Category: Monroe County

Update: School referendum passes by 1 point | Alea iacta est: Nov. 7, 2023 election results for Bloomington, Monroe County served when ready

Polls are now closed in Monroe County. The cutoff time was 6 p.m., which made for a 12-hour voting day.

But anyone in line by 6 p.m. has to be allowed to cast a ballot.

[Updated at 9:03 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2023. Based on unofficial results released by the county clerk, the MCCSC referendum passed by a 108-vote margin: 5,229 yes to 5,121 no.  That’s 50.5 percent to 49.5 percent. Here’s the .pdf of unofficial vote totals: Nov. 7, 2023 unofficial vote totals.]

Bloomington voters have elected their next mayor, clerk, and nine city council seats. For 10 of those races, the outcome was already known.

Unopposed on the ballot were Democrats Kerry Thomson for mayor and Nicole Bolden for city clerk.

Also unopposed on the ballot were the following Democrats running for city council: Isabel Piedmont-Smith (District 1); Kate Rosenbarger (District 2); Dave Rollo (District 4); Shruti Rana (District 5); Sydney Zulich (District 6); and Isak Asare, Andy Ruff, and Matt Flaherty (at-large members).

The only contested Bloomington city race was for the District 3 city council seat. Republican Brett Heinisch is vying with Democrat Hopi Stosberg for that spot.

Along with the District 3 results, this piece will be updated below, with results from the Monroe County Community School Corporation referendum, when they are available.

Typically, the results from early in-person voting and mailed-in absentee voting are released first, followed by the Election Day results.

Election Day results typically come in a few different batches corresponding to different polling locations.

Geography is a big factor. There’s some physical distance that has to be covered, when teams from different polling locations across the MCCSC district pack up everything—their ballots, the memory devices from the ballot scanners, and other election documentation—and turn in the whole package to Election Central.

Election Central is in downtown Bloomington, located at 7th and Madison streets in the old Johnson’s Hardware building. That’s where The B Square will remain parked until all results are in.

The B Square will add to this article with time-stamped updates from Election Central until the final unofficial results are in, or otherwise indicated here. Continue reading “Update: School referendum passes by 1 point | Alea iacta est: Nov. 7, 2023 election results for Bloomington, Monroe County served when ready” →

Polls are OPEN: It’s Election Day for Bloomington, MCCSC district

Election Operations is the Election Day polling site for just some voters—those who live in the following precincts: Bloomington 3, 7, 22; and Perry 6, 8, 15, 31. (Nov. 7, 2023)

At 6 a.m. sharp came the announcement from the front door of Monroe County’s election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets: “Hear ye, hear ye, the polls are now open!”

What democracy sounds like:

In the first half hour of voting, The B Square counted two voters. The polls close at 6 p.m.

Election Operations is the Election Day polling site for just some voters—those who live in the following precincts: Bloomington 3, 7, 22; and Perry 6, 8, 15, 31. Voters can check their assigned polling location on the Indiana Voter Portal. Continue reading “Polls are OPEN: It’s Election Day for Bloomington, MCCSC district” →

Monroe County commissioners keen to curb expectations for Thomson site as new jail location

Not a proposed specific site. The building footprint of the Hamilton County jail is superimposed on the map to give a rough idea of the size of a potential jail compared to the overall site.
Overview of vicinity map for potential new jail site.
Inset for Locator map of Thomson PUD
The current Monroe County jail stands at 7th Street and College Avenue.
Map of boring locations from Patriot Engineering and Environmental, Inc. report.
Photograph of Thomson site boring from report by Patriot Engineering and Environmental, Inc.

On Thursday, Monroe County commissioners were eager to establish that no decision has yet been reached on a choice of location for a new county jail.

About a minute into a meeting of county elected officials on Thursday afternoon, commissioner Penny Githens said, “I want to state emphatically: No decision has been made yet on the location.”

One idea that might find some traction for an eventual decision about the choice of site came from Bloomington city council president Sue Sgambelluri, who gave public comment at Thursday’s meeting.

Sgambelluri noted that the city council has made it a priority for the new jail to be located inside the city limits, but not for the sake of being inside the city limits. Instead, Sgambelluri said, it is “for the sake of having access to transit.”

Now that the city council has authorized Bloomington  Transit to operate anywhere in Monroe County, Sgambelluri said,  the issue should framed not in terms of inside-versus-outside the city limits, but rather in terms of access to public transit. Continue reading “Monroe County commissioners keen to curb expectations for Thomson site as new jail location” →

Board poised for Nov. 7 election, another vote center committee appointment made

Election operations at 3rd and Walnut (Nov. 2, 2023)

In under a half hour on Thursday, Monroe County’s election board got through its regular meeting agenda, which included an update on the early voting totals for the Nov. 7 municipal election.

Through Wednesday 1,703 people have voted early in person at the election operations center at 3rd and Walnut Streets.

According to Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne, another 309 voters have sent in an absentee ballot by mail, with another 184 ballots that have been sent out in response to requests, but not yet returned.

Also on Thursday, election board chair David Henry, who is also chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, announced his final appointment to a vote center committee—current Bloomington city councilmember Steve Volan. The 20-year councilmember did not prevail in this year’s Democratic Party primary.

That leaves just one slot on the 11-member committee unfilled, which is supposed to be someone with no party affiliation.

Continue reading “Board poised for Nov. 7 election, another vote center committee appointment made” →

Monroe County OKs its side of animal control agreement with Bloomington

Kiah is a city of Bloomington shelter dog available for adoption. https://bloomington.in.gov/animal-shelter/animals/Dog

In 2022, the average cost of taking care of an animal at Bloomington’s animal shelter was about $269.

In the same year 1,380 animals that originated inside of Monroe County—but outside of Bloomington and the town of Ellettsville—were taken in at Bloomington’s shelter.

That translates into $371,220 that Monroe County government will pay the city of Bloomington to help cover the city shelter’s expenses in 2024.

The arrangement between Monroe County, the city of Bloomington, and the town of Ellettsville, is covered in an interlocal agreement that has used in for more than 15 years. That’s according to county attorney Jeff Cockerill, speaking at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the county commissioners.

It was at their Wednesday meeting when Monroe County commissioners approved their side of the agreement. Bloomington’s side of the deal will likely appear on a city council agenda before the end of the year. Continue reading “Monroe County OKs its side of animal control agreement with Bloomington” →

Racial disparity continues: Monroe County jail stats through first 9 months of 2023

After the first quarter of 2023, the Monroe County branch of the NAACP issued a news release reporting that “racial disparity in the Monroe County jail is worse than ever.”

That was based on numbers from Jan. 1 through March 31, which showed on average that Black inmates made up 26.5 percent of the jail population. That’s more than six times the 3.9 percent from the US Census estimate for 2022, based on the 2020 decennial count.

A new set of data released by the jail in mid-October, with data through the first nine months of the year, puts the percentage of Black inmates about the same as earlier: 26.67 percent. Continue reading “Racial disparity continues: Monroe County jail stats through first 9 months of 2023” →

$40K for required study of new jail feasibility OK’d by Monroe County commissioners

Not a proposed specific site. The building footprint of the Hamilton County jail is superimposed on the map to give a rough idea of the size of a potential jail compared to the overall site.
Overview of vicinity map for potential new jail site.
Inset for Locator map of Thomson PUD
The current Monroe County jail stands at 7th Street and College Avenue.

A $40,000 feasibility study for the construction of a new jail was approved by Monroe County commissioners at their regular Wednesday morning meeting.

The work will be done by the RQAW Corporation.

Such a study is required under Indiana state law, before a new jail can be constructed or reconstructed. Also required under state law is a public hearing on the study’s results.

Based on Wednesday morning’s deliberations, RQAW’s work is not expected to be completed before the end of the year. It’s supposed to take at least “eight work weeks” to complete the study.

The move toward constructing a new jail is the county government’s response to the work of consultants,  which was delivered nearly two and a half years ago.  The reports from the consultants concluded that the current county jail facility, at 7th Street and College Avenue, is failing to provide constitutional levels of care. Continue reading “$40K for required study of new jail feasibility OK’d by Monroe County commissioners” →

Bloomington school schedule decision: MCCSC board takes control for itself, away from superintendent

MCCSC board member Ross Grimes.
MCCSC board member Erin Wyatt.
MCCSC board member Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer.
Demonstrators outside the MCCSC board’s meeting location.
MCCSC superintendent Jeff Hauswald.
MCCSC board member Brandon Shurr.
MCCSC board member Erin Cooperman.
MCCSC board member April Hennessey participated by Zoom.
MCCSC board member Ashley Pirani.

The daily schedules for Bloomington’s four high schools will not change before the 2025-26 school year, and even if they do, it’s not certain the result will be a unified schedule for all schools.

What’s more, any decision on a schedule change will rest with the seven-member board of the Monroe County Community School Corporation, not with MCCSC superintendent Jeff Hauswald.

That’s all the result of action by the MCCSC board at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday night. The board was split 4–3 on the question.

The motion to add the question to the agenda, as well as the motion to make the schedule change a board voting matter, was put forward by board vice president April Hennessey. She was participating in the meeting remotely on the Zoom video conferencing platform.

Voting for the board’s role as scheduling decision maker were: Hennessey, Ashley Pirani, Erin Wyatt, and Erin Cooperman. Voting to leave the decision making authority with the superintendent and his designees were Ross Grimes, Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, and board president Brandon Shurr.

Hauswald had been planning to implement a unified schedule starting with the 2024-25 school year.

Right after Tuesday’s roll call vote concluded, the board’s meeting room at the MCCSC Co-Lab on East Miller Drive erupted in applause from the roughly 120 people who had crammed into the space to speak during public commentary. Continue reading “Bloomington school schedule decision: MCCSC board takes control for itself, away from superintendent” →

September 2023 food inspection reports for Monroe County released by health department

Caption: The image links to a dynamic map. (The color coding scheme goes like this: Green=Zero violations; Yellow=At least 1 non-critical violation but no critical violations; Red=At least 1 critical violation.)

Monroe County’s health department has released the reports for inspections of food service operations that were conducted in September 2023.

More than half of the 125 places that were inspected in September 2023 had no violations.

Recording at least one non-critical violation, but no critical violations were 16 establishments. Recording at least one critical violation were 42 establishments.

Summaries of the inspections completed in March are now available on a list which is published on the health department’s website.

Continue reading “September 2023 food inspection reports for Monroe County released by health department” →

2024 Monroe County budget OK’d with 8.5% pay raises, amid concerns about long term, new jail

This public commenter introduced himself as Leroy Jones.
Sam Holdeman called for decreases in the budget for prosecution.
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley.
Monroe County councilor Marty Hawk.
Monroe County councilor Trent Deckard.
Monroe County councilor Peter Iverson.
Micol Seigel in a satirical guise.
Monroe County council (Oct. 17, 2023)

This past Tuesday, the Monroe County council voted to adopt the budget for 2024 on a 5–1 tally. Dissenting was Marty Hawk. Geoff McKim was absent.

The total county budget for 2024 is $132,259,264, of which $59,251,842 is the general fund.

Hawk still voted in favor of the salary ordinance for non-elected county employees, which included an 8.5-percent raise, and a roughly 11-percent raise for those workers who are lowest on the salary grid.

Hawk was also the sole vote of dissent on the salary ordinance for elected officials, which included the same 8.5-percent increase as for other county employees.

After the meeting, Hawk clarified to The B Square that when faced with an up-or-down vote on the same percentage increase for all elected officials, she felt she had to vote it down—because she was not in favor of the same increase for all county elected officials. She put it like this: “I would just say that I’m not as inclined to approve of the jobs some of them do. Most do a great job. Most do.”

On Tuesday, county council president Kate Wiltz noted that the 2024 budget does not include funding for the planned new jail facility. No decision has yet been made on a site, even if the county is taking steps to consider the Thomson PUD as a location for the new jail.

Several comments from the public mic included criticism of the county’s plans to construct a new jail. Continue reading “2024 Monroe County budget OK’d with 8.5% pay raises, amid concerns about long term, new jail” →