Good morning. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It
is Thursday, November 12th, and I will note for the record that all three commissioners are here and
present in the NatU Hill Room. And with that, let me start first by saying we do have to amend our agenda.
And I would move that we add
I don't have a copy of it here, sorry. The agreement for legal services to the agenda as item C. Second.
We have a motion and we have a second. Any discussion on the item? Okay. All those in favor of amending
the agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. All right.
We will move on with our public statement read by Commissioner Madeira, please. 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. Great. Thank you so much. We will now move on to our department updates.
Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Lene Amy from the health department. I am here today to give
you the status update on measles.
First of all, there are no suspected or confirmed measles cases in Monroe County at this time, just
to reassure you. However, statewide, as of November 10th, so Tuesday, the number of measles cases reported
by the Indiana Department of Health has risen to 153 known cases. That's up from 117 cases this time
last week.
As of November 3rd, the breakdown of cases by vaccination status was roughly 97% unvaccinated or unknown
and roughly 3% vaccinated. A lot of those cases are in northeastern Indiana though in the past week
nearby Putnam and Davies counties each reported a case. Park County has reported two additional cases
and Jennings County has reported nine new cases. You do have
this map that I provided for you. And this is also available on our website and will be posted to social
media periodically to keep people updated. Just for some historical context, IDOH reported 10 measles
cases in the entirety of 2025 and only four measles cases statewide between 2021 and 2024. The last
reported case in Monroe County was in 2018.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can lead to serious complications, especially in young children,
pregnant people, and those with weakened immune systems. And the most effective protection against measles
is the MMR, or measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. An MMR vaccination rate of 95% is believed to be
the threshold for herd immunity.
In 2019, the MMR vaccination rate amongst kindergartners in Indiana was 94.4 percent, so very close.
Now that sits at 90.1 percent, so well below. IDOH and the regional epidemiology teams are on heightened
alert, and our department recently participated in a measles preparedness exercise with IU to ensure
that our response plans are up to date and fully functional.
As always, we are strongly encouraging folks to stay up to date on vaccinations, whether that's through
a primary care provider or local pharmacy, scheduling a vaccination appointment with our partners at
the Morgan County Health Department in Martinsville. They can do that by calling 765-342-6621.
Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm really glad that you had that meeting with IU.
That is wonderful. That is really a really good first step. Do you have any comments or questions,
Commissioner Jones? Yeah, just thank you for this map. That's quite interesting. Yeah. Commissioner
Madeira? Yes, it looks like we're being invaded from east to west on measles cases surrounded. And I
don't doubt that they're going to be here long before long. So in Wayne County, 19 cases, that's terrifying.
So yeah, yeah. And Jennings went from one to 10 in a week in a week's time. So and you know, people
move around the state. We are, you know, we're not insular in Monroe County. So just be aware, especially
if you're traveling to other counties to be extra vigilant. That's really good, really good work. Thank
you for that. Thanks for keeping the community updated. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate it. Any other
department updates?
TSD, we have just on our screen, join your team's meeting link and we don't have the actual feed from
the courthouse. So I want to make sure that we are. Oh, we are. There we are. Okay. I was wanting to
make sure that we are feeding cats. All right. Feed the cats. All right. Great. Seeing no other department
updates. Thank you, TSD. I appreciate it. We will now move on to public comment.
Public comment is reserved for items not on our agenda, and each speaker is limited to three minutes,
and please give your name and county of residence when you begin speaking. You can raise your hand on
teams, and we have Mr. M.G. from the chamber here in the NatU Hill Room. Good morning. Hey, good morning,
commissioners. This is Christopher M.G. from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. Wonderful
to see all three of you in the historic NatU Hill Room.
I first want to thank the Sheriff's Office and the surveyors for attending last and participating last
Thursday's Success School Career Cruise at the Convention Center. It was about 1,007th and eighth graders
from RBB and MCC joining us as they explored careers, including those in county government. It was a
lot of work and a lot of fun as well.
We also want to thank the fine people at the county council for the Sophia Travis grant that made that
possible. Now, speaking of the convention center, I want to follow up on a recent food and beverage
tax advisory commission meeting from the end of last month regarding the expansion went through the
so going through that and the convention expansion that had years of debate and economic impact and
visitor demand.
That was the right standard for major public investment. It took a long time to get that going. We appreciate
the commissioner's work in making that happen. But the other food and beverage tax projects deserve
the sort of same scrutiny. I think the Quarry Uplands, for example, that project dates back to 2019
and the county spent more than 1 million on property acquisition. A master planning moves forward. The
public should know the feasibility work has been done. The visitor demand is expected.
what construction operations is going to look like, and long-term maintenance costs. Have partnerships
or other approaches been evaluated? We study housing before setting housing policy, as that has been
talked about with the Planning Commission. Tourism investment warrants the same rigor. It's the same
with the Huntington Nature Preserve, which raises a similar question. It grew out of a land donation.
Preserving natural areas is a real community asset. But accepting land means accepting responsibility
for it. Despite having amazing parks department, the same questions persist.
What is it going to cost to preserve and operate for the next 15 years? How will that be funded and
what obligations will remain after that tax expires? We ask the county to share its feasibility, starting
work estimates and long-term financial projections on these projects advance. The FAB tax will not last
forever. And we only get to spend these dollars once. When it sunsets, we will be left to what we have
built and the obligations to maintain it.
On a financial priorities, I appreciate the County Council's deliberation and rejection the proposed
18% commissioner salary increase while county employees received 2% raises. Voters earlier in the month
made affordability a clear concern this election and we should reflect that and how
county government approaches its own spending moving that expense to the summer fund doesn't change
the question of priorities. I welcome broader salary study. One thing I've pushed a long time, particularly
is examine staffing workloads and ways to operate more efficiently. The Greater Blooming Chamber of
Commerce supports responsible tourism development, preservation and celebrating our limestone heritage.
We ask these projects and the county spending generally receive the same scrutiny and accountability
that major public investments require. I thank you for your time tonight. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Any other public comment for items not on our agenda? You can raise your hand on Teams or
come to the podium. Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to our next agenda item, please. Yes, I would like
to approve the minutes for November, move to approve the minutes for November 5th, 2026.
We have a motion and we have a second. Any comments, corrections, or edits? No, thank you. Thank you.
All those in favor of approving the minutes for November 5th, 2026, signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion
carries 3-0. And we'll move on to the next item, please. Yes, I'd like to move to approve the claims
docket for accounts payable for November 12th, 2026, and for payroll for November 13th, 2026. Second.
We have a motion and we have a second. Ms. Gallardo, please tell us all about it. Hi, good morning.
The accounts payable claims docket for November 12, 2026 totals $441,223.39. This includes all emergency
claims and adjustments.
The payroll docket for November 13, 2026 includes $1,697,201.25 indirect costs and the remaining $697,571.64
were for indirect costs for a grand total of $2,394,772.89. Thank you so much. Any comments or questions?
No, thank you.
excellent thank you so much 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 claim stock and
accounts payable november 12 20 26 and payroll november 13 20 26 signify by saying aye aye motion carries
three zero all right we'll move on to thank you we'll move on to new business please
Yes, I would like to move approval for the emergency management's public assistance administration policy.
Fund name FEMA IDHS, state disaster relief fund, fund number 8176 and 9179, in the amount of $442,473.01.
Second. We have a motion and we have a second. Good morning. Good morning. Courtney Moser, internal auditor.
This is a policy that was written to standardized disaster funding provided for emergency management.
This was already approved by the Emergency Management Advisory Council on September 14th. And I do believe
Jamie Nibel should be online if you guys have any specific questions about the policy. Thank you so
much. We'll just turn to
Jamie Ms. Neville from emergency management or director of emergency management. See if she has anything
she wants to add at this point. Good morning. I don't really have anything to add necessarily. This
is just kind of cleaning up the process and putting it down on paper. These are things that we already do
but just outlining and putting it down on paper so that everybody knows the process and it's not just
our office leading the charge necessarily and telling everybody exactly how it's supposed to proceed.
It doesn't change anything that we do so much, it just outlines it better and makes it cleaner. Thank
you so much. Can either of you, Ms. Moser or Ms. Nebel, explain why there's a dollar amount on this?
Because it seems like if these are forms, there wouldn't be a dollar amount. So the dollar amount comes
from the funding that we've obtained in the past. So the 2023 tornado, that's the FEMA funding that
we had received that hasn't been dispersed back to its original expenditure. There's some state disaster
relief funding that we received in 2024 that hasn't been expended to where it originally came from.
So that money is just being held. And once we get this policy passed, then
it will be put where it came from. Please, Mr. Cockrell. Some of our funding has been based upon we've
made requests for things and the requests were off a few dollars. We've worked with the state and they're
like, these are such de minimis amounts that we have given it to you. We have already okayed that this
was a reasonable expense. And so some of the documentation have a little bit off that we've worked through
the state with.
But we haven't been able to release this because we don't have an overarching policy that allows for
that. So what this overarching policy does in part, it does a lot of things, is it basically puts our
emergency management people in charge of collecting all the requests and then forward and being the
conduit to the state, which I think caused some of the problems to begin with, is that we had more than
one person talking to the state about different things.
that's kind of what this does. It makes her the point person and it also recognizes that sometimes the
state gives us money and that after they've gone through their approval process, that doesn't 100% match
our documentation. And so instead of having to let it sit in a fund until we can figure out how to resolve
that, this is just recognizing that that's gonna happen. And when the state says it's okay to disperse,
you can disperse.
okay that that really thank you everyone for the explanations i appreciate uh commissioner madura do
you have any comments or questions i know i do not thank you so much commissioner jones no i don't okay
um i actually have one other question is this something that other counties already have in place or
have we just been so fortunate with so many emergencies tongue in cheek that uh we have
we have this need? Because typically after an event, we'll sit down in an admin meeting or even here
in a work session and we'll talk through, oh, we think this expense counts toward the fund,
this one doesn't, et cetera. So where did this originate from and then do other counties do this?
I do not have the answer to that. I might ask Ms. Nebel if she knows. So I did reach out to our district
liaisons, the two district liaisons that covered nine, eight, nine and 10 to see if there was another
county that we could, you know, parody off of because I mean, if somebody's doing it already, then,
you know, we can beg, borrow and borrow from other counties. And, you know, if they're doing it well,
then, you know,
can share a best practice, but they do not. There is not another policy out there that we could parody
off of, so we are kind of trailblazing in this. I was going to use that exact term. We're trailblazers
in Monroe County. I think this will help a lot. I think it will help us a lot internally. We always
have those questions of what's allowed, what's not allowed, and
you know is it only over time in highway or is it everything you know all of that so um so i think this
is going to be really really helpful and i hope that um you present this to those district leaders and
encourage them to encourage other counties to do likewise and if the state's getting the same forms
from everybody that's going to make their job easier too so um miss prudy i just want to um comment
too i believe that
part of our concerns at some point in time was also the fact that we have entities outside of Monroe
County government, per se, who have submitted under an emergency event. I think the fire district is
one. And so we need to be able to have a policy in place and how we're going to disperse those funds.
So I just wanted to make sure that we recognize that it's not just our expenses. Sometimes we're submitting
other entities. I'm really glad you raised that.
So any entity, I would assume any government entity within Monroe County that has claims to file would
use this form and use our system. Is that correct? My understanding is they all work with the Emergency
Management Director. Right. Right. OK. Yeah. All right. Good. OK. I would say that's the reason the
Emergency Management Board approved this as well. Right. OK. Good, good. Thank you. Thanks for putting
up with the questions.
I'm a curious person. All right. And let's go ahead and see if there's any public comment on this item.
You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor of
approving the policy for the Emergency Management Public Assistance Administration signify by saying
aye. Aye. Motion carries.
3-0. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you, Ms. Neagle. All right. Next item, please. Yes, I would like
to move to approve the CLR change order for bridge number 75. Fund name cumulative bridge, fund number
1135 in the amount of $21,220.73. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. We have Ms. Ridge here
to tell us all about it, please.
good morning and I apologize for not putting a road name on there you know I know bridge numbers not
necessarily word but road name but it is war road that opened in September we're finalizing the documents
we did have that change order for twenty one thousand two hundred twenty eight dollars seventy three
cents it was basically we extended out some additional paving to for the bridge approach to make it
a smoother transition from where the project stopped again the road is open project is complete and
this was just to finish it
the last of the invoices. Great. Thank you so much. Comments or questions? Commissioner Jones? No,
I don't. Commissioner Madera? It will be great to have this done. Thank you so much. Well, indeed. 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 CLR change order for bridge 75, number 75 on railroad
signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries three zero. It was a head scratcher for me. I was like 75,
where is that? All right, so we have item C, please. Yes, I would like to move approval for the agreement
for legal services, fund name 1000, county general fund,
I'm sorry, fund name, county general fund number 1,000 in an amount not to exceed $2,500. Second. We
have a motion and we have a second. We'll start with Mr. Cockrell. Yes. As a reaction to a resolution
that the community commissioners approved regarding Steinsville and the town marshal's ability to enter
into contracts for town marshal,
for the town of Steinsville without going through the board. The Indiana Attorney General issued an
opinion that said that the town marshal didn't have to and that if and it had threats against the county
for fines and things related to ICE and ICE immigration which is I guess the underlying cause of what
brought this to our attention where the issue is does
The who has the authority to enter into contracts for a political subdivision. And so the commissioner
said sit down board. The attorney general said not in this case and then made threats about fines because
of some statutory language about dealing with ice. And so this is an agreement with Larry Allen, who
is an attorney in town. He used to work for the city of Bloomington.
the vast majority of the work is going to be pro bono under this agreement. It's just in the event that
there is a hearing or something that he has to attend, then he is going to charge $250 an hour for those
limited times with the hearing. And so he is going to take on the brunt of the work on this. Great.
Thank you so much. Comments or questions? No, we don't. Thank you. Commissioner Madera.
You shepherded this through, so thank you. Thank goodness for attorneys willing to do good work. Yeah,
that is a really good thing. So we should probably talk about that suit itself, and I don't know if
you want to fill folks in on it. I think the press release. You think the press release is enough?
All right, so we do have information we want to share with the community about this. We filed a lawsuit
in Monroe County Circuit Court seeking to clarify who has legal authority to enter into agreements between
local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities and whether such agreements require
formal approval by local governing bodies. The lawsuit challenges
In October 6, 2026, advisory opinion from Indiana Attorney General Todd Burkita asserting police chiefs
and town marshals may enter into Section 287G agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
ICE, without approval from their city or town's council. The opinion also warned that actions discouraging
participation in such agreements could violate state law and expose Monroe County to civil penalties.
The dispute arose after a
Steinsville police officer signed a section 287g agreement with ICE earlier this year without formal
approval of Steinsville town council. After learning of the agreement, we passed a resolution on September
17th asking the Steinsville town council to publicly review the agreement and formally vote on whether
to authorize the town's continued participation. The commissioners characterized the matter as one of
countywide public concern and expressly acknowledge the town's autonomy and authority. While the Steinsville
Town Council voted on November 10th, 2026 to ratify the agreement, several legal questions remain, including
those raised by the Attorney General's advisory opinion. The Board of Commissioners appreciate
the Steinsville Town Council's considering the agreement with ICE during a public meeting, and we respect
its decision. The Attorney General, however, has taken the position that such a vote was not required
and suggested that Monroe County could face civil penalties by encouraging such public deliberation.
This raises broader questions about the authority of elected officials, especially on the local level,
and public accountability when government resources are committed. We believe those questions deserve
clarification from the courts. Of note, the lawsuit was filed before the town council's vote. Specifically,
the suit asked the court to determine whether Indiana law requires a city or town council approval of
Section 287-G agreements.
the legal status of the agreement entered into by Steinsville before the November 10th ratification
and whether the ratification settles the applicable filing and recording requirements. The county also
seeks a ruling on where its resolution encouraging public deliberation and the filing of the lawsuit
violates state law or could subject the Monroe County Board of Commissioners or county to civil penalties.
Lawsuit also seeks court orders temporarily and permanently
prohibiting Steinsville from carrying out the agreement until it is lawfully authorized and applicable
statutory requirements are satisfied and preventing the Attorney General from taking enforcement action
against the Monroe County Board of Commissioners or the county based on the resolution or lawsuit.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners is not asking the court to overturn the town's decision, and
the lawsuit does not seek relief against ICE or any other federal authorities. Our hearing date has
not yet been set. Thank you. Did you want to add anything else, Commissioner Madeira?
Not so much with respect to this lawsuit. I have a few remarks about Senator Jim Banks' letter, which
we also received last week, but I think that can wait. You're welcome to share that if you'd like. I
guess since it's relevant now. So I'd like to respond briefly in my own capacity to the letter Senator
Banks sent to this board and to the Steinsville town board last week. First, I appreciate the senator
taking an interest in Monroe County, but his letter asked this board to do two things that this board
has no power to do.
He asked us to vote to ratify the Steinsville Police Department's agreement with ICE. We can't do that.
The agreement belongs to the town of Steinsville, and only Steinsville's elected town council could
approve it, change it, or end it. He also asked us to, quote, release all funds allocated under the
agreement, end quote. We don't hold these funds. The federal money goes to the town. The Steinsville
town council voted in October to set up its own fund to receive it. Monroe County hasn't touched a dollar of it.
Second, I want to be clear about what resolution 2026-36 said because it's been described inaccurately.
It doesn't ask Steinsville to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and it didn't
threaten anyone's funding. The board has not reduced or conditioned any county funding to Steinsville
over this agreement and it will not. What we asked for was very simple. Put the agreement on a public
agenda, publish it, hear from residents and take a recorded vote. Approve it, change it, rescind it, whatever.
The reason we asked is that the agreement was signed in February and we found no public record of any
town vote. Before it was signed or since, Steinsville residents told their own town board they found
out about it on Reddit. Steinsville's own town attorney told the town board in September that it needs
to hold a formal vote either to approve the agreement or to rescind it. That's all we asked for. And
then we come to the attorney general's advisory letter.
By statute, advisory opinions are reserved for the governor on any question, any other state officer
concerning the duties of the officer, and the general assembly or a legislative agency as to
the constitutionality of her proposed law. The attorney general in this advisory letter to the town
of Steinsville sees a legal question differently. And though I respect that the law gives the police
department reason to act and room to act, his letter is wrong in several key points. But whether something
is allowed and whether it's good government are separate questions.
When a local police department takes on federal enforcement powers, the people who live there deserve
to know about it and the officials they elected should go on the record. Our message to Steinsville
has always been consistent with September's. This was your decision, not ours and not an attorney general's
and not a US senator's. Make it in public and according to Indian law so that an audit trail is created.
And that's what this is all about. Thank you. Any other comments? No, I don't, but I appreciate
Commissioner Medeiros. Let's see if we have public comments. The item is the attorney agreement,
representation agreement. I just want to bring us back to center here. Anyone at U-Hill or online?
Seeing none, all those in favor of approving the agreement for legal services signify by saying aye.
Motion carries 3-0. We don't have any appointments, but it's a good time to remind folks that we are
accepting applications for boards and commissions across county government. And you can find out more
by going to our website, in.gov slash county slash Monroe.
and you can find the application there, but also information about each of the boards and commissions.
We encourage residents to share their experience, time and talent with county government to make it
operate much better for all of the residents in Monroe County. So we appreciate those who do apply and
we look forward to seeing additional applications, especially as with the new year, there will be some
openings we need to address.
I do want to point out as well that we have virtual office hours via Teams six hours each month and
you can go to our calendar on the county homepage for dates and times. Join us when you when you wish
and you know ideas are welcome, commentary, criticism, whatever it might be we'd love to hear from you.
and we've had some really good conversations and we do appreciate every one of them. We are continuing
to support the blood drive and the next one will be at Ivy Tech Rooms C130A and B and it is Friday,
November 20th, 9am to 2pm. You can go to redcross.org to make an appointment and
We do encourage folks to sign up for the county alert system where you can be informed about any emergencies,
but also health and traffic and weather emergencies will also be placed there. And you can choose how
to receive that information. Just go to our homepage, click on the link and sign up. It is a free service
we offer to every single county resident.
obviously it's not free we paid for it with county tax dollars but whether you live in the city town
or neither that information is going to be useful for everyone so we do encourage people to sign up
and I know that there was some when we had the boil order from the city of Bloomington that that did
go out and we do want to encourage people to to utilize this service
The other thing I want to talk about is briefly, I want to talk through the council meeting on Tuesday
night. And I just have a couple things to say and I'm speaking for myself because my colleagues aren't
aware that I'm
about this until they're hearing it. So I really, you know, sometimes I'm an optimist to my own detriment,
but I really felt like after the election results across the country that we're going to see an end
to toxicity in politics. It's got to end. It's ridiculous.
The answer, we asked a very specific question, why are we outliers? And we didn't get that answered.
None of the answers were viable. We heard about inflation and the cost of living and how hard it is
to fill a tank of gas and buy groceries. We all know that. And I think for me, I think to be called tone deaf
when others were given raises and nobody questioned that. Nobody said, hey, what about the folks who
work as comets, et cetera? And I think the thing that bothers me as well is that the council had already
approved a large sum of money, larger than what we were asking for, for their legal fees for the ACLU
lawsuit. And yet we're called tone deaf.
So I think we hadn't heard reasons. I'm disappointed. But the unnecessary corollary discussions and
accusations and whatnot were absolutely unnecessary. And I hope we can stop doing this. Minerva County
deserves a lot better than this ugly rhetoric. We came in with a simple request for pay equity. And
we asked why not?
and we have not yet um heard that answered so um that's all i wanted to say i want to see if my colleagues
have anything they want to add to the announcements today i had my announcement during the lawsuit you
did anything no i don't all right so our next meeting is um november 19th that would have been my father's birthday
10 a.m. right here in the NatU Hill Room, and we don't have a work session today, but I think we might
have one on the 19th. Just pre-warning everyone. All right, and with that, thank you everyone for your
time and attention, and we are adjourned.