- to go ahead and call to order this work session of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. It is Thursday,
- July 9th. I'll look for the record that Commissioner Madeira and myself are here and present in the
- NatU Hill room. We do have one agenda item on our published agenda, which is a planning petition. And
- I've asked them to the good folks at planning to wait. And that we're going to
- here first and foremost- from our sheriff's department- and I wish you all good morning and you may
- start whenever you would like. Thank you. Good morning. We should give us some time to talk to this
- morning- several years ago- the
- about three years and a half ago of the facility. We put in a PowerPoint and came and spoke to commissioners
- and the council reference to the aging of that facility and the needs
- for us to be able to provide a constitutional facility and the safety of the people there as well and
- be able to classify people at a certain level. Three years later, three and a half years later, we're
- in a position now that urgency is at the top of the level for us. Back then, my staff and I at times
- would sit down and talk about what if we have to
- transport people out of this facility. And what brought that about will be special events like,
- for example, Little 500 or preparing for some type of emergency that we're not, we can't foresee it.
- How do we proceed? So we have talked about it in preparation for just in case we needed to do that.
- But I can tell you that this point where we're at right now, we have to do it now.
- We're in a position now that the numbers have grown, and that has a ripple effect. And when I mean by
- numbers, I mean people being incarcerated. However, that's not the only reason. We have to be able to
- provide a constitutional jail. That is my responsibility. And I want to tell you that we have failed.
- And we are at a point now that is very challenging for us to do that.
- I'm not going to get into the specifics right now. And before I pass on the floor to the chief here,
- we really, really took time to prepare the report that we passed on to you. So we came to you first
- because you are the executive branch of the county. Our next step will be going to the board of judges
- because we have to have their approval as well.
- And then once we have that, we plan to go to the County Council because they're the ones that actually
- truly have to fund this new operation that we have to do. So with that being said, we took quite some
- time to put together what we presented to you. It didn't come easy. We put a lot of thought into it
- and we are where we are now.
- once we start this and again we have to it's going to be something that's new to us as well so we all
- have to really truly just work together to accomplish this because again we definitely obligated to
- provide a constitutional facility. With that I'll pass the floor to Chief Parker. Okay I'm a re-emphasize
- some of the things that the sheriff just said
- as we go through this document, but kind of setting the tone here. Almost since the day we took office,
- we have been engaged in numerous conversations about a new facility. Some went places and we've got
- some work done and some was wheel spinning.
- It ran the gamut, but that's not the focal point of today. So I just want to make sure we set the tone
- here for whoever's watching and whoever's listening, that this is about the current facility and the
- current facility only. So that's what we're going to focus on today.
- what we're really want to focus on here, and you have to excuse me, I'll be wearing my glasses and taking
- them on and off because I'm old and I can't see. We're going to cover three broad areas here, essentially.
- We're going to talk very much about functional capacity and what that truly means and how it truly relates
- to the facility that we are currently in. We're going to spend some time on the physical condition of
- that facility, and then we're going to talk about solutions.
- If we accomplish those today, I hope that we all come to a better standing of why we are sitting here
- in front of you at this very moment. So let's talk a little bit about functional capacity. And I'm going
- to get a little more specific as we go. And just so you know, the sheriff talked about this document.
- That document is a product of not just the last few days,
- That is a product of three and a half years of assessment, reassessment, adjustment, discussions, panic
- sometimes, all of those things. And I don't know if maybe I'm just
- I'm not super sensitive to the this topic but as I've been watching meetings as of late. The topic of.
- Transporting residents off site has been mentioned. Numerous times in numerous forums by.
- It's not just on our mind. It seems that that has that has become kind of a natural thought process
- for. People that are thinking about this this facility who are concerned about this facility that that
- might be something that we have to come to. So I don't I don't think anything we're going to say today
- is going to be like a real surprise like you know this came out of left field. It's it's been discussed.
- Our current facility has a bed count of 294. And when you say that, and then you say in the same breath
- that we've got 260 people in there, OK, you got 34 vacancies. What's the problem? So we're going to
- break that down into why that is commonly misunderstood.
- in any facility, not just ours, but you're going to have different parts of that facility that are designated
- for specific reasons. In our facility, we have our trustee inmate worker housing. Well, when someone
- comes in for whatever reason, we can't just say, well, we've got a bed in the inmate housing unit. We're
- going to put them there. And we'll talk about more
- for people that don't have a great deal of knowledge about how a facility works. But you have segregation
- cells. We have one padded cell, unfortunately. They have you holding cells where people come in and
- you hold them temporarily. And then in our facility, we have J-Block. And one of the things,
- if you recall, that when Kyle first became the jail commander there, he immediately recognized that we had
- some of our most severely mentally ill folks spread throughout our population. So he created J Block.
- And that's where we house those individuals that need special protections and special care,
- special attention. So now you pull those out. And if you look at the combination of those beds that
- are available in there,
- That takes that 294 down to 233. That available general housing beds. So the functional capacity, let
- me explain what that is. That's an accepted correctional planning principle that says you are functionally
- full when you reach 80%.
- of availability for those beds. So if we follow that logic to get to functional capacity here, I'll
- just step in if I say anything that's incorrect, because he's forgot more about this than I know. Our
- true functional capacity in that facility is 186. And while we are using that principle to determine that,
- I think it's noteworthy to say that the sheriff is the person who's obviously responsible for
- the constitutional care in there. So the sheriff is the person who actually is the only person qualified
- to make that decision. So we can argue about that, I guess, in different forums and why and how and all that.
- When the rubber hits the road, that's the sheriff's job, and that's the sheriff's call. But he doesn't
- just do it from some arbitrary number that he decides. So that's kind of the concept of functional capacity.
- So let's talk about some of these other parts. If every month under the
- private settlement agreement, which is now expired, obviously, and we know the consequences of that
- are coming hard and fast. But if you we sent a general population report that gave Mr. Falk the daily
- population of that facility every day, and then gave him an average of that. And we sent that report
- every month.
- Not to get a real specific here, but I think it's noteworthy to say that since January of this year,
- our average populations have been 238, 237, 231, 244, 251, and in June of 2026, that is now at 260.
- So as you can see, we were relatively stable January through March,
- But we've had the uptick. We've reached 272 and 275 on different days in both May and June. So let's
- go back to functional capacity for just a minute here. So the average of our population for that six
- month period is at 244. So if you just look at our average for the last six months,
- we have exceeded our functional capacity numerous, numerous times. And in May and June on those given
- days, we were 86 to 89 individuals above our functional capacity. So that's not sustainable. And not
- only is it not sustainable,
- We have a duty to address that, and that's why we're here. Now, keep in mind, when the jail was built
- back in 1984, approximately, the bet count was 128. And we're definitely by far past that. So when people
- say, well, just remodel the jail and you can make it work, I don't think they fully understand the scope of this.
- the age of that facility. And when it was built, it was built for a certain number of people to be there.
- Now think about this, the plumbing, medical care, mental health. We bypassed that tremendously and did
- the best that we could at this point. So when the chief talks about functional capacity, we are at a
- match right now.
- So before we move on to some of the things that the sheriff just actually mentioned, I do want to address
- the private settlement agreement in one aspect. And in the private settlement, if you remember, there
- was a secure bed count amount, and that was 248. And when we got to 244, we were supposed to notify
- the judges, and they were supposed to help us take action to reduce that.
- And I will have to say, they stepped up to the plate, and they helped us do that like a champ every
- time we asked. But I want to address that number, because what that number is, it is simply our general
- population beds minus our specialty beds, the things that we kind of just spoke about. It never was
- functional capacity.
- So when we get the question of, well, you were 248, and that was your number, and everything was fine,
- that private settlement agreement never addressed functional capacity. It only addressed secure beds.
- So we'll probably wind up explaining that more here in the near future. I'm surmising, but that's what
- that number represents. So as the sheriff
- I said, our jail started in 1984 and was designed for 128 inmates. So I haven't substantiated this,
- but I believe we are either the oldest jail or one of the oldest jails in this state. And why that's
- significant is that
- If you look around the state, and let's just say for purpose of this conversation, we're the oldest
- facility in the jail. Other counties didn't build a jail just because they wanted a pretty building.
- They built a jail because they realized that when a jail gets a certain age, its functional life has
- come to an end. They are no longer able to provide constitutional care or if they continue to house
- in that facility.
- So what we're talking about here is not a novel concept in the fact that our facility is aging and it's
- deteriorating. It's very common. There are 92 counties in this state, and I think 91 of them have a
- jail. So I want to talk about why now a little bit.
- What this is, if you slice it down to its truest reason why this event has landed in front of you today,
- is it's not a singular thing. It's a convergence of some things. And right now, that convergence is
- an aging facility
- that is continued to deteriorate and the increasing trend in our population. And when those two things
- converge, which we are at right now, that's when the breaking point occurs. And I know Dave's sitting
- back there. And I can tell you this, just from what I see
- Kyle and his crew go through every day. And I see Dave a lot more than I like to. The dynamic of that
- has changed in just the three and a half years that we've been here. It's constant that, and I'm not
- just talking about a water leak or a toilet malfunctioning, I'm talking about major issues that occur
- in this jail on a weekly
- that we're doing on a daily basis if not daily. Now for the past couple days and last week it was very
- very hot. And when I when I. Here the commander and Dave trying to cool the blocks down in the can.
- Because when it was built for. It wasn't built for the number of people we have there now you have body
- heat. And what happens to us in our
- a larger population than usual, things happen. So when we talked about this years ago, and we find ourselves
- in this situation, and I know for a fact I have the responsibility to provide safety, and it's something
- that I cannot control is very troublesome to me. It's a basic need to keep people warm and or when it's
- hot to provide cool environment.
- And it's sad to me to sit here in front of you and say, we're struggling with that. Something as simple
- as that, that other people in their homes take that for granted. But in that facility, when I tell you
- that the jail commander is trying to think outside the box and try to cool people down, for example,
- this is the first time that I see putting a bucket of ice in a block so the people there could go ahead
- and drink cold water.
- Think about that. The urgency that I'm facing right now that we all are facing is very real. It's affecting
- people's lives. It truly is. My main concern now that I never thought I would have to bring up is having
- a heat stroke in the facility. That's real. So it's very aggravating to me that I have a situation that
- I cannot control.
- because of the age of the jail. So if you I mean if you've got your report in front of you and you go
- to page four and that's when it starts talking about the physical plan and I'm not going to go through
- all that but the sheriff hit on this a little bit but I want to expound on a little bit more when we
- talk about infrastructure failures and. We could ask Dave to
- tell you several things that happened here, but. You know, I think we're all pretty aware. Of of some
- of the things that have happened there over the course of the time that we've been there, but I'm going
- to go back to this weekend where we had this what they call heat dome or whatever. And the sheriff mentioned
- this, but and I think you may have even received a copy of this, but. Mender given sent an email out
- to his staff.
- and gave them very specific kind of out of the box instructions about, OK, we've got an event here that
- we don't have the ability in this facility to now control. And it was instructions on things to do that
- we could do with the facility itself, not the cooling system and the way we manage that.
- to help cool off or help these people maintain a reasonable body temperature. In one of those emails,
- he outlined the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Then, hey, keep a close eye on anybody
- to make sure if you see these symptoms present, then
- we want to be aware and take immediate action, because as the sheriff said, someone experiencing that
- can deteriorate very rapidly. Kyle, you want to talk a little bit about just that event? And this is
- not just about this weekend. It's a snapshot in time of what we deal with in that facility pretty regularly,
- actually. Yeah, I can speak to that. One of the things that we did almost immediately was open up the
- block as much as possible.
- When I say the block, I mean the cells inside of it. So there is a time where inmates, we locked down
- the facility midnight and we allow inmates to have proper sleep. We can't even lock inmates inside their
- cell because it's 85, 90 degrees inside those cells. It's 75 to 84 degrees inside the block, depending
- on the day. And, and Dave, and Chief Deputy Ambassador Dave, we have been in constant communication.
- We have improved airflow. We have all the things that we can do, we are doing, but we cannot get to
- those individuals inside the cell. It's just not possible. So what do we have to do? We have to compromise
- the safety of the facility. We have to leave doors open. We have to leave massive fans inside of the
- block. These are not safe decisions to make, but they are things that we had to do just in the care
- of the individuals that we are tasked to house.
- So it's not just putting ice in there. It's not just putting a fan in there. It's constant checking.
- It's literally hour by hour checking on every person we have in the facility. And this is not just a...
- We could talk about heat or we could talk about the multiple cells that have their block wall literally
- crumbling that Dave's gonna have to get steel reinforcement for. When they say the facility's failing,
- it's failed.
- And we're holding it up. And when I say we're, I mean ASI, Dave and his people, and our staff trying
- to make it happen daily. So going back to just a little bit more information on this, as you see there,
- we've had REQAW come in there and do a study of that jail.
- I think that was like an 186 page document. I know it was great when I couldn't go to sleep,
- I read it. All documented in studies that this county has asked to be and they have told us over and
- over and over about these issues. And then though I think the worst
- There's things worse than being told, hey, your AC system is completely inadequate. That's a bad thing
- to be told. The worst thing to be told is your AC system is completely adequate, and there's no way
- to fix it. That's the worst thing. And that's what we ran into this weekend. There was nothing more
- that could be wrung out of that system to cure this problem. So what do we have? I can tell you what we have.
- staff right now and and Kyle can how can attest to this they're being inundated with grievances from
- the facility about the facility and rightfully so but there's a thing that we call in our line of work
- it's called a clue and what the clue here is
- is those grievances are protest the condition of that facility, but they serve another purpose. And
- that purpose is to satisfy the administrative remedies of going through the grievance process to get
- to litigation. Mr. Madera knows exactly what I'm talking about here.
- So the clue here is, for us, is we're not just living on borrowed time. This litigation is coming our
- way. And hence, that also weighs into what we're here to talk to you about. We are in an imminent situation.
- I believe that. I know the chair believes that. I know Kyle believes that we wouldn't be here. Can I
- add to that? And we're all very well of
- the mold issues we've been experiencing. But when you have bodies stacked on top of bodies and the heat
- is trapped and the moisture is up, one problem begets another. So it's so hot in there, that now it's
- becoming moist in there. And it's sitting there and that's gonna require us to move people, just like
- we've already experienced, which is an incredibly unsafe endeavor. Okay, getting back to another heart
- of the matter here,
- When does overcrowding occur? I'm going to go back to this 294. Overcrowding occurs not so much when
- your bed count reaches 294. We go back to this functional capacity, right? So when you're overcrowded
- on a functional capacity basis,
- The first thing that goes by the wayside is your ability to classify. And this is a downward spiral.
- So you're over functional capacity. You lose your ability to properly classify. And when you lose your
- ability to properly classify, you start marching towards this unconstitutional care problem that
- we are eminently facing here. And I can tell you right now, one of the most nightmarish scenarios in
- our facility right now is the ability to properly classify. And if anybody. And for that. My door, my
- office door is open. It really is. And if they have
- an argument that the inability to properly classify does not march towards unconstitutional care, I'd
- be happy to hear that too. Because they are linked, they will, if it will ever be linked. And of everything
- that we're here to talk to you about, that is the crux of the matter. It truly is the inability to classify
- and take out
- the facility failures, all of that. They lend to it, don't get me wrong, but that's the heart of the
- matter. And we speak a little bit about that on page nine in section D there. So I think we've gotten
- to the point where we've kind of expressed
- what the problem statement is here and what the urgency of that problem statement is. So going back
- to what we're gonna talk about here is we've talked about functional capacity, we've talked about the
- physical condition, now we're gonna talk a little bit about the solution. And none of these issues are
- easily solved. They take a tremendous amount of effort
- They take a tremendous amount of thought, care, compassion, financial resources, but most of all, I
- would like to stress that the thing it takes most is all of the people responsible for county government
- recognizing
- Pulling together and understanding this is not about this officer, that officer, what this office wants
- and this office wants. It's about the people who are living and working in that facility. And if we
- can't do that, we have got to be the most dysfunctional family on planet Earth. I know I worked out
- in that heat a little bit over that weekend.
- And then we lost power at my house for eight hours, right in the middle of that. It was beyond miserable.
- I mean beyond miserable. So, I lost it for eight hours and we were calling the power company and complained.
- The individuals that were working in there and living in there didn't get to call anybody.
- I went down to my son's house. They ain't got to go to their son's house. They stayed right there, and
- Kyle did everything he possibly could, but it wasn't enough. So that is our responsibility. That is
- our charge, and it's not just the sheriff's charge. It's the commissioner's charge. It's everybody's
- charge. But right now, it's these two bodies that have to start it. So that's, again, a little soapbox-ish,
- So let's talk about transport operations. I have, I think I'm the only one sitting at this table that
- has some experience in this, the other facilities that I've worked in. So first of all, let me make
- something really, really, really clear. This is not just about court transports. That's part of it,
- but it is not even close to being all of it.
- So as you'll see there, we and I'm not going to go through all these, but it's it, you know, it's. I,
- you know, let's say we've got someone in Green County and it's time for an attorney conference. Guess
- what we gotta do. We gotta go get him. We're gonna bring him over here and talk to his attorney. We're
- gonna take it back. So. You know, we have lots and lots of medical transports in our facility. We all know
- about the issues of our population. And those are real in there every day. And they never stop. They
- don't stop because 4 o'clock comes, I can tell you that. So when we're talking about a transport operation,
- make sure we understand that it's not just courts Monday through Friday, 8 to 4. We're going to talk
- to you about a 24-7 operation that must go on not in one facility,
- but possibly up to four different facilities. And I think that has to be noteworthy, because I can hear
- the voices now. Well, you're doing medical transports now. You're doing all of these things now. But
- we're doing an amount of one facility. And I think there's a real strong possibility that we'll be using
- at least two, if not three, if this plan comes to fruition.
- as again you know there there are so many different things medical appointments hospital admissions
- mental health evaluations all of those things will continue none of that will stop and what the chief
- is talking about is the known what i worry about and constantly is the unknown if something happens
- in another facility that is not here and it's an individual that we supposed to be housing well guess
- what we're still responsible
- And we still have to go over there and deal with the situation as well. Or what if that sheriff says,
- you know what, I don't want your people anymore. Now what? So things that we are considering and talked
- about for quite some time, which could happen once we go this route, which in my opinion, we have no
- other choice at this point. So relisting certain things to
- make the point that don't think it's just for corporate transportation only, but there's other things
- that we might not even be aware of this at the present time that we haven't discussed as of yet. I'm
- going to give you a perfect example of what the sheriff just talked about. And I don't know this because
- I lived it. I'm not going to get real into, okay, we're asking for this, this, this. I'm going to, I'm
- going to tell you what it entails.
- And then somebody later down the line is going to have to figure out whether we're going to fund it
- or not. And we're going to have to justify these numbers and these personnel requests at some point
- in time. And we know that. And we're prepared to do that. And we're happy to do that. But a large scale
- transport operation, I can't even begin to tell you how chaotic it gets. And I want you to just walk
- you through this.
- So I'm going to use courts just for purposes of this conversation. So we receive from the courts, hey,
- we need these people in court on this date at this time. So those individuals more than likely are spread
- out through the entire facility.
- Let's imagine that we have 30 people going to court. And 10 of those are right here in this facility.
- What has to happen is there has to be a group of people that go up and rustle them up and get them down
- and get them prepared to go to court, get them searched, get them handcuffed, all of those things that
- has to happen.
- Now, adding to this, we're going to have to have a list of, oh, Bill's in Greene County, Joe's, he's
- in Morgan County, and now we've got three other locations. So organizing that and making sure that we
- are prepared to go transport those individuals back takes
- an immense amount of planning and execution. And it can't be done without individuals that are handling
- the planning part, handling the liaison part, because guess what, you just can't show up at Greene County
- and say, hey, we're here to get bill. You got to call Greene County and say, we're coming to get bill
- and we need we need bill ready.
- And we're gonna be there at 730. And those are all things that are gonna have to work out in something
- we're talking about here a little bit later. So I don't know if I'm laying the groundwork. But I think
- you're kind of getting the drift that the planning of this, there can't be misses. And you have to know
- where that bus is going, you're gonna have to know who's driving it, you're gonna have to know who's
- gonna be on it going down, you're gonna have to know who's gonna be coming back, because you've got
- a plan for if you have some type of emergency, if you have an escape attempt, all of those things have
- to be thought of before that person puts that vehicle in drive and heads to wherever they're going.
- There's another layer to that, that now we have to think about, and the commander probably are telling
- this better than I can,
- the concern of safety now. That's a big issue for us. Because now we try transporting the person from
- point A to point B, point B to point A, and we have to worry about safety. So when we talked about this,
- we were looking at it from lenses that other people don't have because they're not in this profession.
- We are, we have to see it from this point of view.
- So now there's something else I won't have to worry about. Which I tell you this, I don't take lightly
- because I don't want an officer, correction officer, and for the sake of the person who's transporting
- getting hurt. I don't want that. So here we are. So when we talk about transportation, it's not an easy
- task, not at all.
- Getting back to the staffing, I think if any person's probably going to look at, all right, we're going
- to need someone to oversee this. And so let's talk about the operations captain. So we have captains
- that run shifts in the jail. And how many people do they have under their supervision at any one given
- time? 20 to 15, just a pound shift. So here we go. We're looking at a transport division here.
- I don't think anybody that is involved in any type of business or police agency or any type of organization,
- everybody understands that you've got to have a point man that makes it all happen. So that's kind of
- what this person is. So the reason I ask Kyle that question is because not only is this person going
- to have about the same amount of people roughly that they supervise,
- They're going to be supervising them in a much, much larger, unsecured, unpredictable environment that
- has multi-facets of points of failure that they're going to have to predict and plan for and make sure
- that the people that they are sending out every day are on point with what they're doing and where they're
- going and all of those
- all of the things in between that one. Turns into a huge, huge issue. So unless you all have questions
- as we get done with our presentation, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that because it kind of
- makes sense that you've got to have supervisors and you've got to have officers to do it. I want to
- spend a little bit more time on the two additional
- jail officers and the jail sergeant. And I'm going to switch from court transports now to functional
- capacity transports. So if you're transporting 20 people out on a functional capacity transport, you've
- got your staff working in the jail. And I will tell you right now, I go into that jail pretty frequently.
- And I see those those corrections officers scurrying about
- you know, doing jail checks, responding to the services, making sure meals get passed, all of the things
- that I'm not gonna list here. So now we throw in this layer, we got 20 people that have gotta go to
- wherever. What cannot happen is we say, okay, you two, I want you to pull off the jail checks you're
- doing because you gotta get these people ready for transport. We have to have people specifically
- That's their detail for the day, where you're going to go get them ready. You're going to go bring them
- down to the blocks. You're going to get those people ready for transports because your transport officers
- are going to be down there once they arrive to handle the handoff and to check the list. Because if
- you start stretching that, where you've got the same officer trying to manage all that, you're going
- to make incredible
- incredible expensive or detrimental mistakes so there's some things you can shortcut this is not one
- of them the other thing i want to talk about is you'll see that there's clerical support and if you
- go to section f i want this to make sense to everybody
- Because it's okay. Well, what do you need clerical support? You've you've got people there, you know,
- you've got what three people back there handling the clerical part of the facility. But I want you to
- look at that laundry list and Section F that these individuals will be handling. And if that's not being
- handled. The per diem billing.
- If we got people housed in Morgan County, and we're not paying attention to that, they're going to give
- us about a 10-day grace period and say, hey, we're not feeding these people or housing these people
- free. You need to come get them. And we're going to sour a relationship that we desperately need right
- now. I don't want to go through all of it. Medical records, when you send someone out, there's an Indiana
- Administrative Code that talks about
- when you ship sending someone to another facility. And does it make sense? If you're going to send someone
- to another facility, it's kind of important that they know what are the issues with this person if they
- have some. What medications are they on? All of those things, the things that you don't think about.
- It's not as simple as handcuffing someone, turn up the radio, and taking a leisurely drive to Greene County.
- All of these things are incredibly important things that, as we have put together this document, we're
- trying to cover all the bases. And I'm fearful that we haven't, because it's an intimidating event to
- plan for and know that you've got to do it every day without fail.
- Because what are we used to? We're used to going to our facility and everybody's there and we deal with
- it. And it's no longer gonna be that way. We're gonna be dealing with several outside facilities. The
- thing for us that I'm thankful is that I have Chief Parker here because he experienced this before in
- another facility that he worked before. For me, I'm not gonna speak for Kyle, for me this is brand new.
- I'm leaning on the chief heavily here. I'll say. I'll say. Heavily here so we can make sure that we
- cover all the bases. But as I'm learning, I'm seeing certain things from a different lens that I never
- thought about before. And I'm happy that he has experience with this.
- because the program that Kyle put together, the system that he put together, works really well in one
- facility. I mean, I watched the correctional officers go out to the cell blocks and bring them in. I
- watched them take them to the courtroom. I watched them bring them back, and it runs very well. My turnout,
- okay, and I'm glad we have Chief Parker here that experienced before, and he could guide us to the rough
- spots here, but it's still something brand new.
- And the caveat for me is that we deal with people's lives here. That weighs on me. Because now, in the
- situation that we find ourselves in, there is no other choice. There is none. So I hope that people
- truly understand the gravity of this, that we didn't come to this very lightly.
- But here we are. And again, and I'm not saying because he's here, it would have been a whole lot tougher
- for us to do this if he wasn't, because he's been through this before. I have not. And let me add to
- that, because we're talking a lot about outside housing and what it'll take to make it happen. Our current
- transport needs are 24 hours a day as we sit today. We have two vehicles that are gone.
- literally all day and through the night. We have dedicated officers that are already to those transport
- divisions. We are an agent of the court. We transport people who aren't even inmates in our facility.
- This is a nonstop operation and to add 50 or 60 people, depending on where we're at with our population
- for transports, if this is gonna be, I look forward to the challenge. That is me being funny because
- this is not
- that's not going to be sustainable in and of itself. So before we move into the appendix about the cost
- estimates, I did want to cover kind of the last part of this a little bit where it says actions necessary
- to maintain constitutional operations. And if you think about it, it's all common sense here. So what
- have we talked about? Maintaining our population at or below our functional capacity. That's on us.
- We can't do it without the other bodies of government coming together. And that's our plea today. Part
- of that is, like I said, initiating this housing and funding. And so all of those things, we need to
- make sure that while we're going through this, we don't lose sight of we're sitting here telling you
- how it's going to affect us. Well, there's another population that this is going to affect, and it's
- those individuals
- that are being transported. So it's going to be different for them too. So we have to keep that in mind
- too. So we've got to make sure that we continue to watch very carefully. And we've even proposed, and
- that's a completely different topic here, but to enhance our medical and mental health services. This
- is going to be a tough role
- for everybody involved that occupies that facility. Employee, resident, visitor, you name it. It's gonna
- be a tough role. And it's unfortunate, but I think we're gonna be on this for a longer period of time
- than any of us once suspected that we would or to have hoped that we would. And that's just the cold
- hard facts.
- But we can't ostrich management this. We can't just stick our heads in the sand pretending like it's
- not happening. We got to deal with it. So this is the commissioners here that I always ask is that we
- continue to stabilize our infrastructure to the extent that we can. Dave is a tremendous help to us.
- I know that Dave does things that aren't always in his job description.
- helps us when he can. But there's some things that he's got no control over. I talked to Dave on Friday.
- I think it was July the third. And I'm sure he had other things planned besides trying to figure out
- how to put a Band-Aid on the cooling system of the jail, but he did it. And he's spent a lot of time
- doing it, too.
- As we conclude this part of it, I want to make sure, I think it's important that we go back through
- the process that the sheriff started with here. Because, you know, I've been around government long
- enough to know that sometimes your intentions can be misinterpreted. And our intention here today is
- nothing other than attempting
- to get ourselves to where we have a long-range plan for the next few years to provide constitutional
- care. There is nothing subversive about it. There's nothing political about it. And I'll challenge anyone
- who says otherwise. So we came here because this is the first stop. This is the commissioner's ball
- right now. We stop here. You're the county executive. Indiana code says that you shall establish and
- maintain the county jail.
- uh, code says the sheriff shall take care of the, the persons therein. So this is a, this is a relationship
- that's closely tied. So that's why we're here today. Uh, Kyle has spoken with judge Decoff yesterday.
- She is, she is not surprised. We don't want her surprised. She is an invaluable partner to us and we
- will now move to dialogue with her and the board of judges
- as the second phase of this now must take, it moves to the forefront now. Once the Board of Judges gives
- us direction and guidance, we'll approach the council. This document is now a public document. And again,
- we're taking this in steps. So I hope no one reads anything other into it
- this is the way that we plotted out that we thought was the best way for us to move forward. So I'll
- tell you this too. That you'll see right on the front of this cover. Sheriff is a very transparent guy.
- He will tell you something whether you like to hear it or not. But this document will also be provided
- to the ACLU. It's important to them.
- for them to see what we're trying to do here. What are we trying to do secondary to this? We're trying
- to show that this county is making an effort to resolve the issues that are of great concern to the
- ACLU. So I think it's imperative that we all share this document
- and share the same mission. We may have different interpretations of how we get there and we'll be working
- through those over the coming weeks. I'm sure from I'm missing anything on this part of it. No, no,
- it's it's we laid everything out that we could. Again, like the chief mentioned, we came to you first
- because you are the executive body of this county. I intentionally mentioned the year of that facility.
- I intentionally mentioned what is when it was built.
- the big capacity was. And if you compare to where we're at now, it's not sustainable. It's just not.
- And at this point, with new statutes being applied, we know what's coming towards us in a sense of the
- numbers are going to go up. So times of urgency at this point,
- When I took over, even back then, I was saying, hey, we got to move fast on this. We have to move fast.
- And I remember saying that multiple times. And I know for a fact that some people got upset at times
- when I kept saying that, but here we are. So we have no other choice but to work as a team here, and
- all of us have a certain role to play to make this work. So I'd be more than happy to answer your question,
- unless Kyle you have anything else you want to add? Yeah.
- a lot of talk about what's going to happen, what property we're going to have, what services we're going
- to provide, what the facility is going to look like, whether we're going to bring the courts with it.
- At the end of the day, and this is what the sheriff was just saying, since the very beginning, people
- have talked about what's going to happen, and a lot of people are talking about what's happening. And
- we refuse to look past the needs of the people inside of that facility. We refuse. And we've done everything
- we can, and we're here now
- you know starting this project saying we've done everything we can now we need help. Entertain your
- questions here just real quick on the appendix a the fiscal part of this. The first thing I want to
- say is you will see disclaimers and explanation and the word estimate used all over this document because
- it was put together by a bunch of dumb dumbs that don't know a whole lot about.
- about dollars and cents and adding and stuff. So ciphering, as they say in Greene County. So all we
- wanted to do with this document was give a baseline of what we're proposing and what we think will be
- the fiscal impact of that. Because I don't think there's anything worse than someone coming in and say,
- hey, we want this.
- that's kind of up to you. So we put this together. We tried very hard. To look at all of the contingencies
- that are in the plan. That required equipment. Personnel fuel maintenance all of those things- but again
- their maintenance other their estimates. So I really.
- fine-tooth comb, but if you go to the left. We just kind of we wanted to talk about the the cost to
- get this thing off the ground because that's that's going to be where the rubber hits the road for us
- is how fast we can do this. So if you'll notice there's a range of you know 14 to 17 employees there's
- there's a range of different
- things in there so you'll see those ranges described in there but on that on the seven year number seven
- there and you'll see it in the footnotes but I just I wanted to. I wanted to touch base on it that that
- covers you know staffing housing the fleet. The fleet equipment there's things that go in the vehicle
- that are different than the things that go on the person that covers fuel and maintenance and personnel
- equipment so it we we tried to
- We try to think through and think through every contingency. But where you're gonna see those ranges,
- you'll see there's a range of number of officers that we're proposing. Obviously where they're housed
- is going to affect the fiscal impact of that because different facilities charge a different per diem
- rate. And there's nothing we can do about that. That's up to them. And it's gonna depend on the number
- of people that are housed. So there are unknowns in there right now.
- that we just had to make estimates on. We're all ears. Okay, thank you. Yes, just to confirm, so we're
- talking about classification suddenly because the settlement agreement was dismissed, and it wasn't
- an issue before because that sort of non-technically gave us a pass. We did not have to constitutionally
- classify while the Richardson settlement agreement was in place. Is that a correct understanding? Well,
- and Kyle, you may want to address this more than me, but just for me, I will tell you this. Notwithstanding
- the settlement agreement,
- We're required by Indian administrative code to have a classification system. And since the day we walked
- in the door, classifications because of that facility and the numbers of people in it and the way it
- was designed originally has been an incredibly difficult issue with us. And Julie, I think you'll remember
- we actually came in here and went through an exercise about classifying
- and it got pretty chaotic just in this very room. So Kyle can probably speak to that better than me.
- Here's how we could look at it. Based on the day, our housing is built on our needs. It's not always,
- this is minimum, this is medium, this is maximum, this is administrative, secretary. Imagine in your
- house where your living room is, well, tonight it's gonna be your bathroom.
- and tomorrow your kitchen's gonna be in your bedroom. You're gonna make that work in your house and
- we have to do that every day with 260 people. We're constantly moving people. They can never get set
- up. Times change, kiosks times change, visits change. All this stuff is in constant change. And when
- you don't have anything that you could work from a foundation, it's complete chaos. And I stood in this
- room and said,
- last year, you know, what's it going to take for something devastating to happen? And that's what we're
- having. Let me let me say one thing to clarify that a little bit. Let's assume the private settlement
- agreement was still in effect. We'd still be here. It. And I talked about the convey the congruence
- of those those two things. The facility still aged, our population still went up, we'd still be here.
- Does that help, Commissioner?
- Absolutely. Thank you so much for that clarification. I think the other question I had is sort of like
- a hodgepodge question of a variety of things that have been in the public discourse lately. And I just
- wanted to establish for the public that when these transfers start, that does not make the
- jail constitutional suddenly, that there are other things that go into making the jail constitutional,
- that now suddenly the ACLU litigation doesn't go away,
- This does not sunset the problems, for example. That the problems are structural, that this suddenly
- does not mean that we're making the jail constitutional. So part of this, I guess, question A is, is
- there anything like bail practices, for example, that we can do to avoid this suddenly, that we're not
- doing now? That would be question A.
- part A of this question. And then B would be, what does it mean other than classification to provide
- constitutional care? Well, the first part of that question, I would, I'm guessing probably better answered
- by the judges. Yes. And I can add to that. It's bail. Who can get bail and when they can get it, which
- has led to increased housing.
- It's going to become, it has become more strict as of July 1, who can get bail and when they can have
- it. So there are things, the judge's hands are tied. I just talked to Judge Decoff about this yesterday.
- They are doing everything they can to move people outside of that facility where they can, obviously,
- where safety permits. And it's becoming increasingly difficult to get people to that, even to that bond
- status where they can even have the chance to leave.
- I think that's one of the things and I appreciate the question that the public truly does not understand
- and no fault of theirs. We do this profession, we do this job, so no fault of theirs, but like the jail
- commander stated, the judges are doing everything they can. And to be honest with you, if they weren't
- doing what they were doing, we would be in worse shape here.
- ask more of them this is impossible at this point it's just it is what it is and that's one of the reasons
- why we're in front of you right now because they have done everything and and like the jail commander
- mentioned with some of the law that came out the statute some of their hands are truly tied so they're
- doing everything that they can yes to answer the second part of your question yes um i i'm going to
- point back to to the letters that ken faulk issued to mineral county government
- He outlined those things. Just a few of them are your HVAC systems, our air handling systems, lack of
- isolation cells, padded cells. He gave us a laundry list of things that caused him great concern as
- to why our facility was
- why he was looking at our facility so hard. So I think the best answer comes from the ACLU. I know one
- thing we took at the heart when we got it. But again, there's only so much the commissioners can do.
- There's only so much the sheriff can do and there's only so much the council can do because that facility
- is what it is.
- picked up dramatically. And the timing was right after attorney Ken Falk came and paid a visit and talked
- to some of the, and he's doing what needs to be done. But also I do know that if you're going to go
- further than the grievance, you gotta go to the process of the grievance first, then you will go beyond.
- I really do think this is an educational part for a lot of people that are not aware of this. And again,
- no fault of theirs. But this is something that we do constantly. And I assure you, this is not going
- away. Well, thank you very much for putting on a notice. I have no further questions. I think your report
- was exemplary. I think it was very detailed, very thorough. And I thank you for just putting together
- something so professional on short notice.
- And although you said it's been in the works, you know, thank you so just very much. Can I address something
- on that right now, just for the interest of transparency? We've been working on this report for some
- time. Yes. But that last night and I believe that we emailed that to the commissioners somewhere in
- the arena of seven o'clock. Yes. Right.
- Fiscal note attached to this was emailed today around seven AM. So I only wanted to bring that forward
- so that everybody knows that. We haven't been sitting on this and just sprung it on the commissioners
- to come in here and do an update. We literally finished it last night and we literally sent it last
- night, right? So. You know, there are some
- There are some things that we hope the commissioners take out of this, and we hope that the commissioners
- will give us some feedback to that. But I just I thought it was important to let everybody that's listening
- know when this report went into final draft and when we dropped it in your lap and gave you a like,
- I don't know, less than 12 hours to figure it all out or just over 12 hours.
- I think my feedback would always be, you know, thank you for your transparency. Thank you for coming
- forward and always feel free to bring forward whatever you need because it's our job as commissioners
- to support you. Thank you. I do have a question and bear with me because I probably ask it wrong because
- this is not my area of expertise, but is there a certain funding from your point of view that could
- help us accomplish what we're trying to accomplish here? Is there funding out there somewhere?
- There is the correctional lit. Obviously up to the council to make a determination about funding for
- any of this. And so it's that money was supposed to be set aside for the justice center project. And
- I think that's why this is so painful.
- because we talked about today, at the end of our meeting, we went through all the sites that we visited
- and all the things we learned and what worked and what didn't. And we also noted that there are two
- requirements for this Justice Center project, building a new facility, and that is time and space. And
- you talk about time in a different way.
- Because for you, this is about how long we're going to have to do this. And I think what the community,
- and I can see all of the logistics here are crazy. I just kind of imagined as I read through the report
- last night,
- I just kind of imagine of all the things logistically that could happen. You know, you're halfway back
- from Facility A and they're causing trouble and the Facility A says, come back and get them. We don't
- want them here. You know, the medical stuff, everything else, it's crazy. So this underlines the time
- constraints that we're under for sure.
- Um, I think the correctional lid is it that I can see, but that's going to be up to the council to make
- that determination and figure out how we're going to pay for this. Um, and I'm certainly not questioning,
- um, anything that you have here. I guess, I guess what back to commissioner Madeira's question.
- you know, what's different now than when we had the private settlement agreement? And the answer is
- nothing, right? That is correct. Okay. In terms of why we're here, nothing. Yeah, you'd be here other
- way. I think that's going to be the question people will have. I get it. I get it because I have seen
- the poorest
- walls in the cells that are like marshmallows. I know what this jail looks like inside. So that brings
- me to a question. I know you talked about the heat and all of that. And clearly we were worried last
- week to say the least. I mean, I spent part of Friday looking at information on all of this.
- and conversations with Ms. Purdy, and then I sent a note to the president of the county council,
- and I said, it may be that we're gonna be moving inmates today, and I don't know what the cost is gonna
- be, but I wanted to put her on alert. So here's the thing. Without talking about the heat, because the
- heat is one thing, it's gonna be cold in six months, and we're gonna wish we were back in the heat.
- My question is, what makes this an emergency? And maybe this is a question for Mr. Roddy to address
- because we do have a resolution in front of us to consider. And it does use that word emergency. And
- I think I just want clarity as to
- Is it the functional capacity? Is it the condition of the jail? Is it the overcrowding? Is it all three?
- And if it's all three, say that. I just need that clarity as we look at this.
- Okay, so that was my second question actually is, does the court also have to recognize the same emergency
- exists that we do? Okay. Got it. Right, right. That is why I was very specific when I talked about the
- convergence. And to answer your question, quite frankly, it's all, it is the facility
- the population, they have converged to the point now over the over the course of time that the that
- all of those things have contributed to. We believe if we continue down this road, that we're we're
- we're facing not being able to provide constitutional care. I jumped in there real quick.
- And it's the age of the facility. It's not delayed maintenance. It's not a wear and tear of additional
- bodies on the facilities. It's structural. The thing about this, because I hear some people say sometimes
- you've got to keep maintenance up. Right. That facility has been opened. Yes. And what was it in 1983
- when it was informed, sorry, people started being housed there. It hasn't closed since then.
- constant 24-7. Exactly. Over the years, that place opened up. When you have your own home, you have
- to make repairs, right? Or at a school, you have to make repairs. But you know what? It's not 24-7.
- The school shuts down for a period of time. We do not. We don't have the luxury of shutting down for
- holidays. Right. Or, you know, go on vacation. That building stays open 24-7. The wear and tear in the plumbing
- for example. People say, well, replace it. Well, it's not that easy. Or just go ahead and rebuild the
- whole place. Well, what do you put all the people in there? And for how long do you do that? So to be
- fiscally sound and fiscally responsible, this is where we're at right now. Because if someone got forbid
- in that place right now, something negative happens. Well, we're liable. The county will be liable.
- Because we all know what needs to be done, and yet it has not happened as of yet. So when we're sitting
- in front of you and we've been more than happy to answer any other questions you might have, we didn't
- come to this conclusion, again, very lightly. And just because we're moving people doesn't mean it fixed
- the problems of that facility. It still remains the same. That doesn't go away.
- No one ever points to anything that was delayed. And so I just wanted to get that out there and establish
- that is not the problem that is structural. It's the age of the facility. It's the continual use of
- the facility. Yes, it is the initial engineering of the facility as well. The commissioners were forced
- to build a facility that sounds so familiar deja vu all over again. Commissioners are forced to build
- a facility. They weren't given enough money to do it. Yes, they built what they built.
- we've been struggling to maintain it ever since. And it's cost a lot of money. That has cost a lot of
- money. And ASI has done yeoman's work, Mr. Gardner, keeping things going. But you look at the administrative
- side of that building, you've got pinhole leaks in pipes. I mean, it's crazy. That building is just
- not, you can't maintain what
- where we're at now. And it's not a lack of maintenance all along. It doesn't need a piece of carpet
- and a lick of paint, as somebody once said. It needs to be replaced. And that's where we're going. And
- that's where we're going. On that facility. It happens all day, every day, throughout the night. And
- Dave's taking those calls at 12, 1, 2, 3 a.m. But here's what I'll say. It's not just the facilities
- falling down around us. There are individuals inside that facility
- specifically trying to destroy that facility. They're tearing up the plumbing. They're tearing up the
- walls. They're tearing up the grates. They're plugging things up. The sheriff was talking about maintenance
- on your home. Imagine if you had someone running through your house just destroying things. It's impossible
- to keep up in a 24-hour operation. I want to talk about a couple of things as well. Is this document,
- including the financial
- Staffing cost estimates. Are these going out to the public yet? Have they been released to the public
- yet? Then I'm going to say a couple numbers because I think the public needs to hear this. The estimated
- cost for staffing is $1.68 million. This is an annual operating cost.
- 65 000 in fuel maintenance uh we haven't talked about the capital costs of acquiring additional vehicles
- uh plus plus you also have um housing which ranges depending on whether we're at a low cost facility
- and how many inmates at any time i'm going to just give the high and low range here just to ballpark
- it so people hear it uh 2.2 uh sorry 2. yeah 2.2 million
- for 50 inmates at a low cost facility to 100 inmates at the highest cost facility at 4.4 million. I'm
- just throwing those numbers out so people can hear the enormity of the problem because when you do release
- that, it's gonna be shocking. I will say that I will support
- the resolution, which we're going to talk about in a moment here, because we've been going on too long.
- But there are going to be hurdles to moving forward quickly. You do know that, right? You know that
- getting a new job description through council, it's a very long time. So I don't know if there's any
- way to utilize your existing job descriptions
- let's do this as a new hire. Just throwing that out there for you to consider because you're gonna be
- adding another month to getting this moving. I am surprised that one county facility, Morgan, has such
- a high cost per day and the others don't. And I imagine it's because it's a newer facility.
- I'm not sure, but that's something that's
- expensive um it's higher than department of corrections indiana department of corrections charges per
- day okay um and now i'm gonna throw something else out there because you you all put together numbers
- i'm guessing they're you know because i don't know your current budget as well as somebody on the council
- will or should um
- So let me say this. I think there's going to be some work that needs to be done as we talk to these
- local county facilities. I think one of the things we need to ask them is whether they are currently
- using CCH as their medical contractor. Because I'm wondering if there is some way, because that's who we use.
- if there is some way that we can avoid being double billed for medical, right? I don't know, I couldn't
- find our contract. So I'm sure you do. So I don't know if we're being charged per inmate per day or
- if we're, and if that's the case, then yes, we'll pay medical from another facility. I was just thinking
- through all of those logistics as well. I used to be on the council, I kind of go that way.
- There are 242,000 meals last year in the facility. That's from your report. That's a lot of food. So
- that number is going to change, right? So I think there's going to be some give and take is my point.
- On the medical side, on the food side, this isn't all just because the way this is written out, it looks
- like we're adding 50 to 100 inmates
- per day, per year, per day for the whole year in different facilities, but not taking into account that
- the costs in our facility should be lower because there are fewer inmates. There is, I know there is
- much more staff that's needed to do the transport and preparation and everything else, but that food
- costs may go down and medical costs may go down and staffing costs may be
- may go down I don't know or can a staff member be moved to another task I don't know that's all really
- important stuff for you to decide internally not not something that I should be inserting myself into
- but I just want to point out that the way this is written is you know pretty frightening six million
- six point six million dollars
- between staff and that's not the capital just between staffing and. High end staffing and facility stay
- days. That should have another side it's not going to be six million that should have another side on
- that balance sheet that also shows where your other costs may be lower because there should be some.
- some lower costs involved there somewhere. So the court has to agree to the emergency and the functional
- capacity lack. They have to agree to release inmates to other facilities, correct? Our job is to say,
- we believe that there are functional and structural issues in our current facility that lead us to declare
- an emergency and, right?
- And we foresee this emergency is not, again, something I said early on, we agree that this emergency
- is not because of the heat wave. We agree that this is an emergency that's going to last until we have
- a new facility. Yes. Is that accurate? Yes. Okay. All right. I just wanted that clear. Is that because
- of mismanagement and it's not because of...
- anything that's been done in the past. It is solely because of the conditions of the facility and the
- decisions that were made originally. Yes. Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. Really appreciate it. If you would
- stay here for a moment, I'm going to... If you're okay with making a motion on this resolution. Yes.
- I was gonna say, I don't have the number. We don't have the resolution number. Okay, that's fine. Right,
- right. The title hasn't changed, right? Right, yep. I need to give the number necessarily? We'll just
- say the number's gonna be.
- like to approve a resolution twenty twenty six dash a blank a resolution of the Monroe County Board
- of Commissioners acknowledging the Monroe County jail overcrowding emergency affirming the county's
- responsibility to support constitutional jail operations and authorizing emergency measures to provide
- for the safe and lawful housing of inmates. I will second that and because this was not published in
- advance I do want to read into the record the that now therefore and if you all have any
- concerns once I read through that, please let us know, okay? One, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners
- formally acknowledges that Monroe County is experiencing a significant jail overcrowding emergency and
- that the current jail facility continues to deteriorate, creating operational safety and constitutional
- concerns requiring immediate attention. Two, the board acknowledges that while the Monroe County jail
- contains approximately 233 general housing beds,
- The sheriff's office has established a functional capacity of the facility at approximately 186 beds.
- based upon correctional operational requirements. The Monroe County attorney or other designated legal
- counsel for the county is asked to immediately assist the Monroe County Sheriff's Office in preparing,
- negotiating and finalizing interlocal agreements, housing agreements, and any other contracts necessary
- to house Monroe County inmates in surrounding county correctional facilities. Number four, upon completing
- such agreements,
- And following any required approval by Monroe County courts, the board commits to considering enacting
- upon those agreements without unnecessary delay. So in other words, bring those back to us.
- for consideration five manure County Board of Commissioners encourages county council to identify. The
- county funder funds available to finance this emergency operational plan, including inmate
- housing transportation medical and associated operational costs and to identify the current available
- balances of such funds as part of the county's implementation strategy six.
- The board affirms that these emergency operational measures are intended solely to maintain constitutional
- jail operations, protect the health and safety of inmates and staff, reduce legal liability to Monroe
- County and preserve public safety until a permanent.
- the replacement correctional facility is constructed and placed into service. Number seven, Monroe County
- Board of Commissioners commits to working collaboratively with Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Monroe
- County Courts, and other affected government agencies to implement these emergency measures as expeditiously
- as practical. Number eight, nothing contained in this resolution shall be construed as limiting or replacing
- Monroe County's ongoing responsibility to pursue, finance, and construct a long-term replacement correctional facility
- meeting the present and future correctional needs of Monroe County. Did I miss anything, gentlemen?
- I think so. Okay. With that, let's see if there's any public comment. Well, probably I would like us
- to ratify this at our next meeting, so this should go on our agenda. The next meeting is a ratification,
- just to have that.
- Let's see if there's any public comment on this item. You can raise your hand on Teams or come to the
- podium. Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of approving this resolution to be ratified next week,
- signify by saying aye. Aye. Motion carries to zero.
- Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. Sheriff Marte, Chief Deputy Parker, and Commander Gibbons, thank you
- so much. Thank you for all you do and continue to do. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Not an easy job.
- No. Reading through that document makes that very clear. And please convey our thank you to your staff
- as well. Will do. Thank you. Planning staff, I feel like I owe them a huge apology because I said, ah,
- this will only take 20 minutes.
- And here we are way later. Planning has a petition for us to hear, and I hope they're still there so
- they can share it with us. And this is the ordinance 2026-23 Tabor Owens Rezone on State Road 45. Who
- is here to present? Mr. Myers?
- commissioners meeting. We don't normally make you wait around this long, but we certainly appreciate
- your patience and tenacity. So if you could tell us about, um what we need to know about this ordinance.
- Um we would greatly
- Can you see I'm sharing my screen? Are you all able to see the presentation? Yes. OK, first and foremost,
- I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Raymond Tobiah. I joined the county as a planner to in February.
- Today is actually my five month anniversary. I'm happy to be here. So just before getting to the petition,
- I just wanted to formally introduce myself to you all.
- I do not believe that I have met any of you all before, or maybe just by happenstance, I may have run
- into you all, but I just wanted to formally introduce myself first and foremost. Thank you so much and
- welcome. I have met you before because I'm on the Planning Commission, but Commissioner Medeira had
- not met you yet, so we look forward to working with you. Thank you. So this is just kind of a quick
- summary of the
- petition here. I'll give a more detailed summary at the formal session for this petition. This meeting
- is or will this presentation really just to give kind of a general overview, just some highlights as
- well as give you all the opportunity to ask any questions or if you have any you know kind of follow-ups
- that you would like to inquire about I'll be
- wasn't happy to answer. So the petition is for a rezone. So the property at 3695 West State Road, the
- petitioner is requesting the rezoning from LB Limited Business to GB General Business. The purpose of
- the rezone is to allow the use of a use, which is the Rosemont Fast Casual, to be permitted on that
- lot. That use is not permitted in the limited business
- zoning district but it is permitted in the general business zoning district. You'll see in the later
- slides where that's outlined in our use table in the Monroe County Development Ordinance. Kind of the
- big items to note is that there will need to be at the stage if this is approved, improvements that
- will need to be made for what the petitioner is
- Proposing that they are proposing a restaurant fast gas reuse ordinance stipulates that a site plan
- review would need to be submitted for that. In doing so, they will have to make some improvements on
- that lot. So that is something that will be addressed at that stage. Rezoning will increase the number
- of uses from 60 to 85. So potential uses on that lot will increase. That's highlighted on page 135 and 137.
- and the packet that was disseminated. Currently, there is a, well, it's in the process of being relocated.
- There is a retail use, it's a mobile home hardware that is actually being relocated as we speak. And
- the planning commission actually forwarded a positive recommendation by a vote of seven in favor, zero
- against, and one abstaining.
- at the July 16th, oh sorry, June 16th planning commission meeting. Moving forward. So most of the zoning
- districts in the vicinity surrounding the subject property are also zoned either limited business or
- general business directly to the east, north and south. It's their zoned general business as well. So
- it's consistent with the
- Zoning in the area, the reason on request that is, there are two buses in the vicinity and West State
- Road 45 is in Indiana Department of Transportation maintain a roadway. So they will need to receive
- approval for any commercial driveways from the Indiana Department of Transportation. So that'll be the
- state. There is the Walmart in the vicinity.
- to the east of the subject property. That is a major commercial use there. So that's just something
- to keep in mind moving on. So these are the definitions of limited business and general business per
- our county development ordinance. And there's also the definition of a restaurant fast casual use. And
- this is the definition of the drive-throughs and accessories per our county development ordinance as well.
- So this is the use table that I pulled a snippet from our county development orange. As you can see,
- restaurant fast cash was not permitted in the limited business zoning district, but it is permitted
- in the general business zoning district and the drive-through as an accessory use requires a conditional
- use in both those zoning districts. But if they were able to have the properties on general business,
- they will not only be permitted for the restaurant fast cash use, but they will be able to
- pursue the drive-throughs and assess reuse and the general business zoning district as well. These are
- the location map and zoning maps as you can see. On the map to the right, most of the property surrounding
- the subject property are the zone general business. This is a site condition map. You can see the access
- points, the ingress egress there to the north and to the northwest.
- And this is the comparison of the site conditions from 2005 and from last year, 2025 for Eagle View
- imagery. As you can see, since the Walmart was constructed adjacent to the property, there have been
- some improvements made. Some of the notable ones are that turning lane leading into the Walmart parking
- lot, as well as the sidewalk there
- the north or sorry the southwest portion of the lot amongst other improvements. So one of the biggest
- changes in the rezone will be really increased in the purpose cover. This lot is located in the Sinking
- Creek critical watershed so they there are a few changes that will be made as far as their dimensional
- standards. Most notable was
- what I just mentioned, the increase in the perverse cover as well as the changes in the maximum height
- for the primary structure, the accessory structure. And this is just kind of summarizing what I showed
- in the first slide. Staff recommends approval for the rezone based on the findings of fact and the rezone's
- compatibility with the comprehensive plan
- that were included in the commissioner package. I will now field any questions you all may have.
- All right, thank you so much. Do you have questions on this petition? I don't, thank you for the detailed
- description. Yeah, I don't have any questions. I've heard this several times and I appreciate
- the presentation. You did a great job, so kudos to you.
- Thank you. Next the next step will be to have this presented at our regular meeting where you won't
- be asked to wait so darn long to come on. I feel so badly about this, but I don't know if you've had
- contact with the petitioner about when they would like to come in. Have they given you a date? No, first
- thing we wanted to really do was bring it before you all and you know.
- Yeah, really just first step was just kind of bringing it before you all. They didn't really, I think
- they're just kind of fine with, you know, the process as it is, but they didn't really know any specific
- dates that they wanted to, you know, have this. Okay. Okay, great. So we will not be meeting July 30th, nor
- August 6. So we could either hear this on the 16th or the 23rd. Do you have a preference? Okay, we don't
- have a preference. So if you want to reach out to the petitioner, we can do this next week or on the
- 16th and you just need to get the packet to Aubrey and she will get that into our meeting.
- and it'll be at the end of the meeting, but not a work session. It'll be a regular. Does that work for
- you? Yeah, I'll reach out to them and see which date works best for them. Perfect. Thank you, sir. Thank
- you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Mr. Rowdy, do we have anything
- else for our work session which has now
- two hours. That's awesome. Okay. All right. We'll talk. All right. Thank you, everyone. And with that,
- we are adjourned.