Monroe County commissioner: Councilor Henry’s ‘body armor’ reference was a violent threat

A statement from Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas on Thursday (Aug. 27) added energy to a dispute with county councilor David Henry. Thomas called Henry’s earlier suggestion to “bring your body armor to budget season” a threat of violence. She also criticized the rest of the county council for not objecting to it.

At Thursday morning’s regular meeting, Thomas described Henry’s statement as a “despicable, cowardly utterance.”

Henry’s remarks were delivered at the Aug. 11 county council meeting after another incident that underscored the dilapidated condition of the justice bulding. He said: “If you [meaning the county commissioners] have a direct responsibility over that facility and it is not still cleaned up as of nearly two weeks later, I hope you bring your body armor to budget season, because I have a lot of questions to ask as to why people in that building are still working in conditions that are unsanitary—if it is true that that’s the case.”

Two days later, Thomas and commissioner Jody Madeira gave an initial response to the issues Henry had raised about the physical condition of the building, and what it meant for employees who work there. Madeira said professional remediation crews arrived about an hour after the July 24 sewage backup, and pointed out that the building was closed for four working days. Damaged carpet, drywall and other materials were removed while affected areas were cleaned, sanitized and dried, Madeira said.

Madeira noted that responsibility for responding to an incident is not the same as causing it or being indifferent to it. Alluding to Henry’s mention of “budget season,” Madeira said commissioners would come to September budget hearings with “facts, remediation records, project needs, and funding requests,” and said the process should not become “an occasion for threats or assumptions about one another’s motives.”

That was where things stood after the Aug. 13 meeting of the commissioners.

Sharp words at Aug. 27 commissioners meeting

At the Aug. 25 meeting of the county council, Thomas had intended to deliver in person a sharper critique of the “body armor” reference, and Madeira a defense of the commissioners’ response to the June 17 tornado. But they were not both able to attend that meeting, according to Thomas. That’s why Thomas’s statement condemning Henry’s “body armor” statement didn’t come until Thursday’s (Aug. 27) meeting of the commissioners.

On Thursday morning Thomas said, “We have been very concerned about the level of respect that has not been shown to us as commissioners, us as women,” Thomas said. “There is a basic level of respect that is owed to any public official of any political party.”

Thomas continued: “Councilor David Henry crossed the line by issuing a threat of violence at a meeting about two weeks ago. He warned us to wear body armor in order to attend a county council meeting.”

Thomas said the remark was “especially awful because it was uttered against women,” and framed it as part of a broader problem of violence and hostility toward women in public life.

Thomas directed her comments at Henry: “There are women across this community who heard your threat of violence, and they are outraged and demand your respect. And what about … women and girls across this county, who now wonder if this is how women should be treated or will be treated if they choose to become a public servant, a public official, or work as an employee of Monroe County?” She added, “Misogyny is not acceptable—from the White House to the bullies who hide behind a keyboard on social media, and boy, we have a lot of them.”

Thomas also faulted Henry’s six council colleagues for not objecting in the moment. “Silence is complicity,” Thomas said. “So shame on you, Mr. Henry. Shame on all of you on the council for failing to speak up and failing to do the right thing. You have to do better.”

Reaction to Thomas

Henry, asked Thursday by The B Square if he had a reaction to remarks from Thomas, said “Not really.” He continued, “I am focused on the deteriorating building conditions that have led to this argument,” Henry continued. “And I’ll be pressing on those questions during budget meetings, as I said in those full remarks.”

Henry added: “As the only elected official in this discussion that has been a county employee, that makes me passionate about when our staff feel voiceless, I’d prefer to focus my energy on how we are going to improve the working conditions and low morale of the workforce, immediately.”

County council president Jennifer Crossley also rejected Thomas’s characterization of the council. Crossly said, “I know who my parents raised and a bully I am not, nor is any of my other colleagues as mentioned by Commissioner Thomas this morning,” Crossley told The B Square.

Crossley then invoked some history between the two governing bodies with a Game of Thrones reference: “However, the North remembers when commissioners publicly mocked the county clerk, made disparaging comments about the sheriff and myself during the Community Justice Response Committee [CJRC] days …” “Councilmember Henry can clarify his own remarks without the rest of the council being dragged into this issue,” Crossley said.

She said the “bickering” back-and-forth was distracting from county business. Her focus, Crossley said, would be on the coming budget sessions, securing funding that would allow a cost-of-living increase for county employees, and “making sure the offices in the justice building are cleaned up after recent flooding events, and less on who-said-what and when.”

Employee documentation of their work environment

The condition of the justice building has continued to generate complaints and disruptions since the shutdown due to the sewage overflow on July 24.

On Aug. 17, condensation from uninsulated ductwork poured into fluorescent light fixtures in the clerk’s office, closing its public-facing space and forcing services to be shifted elsewhere in the building. Temporary lights and dehumidifiers were installed while duct insulation work continued. That episode came less than a month after the sewage backup and about two weeks after use of a drain cleaner in the jail produced a strong rotten-egg odor throughout the building.

An Aug. 21 email exchange obtained by The B Square shows disagreement inside county government about the way justice employees had been documenting their working conditions and the work of outside contractors who were doing repairs.

Human resources director Melissa Stinson-Waddell wrote to elected county clerk Nicole Browne that a vendor working in the clerk’s office had made a formal complaint about employees taking photographs, recording activities and posting work-related material on social media. According to Stinson-Waddell, the vendor alleged that the conduct had become “intimidating, unprofessional, and potentially hostile.”

Stinson-Waddel cited some employee policy points, including one that states in part: “County policy recognizes employees’ rights regarding personal social media use; however, employees are expected to exercise sound judgment and avoid conduct that may negatively impact County operations, professional relationships, or the workplace environment.”

Photographs sent to The B Square showed labels on boxes of opened insulation that read: “This product can expose you to chemicals including Antimony Trioxide, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer.”

Pending an investigation, Stinson-Waddell asked Browne to tell employees to stop photographing or recording vendors unless specifically authorized for county business and to stop posting workplace-related material concerning the matter on social media.

Browne forwarded that email to Crossley, who had apparently stopped by to check in with the clerk’s office. Browne expressed her disagreement with the notification she had received from the human resources director, writing “This is the first that I am learning of objections to photographs and video being taken following several significant issues within the Justice Building and, frankly, it’s offensive … in my humble opinion,” Browne wrote.

Browne’s message said justice building employees had complained about health and safety problems throughout the more than 20 years she has worked for county government. She said employees under her administration had been encouraged to document conditions that could be relevant to their health.

“They do not lose their First Amendment rights as Monroe County Government employees,” Browne wrote.

Browne also relayed reports she said she had received from employees attempting to raise concerns with commissioners or their designees. One employee, Browne wrote, reported being hung up on by a commissioners’ designee. Another told Browne she had gone to the commissioners’ office while employees were becoming ill, found the office locked and later had sheriff’s deputies sent to remove her from the courthouse.

Browne told Crossley she would forward the HR notice to her staff, but added: “I am not ordering them to stop taking photographs, videos or otherwise in response to this complaint.”

She concluded that “well-meaning, hardworking, underpaid and dedicated Monroe County Government employees should not be punished for shining a spotlight on a dilapidated building” if they are going to continue working there for the foreseeable future.

Commissioners on building conditions

At Thursday’s meeting, commissioners heard remarks from the public mic about the condition of the building. Don Cross, a former Indiana Daily Student associate publisher who later became active in Christian ministry, told commissioners that during years of praying with employees at the justice building he had heard concerns about health problems caused by physical conditions there.

Thomas responded that commissioners continue to repair and maintain what she called “a failing building,” including ongoing mold testing and remediation. She said a complete overhaul would essentially require rebuilding from the foundation.

“Nothing’s ideal in that building. Nothing, and I get it,” Thomas said. “But we’re doing everything we can, and we have done a lot to try to get us out of that building as soon as possible.”

The building also houses the county jail on its top two floors. The jail is currently the subject of a lawsuit about crowded conditions there. [Monroe County Jail Timeline]

The friction between Thomas and Henry now heads toward the forum that Henry mentioned in the first place: budget season.

The county council’s 2027 budget hearings start Wednesday, Sept. 2. The board of commissioners is scheduled to appear the following night, Sept. 3, with a 60-minute allotment covering its budgets, including the county-buildings budget.