Revamped Monroe County jail-site group maps path to July 13 recommendation

On Wednesday (June 24), the second attempted meeting of the Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee (CJPWS) actually achieved a quorum, unlike the previous week’s try.

Wednesday’s meeting ended with the combined group of city and county officials agreeing on five future meeting days, an outline of a selection process for the new jail location, and mechanisms to involve and inform the public about the recommendation that is made by the group.

The meeting took place at the Nat U. Hill meeting room at the Monroe County Courthouse a day after the Monroe County Council tightened up the membership of the working group, now called the CJPWS.

The sheriff’s office and the board of judges were made “ex-officio” members after they indicated an unwillingness to participate in the committee’s work, which reduced the number of members relevant to a quorum from eight to six. The council also made councilor Liz Feitl the chair and agenda-setter of the working group as a way to keep the work moving.

Attending Wednesday’s meeting were: Sydney Zulich (Bloomington city council); April Wilson (deputy prosecutor); Karen Wrenbeck (deputy public defender); Kerry Thomson (Bloomington mayor); Liz Feitl (Monroe County councilor). Not represented yet in the group is anyone representing the county commissioners.

Feitl started Wednesday’s work by asking for someone to step forward to serve as vice-chair. The group then elected Bloomington city council member Sydney Zulich to the post.

Deputy prosecutor April Wilson presented a draft of evaluation metrics for potential jail sites, and a tentative schedule of dates when the committee could meet over the next month with a view to settling on a recommendation by July 13.

The draft metrics include column headings for several possible sites, not all of which have received a lot of public discussion up to now: Bloomington Transit Garage; Curry Building; Fell Iron/Bender Lumber; Hopewell; HT Building; Monroe Hospital; North Park; South of post office; Tapp Road North; Tapp Road South; Thomson PUD (aka Powerline).

Zulich identified the county-owned Curry Building, next to the existing justice center on 7th Street, as a location worth reviewing.

Wilson said about her draft rubric: “I wanted to find concrete questions, so we could gather the facts that we needed to be able to have a more methodical, transparent, and comprehensive conversation in front of the community that also included their input.” The deputy prosecutor clarified that she considers her draft to be a starting point, and later invited community members to submit additional metrics before the next meeting.

The city and county attorneys present at the meeting will be coming up with a mechanism to receive public comments on the draft metrics and publicizing it before the group meets again.

As for the schedule, the committee decided to meet five times before the deadline, with the dates set for June 29, July 1, July 6, July 9, and July 13. All the meetings are to be held at the Nat U. Hill meeting room at 6 p.m., other than the meeting on July 13, which will be held at noon.

Not all of the meetings will allow public commentary. But those set for June 29 and July 6 were picked as occasions when the public mic will be open. An additional meeting focused on just comprehensive public comment was suggested by Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson, and the date for that was set on July 9 at 7 p.m, after the committee meeting for that day.

County attorney Jeff Cockerill briefed the committee on the long history of the site selection process for the new jail, ticking through over the strengths and weaknesses of each. That was essentially an overview of the material in the meeting information packet.

Included in the packet was an initial location considered within North Park, just south of Arlington Road, but not the one that south of Hunter Valley Road, which was eventually rejected twice by votes of the county council, most recently on May 26.

Meetings of the Collaborative Justice Project Working Subcommittee (CJPWS) can be tracked on the Monroe County government calendar.