Tag: Ellettsville fire station

New jail: Monroe County council, commissioners hit rough patch, de-appropriation of money mulled

Monroe County’s council, the fiscal body for county government, is looking to send a signal that it’s not pleased with the recent approach the board of county commissioners has taken to the project to build a new county jail.

Monroe County councilors from left: Jennifer Crossley, Trent Deckard, and Kate Wiltz (June 11, 2024)

On Tuesday, councilors took the chance at the start of their regular meeting to express their dissatisfaction that county commissioners have now announced that it’s the county council, as opposed to themselves, who should work with the sheriff to determine the bed count for a planned new jail facility.

Councilors are also not happy because they say that a jail design consultant hired by county commissioners, with money appropriated by the county council, recently declined to provide the council an update.

So on July 9, there could be an item on the council’s agenda that would de-appropriate some of the money that came from a $10.5 million bond, the issuance of which was approved at the Oct. 11, 2022 meeting of the county council. Continue reading “New jail: Monroe County council, commissioners hit rough patch, de-appropriation of money mulled” →

New jail location: Monroe County OKs Phase 2 enviro study, hears opposition from Ellettsville

On the map, the green area is the land purchased by the county for a future limestone heritage destination park. The purple pushpin shows the location of the current jail. The other purple areas are currently or have at one time been considered by county commissioners as a jail location. Link to dynamic map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1ZfbkZoG4GR7KAjii4CVQLtv4hIlUQuM&usp=sharing
Seated at the table from left:Scott Carnegie with DLZ, the county’s design/build consultant, and the three commissioners, Julie Thomas, Lee Jones and Penny Githens. (June 2, 2024)

This past Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners approved a second environmental study for North Park on West Hunter Valley Road, just north of the Bloomington city boundary.

North Park is the location that commissioners are currently considering as a possible location for a new jail.

The Phase 2 study comes after two public meetings held at the Ellettsville fire station—last Sunday (June 2) and Wednesday June 5)—which were hosted by county commissioners.

The fire station meetings confirmed some strong opposition from residents near the proposed jail location. Highlights from the meetings included opposition from Ellettsville leaders, who are concerned that locating a county jail at North Park will have a negative impact on the future economic development of the town.

The meetings also revealed that county elected officials might not have been on the same page on a key question: Who will decide the size of the new jail? Continue reading “New jail location: Monroe County OKs Phase 2 enviro study, hears opposition from Ellettsville” →

Monroe County jail notebook: 1 year of data shows releases at all times of day, night

As Monroe County officials continue their discussion of a location for a new jail, the sheriff’s office has released some numbers on releases by weekday and time—for a full year, from June 1, 2023 through May 30, 2024.

The total number of releases for the year comes to 3,359—or an average of a little more than 9 people per day.

Not considering the day of the week, the majority of releases come between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. The two one-hour intervals from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m to 3 p.m. show a dip compared to the five intervals before and after that window.

With 100 releases, the one-hour interval between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Mondays showed the highest number of releases of any one-hour period.

The numbers confirm that releases come at all times of the day on all days of the week. Between midnight and 8 a.m. there were 326 releases, or almost 10 percent of the total. Continue reading “Monroe County jail notebook: 1 year of data shows releases at all times of day, night” →