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.