Late Wednesday afternoon, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté released an update on efforts to clean up the jail facility.
The emailed update was sent to county councilors, county commissioners, members of the community justice response committee, and several other community members.
The update included a link to several before-after photos of: J Block, which is the jail’s new mental health dormitory; the intake room; and the sally port, which is where prisoners are taken into the jail.
Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (March 6, 2023).
President of the Monroe County Democratic Black Caucus, Nicole Bolden (March 6, 2023).
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley at the March 14, 2023 council meeting.
Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz at the March 14, 2023 council meeting.
A new position at Monroe County’s jail has been created to support new sheriff Ruben Marté’s effort to make the jail clean and sanitary, and to keep it that way.
At their regular Tuesday meeting, county councilors voted unanimously in favor of creating a new job called “jail facility coordinator.” It will be paid on par with guards. It will report directly to the sheriff.
On a rare split vote, Monroe County commissioners have approved $9,249.50 in per diem pay for Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne, from 2016 to 2021.
Dissenting on the vote at Wednesday’s regular meeting was Penny Githens. Providing the two-vote majority were Lee Jones and Julie Thomas.
The per diem pay in question covers voter registration duties associated with the clerk’s office.
It is based on a state law [IC 3-7-12-22] that says in a county like Monroe, where the county clerk serves as voter registration officer, the clerk is entitled to per diem compensation.
Bloomington plan commissioner Brad Wisler (Nov. 14, 2022).
Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas (Nov. 14, 2022)
Bloomington plan commissioner (Nov. 14, 2022).
Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill (Nov. 14, 2022)
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
The Monroe County government’s planned construction of a new jail on an 87-acre parcel in the southwest corner of Bloomington hit a snag on Monday night.
By a 6–3 vote, Bloomington’s plan commission supported the planning staff’s recommendation to send a negative recommendation to the city council about Monroe County government’s request for a rezone of the 87 acres, so that a jail could be built there.
The county government’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be allowed under MI.
A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
That means even if the city council were to approve the rezone, Monroe County government would still have to go through the conditional use approval process in front of the city’s board of zoning appeals.
On Monday, a staff attorney for the county, Jeff Cockerill, told the plan commission that Monroe County had a purchase agreement for the land, contingent on approval of a rezone—but that agreement expires at the end of the year.
There’s now a 10-day timeframe for planning director Scott Robinson to certify the outcome of the plan commission’s Monday recommendation to the city clerk. That would set up Monroe County government with enough time to hit the deadline for submission of the materials to the city council office for the council’s Dec. 7 meeting, when the rezone could get a first reading.
Food and beverage tax advisory commission meeting (Oct. 18, 2022).
Monthly food and beverage tax revenues.
From left: Monroe county commissioner Julie Thomas and Bloomington mayor John Hamilton (Oct. 18, 2022).
On Wednesday, Nov. 9, many elected and appointed officials across Monroe County will be reviewing election results from the day before.
But some of those officials have a meeting set for Nov. 9 to talk about the possible future expansion of the Monroe County convention center.
The idea of a joint effort by Bloomington and Monroe County to expand the existing convention center has been pursued for several years, but had stalled just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, amid wrangling over governance issues.
According to county commissioners administrator Angie Purdie, the 1 p.m. meeting in the Nat U. Hill room of the Monroe County courthouse is supposed to include the mayor’s office in the form of Bloomington’s director of public engagement (Mary Catherine Carmichael), two city councilmembers (Susan Sandberg and Sue Sgambelluri), two county councilors (Geoff McKim and Cheryl Munson), and all three county commissioners.
Monroe County board of commissioners president Julie Thomas addresses the Bloomington plan commission (Oct. 10, 2022)
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
On Monday, a lot of ground got covered at the Bloomington plan commission’s first hearing about a rezone request from Monroe County government.
The rezone is needed if a new jail is to be built in the southwest corner of the city.
But one topic emerged as a big concern for plan commissioners: Should they depart from the “employment center” designation for the area that is reflected in the city’s comprehensive plan?
The current mixed-use employment (ME) zoning for the 87-acre parcel squares up perfectly with the comprehensive plan’s designation. The county’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be allowed under MI. A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
President of the plan commission, Brad Wisler, put it like this: “A large chunk of our employment in Bloomington comes from those uses that the ME zone is designed for.” Wisler added, “If you look at things like Cook, Catalent, et cetera, if we ever want to attract another one of those types of employers, this seems like a prime spot for it.”
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Should an 87-acre parcel in the southwest corner of Bloomington be rezoned so that a new Monroe County jail can be built there?
That’s the question that Bloomington plan commissioners will start tackling at their regular meeting on Monday (Oct. 10).
Instead of voting at that meeting on the rezone request from Monroe County, city plan commissioners will likely move the matter to a second hearing to be held at their November meeting.
The county’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be under MI. A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
View of the convention center looking southwest from the top of the 4th Street parking garage.
On Friday, in a social media post, the Bloomington’s office of the mayor appears to have abandoned any further pursuit of a collaboration with Monroe County government on the expansion of the county’s convention center.
The statement reads, “Despite hoping to reach an agreement on moving the project forward together, these recent negotiations have concluded without a resolution.”
The statement, made on the Facebook page for Bloomington’s office of the mayor, does not mention Bloomington mayor John Hamilton.
The announcement quotes Bloomington public engagement director Mary Catherine Carmichael saying, “We believe that it’s time to shift focus fully to what we can do to follow through on our commitment to use the city’s portion of the food and beverage tax to expand the space available for conventions and other large gatherings in Bloomington.”
Bloomington’s announcement says “a flexible facility that can accommodate larger groups remains an unfulfilled but important economic and cultural asset missing in Bloomington.” Friday’s announcement says the city expects to announce potential next steps in the next 30-45 days.
Posted notice of zoning hearing at Northeast Corner of I-69 and Fullerton Pike, looking north from Fullerton Pike(2022-09-10).
Posted notice of zoning hearing at Northeast Corner of I-69 and Fullerton Pike, looking north from Fullerton Pike(2022-09-10).
Parcel requested to be rezoned for jail.
An expected hearing next week on Monroe County government’s request for a rezoning of 87 acres in southwest Bloomington has been put off until October.
The reason for the delay was a failure by Monroe County government to post the required signs at the property, 21 days before the hearing.
The rezoning, from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI), was expected to be heard by the Bloomington plan commission next Monday (Sept. 12).
But that hearing has been put off until October 10. In the vocabulary used by the plan commission the hearing has been “continued” until the regular monthly meeting in October.
Community service grants to 25 organizations totaling $151,220 were approved by Monroe County councilors at their Tuesday evening work session.
The community service grants, which have been made annually since 2008, are named after a former county councilor, the late Sophia Travis.
This year’s total figure is about 11.5 percent more than last year’s.
That’s more than the 5-percent increase in revenue from the property tax levy that local governments will see for 2023. An increase to the Sophia Travis grant funding that is greater than the property tax increase was something county councilor Cheryl Munson had championed when last year’s awards were made.
Munson is chair of the five-person committee that makes recommendations on the grant awards. Also serving on the committee this year were Munson’s colleagues Trent Deckard and Jennifer Crossley, as well as two community members, Jean Capler and Joshua Johnson.
By dollar amount this year, the top five awards went to: New Hope for Families ($11,480); Boys & Girls Clubs of Bloomington ($9,400); The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Foundation ($9,240); Girls, Inc of Monroe County ($7,700); Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County ($7,400). A complete table of year’s awards, and the projects they will fund, is included below. Continue reading “Monroe County awards $151K in community service grants”→
