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.