Monroe County nixes $30K MOU with Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, wants BEDC to be ‘better partner’
Monroe County commissioners have rejected a $30,000 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation.
The vote, which came at the regular Wednesday meeting for commissioners, was uncharacteristically split among the three electeds, with board president Julie Thomas casting the sole vote of support.
Commissioners Lee Jones and Penny Githens voted against it. Even Thomas voted just a “reluctant yes.”
Commissioners said they did not want to enter into the $30,000 agreement for another year, in part because they objected to an opinion piece written by BEDC president Jen Pearl, and published in the Herald-Times, critical of the county development ordinance (CDO), and which Thomas said contains factual errors.
Commissioners also objected to the lobbying efforts by the BEDC for legislation sponsored by District 62 state representative Dave Hall, which prohibits local governments from regulating development on steep slopes.
Under the bill authored by Hall, which eventually did pass, local governments cannot pass laws that prevent development on slopes of less than 25 percent, just because of the slope.
Commissioners themselves lobbied against Hall’s bill.
In her Wednesday remarks, Githens drew on the fact that the county government, in addition to its $30,000 agreement, pays the BEDC $10,000 for two memberships in the nonprofit. Githens put it like this: “BEDC went against its own member, in lobbying for this bill. And I cannot imagine the BDC doing that kind of thing to its business partners.”
Under the terms of the MOU, the BEDC is supposed to provide services aimed at growing quality employment in Monroe County by focusing on key sectors such as life sciences, technology, manufacturing, and defense.
The services include maintaining an inventory of land and buildings to ensure site readiness for employment growth, conducting outreach to local employers to address growth challenges and connect them to resources, and promoting Monroe County to target sector employers by raising awareness of available incentives.
The BEDC is also supposed to collaborate with the Monroe County Airport to attract businesses and support the local life sciences sector through promotion, student outreach, and workforce development.
The $30,000 had been included in Monroe County’s 2024 annual budget, which was approved by the county council. If it is not spent, the money will revert to the general fund balance.
According to the commissioners meeting information packet, the money has already been appropriated by the BEDC in the nonprofit’s own budget for this year.
In 2022, which was the first year that commissioners approved the $30,000 arrangement, the votes were basically flipped, compared to this year. Thomas abstained, but Githens and Jones voted in favor.
In 2022, a couple of the same issues arose as this year—like the idea that Monroe County government was already paying for memberships in the BEDC.
Last year, the vote was 3–0.
This year, as in the two previous years, the agreement with the BEDC had support from the public mic. Randy Cassady, the owner of the electrical contracting firm with his family name, introduced himself on Wednesday as “a community citizen.” Cassady is also a member of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission and Monroe County’s redevelopment commission.
Cassady said partnering with the BDC would help build the community. Cassady said the quality of the community also comes down to the economical abilities and the jobs that are provided. Cassady encouraged the commissioners to continue their cooperation with and continued support of the BEDC.
Cassady had followed county councilor Trent Deckard to the mic. Deckard alluded to some comments he had made the previous night, at the county council’s regular Tuesday meeting, when NHanced had announced the cancellation of its semiconductor expansion project just west of Bloomington.
On that occasion Deckard said, “I’m a child of the RCA/Thomson job losses in this community.” He added, “When we lost those jobs, that devastated families—including my own.” On Wednesday morning, Deckard told the county commissioners, “Every time I hear the BEDC talk, they are talking about bringing jobs in to make sure that sort of devastation doesn’t happen.”
It was not enough to sway a majority of commissioners. Thomas, who was the sole voice of support, was still emphatic about her dissatisfaction with the BEDC’s actions, in particular in connection with the H-T opinion piece about the pending county development ordinance (CDO).
The piece says: “Monroe County residential land is slated to decrease, while housing remains challenging for workers. The CDO proposes converting 9,000-plus acres of residential land to a rural designation, due partly to flood zones in some areas, which will decrease allowable housing.”
The objection from Thomas stems from the fact that the reclassification of the 9,000 acres, from residential to rural, does not mean that all the land classified as rural no longer has residential zoning.
By way of background, an example of a swath of territory which zoning category is affected by the CDO is just north of Bloomington’s city limits. It is currently zoned RE1— that’s short for “Estate Residential 1.”
Under the proposed CDO map, the RE1 would change to AG2.5, which is obviously short for “agricultural” but not quite so obviously an abbreviation for “residential.” Still, the long name for AG2.5 is “agricultural residential 2.5.” The 2.5 refers to the minimum lot size of 2.5 acres.
The 9,000 acres were also a point of contention in the recent Democratic Party primary elections, when Thomas called the idea of a 9,000-acre reduction in land available for residential development a “myth.” Thomas won her race against county councilor Peter Iversen. Githens lost her race to IU law professor Jody Madeira.
Also on Wednesday morning, Thomas told Pearl about the 9,000 acres cited in her H-T opinion piece: “I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve had to go and explain that to people, because of a lack of care in ensuring that the information is correct.”
Thomas said, “I don’t want to spend my time correcting inaccuracies and myths and legends and whatever else goes on. I don’t think that’s a good use of anyone’s time.”
Thomas continued, “If you have something to present about the county development ordinance, then sit down with planning [staff] and make sure that what you have is accurate.”
About the $30,000 agreement, Thomas told Pearl: “If this passes, I would just ask that you become a better partner.”
The vote failed 1–2.
