Pressure mounts on Monroe County to halt Thomson encampment clearance

Sentiment is growing against the Monroe County government’s planned clearance of a homeless encampment of 40 to 50 people on the county-owned Thomson property off Roger Street behind the Duke Energy substation.

Local Monroe County code prohibits unauthorized camping on county-owned property. On Dec. 1, Monroe County commissioners had directed posting of notices of a Dec. 8 deadline for moving. 

But after hearing sharp criticism from protestors at the public mic during their regular Thursday meeting (Dec. 4), which was twice disrupted, commissioners put off the clearance for a week. The new deadline is Dec. 15. 

Opposition to the plan to clear the encampment now, in cold weather, where some residents have lived for three years or longer, has now been openly opposed not just by social activists—but by other sources, inside and outside county government alike. 

The new deadline of Dec. 15, next Monday, was challenged by Monroe County Democratic Party leaders in a news release issued on Tuesday (Dec. 9). The news release calls on county commissioners “to postpone any action to clear the encampment located on the Thomson property until spring, citing public input, humane considerations, and the absence of a viable relocation plan for residents.”

The MCDP news release says, “There is no compelling reason to execute this action now rather than waiting until warmer weather.”

All three county commissioners are Democrats—Lee Jones, Julie Thomas, and Jody Madeira. Six of seven Monroe County councilors, who make up the county’s fiscal body, are Democrats. 

Next Monday’s deadline has also been challenged by county councilors, who make up the fiscal body of the county. At its regular Tuesday meeting, the county council heard public commentary from a dozen and a half people on the topic of the Thomson property homeless encampment, objecting to its removal. 

The message from protesters resonated with councilors. President of the council, Jennifer Crossley, had an especially sympathetic ear. One of the comments from the public mic came from a woman who said, “I'm someone myself who has teetered on the edge of homelessness more than once, and if it hadn't been for people in my community that took me in, I would have been homeless with a two-year-old.” Crossley said that when she heard that comment, she choked up, because “many, many years ago, that could have been me.” 

About five years ago, in January of 2021, Crossley spoke at the homeless encampment in Seminary Park, when she was chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party. “But before any titles, I’m a mom, I’m a human being,” Crossley told the Seminary Park crowd.

Crossley continued, “What has happened to folks that occupied Seminary Park is wrong,” she said. “We need to be showing them compassion, and decency, to allow them to occupy this space,” Crossley said. Crossley then recounted her own experience, when she was six months pregnant and had been evicted, with her boyfriend, now husband. She said, “I had nowhere else to go. And I was embarrassed, I was hurt and I was ashamed. Because we had no idea what was gonna happen. When were we gonna have to be out in the street?”

At the end of the council’s Tuesday meeting, agreement was reached on the wording of a letter to be sent to county commissioners. 

The idea is that the letter from councilors should arrive in time for the next regular meeting of county commissioners on Thursday (Dec. 11). The letter from the council will include a request: “Please postpone all eviction action until there is a protocol or plan for addressing concerns about the encampment.” 

The letter from the council will also include a number of questions like, “What was the process for notifying the residents of their eviction, both for the December 8 and December 15, planned events?” and “Where are the impacted individuals going?”

In addition to the request for a delay, which councilors want to see confirmed at the Dec. 11 meeting of the commissioners, there is an “or else” part of the letter. That part says: “In the absence of adequate response to this request, the council may consider de-appropriation in certain lines of the cumulative capital fund that we assume are supporting encampment eviction activity.”

The cumulative capital fund is the source of money that was specified in the $35,000 contract that commissioners approved more than four months ago, on July 24, 2025, for the cleanup at the Thomson property off Rogers Street with Bio-One out of Indianapolis for “proper disposal of hazardous materials and general garbage.”

The total non-to-exceed amount came from an estimated cleanup time of 7 to 10 days at $3,500 per day. It’s not clear why a clearance of the encampment was not pursued sooner, after the contract with Bio-One was approved.

The reason the cumulative capital fund is under scrutiny by councilors is that the use of those funds is confined to various capital projects. At Tuesday’s meeting, county councilor David Henry alluded to the cumulative capital fund when he said, “but that fund has restrictions.” Henry raised the specter that county funds had been misused, saying: “I think the short term is we’ve got to make sure there's not a misuse of county funds. I'm not persuaded that there is not at this point, and I guess that I would be working with the auditor this week to figure that out.”

One way to use money from the cumulative capital fund in a manner that is not enumerated as an allowable use, is through declaration of an emergency. But no emergency has been declared in connection with the encampment. In 2022, when commissioners authorized the clearing of an encampment at a different property, they declared an emergency. 

Attending Tuesday’s county council meeting in connection with a required report on the pension plan was Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté. Responding to a B Square question, Marté said that when the commissioners approached him about enforcement of the Dec. 8 deadline, he told The B Square his response was: “We’re not doing that.” 

Marté continued by telling The B Square that he would not put people in harm’s way. He said if people out at the camp were inflicting harm on others then his role is to protect others from harm—but he would not put the people living in the encampment in harm’s way by enforcing a deadline to leave during bitter cold weather. 

In another development on Tuesday, a purely virtual electronic meeting of Monroe County commissioners that they had planned for Wednesday evening on the topic of homelessness was moved to the Thursday work session of the commissioners at 1 p.m. The original plan had been for commissioners to hold a meeting exclusively on the Teams electronic meeting platform. 

But Indiana’s Open Door Law requires a physical location where at least 50% of the members of the governing agency be physically present. Commissioners opted to move the topic of discussion to their work session on Thursday, which is normally when the work session is held, immediately following the regular meeting.

Letter: Monroe County councilors to county commissioners

This the draft text that was read aloud at the end of the county council’s Tuesday (Dec. 9) meeting, which councilors intend to sign individually:

Dear Commissioners, 

Knowing that our ethic of care as county officials and public servants is aligned in support of all members of our community and none of us wishes to do harm in our work, we, as concerned individuals, respectfully request that the Board of Commissioners officially stop all action regarding the removal of people and property from the Thomson property. 

We appreciate the one week stay on the planned eviction, and note that the winter weather played a role in the decision, given that, one, the weather conditions are and will remain unpredictable for the foreseeable future, and two, that our conversations with constituents, service providers and members of the public have underscored a lack of an immediate threat to public health and safety. 

There is at least considerable ambiguity, and differing positions on the conditions on the property that would warrant action by the county. Please postpone all eviction action until there is a protocol or plan for addressing concerns about the encampment. Such a plan will be informed by a number of entities, internal and external, including members of the unhoused community, and worked on collaboratively, to address our concerns collectively. Our immediate questions and concerns include:

What was the process for notifying the residents of their eviction, both for the December 8 and December 15, planned events? What fund is being used? What are the contracted services? What internal county resources are being committed? How many people are residing at the encampment? Who is providing street services currently at that location? What housing entities are involved? Where are the impacted individuals going? 

In the absence of adequate response to this request, the council may consider de-appropriation in certain lines of the cumulative capital fund that we assume are supporting encampment eviction activity. We look forward to hearing your response ahead of or during your meeting on Thursday. Thank you for working with us to address these concerns and improve our county's approach to managing property and caring for our residents. 

Sincerely,