- I would like to call to order the Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 meeting of the Monroe County Stormwater
- Management Board. So I would like to note for the record that Surveyor Tron and Ray Randolph is here
- in the room and Commissioner Thomas is here and myself, Commissioner Madeira. Also, we have a number
- of items of business to attend to.
- First order of business is public input for items not on the agenda. Would anyone in the NACU Hill Room
- like to come forward and give public comment? Would anyone online on Teams like to offer public comment?
- Just raise your hand and we will allow you to speak. Seeing none, I will move on.
- To the next item, approval of minutes for March 25th, 2026. I move approval. Second. Are there
- any corrections, changes? All right. Then all approving, I would like to call a vote for that motion.
- All in support of approving the minutes for March 25th, 2026, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. That motion passes
- unanimously.
- Next item of business is the stormwater expenditure report for December 2025, and that's January, February,
- March, and April of 2026 as well. Good afternoon. In December, we had the grade all repaired. That was
- over $21,000. We had traffic control. That was over $12,000. And televised the pipe, and that was over
- $21,000, and those are the big expenditures.
- Excellent. And a couple of quick questions. I think all that really is is maybe some clarification of
- how to interpret that. Let me bring up my online. Let me bring up my highlights. But sorry. So on fleet
- maintenance, look at the beginning appropriation, it's 80,000 expenditures 21. Then we have
- total appropriation 80,000, and then appropriation balance at 13,000? I guess I'm just, and I might
- have this wrong, I'm looking at expenditures, total appropriation, seeing that, and 21 minus the 80,000
- wouldn't be 13. Am I looking at it incorrectly? That's for the year, this end of the year. So that's
- just this month, okay.
- Yeah, the expenditure column is just for that month. And then the balance shows what's left for the
- day. OK. That makes sense. Sorry, we haven't went over this since December. So I was just wanting to
- make sure I was tracking along. Thank you for the clarification. And I forgot to say that Stipp Road,
- we paid out over $1,000,050,452.37.
- And South Shore, $109,481. In January, we had backfill. The bridge crew did over $18,000. And then South
- Shore, we paid out $5,497.79. And those were the two big expenditures. February.
- We had the bridge crew used backfill and $9,846.76. Traffic control was $7,546.54. We had other insurance,
- which is not health, for $92,787. And then Stipp Road, we had $302,842.05.
- And then for March, we had the bridge crew for backfill and pavement, $22,428.02. And then we also had
- this another payment for Stipro for $10,678.89. And then for, sorry. Just on February, just that's our
- one insurance payment of the year, the 92787.
- for auto insurance. And then we had to adjust and transfer 10,007, and that was just because we attempted
- to budget exactly, and it just came over, I guess. Yeah, it went up a 10,000, so we budgeted an extra
- 10, and then it went up another almost 11,000, but now we're getting a refund. Oh, so we'll see some
- come back. And does that refund come directly to Stormwater?
- Yeah, so actually I just reached out to Angie on this. So we get our estimates from the commissioner's
- office for our insurance. Everybody had an increase once we got the final bill in the spring, so we
- went in for additionals. Then we turned around last week and was told that we had some credits actually
- coming back. I asked, reach out to Angie, the credits are from the year before,
- but they don't put that into your premium amount of what they estimate that will be so that we will
- know exactly what our premium costs are. So they don't want to mingle the two, but the credit is actually
- for last year's items. So that's why we're receiving a credit after we went through and did transfers
- and such, just so we know exactly what we're paying for a premium and not depend on the credit.
- And then, you know, my colleagues may not want
- additional information, but I was curious if you could maybe send me something just to kind of see what
- that insurance is covering. And I can kind of look at it behind the scenes instead of trying to drag
- it out at the meeting today, just to get a better equipment. And yeah, just kind of what the more broad
- umbrella insurance is covering for that information in our office.
- Yeah, we just submit all of that to the commissioner's office, and then they do all the insurance
- negotiations. That's fine. I would like to formally request seeing that, since it's part of our budget.
- Please ask Angie for anything you need. All right. Great. Any further questions? No, that's it.
- All right. Then that brings us on. I got one more. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. I'm sorry. Oh, no, no,
- that's fine. This is actually it. April.
- Bridge crew and backfill did fifty three thousand five hundred and fifty two dollars and seventy three
- cents Traffic control was nine thousand two eighty seventy eight The Public education was forty thousand
- six eighty five oh seven that included the five thousand for summer interns and the thirty five thousand
- for the MOU And what
- We put the $5,000 to the SWCD for their summer staff. Yeah, summer interns. Oh. Our summer interns are
- covered under our part-time line. Got you. That's separate. Just to make sure it's clear. OK. Maybe
- how much did we pay for the MOU request? $35,000. $35,000. That's what that came.
- that what we anticipated because I for some reason I thought okay we were the request for qualifications
- were posted I'll have to refer back what happens when we don't but for some reason I thought we were
- at like a 12,000 not to exceed for us for qualifications being prepared yes the MOU that's the disbursement
- of that was for sorry which one are you looking at okay
- Never mind. There's two different MOUs, so we're talking about the mini-grant with SWCD. I'm completely
- okay. We've moved forward with the memorandum of understanding for qualifications for the long-term
- capital improvement plan. That's part of a contract, so it's separate, yeah. We dealt with the SWCD,
- so that was off my radar, so when you said memorandum of understanding, the acronym is not coming to me.
- That's what I thought of. So when I heard 35, I was just wanting to clarify. Thank you. Any other questions
- about the expenditure reports? No. Moving into business. So we do have a couple of change orders with
- Redbud Heights Drainage Improvement Project.
- The project has finished up. So this was the final change order just to account for all the the last
- Minute items So the the remaining value that was part of that change order was nineteen thousand four
- hundred thirty eight dollars and ninety cents and this has already been brought to the commissioners
- for media approval so that we could get them all paid out in a timely manner
- Questions about that? I think you still have to vote to approve it. Yes. Yes. My computer's dead, so
- I'm not going to be able to make a motion. Yes. I move to approve the Redbud Heights drainage improvement
- project change order. Any amount of $19,430. And I'm sorry. I want to make sure that I'm looking at
- the correct amount here. I'm looking at the remaining CCD02 value remaining.
- Yes. Is that the correct amount? Correct. Yes. Yes. OK. Any amount of $19,430.90? Yes. OK. I'll second.
- All right. Sorry. I just wanted to make sure I was correct on the numbers. Any questions from my colleagues
- up here? Any public comment in the room on the Redbud Heights drainage improvement project change order?
- Any comments online on the Redbud Heights Drainage Improvement Project Change Order? Seeing no hands,
- I will call the vote. All in favor of approving the Redbud Heights Drainage Improvement Project Change
- Order, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Excellent. So our next item, so as part of
- our cost share program with the SWCD, we do have Erica Meyers here.
- You have any questions about it. There were a couple of individual project requests that wanted to go
- above the normal amount. And so as part of our MOU with the SWCD that we just updated this past. Brewery.
- Whatever that was. They.
- the approval needs to come from both the SWCD board and the stormwater management board. So both of
- these have been approved and recommended by the SWCD board. And so now it is your hands to approve or
- ask questions as you. And so this first one, I separated them out so that we can vote on them separately
- in the event that outcome for them.
- So this first one, the issue, if I'm understanding correctly, there's a culvert that drains under the
- road from the hillside into their field. And so this project would help direct that drainage into a
- specific channel and help their pasture and their cattle.
- impacting the direct flow into Bean Blossom. If you've had a chance to read through the application,
- they have worked with NRCS on the design. The NRCS will be out there to evaluate it during construction
- and after construction. Erica Myers will also go out and during and after construction. Did you want
- to add anything?
- Or if you have questions, Erica might be able to, other Erica might be able to answer them better. You
- need to come up to the microphone, sorry. It was okay when you said no question, but then. Then I kept
- talking. I think you explained it really well, but yeah, if you have any additional questions, both
- of the applications are for tiling for two separate purposes. So if you have questions, please let me know.
- I guess this could be directed at either or. With the mini-grant program, are both of these projects,
- well, okay, I'll separate them. This project, would that fall under, like, the accepted criteria to
- go through the mini-grant? Like, I know that they're wanting more than what the max allows, but would
- them from going through the mini-grant program that we already have in place?
- Is there anything different? You mean like from a financial standpoint? From what they're asking, what
- kind of repairs with the tiling, does that all fall within the mini-grant program? So let's say they
- were just doing it at a smaller scale where they could do it under the threshold of what our max is
- with the mini-grant, would this be allowed to go through the mini-grant program?
- Yes, I believe I understand your question. Yeah. So the only difference here is they're wanting more
- dollars towards it, which is an exception to the program that we have in place. I understand. Yes. These
- are quite a bit higher than we're normally seeing bids for project-wise. Right. So thank you. I just
- wanted to make that. I know I spoke with you earlier, and I think
- The intention here is really great, but I'm just going to kind of read what I have here. This probably
- be for both. When we were kind of going through this mini grant program back years ago that, you know,
- it was really hard to get public transparency of people going through the mini grant. As far as I know,
- that's not an issue, but I haven't really kind of
- reviewed it that granularly to see if these names are still publicly available, because as being a rate
- payer fund, I think it should be very transparent that people know where these dollars are going to.
- So I understand that these redactions of the name and where the project's going is not SWCD. I understand that.
- But I think this information needs to be public and should not be redacted. Maybe we don't put the documents
- that must be redacted that are from the NRCS, which I'm not too sure if that's part of the requirement,
- but I do know from previous discussion the USDA does require certain PI personal information to be redacted.
- Totally understand that. But we could provide
- other information that's not from that source that we're allowed to have transparent. During
- these discussions years ago, we had our attorney Dave Schilling here saying that it was completely fine
- to make that publicly available. And also, I think it's essential that this information is included
- in any grant application that we can disclose the names or they shouldn't be going through the program.
- We should, I know that we're giving it to SWCD, which is completely okay, but like
- public should know who the end person is at a certain point and that that bothers me tremendously and
- it was about a year and a half of effort of working with the mini grant so I could fully support it
- and I have in a way where we've been able to increase the dollar amount bring in the intern and you
- know I would still love to do that but without that transparent
- I can't do it. And then furthermore, we need to establish a method to support more ratepayers while
- remaining fair to all residents of Monroe County. And that's what I think the mini grant program is
- all about. It creates these guidelines and it has these caps. So, you know, I'm gonna be respectful
- for not mentioning the names, but it was easy for me to look at the project location, identify each
- one of these people. Currently, we're looking at
- Let me get to my notes, a request. Comment thing here. Speed it along a little bit, sorry. And I'm just
- gonna say, this one currently is a licensed livestock dealer, meaning that their profits are passed
- directly to the organization, company.
- what I found online, it says individually family members, but that's fine if it's a family-owned business.
- But it is a for-profit. The next one is a non-profit, which kind of makes me reconsider it just a little
- bit. But back to my main point here, I appreciate the effort of trying to find resources to deal with
- this, but how can we be fair with all of the rate payers for the next person that needs a more sizable
- funding to
- address their issues. And, you know, I really don't want to get in a situation where we're kind of picking
- and choosing. We're both looking for a for-profit and a non-profit kind of request here. Sorry to lump
- them in, but, you know, I don't want to repeat myself on the next one, so this is going to move it.
- So, like, you know, also the other concern is, and this isn't directed at you, is the 2027 budget and
- the unknowns. There's still really curious, and I know my colleagues
- have kind of addressed this a little bit and they're welcome to again, but you know, with the potential
- of the reorganization with Richland Township, that's gonna start eating into their available funds.
- It does also eat into the area that we have to maintain. So there is gonna be a balance, but I would
- really like to see like a more budget forecast of like how we can increase our funding here without
- having to take away in other areas. Also with what we've done with our budget of like really making sure that
- the efforts to storm water are being compensated in personnel as well of all of our other needs. So
- like to just increase this dollar amount without kind of having some of these unknowns identified and
- we won't know until 2027, unfortunately. We'll know in November. Well, we can get some projections for sure.
- And then finally, so as of now, you know, my main concern here outside of everything else I said is
- I cannot support either of these two due to the public transparency. That's non-negotiable for me. The
- public needs to know where these rate payer dollars are going to. And without that, I will not be supporting
- that. And I urge my colleagues to support that transparency and come back to us when we can actually
- you know, talk about who is asking for these dollars. But again, I applaud your effort. I want to do
- this with something I've talked about, how we can expand our efforts to more rate payers across the
- county. But just with that one concern, I can't support it, sorry. So as far as the personal information,
- when we are using an NRCS design, yeah, we get kind of stuck, because that's their policy.
- However, when we have the landowners sign the agreement, we have a statement that says, are you comfortable
- sharing your personal information? I know that we really like these projects to be educational
- and forward-facing. I think we've only had one person say that they weren't comfortable. So most of
- the time, people are very comfortable. And we've had the discussion with our board whether we should
- deny a project based on their comfortability of their land being shown.
- is a discussion that's maybe important to have. I'm not sure how to work around NRCS's rules, but. Well,
- I'll refer you to Dave Schilling that helped me through this, but one of the most key components to
- it is when it was a USDA or a federal computer that was hosting this and then also you're using documents.
- So if we didn't submit the documents that they prepared and gave you and we have the
- application where they're comfortable with releasing their information, we could just compare, you know,
- create our own project location, do a summary. Obviously, we're not going to get into the minutia of
- the engineering and things like that. So there are ways to allow the public to know where those dollars
- are going to go. But I'm going to defer to Mr. Schilling to kind of iron out any other detail I might
- have, you know, skipped over or glossed over.
- Yeah, I think that's definitely something to kind of work out the kinks of how whether or not we want
- to make that a necessary thing for the projects or not. In terms of the profit against nonprofit versus
- we're looking at the conservation concerns versus like, yeah, trying to help the business necessarily,
- but like the erosion and flooding and the I totally understand.
- Animals access the water is really important. I think this has a great benefit, but I just can't ask
- the public transportation, not transportation, transparency. And, you know, again, I really applaud
- your efforts. Like, I totally want to support this. I just can't at this moment. So there are maps in
- the packet that they're why.
- In our packet, there is the application information with maps. So we know where these things are going.
- So, and I'm not going to worry about 2027 until later in 2026. So I'm okay supporting this,
- both of them, because they are to benefit all residents of Monroe County. So I'll leave it at that.
- big ask to make the public to go in there search that look for identify I mean like it's there I'm pretty
- savvy and it took me a bit of time to look at it I know I'm just stating it's a big ask I'm not thinking
- I'm asking for anything that can't come back to us to receive resolve these concerns and can I ask one
- clarifying question of Erica so the
- The final document that you have them sign the agreement, that's where you have the clause about comfort.
- So they have not signed any agreements yet to receive the funding. So that's in part why their information
- is not being fully presented. Once they receive the funding, then it's a different story. But this is
- preliminary, still going through the approval process. So that perspective might help a little bit.
- We should have those details ironed out. Yeah, that just that just should be something like, you know,
- I have a difference on the nonprofit for profit. That's that's different. But like, I want to support
- this. But like without that, and we don't have to debate this. But like, I think it's really important
- since it's a rate payer fee and everyone in the county pays into this, except there's the exceptions
- to know where those dollars end up.
- And what you're saying is maybe we will after the fact. But I do not think it's OK to be like,
- here's a map. Do the research. Figure it out on your own. We should be accountable for the rate payer
- dollars and make sure the public has the transparency needed to understand where these dollars are going.
- Yes, I agree. It is a public benefit. And I will not argue that. I do want to support it. But I will
- not at this time. And that's just me. Let me try this, sir.
- I'm going to move approval of the increased funding for application 3-2026 with the understanding that
- this will only be made available if the recipient's information is published per public records in Monroe
- County. There you go.
- If there's no second, then that'll fail and we'll move on. Okay. I will second that. Okay. Any comments?
- I just don't see how this is going to create fairness with the model that we have in place. Um,
- without those, you know, a lot of people in need for the funding is open to all residents of Monroe
- County. So it's not like they're being excluded. This is exceeding the max.
- That's where that fairness comes in is they have a match. They have a threshold that they can get their
- exceptions. And I don't see how we're going to treat every single person the same. So based off of that,
- you know, I just I mean, it's this is my position. I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable or
- feel like they're not important and that we're not trying to make a good effort. But like the next person
- that comes and asks for this,
- If we say yes to them, I can say yes today, but I don't know if that's gonna be the case, so I'm not
- gonna be able to support off of that as well, sorry. Can I make a comment real quick? Yes,
- go ahead Lisa. So I appreciate Tron's discussion. I was here during all those discussions, I think Julie
- was too, about transparency.
- property ownership and things. Maybe moving forward, we kind of get together and have a process of how
- we're going to do that. Maybe meet with Dave Schilling and kind of maybe bring that topic back up as
- staff of how can we make this work and meet everybody's needs. And then you won't have that question
- about where the funds are going and how we can be more transparent
- in the next applications and such. And I know we're willing to do that as staff to make it work with
- SWCD. And I'm okay with increasing the amount to the mini grant and having exceptions to exceed what
- the max is if they hit certain criteria and then go through the application process where, okay, we
- have a budgeted amount and when that budgeted amount isn't there, then that's when we can stop kind
- of giving that relief or that partnership
- of that financial burden that the property owner's gonna have. But without that structure, we're just
- doing kind of a one-off. I'd rather see an increase in the mini-grant and say, hey, if you hit this
- threshold, you can increase it to 8,000. This is the $20,000 reserve we have, and once we deplete that,
- there is no more kind of exceptions. But without creating that mechanism to be fair for everyone that
- needs that relief, I just can't do it, and I'm really, really sorry about that.
- It's I will say it's a thing that would be great for discussion because we've seen more interest this
- year than we've ever seen which is amazing. We were hitting about the budget line each year and this
- year I have already like seven I have way more going to be probably through the funding a lot earlier than we.
- have ever been, which is really exciting. And I think with NRCS having less funding, we're going to
- be seeing more expensive projects that we're not used to seeing that we could kind of fill in the gaps
- and make a really big impact. So it definitely might be worth a further discussion. Finally, just the
- for-profit nonprofit, that's not really a huge concern because of the prop
- program itself allows farmers to go in it. And we don't really scrutinize like what they're doing. So
- sometimes it can benefit a farmer that is selling their produce or things of that nature. So that's
- not really my sticking. It's how can we be fair and how can we have that transparency? So I really appreciate
- my colleague kind of offering a solution there, but the other one's kind of a sticking point for me
- too. I apologize. Can we get public comment and then call the question, please?
- So is there anyone who would like to offer public comment in the room? Is there anyone who would like
- to offer public comment online? Raise your hand. Seeing none, I will call the question. All those. And
- actually, I don't have a pen. I don't have a pen. I don't have a pen. I don't have a pen. I don't have
- a pen. I don't have a pen.
- Now would you do a roll call vote, please? And did you break down how Commissioner Thomas phrased her
- motion? Yeah, so I wrote it basically as a condition of approval that the recipient information be made
- public through public. I didn't fully finish. In Monroe County as a public record. Yes. Roll the roll.
- Please. OK. Thomas? Yes. Madeira? Yes.
- Could I just say pass? Sorry to use that. Okay. And then we'll come back around on the second application
- as well. We do have the second application. Did you want to hear a synopsis of that? It's a very similar project.
- Different situation where they are just kind of at the top of a hill but have a high water table. So
- they're not receiving direct runoff from a neighbor or the roadway. Sorry scrolling down here. You can
- see that their fields are just kind of sitting very wet after a rain.
- wild to drain. Anything to add? Yeah, I will say too, they've tried. Tiling is not the conservation
- practice we would recommend. We don't love tiling by any means, but they have, you know, we want the
- land to do what the land is supposed to do, but they've tried many, many other methods with fail.
- food security and local food and sustainability is you kind of have to weigh the options between those
- two conservation practices. So that's kind of what we're looking at with this application. They are
- going to do it the most comprehensively they can for the soil health. I'm going to go ahead and make
- a motion to prove the Soil and Water Conservation District cost share program increased funding for
- application six dash
- dash 2026 with the same stipulation that to accept this grant the information about the recipient must
- be made part county public record. I will second that. You know the fact I have to do my own research
- and then I actually had to go online and like from what I was able to find which I can't like affirm is
- 100% accurate this is a nonprofit and if that was able to be released and in the packet I think this
- is something I could kind of get behind. The other ones I would like to more structured kind of way
- of doing it but like making exceptions for like nonprofit type organizations that have been a positive
- asset to our community would get me there but the fact that you know I have to speculate by my own research.
- Unfortunately, I won't be able to do. I just really want to be transparent on how I feel about this,
- so if we can craft something that the board can get behind, I think we can actually make this program
- even stronger moving forward. Any public comment here in the Net Heel Room? Any public comment online?
- Seeing none.
- Let's have a roll call vote again. Thomas? Yes. Madira? Yes. And Wright-Randolph? Yes. And I think we're
- on to staff reports. Yes. So before I get into the staff reports, I do want to give one quick update.
- as well. So we did post the refresh request for qualifications for a long range drainage plan. Next
- Wednesday is the information session and then the due date for those is just before our next meeting
- on June 4th at 3 p.m. So we are finally making some progress on that and hopefully we will have a firm
- at the July meeting to have a contract settled with you but we'll see how those negotiations go.
- All right. So our first staff report will be from Adam our stormwater specialist his presentation. So
- he we submitted our annual report by April 1st which was received with no comments. And this is just
- your annual update.
- No, you can sit here. I just need to get it posted. Okay, so what we have here is just the representation
- of the watersheds in Monroe County.
- General permit, we have to meet minimum control measures. I'm not going to read through these, but ideally,
- we want to exceed these minimum control measures. We want to go above and beyond. And then for minimum
- control measure one and two, public education outreach and public participation, we strive to have events
- that include the public, regardless of age.
- provide hands-on education for stormwater issues so that they can see the connection why we want to
- protect stormwater. So Bugfest is a really good example where we have record attendance for all the
- years that I can recall. So we constantly have visitors to that station. So that's an excellent opportunity
- to kind of plant our seeds, so to speak, especially for youth.
- And then we have at least one cleanup event each year. So once again, we try to reach out to either
- businesses, schools, so that we can have people, you know, volunteer their time to help protect our
- resources. So in addition, we have last year, 2025, we had the Realtalk stormwater seminar for realtors that
- Ideally, we want to have realtors and home buyers be familiar with the stormwater issues so that we're
- trying to reduce the mystery and the consternation that they may experience when there is a stormwater
- issue that we want them to be educated about what happens. Team night through MCC, SC, that's another
- excellent opportunity just to have youth
- introduced to stormwater issues. And then we had the magnet that we produced that after a little bit
- of modification, we had it updated to our current website. And then for minimum control measure three,
- we have the illicit discharge detection and elimination. So that involves illicit discharge reporting
- when there's a spill or release around the county might be
- a gas station where somebody overfills their gas tank. It might be something more significant where
- we have soil from a site that's being introduced into a tributary. So we want to understand how those
- happen and ideally try to prevent that from occurring in the future so that I think once again, education
- is an important part of that so that the
- entity that has allowed or released that, part of that release understands how they can work to prevent
- that in the future. Outfall screens, that basically involves, I have three different examples. One is
- a piped outfall, which is pretty uncommon for Monroe County. We have more ditches, like as in the right-hand pitcher,
- Sometimes we just have a concrete ditch. So we want to understand, once again, we want to prevent inputs
- into the stormwater before they reach the outfall. By the time it gets to the outfall, it's really too
- late. But the screenings allow us to understand what's happening in our watersheds. And then we understand
- the land uses that occur,
- may impact those outfalls. And then as part of the MCM-3, we have our water quality monitoring data,
- which I'm not gonna speak, we're gonna have a presentation on that shortly. But all the data is available
- through the Hoosier River Watch website. And then MCM-4, construction site stormwater runoff. There's
- still a lot of construction happening, so we wanna protect stormwater resources
- around those construction sites. Once again, education is really important so that if something is tended
- to that we identify that and we work to eliminate that and prevent that. I'd like to highlight the stormwater
- inquiry form that's on our website. I feel like that's a really good example. We're trying to make this
- as easy as possible. Before somebody begins a project, they have the opportunity to
- Complete that inquiry form and then Greg and Ross and Erica will work to help them so that you know
- Once again, we're trying to reduce the mystery and the strife that might be involved with a construction
- projects so that we can have them understand what they need to submit so it makes life easier for us
- as well, so And then with the MCM for we have the annual contractors workshop, which we
- invite builders and engineers, professionals that are involved in the construction process so that they
- understand how they can protect stormwater resource around their projects. And then MCM-5, that's more
- of a long-term outlook where we're trying to prevent problems in the future. Any project needs maintenance,
- so once again, we want
- They have the homeowners, the homeowners associations, the residents that understand what they need
- to do to maintain those facilities, whether it's a detention bond or a vegetative swale. And then lastly,
- municipal operations, pollution prevention and good housekeeping. I think Monroe County does a really
- good job in terms of trying to protect our county infrastructure.
- with the brine system that was installed a few years ago. When we do street sweeping, we try to make
- sure that that goes to the proper location. And then try to protect fuel spills so that if we do have
- a spill, we take care of it on site, we prevent it from going off site. And we educate our county workers
- so they understand how they can protect the stormwater resources as well.
- That's it. So thank you for your attention. Thank you. Thanks. I have to admit that this is sort of
- my favorite phase of every public meeting. They're always so educational and thank you for your great
- work. And I think we have one more report. Just quickly.
- I guess I'd just like to follow up on this with the education summit. Are we still targeting like HOAs
- as well as developers and things of that nature? And do you feel like this has been a positive impact
- with some of it? Just to be really short. Yeah, so there's the contractors workshop, which is specifically
- for builders, developers,
- anyone involved in the building process. And then we have different workshops for HOAs. We did a realtors
- workshop. Oftentimes people buy a home and don't realize that there's drainage easements. So we've been
- trying to work with the realtors so that they can be the first line of information for people to know
- what the property they're looking at will hold for them. So yeah, I think it has made a difference.
- We've had some people just contact us afterwards and say,
- you know, thank you for sharing that information. It helped me understand my own property or a property
- that we were looking at and just the best way for us to move forward. So we've gotten a lot of really
- positive feedback. That's awesome. I think under the MC and minimal control measures, I think public
- outreach is one of the most important ones. So I really applaud stormwater taking the effort of educating
- other various
- stakeholders, if you will, or people that are impacted.
- Sorry, I think I have one more report. Yes, sorry, I'm trying to figure out how to share it. It's not
- sharing in the same way as the other one did. They're never quite the same. Yeah, my apologies. I misheard.
- I'm excited about this one. I was excited about the last one, too.
- One more time. Yeah. No, I don't want to restart it. OK. All right. So this is one of our, she's a graduate
- fellow and stayed on with us over the summer, Bella Melrose. So I'll turn it over to her for the water
- quality monitoring year two updates.
- Hi, everyone. Like Erica said, my name is Bella Melrose and I have the pleasure of being both of our,
- I call it SPIA still, our SPIA fellow during the academic year and our summer intern right now. So I
- believe there was a presentation delivered to you all last year kind of summarizing year one developments
- and the foundational information of our water quality monitoring program.
- So just to give you a brief overview on year two, all seven monitoring sites that are spread throughout
- the county remained within state standards. Water quality index ratings remained good or excellent across
- all seven sites as well. There were a few different perimeters that did decline compared to year one,
- but they still remained well above minimum thresholds, which kind of speaks to the water quality strength
- in the county. Turbidity also remained low overall with site-specific variation.
- discharge patterns, reflected precipitation variability, which we had a lot of last spring, and then
- BOD or biochemical oxygen demand monitoring was added in year two. Monitoring consistency. Like I said,
- there are seven monitoring sites across critical MS4 watersheds. Monthly sampling was conducted at all
- sites throughout the year. Same methodology as year one, which utilizes IDEM's Hoosier River Watch program.
- The land use and site locations were largely unchanged across all of our states. And like I mentioned
- before, BOD was added in February 2025 to expand assessment. And recently, as you'll see at the end
- of this presentation, we actually also added conductivity as one of our parameters.
- Inter-annual summary all parameters as I mentioned remained within applicable standards minor inter-annual
- changes were observed as you can see in the year-over-year change column but there was no indication
- of systemic weakening if anything it could just be a number of variables that is kind of And per the
- note below the table Hoosier River watch for BOD 5 which we added 1 to 2 milligrams per liter indicates
- clean water with little
- to no organic wastes. Observed interannual changes just kind of highlight a couple of parameters. Dissolved
- oxygen decreased to around 1.3 milligrams per liter, but all sites remained well above the four milligram
- per liter minimum. And as I spoke of previously, this was likely due to temperature and season driven
- variation. Nitrate around the same.
- Reasonings there increased at six out of seven sites, but remains well below eutrophication risk threshold.
- So all of our sites are able to support, you know, bountiful flora and fauna. And continued monitoring
- is obviously recommended for both of those parameters. Management implications, there's no immediate
- intervention that's required.
- Like I spoke of at the last slide, continuing targeted nutrient or parameter tracking, maintain a focus
- on the Cave Creek corridor and integrating precipitation context into trend analysis, which we do currently.
- But I think that it would be beneficial to more actively work it into our analysis.
- And then finally, next steps and conclusion, like I just said, integrate rainfall data into reporting.
- I think that'd be incredibly beneficial. Continue BOD and BOD5 monitoring, maintain current locations,
- and expand wet weather monitoring, which kind of goes hand in hand with the rainfall data. Expand interagency
- coordination with CBU. We began conductivity monitoring. As I spoke of, WQI scores remain strong across
- all sites.
- Observe variability appears climate and precipitation driven. And then finally, continuing annual monitoring
- supports proactive stormwater management, which to give a little bit of background of myself, I never
- really had any kind of background information in stormwater. So this program has been incredibly helpful
- in making sure that I have the appropriate foundation to maybe one day become a stormwater professional myself.
- This is Melrose. Very good. Thank you for this. Is there a written version of this report? There's a
- written version of this report. Can I get a copy? I don't know if my colleagues want one as well, but
- I'd love to see a copy of that. Not because I'm questioning any of your conclusions, but because I'm
- really interested to see Cave Creek versus others and what you've done. So thank you for that.
- Absolutely, there is a packet that contains a lot more information and context that I will be happy
- to send all your ways. I figured you'd have to do a report. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful
- information. I'd be interested to. I love watching or looking at things that are monitoring our waterways.
- The one thing I said is, unfortunately,
- the land use and site locations are pretty much unchanged. I'd really love to see one that adds a perfectly
- as surface development and just being able to compare that, you know, that would be. That would
- be interesting. Yeah, that might be a longer time series to look at because the changes are so incremental.
- But yeah, that's that's a good thing to add. You know, when we do maybe hit a five year milestone and a 10 year
- But look back at how it has changed over those periods. That's a good idea. Whatever we can do to extend
- our ability to water monitoring is... It will always be supported. Just a quick nerdy question too.
- So, and I imagine it's dependent on how drastic the change is, but how pervasive or how long does a
- change have to be before we take action? Like five years, two years?
- Well, I will say they've had some like anomalies. They're like, this looks kind of weird. So they we
- do kind of branch out and look at what's happening in that drainage area. And so there was one instance
- where we did see Excess sediment. And so we did find an illicit discharge and
- Stop that. So that was good. So it kind of varies depends on which parameter has the weirdness to it.
- You know, we're only going out once a month. So we're getting a really tiny snapshot of it. I'd love
- to have a crew that could do this.
- you know, every week, then we'd really get a bigger picture. But we just, we don't have that staff level
- at this point. So this just really gives us a larger oversight of what's happening and give us some
- of those. This looks funny. Let's go look at it more closely. Thank you so much. So very much case by
- case. Thank you. And is there any other business? I don't see any on the agenda.
- My colleagues have any other comments, questions? Yes, go ahead. Is anyone planning on attending the
- stormwater conference in West Lafayette in July? I don't know that I'll be able to, but I'll have to
- double check with my staff. It's just a great opportunity. They kind of separated road school and storm.
- I wanted to plug that. I think I'll be on vacation, so I won't be attending, but I was just curious.
- I just want to tell the board, I went to Stipp Road yesterday and I want to thank you guys for your
- support in that project. It's been on the books for a long time. The only part that was underwater after
- all the rain we had last week was just the car top area, which we predicted because we did not build
- up that area. But going past the driveways that used to be, did not have access to their homes when
- in these flood events.
- did not occur. So I just, you know, the Morse Creek Road was tied to that and the Stipp Road project,
- you've sunk a lot of money into it, but it paid off. And so we're pleased to get one of those long range
- plans done, completed along with the Redbud Heights that's been on the books. We already have another
- one in the works that we'll probably be bringing to you. So I just want to thank you for the support on
- on funding that and supporting that project and us seeing it to completion. I know it was huge for Erica
- to come on board and go into that project, but she did great. And so I just wanna thank you for your
- support over the years for that project. And I think that's a great example of, well, why are you benefiting
- those few homeowners who bought a house on a road that floods every time it rains by the lake?
- It's a benefit for everybody in the community and it's a safety issue and you know You can't parse out
- that kind of thing. I'm so glad it got done Because that's what I heard when I saw the list of roads
- that were closed because of the rain I was like why is stupor and then I found out Okay, that makes
- sense. That was there was that piece that we were not going to there is the piece we didn't raise in
- either project didn't
- to be benefited, there was nobody that would be displaced in that area. So we made the project to where
- the homeowners can get to their homes and that was the purpose of the project. That's the whole point.
- And emergency vehicles can get there as well and that's the other part of it. Thank you so much. Appreciate
- that. I appreciate the wisdom of seeing what has to be done. I mean, I think that's a big part of what
- we do and I'm looking forward to engaging
- Thanks for getting us to the finish line too. Or at least me. I know I could be a handful occasionally.
- Yeah. I launched my kayak at that exact spot where it said road closed and you couldn't pass and paddled
- out. Solved the sign of car top like a foot and a half underwater. And it was a fun adventure paddling.
- I almost want to pull it up on my Instagram, but I won't waste our time. But yeah, it's exciting to
- see that access be had because
- while I was there, you saw people coming with four-wheelers dragging like a little cart with their family
- in it because they're all parking on the side of the road to have access. That's pretty cool and it
- took a while to see that value. So I think dragging me along. Have the best people. We do.
- then it's time for adjournment and the bell tolls. Our next meeting is June 24th, 2026. Have a wonderful night.