2026: Monroe County may revisit now-voided but council-OK'd donations—$30K to BEDC, $1.8K to Seven Oaks

The tension between the power of the Monroe County executive (the county commissioners) and the county’s fiscal body (the county council) continues to play out in the saga of two donations authorized by the council.

At the center of the action is the county auditor’s claims docket, which is the official list of bills that have to be approved by the county commissioners—before county funds can be paid out.

A $1,800 donation to the Seven Oaks Classical School was approved by the county council at its meeting a week ago Tuesday (Dec. 9). But the following Thursday (Dec. 11), county commissioners pulled the item associated with the Seven Oaks donation from the claims docket, and approved the rest of the items, without the donation to Seven Oaks.

In a parallel scenario with a bigger amounts, a $30,000 donation to the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) was authorized by the county council this Tuesday (Dec. 16). But on Thursday (Dec. 18) county commissioners pulled the item related to the BEDC item from the claims docket and approved the rest of the items, without the donation to the BEDC.

Based on responses from Monroe County auditor Brianne Gregory to B Square questions, both donation claims are now void and will need to be re-submitted through the regular claims process. Responding to an emailed B Square question, Gregory said, “Any items not approved with the rest of the docket are voided by my team. These items must be submitted through the claims process again for further consideration if the affected department would like reconsideration.”

On Thursday, board of commissioners president Julie Thomas told interim BEDC president Clark Greiner, who was present to plead the BEDC’s case: “We’re pulling it out of the claims, because we don’t have anything that we’ve approved on our agenda, OK?” Thomas continued, “It’s a technicality, so we will be considering this, I believe, in January. I don’t know which meeting, but early, first or second week of January.”

For commissioners it appears that the lack of any contractual arrangement, approved by commissioners, which is a function of the executive branch, is the source of concern that has prompted the extra time and possible separate consideration. In 2024, county commissioners refused to ratify a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a $30,000 grant to the BEDC, but the county council approved a donation, and the commissioners approved the claims docket at their next meeting. But this year, there was never an MOU in front of the commissioners about a $30,000 grant to the BEDC.

The Seven Oaks donation stems from a situation when the county council had recommended the school receive the award as one of several grants to be paid out of the Sophia Travis social service fund this year. But when the approval of the individual contracts with all of the Sophia Travis grant awardees came in front of the county commissioners, the Seven Oaks contract was separated out and denied on a 2–1 vote. Jody Madeira dissented from the majority made up of Julie Thomas and Lee Jones.

Thomas gave as reasons for denying the contract past litigation between the county government and Seven Oaks over pandemic masking policy, and the fact that Seven Oaks is a charter school, benefiting from public support.

The county council’s response to the denial of the Seven Oaks contract was to approve a $1,800 donation, without a related contract. So when the claims docket with the Seven Oaks item was presented to commissioners, they just pulled it off the docket.

Now, it looks like the county council will have to put claims for both donations—Seven Oaks and the BEDC—back in front of the commissioners sometime in 2026, if the donation money is ever going to be paid out.