond, investigate, remediate, and pursue the resources necessary to protect employees. So we'll
- welcome those questions during budget hearings. We'll come prepared with facts, remediation records,
- project needs and funding requests,
- And that process should be a serious discussion between the commissioners and the council, not an occasion
- for threats or assumptions about one another's motives. So with that, I conclude those remarks.
- Thank you. I agree with what you've stated. And I actually was going to ask, since Mr. Cockerill was
- present for the IOSHA inspection, if he wanted to say anything about what's been going on and shed some
- light on this.
- Well, and I think anything I say is probably just going to stack on. I was there for the inspection
- portion of it. Essentially, I wish it came down unannounced, you know, it's on Tuesday, which is fine.
- And, you know, I think they made it clear to everybody they ever talked to that you can't take any negative
- employment actions, which, you know, sewage falling on your desk and we're going to take negative employment
- actions on you. I think you have a right to be concerned. And so,
- and part of theirs was interviewing employees and clearly we weren't sitting through those interviews
- so that they would speak freely to the inspectors. What I did do is I did go around and we toured the
- facilities. We toured where the damage was. It was demonstrated and shown half the agenda items today,
- where the carpet was replaced, where the drywall was replaced, all those kind of cleaning things. We're
- going to follow up if we haven't already
- with documentations that demonstrate exactly what we did and where. The one thing that I found interesting
- and I don't really want to talk a whole lot about that because it's still part of their investigation
- and they have to do their job and we'll get a response to it but outside of that we were discussing
- CO2 in the building and things like that and it wasn't known to me but apparently we have a system where
- if any area of that building gets over
- 1100 CO2 and I think 1400 is kind of the benchmark that most people hit. Anything gets over 1100. We
- have a alarm mechanism and it gets cleared out. Our typical building areas are between 6 and 800. And
- so they do, we do occasionally get courtroom, one of the courtrooms having that, you know, you get a
- lot of people, you get a lot more CO2. And so occasionally that's where we see
- the alarm being triggered and then the automated systems replenish the air quicker as quickly as we
- can. So he hadn't heard of that before. He was very impressed that that was involved in our building.
- And he even made the comment that he wished all buildings and all building owners would have something
- in place like that because that indoor air quality is an issue. I'm assuming that from their perspective,
- that's probably something they look at a lot.
- I didn't ask, but that was my assumption after that. And if I can just jump on that, we've actually
- had, I was present on that same tour, and we've actually had those systems since 1995. And we also have
- Alterviolet as well. So that was another. Yeah, I did not. That was also a surprise. Yeah, you thought
- we installed them in response to COVID. And we actually had them many years before. Yeah.
- I don't know, Ms. Purdy, if you want to talk about the state health department visit, we invited them
- to come down. I don't have that in front of me. That's OK. So I can't tell you the exact dates or anything.
- But I do know that the state did come down and do their assessment. That was done prior to the sewage
- event. So that was prior to that. But their report was that the air quality in the building was
- appropriate. They one of the things that they looked at was the they looked at the mold spores and everything
- and they were acceptable as per their report. They also look at the CO2 levels and again all the levels
- that were checked were I think between six and probably eight hundred seven something high numbers.
- The eleven fourteen is
- I think you actually had 700 to your 700 number, and that gives you what is not acceptable. So we were
- all fine on that level. So we brought the State Board of Health in to do this assessment to help support
- all the work that has already been done and to show that we are in fact trying very hard to ensure a
- proper and adequate
- an acceptable air quality. There is no defined numbers for that, if you'll find out, other than CO2
- levels. But we're trying to show that we are taking all of these concerns seriously. And we want to
- have the most safe environment for our employees. Yep. And they said something about the air quality
- in their letter, the air quality being better indoors than outdoors that day. Correct. Because there
- was so much mold in the air.
- Yeah. Spore level was significantly higher outside than it was within the building. Yeah. So two things
- to take away from all of this. First is a huge thank you and flowers. The verbal flowers given to ASI,
- David Gardner, Mr. Kreider, who just worked his tail off
- I mean, you can tell how much work you do by how many items you bring on our agenda. You've been busy
- and really appreciate it. Ms. Purdy, Mr. Cockrell, everybody who's had something to do with this to
- try to get this together. Big, huge kudos. We love our team. We really appreciate our employees so much
- for the hard work that they do. The second takeaway is,
- I really wish people would not talk about things they don't know anything about. And what it highlights
- for me is the fact that this Justice building doesn't need, quote, a lick of paint and new carpet, as
- has been said previously. This building is in terrible shape. We are continuing to work with VET, as
- you can see by the Curry Building item on our agenda.
- But we are continuing to work with that on every one of our buildings to keep the mold counts down for
- all of our employees and for all of our visitors, for all the residents of Monroe County. We are working
- with a terrible building, structurally HVAC-wise, functionality-wise. Everything is wrong with that
- building that you could name.
- I don't think there's much right about that building. And this is a good reminder that we need to move
- forward as quickly as possible with our jail project. Please. Please. I would just like to also stress
- the fact that there has been repeated statements that we have failed to maintain this building. And
- nothing could be further than the truth.
- staff has tried and done more than successfully kept this building functional. The problem with this
- building that we're speaking of is that you can't, the design is such that we cannot put in place the
- improvements that are required to make this a safe and functional building for all of the inhabitants.
- When people say it has not been maintained, that is not accurate. ASI, our maintenance department, they
- have gone above and beyond in trying to keep this, as I've referenced before, an old horse with a broken
- leg functioning. And they have looked into trying to change the plumbing. The other thing I wanted to
- go is people talk about
- Well, this building was redone because we were able to evacuate this building and put people elsewhere.
- The Justice Building is a 365, 24-7 facility that does not allow for the evacuation of all the inhabitants
- in order to do the kind of rehab that would, people are talking about, but would not meet the needs
- of our jail system.
- So I just want to put that out there. Yep. Thank you. And this building had some structural issues,
- but they certainly were not the same kind of structural issues that the justice building currently faces.
- Absolutely. I was here for putting that. Yes, you were. So please, if anybody has any questions on the
- council, anywhere in county government, let us know.
- will address them rather than throwing accusations around to for no apparent reason except to infuriate
- people and to make their workplace less tolerable. So I ask once again for everyone to please be kind.
- Feel like a kindergarten teacher. Anyway, I do
- We do not have appointments. Commissioner Deere did have to leave. But I just want to go through a few
- quick announcements. And I do want to note that we do have board and commission vacancies. So we do
- encourage folks to look at those vacancies and to apply. We also
- you can go to our web page and sign up there to receive weather alerts. For example, we are currently
- still under a foot watch. There's a nice big blob of rain heading our way for more rain to set late
- this afternoon. This evening. Um there's more coming. So if you want to be
- I also would like to remind folks that we do have a blood drive at IB Tech. I do not have the August
- dates in front of me, but please go to redcross.org and you can see the appointment calendar and sign
- up to donate blood. There is a shortage of blood products across the country right now and not a good
- thing. We do continue to host office hours.
- office hours, which is about 26 hours a month. And on our calendar, you can find those office hours.
- Just log on and join us via teams for conversation. Some really great things have come out of those
- office hours. Um some really useful conversations and even the utility vehicle allowance on
- We appreciate all of our county residents and our next meeting, we do not have a work session. Our next
- meeting is Thursday, August 20th, right here in the NatU Hill Room at 10 a.m. And with that,
- we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone.