Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Monroe County Commissioners. It is Thursday,
October 29th, and we will begin with our public statement. Yes. 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 the source. We
believe in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We also stand in support of our county public
school systems, both RBB and MCCSC. All right. Thank you so much.
Um, we will now move on to, um, we have two proclamations this morning and we'll start commissioner
Maduro with the youth hope months.
Yes, Youth Homelessness Outreach Prevention and Education Month. Whereas the future well-being of our
nation is dependent on the value we place on our young people, and whereas the prevalence of runaway
and homelessness among youth is staggering, with studies suggesting that every year 4.2 million people
ages 13 to 25 endure some form of homelessness,
and whereas runaway youth are often expelled from their home, have experienced trauma, struggle to meet
basic needs, and are at increased danger of falling into high-risk situations, including human trafficking,
and may be ineligible or unable to access adequate medical or mental health resources, and whereas Youth
Services Bureau of Monroe County is working to raise awareness, support, and resources for young people
in the community,
and whereas effective programs supporting runaway youth and assisting youth and their families in providing
safe and stable homes succeed because of partnerships created among families, youth-based advocacy,
organizations, community-based human services agencies, law enforcement schools, faith-based organizations,
and businesses.
And whereas if all of us work together we can prevent the situations that compel you to run away from
home and encourage all citizens to appreciate the role that we can all play in advocating for and providing
safe alternatives to this vulnerable population of young people.
is honoring November as Youth Hope Month to raise awareness of the issues facing runaway and homeless
youth and educate the public about solutions and the role they can play in ending youth homelessness.
Now, therefore, we, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim the month of November
2026 as Youth Hope Month in Monroe County. Proclaim this 29th day of October, 2026. All right, thank
you so much. Commissioner Jones, please.
Operation Green Light for Veterans. The residents of Monroe County have great respect, admiration, and
the utmost gratitude for all the men and women who have selflessly served our county and this community
and our forces.
And the contributions and sacrifices of those who served in the armed forces have been vital in maintaining
the freedoms and way of life employed, enjoyed by our citizens. And Monroe County seeks to honor individuals
who have made countless sacrifices for freedom by placing themselves in harm's way for the good of all.
and veterans continue to serve our community in the American Legion, veterans of foreign wars, religious
groups, civil service, and by functioning as county veterans service officers in 29 states to help fellow
former service members access more than 52 billion in federal health, disability,
and compensation benefits each year and approximately 200,000 service members transition to civilian
communities annually and active military service members transitioning from military service are at
a high risk for suicide.
during their first year after military service. And the National Association of Counties encourages
all counties, parishes, and boroughs to recognize Operation Green Light for veterans. And Monroe County
appreciates the sacrifices of our United States military personnel and believes specific recognition
should be granted
We, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim November 4th through 11th, 2026 as
Operation Green Light for Veterans. Thank you. Thank you so much for your continued support of Monroe
County Veterans. It means a great deal. Thank you so very, very much.
is proclamation. Yes, I apologize. I meant to accept the proclamation on behalf of you Services Bureau
for Hope Month. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. All right. With that, we will
move on to our
department updates. And we will begin with the health department. We have Menea Amy joining us on Teams.
If she could be promoted to presenter, she can then unmute and join us. Yes. Good morning.
Good morning, commissioners. As you know, the Board of Health has appointed a new interim health officer,
Dr. Paul Broderick. Dr. Broderick also serves as the health officer for Morgan County, a position he's
held for over a decade. Our disease intervention and harm reduction staff continue to offer free walk-in
STI testing on Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m. in the lower level of the Health Services Building at 119
West 7th Street here in Bloomington.
Wastewater monitoring of flu and COVID is currently showing moderate levels of the viruses in the community
with influenza A sharply on the rise. So now is very time for folks to get their updated flu and COVID
vaccines. When I last updated you on October 8th, the Indiana Department of Health reported that there
had been 28 known cases of measles statewide in 2026. As of yesterday, October 28th,
That number had reached 74 known cases, nearly a third of whom have required hospitalization. Cases
have mostly been among unvaccinated individuals. I want to reassure you there have been no suspected
or confirmed measles cases in Monroe County this year. However, we are strongly encouraging folks to
stay up to date on vaccinations. Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious
complications, especially in young children
pregnant people, and those with weakened immune systems. The most effective protection against measles
is the MMR, or measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. The United States has maintained measles elimination
status since the year 2000, and unfortunately we are expected to lose that status this year. Folks can
schedule a vaccination appointment with a primary care provider at the IU Health Community Health Clinic
or at the Morgan County Health Department in Martinsville by calling 765-342-6621. Thank you. Excellent.
Thank you so much. Any comments or questions, Commissioner Jones? Yeah, that's certainly very bad news
about the increase in measles, but at least it's not in Monroe County yet. Commissioner Medeira?
absolutely. Yes, that's something we're keeping a close eye on, and we very much hope to keep away.
For sure. Excellent. Thank you so much for joining us today. Appreciate it. All right. Next, we have
an update from Rural Transit. Good morning. Make sure I do it correctly.
Good to see everybody in person again. Yes, I wanted to give an update for this past quarter about ridership
from Monroe County. Pardon me, I've got like a frog in my throat. For this past quarter, July, August,
September, we had 5,854 rides that we provided. That puts the average for this year from January to
September at 1,818 rides per month.
and I wanted to provide an update on Ellisville as well. I've been in communication with Shelly Stramatis
and then Nick Standifer has also copied on those emails. I've been providing them with information about
ridership and mileage for what our experience has been serving Ellisville so that they can formulate
a plan going forward. Thank you so much.
I appreciate the update. Any comments or questions, Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you so very much.
Commissioner Jones? No, just thank you. Thank you. Have a great day. Yeah, thank you. You too. All right.
Next, we'll move on to Veterans Affairs. Mr. Stephen Miller. Good morning.
Good morning, commissioners. Thanks for having me today. I wanted to give a quick little update on one
we talked about during the proclamation, the amount of money that comes into communities from the VA.
And the VA gives a global distribution of funds estimate every year, and it's always a year in the rear.
So for fiscal year 2025,
Monroe County received 76.9 million dollars from the federal VA. That is up 9.6 million dollars over
fiscal year 2024. The compensation and pension is the biggest driver of that increase that went up 7.6
million dollars and we're seeing
Our disability claims have gone up and our intents to file have gone up so our estimation is that more
work is being done, more better work, it's getting better results. On top of that I wanted to tell you
a quick story about a veteran that I've been helping out.
sometimes in my office, I'm not able to provide a magic bullet to fix a problem. And earlier this month,
the mother of a service member reached out to one of the veteran service organizations here in town
because her son is stationed in Korea and was trying to take advantage of a program called SkillBridge,
which is a DOD transition assistance program that allows for up to 180 days of unpaid
Um,
internship at a company, they still get paid their military salary during that time frame, and oftentimes
it leads to a full-time job. Well, this veteran, excuse me, the service member is stationed in Korea,
and 13-hour time difference was really struggling to try to get a hold of. All of the onus of getting
in the program is all on the service member. So they had to find a company, and they had to coordinate
a plan for them to work there, and they were, frankly,
just struggling. I personally didn't have a line on the employers, but I knew who did. In Monroe County,
we have the Department of Workforce Development, and they have a person called the Disabled Veteran
Outreach Program Specialist, whose role is to help veterans get jobs. They help them get job ready by
helping them with their resumes,
interview prep and then actually finding jobs with them. But our diva was
jumping for joy when I called him and asked if he would be able to help. And he was able to get a hold
of that individual. And they're presently formulating a plan to try to see if they can get him through
the skill bridge program, which I think will be incredible for his long term success once he gets out
of the service. So that's what I had to share with you all today. So thank you so much for your time
and have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you so much. Appreciate the updated information.
very welcome. All right. Um, any other department updates? You can raise your hand on teams. Uh,
we have, uh, John Baton, GIS. You should be able to unmute. There you are. Good morning.
Good morning. I'm just here to provide a quick update on our live election reporting that will be coming
out next week, Tuesday, for election day. We do have an application built out for this. We'll be doing
live election reporting again. This will be our third time doing this. As votes come in from
voter registration, we'll be basically putting those into the dashboard, and this will be updating generally
about every hour. You guys can all hear me and see my screen as well, correct?
We can see your screen, but you're stalled on accepting the information. Something that's, I'm not sure
that's the screen you want because there's no, there's no data on it. Yeah. Oh, yep. Yeah. There's I'll
get out of this splash screen here to see, can you see the dashboard now? Yes. Yes. And there's no data
because we haven't got any votes yet. So as he's coming, this is just all zeroed out, but we have one
that's built up for a county wide.
dashboard as well as the precinct level, but you can just basically search for a race and click on something
like this and the data will show up as those votes come in, as well as the ballot measures that are
on the ballot this year. And then at the precinct level, this is more geographic, but users, if they're
not aware of what their precinct are, they can search by an address here. So I'll just type in 501 North
Morton so folks can see how this works.
And we'll zoom into 501 North Morton Street to see that we are in Bloomington 20. And so if folks wanted
to search for it that way, that's kind of an easy way to do it. You can go to Bloomington 20 just by
typing in 20. It'll zoom back in again. And then you can select an office again just by searching. I'm
just going to go straight party here. And we can get those results showing up like that.
So this is also configured for mobile view as well. The laptop or desktop version has more bells and
whistles and it's what I recommend. I'll also just highlight once more our early voting dashboard has
been turning around as expected. We've had a great turnout yesterday and we got a few more days of early
voting. So it's neat to see that we're doing better than 2022 and we're inching up to 2018. So hopefully
these numbers keep going up. That's all I got.
Great. Thank you so much. And thanks again for putting this product together. Yeah, I was hoping to
see those early voting numbers because I haven't checked in a few days. So it's good to see that number
is high. There were a lot of people there yesterday when I was there. There were a lot. But things went
very quickly. So that was good. Excellent. Thank you so much. Yeah, great. Thank you.
The other departments have an update for us. All right, seeing none, we'll move on to public comment.
This is public comment for items that are not on our agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes per
person, and we ask that you provide your name and your county of residence when you begin speaking.
see any hands raised on teams, nor anyone here in the NETU Hill Room. OK. Well, with that, we will move
on to our next agenda item, please. Yes, I would like to move approval of the minutes for October 22,
2026. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comments, corrections, or edits? Nope. OK.
All those in favor of approving the minutes for October 22nd, 2026 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion
carries 3-0. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move approval of the claims docket for accounts payable
for October 29th, 2026 and for payroll for October 30th, 2026. Second. We have a motion and we have
a second. Good morning.
Good morning. The accounts payable claims docket for October 29th, 2026 totals $2,437,635.66. This includes
all emergency claims and adjustments. The payroll docket for October 30th, 2026 includes $1,645,552.97.
The indirect costs and the remaining
$84,626.89 were for indoor costs for a grant total of $2,330,179.86. Thank you so much. Comments or
questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Commissioner Madeira? Thank you. No, I don't either. Let's
see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
All those in favor of approving the claim stock and accounts payable October 29th, 2026 and payroll
October 30th, 2026 signify by saying aye. Motion carries three zero. Thank you. And I will note that
we have received reports from the clerk's office and that's for September 2026. And we received reports
from weights and measures for both September and October.
of 2020. I also want to note that at our last meeting we had. Noted that we received. The housing report
from from Dr Clements toward an analytical platform for housing inventory. Bloomington, Ellisville and
Monroe County. I had made a motion at that last
I want to go ahead and was told to wait a week, so I want to go ahead and make that motion that we accept
that housing report today. Second. All right, so we have a motion and we have a second. Any other comments
from commissioners? It was an interesting report. Yeah, very, very.
All right, and we appreciate the hard work of Dr. Clements. All right, all those in favor of accepting
the housing report signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. All right, motion carries to one.
All right, we will move on to new business, please.
Yes, I'd like to move approval for the Bio One Thompson property encampment cleanup extension. Fund
name County General, fund number 1000 in the amount of $35,000. Second. We have a motion and we have
a second. Mr. Kreider. Morning Commissioners. Richard Kreider, Monroe County Building and Fleet. I'd
like to read a Thompson cleanup progress update if you don't mind. Thank you.
Iowa one county maintenance parks and the highway departments continue to make progress on the Thompson
encampment cleanup The project has required multiple extensions as additional campments structures garbage
and debris have been identified and addressed throughout the cleanup process Phase one was 20 days of
removing personal property dismantling structures repairing fencing marking boundaries clearing brush
creating access points and new trails to assist with cleanup process and improving patrolling capabilities.
Phase 2 and 3 have been structured 10-day extensions to allow Bio 1 to continue working through former
encampments. Bio 1 systematically sifts through the debris at each encampment, separating and removing
hazardous materials encountered during the cleanup. The remaining debris is consolidated into large
piles, which are then loaded by machinery into dumpsters for disposal.
Phase four is necessary to finalize cleanup in areas that are accessible with the equipment currently
in use. A phase five will be required to address the remaining former encampments due to the location
and obstacles surrounding them. Additional planning will be necessary to determine how to best access
the cleanup in those areas. The building and fleet office will coordinate with the highway department
and parks department to identify the most appropriate equipment for reaching those locations.
With that said, this request is to approve the proposal submitted by Bio One to extend the existing
agreement for an additional 10 days to continue cleanup and hazardous material removal at the Thompson
property at a rate of $3,500 per day for a total additional cost not to exceed $35,000. Thank you so
much. Commissioner Jones, comments or questions? No, I don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madera.
No, I do not. Thank you so much for all you've done to shepherd this through. Yeah, it's it's yeah your
leadership has has been great. And so this is really phase four that that we're doing right. Yes. So,
How long is phase five expected to take? Or you don't know that because... I really don't know because
of the locations. There's two encampments that are extremely difficult to get to. If we can drive to
it, it's a lot easier, but these are surrounded by piles of stone and dry creek beds. It's a challenge.
Gotcha. All right.
All right. Well, thank you again for your work on this and coordinating. And we do want to, again, thank
Highway and Parks for their help as well, because they've been super. All right. So let's see if there's
any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the Bio 1 Thompson property encampment cleanup extension,
signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. All right. Next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move
approval for the ratification of Indiana Door and Hardware Specialties, Incorporated, fund name, service
maintenance, fund number 1138, in the amount of, well, it says original cost, $7,840, and for an additional
cost of $760.
Second. All right we have a motion and we have a second. This request is for approval to ratify the
additional $760 expense incurred for exit door repairs at the Justice Building. Indiana Door and Hardware
submitted an initial initial quote of $7,840 to repair exit doors at the Justice Building.
Due to security requirements, the proposal was approved and then later ratified at the September 3rd
Board of Commissioners meeting. During the repair process, it was discovered that a hinge required
replacement. After consultation with maintenance, a decision was made to install a continuous hinge
to address C issue. This modification required additional parts and labor, resulting in an additional
expense of $760 beyond the original approved amount, bringing the total project cost to $8,600.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Madeira? None. Thank you. Commissioner Jones?
No, I don't. Thank you. I don't have any either. Thanks for your attention to this matter. Let's see
if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the Indiana Dorn Hardware Specialties, Inc. contract with
the additional cost of $760, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0. All right. Next item, please.
I would like to move approval for resolution 2026-39, surplus property for the Parks and Recreation
Department. Although I think a surplus party sounds much better. I would love a surplus party. I don't
even have the first one to have a surplus. There we go. Thank you. All right, Mr. Crider.
All right. This request is for approval to declare the Parks and Recreation mower and PR 26 Nissan truck
as surplus property. The Parks and Rec mower has reached its scheduled replacement point and will be
traded to Richard Small Engines for credit toward the purchase of a replacement mower. And PR 26 2015
Nissan Frontier truck has exceeded its service life and has developed mechanical issues that do not
justify further investment and repairs. This vehicle will be sold at auction.
Thank you so much. All right. Any comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you.
Commissioner Madera? No, thank you. All right. I don't have any questions always. We do love the pictures,
so thank you. All right. Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand
on Teams or come to the podium.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving resolution 2026-39 signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries
3-0. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right, next item, please. Yes, I would like to move approval for
the ratification of the Monroe County Major Crash Investigation Team Grant, Fund Name, MCI Grant 20.616,
Fund Number 8193,
in the grant amount of $75,534.38. Second. All right. We have a motion and a second. We heard this item,
and yeah. We kind of heard this item, but that's why it's a ratification. We approved the interlocal
agreement with Ellisville for this grant agreement. However, the grant agreement itself was only implicitly
approved during that process. So this is just making that explicit. Yeah.
that grant agreement was included in the packet, so I didn't think twice about it, so got it. Okay.
Thank you for keeping us thoroughly in line with what needs to happen, so thank you for that. Any comments
or questions, Commissioner Madeira? No, thank you. Commissioner Jones? No, I don't. Thank you. All right.
Any public comment on this item?
raise your hand on teams or come to the podium. All right, seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying
the Monroe County Major Crash Investigation Team grant, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
All right, thank you, Mr. Cockrell. Next item, please.
Yes, I'd like to move approval for the ratification of the health officer contract. Second. We have
a motion and we have a second, Ms. Purdy. Yeah. Last week, we found ourselves in the position of not
having a health officer, which required the commissioners and the health board to scramble.
in order to get somebody in place so that our health department could continue to serve our community
members. And I think as indicated previously by Linnea, Dr. Broderick, who is the Morgan County Health
Officer has agreed to serve in this role for us on an interim basis. And this just ratifies that contract
that was signed by an emergency meeting of the Board of Health and the
Mr. Thomas was able to sign as the president and here for now, we are ratifying that agreement. Great.
Thank you so much. Uh, any comments or questions, commissioner Jones? No, it's just good that we were
able to make this happen. This is one of my favorite programs to approve. I think it does a world of
good for people and the surrounding community. And, uh, it's my delight to, uh, prove this. Thank you.
Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the
podium. Seeing none, all those in favor of ratifying the health officer contract, signify by saying
aye. Aye. Aye. Sorry. That's all right. Motion carries three zero. I was just gonna turn to you and
say, what do you think? All right, we're good. All right.
and I'll explain it. Yes. We do need a vote to approve it. And I didn't mean to say program before in
the city department. So I'd like to move approval for the Food and Beverage Tax Fund plan. Second.
All right. So we have a motion and a second. So we have an annual meeting of the Food and Beverage Tax
Advisory Commission tomorrow afternoon, and the
the commission is really an advisory body, but we are required by state statute to provide information
on the planned spending for the remainder of this year and into next year. And the city will do likewise
with their 90% of food and beverage money.
Just to review where things are, we do have, as of October 21st, more than $2.5 million in our Monroe
County Food and Beverage Fund. The plan reads as follows, that first for the Monroe County Nature Reserve,
the 409 acres,
and the council did not allocate funding for the required tasks in order for us to receive this property
in trust. And they also need maintenance equipment. A total of 905,000 is part of the plan,
although only 186,000
has been expended so far. So there's still money that has to come out of that $2.7 million. I'm going
to skip down to the third item, which is the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board of Managers Convention
Center Hotel Project Support. And as the Monroe County Convention Center Project is nearing its completion,
unbelievable how fast that went. A companion project, which is the Host Hotel, has not yet started.
And the Capital Improvement Board has asked us to assist with funding. And this relates to site selection
utility property development
essentially to get this project moving. It's unfortunate that the city of Bloomington did not choose
to put this money in, but we are, as a board, very interested in this project moving forward and getting
complete. So this is a $300,000 offer of support
on that project. And just for clarification, it seems there's still some confusion about food and beverage
dollars and how they're supposed to be used. And some members of council think that it's only for the
convention center. And actually, our 10% is convention tourism and economic development.
And with that in mind, we do have the Quarry Project, which has been a bit stalled, but we are meeting
in a few weeks. There's a group of residents from across the community who are interested in developing
this project. It's not really a park. It is economic development. It supports, of course, has the nature
the arts. And, um, we're hoping limestone symposium. And other related projects. Um so our first, um,
funding will be for. A, um.
as a critical feature in order to gauge what folks would like to see in our community. And then we will
move on to site access and safety improvements so folks can get there and park and walk through the
property. There's just, the walking paths are actually deer runs. Although there's a gravel road there,
but it's, yeah. Anyway, the goal here really is to do something we've needed
in this community for a long time as we're heading in toward the 200th anniversary of the limestone
industry in Monroe County. We don't have anything that celebrates the history of limestone in our community.
How it has, how the procurement has evolved over time, the
the cultural impact, the workers who arrived in Monroe County, what their lives were like. There's so
many parts of this story, the geological part, the architectural aspects that haven't been told. And
so that's the goal of this Quarry project. And one of the key features will be
not only an outdoor exhibit of limestone equipment, which it's going to be fascinating for folks to
see that, but also we'd like to create an indoor archive space, research space, and a place for children
young adults and adults to learn more about the limestone industry. We just see this being a magnet
for local field trips and lots of people coming to enjoy the property and to learn about limestone and
the industry. So really great time, fascinating time to be part of this. And so there is,
a total of over 1.5 million dedicated to launching this project. So that is the plan. Any questions,
Commissioner Madeira? No, I just wanted to make sure that the public knew that there is very, very narrow
purposes for which these tax funds could go to, and they're all economic development projects. So it's
a very narrow circumscription.
and tourism fits into that. Commissioner Jones, questions? No questions, just this has been on the back
burner for a long, long time, and it's pretty exciting to see it moving forward. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
we've been stymied by a few things, not the least of which is trying to get the Justice Center done,
because that was one of the access points. So we're moving off of that, and we've found other options.
All right. Any public comment on the food and beverage tax fund plan? Or come to the podium. All right.
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the food and beverage tax on plan signify by saying aye.
I motion carries three zero. All right, next we have appointments and I have this is all related to
the Health Board and I'm just going to make this all in one motion be easier. Okay, so I would like to move
approval of the appointments of Kay Fields and John Macy and to the health board. And these are two-year
terms ending December of 2028. And to appoint Steve Coover to a four-year term with an expiration of
November of 2030. Kind of sounds so far away.
We are going to have to make room for these folks. And as a result, we are going to be removing two
board members, Dr. Teague and Dr. Pritchard with great thanks and appreciation for their service. And
that is the motion. Second. All right. All those in favor of approving the appointments signify by saying
aye. Aye. Any opposed?
I'm not sure how we would vote if I'm in favor of the appointments, but against the removals. Just vote
no. I think you could vote no or you could ask us with the question. I'll just vote no. Okay, so the
motion carries two to one. All right, so we have a few announcements.
I want to remind folks that early voting continues. It has been busy, but even if you see lots of folks
there. It moves quickly. I think I was able to vote in about five or six minutes time. I was able to
get in the door, so it's pretty good. Um and, um, so early voting
that we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the Monroe County Government building. So
October 29th, October 30th, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is early voting available this Saturday from.
I'm sorry. Those times today and tomorrow or 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Early voting on Saturday is 9 to
vote early at the same location, and that is 8 a.m. to noon on Monday, November 2nd. Election day is
November 3rd, and county offices will be closed on that day. You would have to vote at your precinct
between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3rd, and please vote.
it's an important thing. Let's get those numbers up where they should be. And we also want to remind
folks that there are continuing to be blood drives. We do this in conjunction with the Red Cross and
IV Tech. There is a blood drive tomorrow. There's an appointment tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
you can go to red cross dot org to make an appointment. This is at Ivy Tech. Room C 130 A and B and
also the next one is Thursday, November 5th. 9 AM to 2 PM. And again, Ivy Tech and red cross dot org.
We do want to remind residents to sign up for the.
You can go to the calendar on that home page and check out the times. These are appointments. These
are office hours on teams.
Again, we are continuing to accept applications for boards and commissions, so go to that homepage and
check out the information on various boards and commissions, and you can apply online as well. I want
to note that our next meeting day is going to be moved. So we are meeting on November 4th,
commissioners meeting at 12 30. That will be the board of commissioners meeting on Wednesday next week
instead of Thursday. Um. So I just want to make that announcement and make sure everybody knows. Um.
Do you have anything else? Commissioner Madeira? Uh yes, I just wanted to. I had a
to the health department. I just am always leery of removing people, lest it have a chilling effect
on board service. And I did want to also have a, I had a couple remarks on the housing study. I also
very much appreciate Dr. Clemens' report. I don't often dissent from my colleagues, and so I wanted
to say why.
So I think the report makes a useful case for shared housing database, but it's a headline conclusion
that projected housing needs have largely been met or exceeded is not adequately supported by the comparisons
it presents. So to succeed in that objective would have to show that housing demand is satisfied. Instead,
it counts that units built and it compares them with older projects that actually can answer that question.
Exceeding targets shows that projects were surpassed, not that need was met. Need is measured by prices,
vacancy, cost burden, overcrowding, and community, but the report does actually not analyze these factors.
It concedes that it does not analyze affordability, wages, or housing type, which are the core questions
in shortage studies. Also, this data answers a narrower question. Has construction kept pace with what
earlier studies said would be built and needed?
In other words, did the number of units completed reach the targets in the 2018 comprehensive plan and
the 2020 BDC study? And so I also can suggest some areas for change. There are some arithmetic errors,
inconsistent classifications, and mismatches between populations, places, and periods being compared,
and I can forward that to the author of the study.
The biggest problem is, as I remarked last week, is the study is missing the demand side data needed
to judge whether housing needs have been met. I don't think counting new housing studies, counting new
housing establishes whether housing needs have been met, because we need to know how demand changed
during the same period in the same area and at different price levels. That said, I think it can be
a good start on what is needed, and I look forward to hopefully talking with Dr. Clements and working
with the Planning Commission to see if we can get the demand side data in there.
Thank you so very much. Do you have anything? No, I don't. Thank you. We're glad to have you here. I'm
going to say that. And I just want to make a note that the housing study is a study of numbers. It is
not a policy statement and everybody can read those numbers in their own way.
what it demonstrates is that we've built more units than anyone thought we needed. I don't think we've
built the right ones. I think that's my takeaway from it. We have way too much student apartment building
units, way too many of those and not enough single family homes. I don't think anyone is going to be
able to give you vacancy numbers because nobody will share that. So I think
it's great to be aspirational and to think about what you might want, but I'm grateful to have the numbers
because when we sit in the Planning Commission, what we come back with is a, we question, wait, don't
we have two, don't we have single housing online ready to come into play? How many? We don't have that
information at our fingertips and
the staff is constantly going back and doing that research for us. And this is something where everybody
in the community can see what is online, what is coming, what has been suggested, what is built, and
what has certificates of occupancy, because it's not real until somebody can move in. And that's the
value of this, is having those numbers.
I think you're going to find that the realtors want to tell you what's needed, and I think you're going
to find that city council is going to tell you what's needed, and the town council is going to tell
you what's needed. It is very difficult to gauge what's needed. I think we have a shortage of affordable
housing. I think the place
to do that is inside the city limits. And I think some of that space has unfortunately been squandered,
because we don't know when a developer comes in and says, I want to build yet another student apartment
building, whether it's really needed or not. And so if you want to look at need, that's the place to
start. And that's not our purview. We just do the counts. But having the counts, so important.
So important. All right. So with that, our next meeting is November 4th at 1230. And right here in the
NatU Hill Room, we do not have a work session. Anything else for the good of the order? Ms. Purdy, Mr.
Cockrell? All right. With that, we are adjourned. Thanks, everyone.