Panorama of convention center looking to the southwest as seen in August of 2022.
Total food and beverage tax revenues by month since the 1-percent tax started getting collected.
Bloomington’s city council has set a work session for this Friday (April 5) at noon, to discuss a project that has been in the works for a few years—the renovation and expansion of the Monroe Convention Center.
The current convention center stands on the southwest corner of 3rd Street and College Avenue.
The work session will likely be closely watched by other elected and appointed officials, because the city council is not necessarily unanimous in its support of every aspect of the planned expansion.
Both races for Monroe County commissioner are contested this year. In one race, incumbent Democrat Julie Thomas is competing with Peter Iversen for the party’s nomination. Iversen currently serves on the county council.
In the other race, incumbent Democrat Penny Githens is competing for the nomination with Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor, and Steve Volan, who lost his re-election bid to the Bloomington city council last year.
On Saturday afternoon, a total of five candidates in two different Democratic Party primary races for county commissioner fielded questions at a forum hosted by League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County.
The forum took place in the auditorium of the downtown Bloomington location of the Monroe County Public Library.
In one race, incumbent Julie Thomas is competing with Peter Iversen for the party’s nomination. Iversen currently serves on the county council.
In the other race, incumbent Penny Githens is competing for the nomination with Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor, and Steve Volan, a former Bloomington city councilmember.
As a group of five, over the course of 90 minutes, they answered a dozen questions that asked for their thoughts on a new jail, housing, and more.
This report focuses on just the race between Thomas and Iversen. The B Square will report on the other race separately.
At a mid-February event hosted by the Building Association of South Central Indiana (BASCI), Iversen and Thomas answered questions from moderator John Fernandez, who is now vice president for innovation and strategic partnerships at The Mill.
The full forum from Saturday (March 23) is available to watch on CATS. Below is a summary of just a few highlights, which are not necessarily organized in the chronological order of the forum.
The event was cosponsored by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Monroe County NAACP, Monroe County NOW, IU PACE, IU BIG Voting Challenge, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Tau Omega Chapter.
From left: chief deputy Phil Parker, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, and jail transition director Cory Grass. (March 12, 2024)
From near to far: chief deputy Phil Parker, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, and jail transition director Cory Grass. (March 12, 2024)
Monroe County councilors from near to far: Peter Iversen, Jennifer Crossley, Trent Deckard, Geoff McKim, Cheryl Munson, and Marty Hawk. (March 12, 2024)
Monroe County council meeting (March 12, 2024)
Monroe County jail commander Kyle Gibbons addresses Monroe County commissioners and introduces Officer Wood and Officer Figg to county commissioners. (March 13, 2024)
Planning for a new Monroe County jail appeared on meeting agendas for both the county council and the board of county commissioners this week.
For county councilors, it was a discussion with Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, chief deputy Phil Parker, and jail transition director Cory Grass—about a strategy for funding a transition team to be headed by Grass.
The source of transition team funding identified by county councilors is revenue from the corrections local income tax, which county councilors enacted last year.
For their part, county commissioners moved ahead with work on site selection for a new jail, by approving a $4,750 contract with VET Environmental Engineering, for a Phase 1 environmental site assessment of some land along West Hunter Valley Road and West SR 46.
This is the land that the county is now considering as a possible location for a new jail, after putting aside consideration of the Thomson PUD location, in south central Bloomington.
County commissioners also received an update from jail commander Kyle Gibbons, who gave them a rundown of the most recent jail population numbers: 164 felony inmates; 35 misdemeanor inmates, and 15 housed in the jail on other holds. Gibbons gave a nod to the circuit court judges for the pretrial release program, which is helping to keep the numbers down.
Gibbons also told the commissioners that the jail is fully staffed. There’s been just one resignation in the last 90 days, by someone who moved back to northern Indiana to be with family.
The urbanized area inside Ellettsville in 2020 is shown in blue. To see the official Federal Transit Administration’s UA maps, see: http://tinyurl.com/FTA-Urban-Area
Owl camera view of Ellettsville town council meeting (March 11, 2024)
Rural Transit now has a way to provide on-demand public bus service to Ellettsville residents past the end of March.
That’s because Ellettsville’s town council voted unanimously at its Monday night meeting to extend the timeframe, but not the dollar amount of an appropriation it made last year.
Last year, service had been in jeopardy due to a strict interpretation by INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) of an existing federal funding rule—which meant Rural Trant could not tap the same kind of federal money it had previously used to pay for certain kind of trips.
The kind of trips in question are on-demand urban-to-urban bus trips outside Bloomington city limits, starting or ending inside Ellettsville. Many of Rural Transit’s riders are elderly or have disabilities.
County commissioners (from left) Julie Thomas and Lee Jones address the Monroe County council during departmental report time at the council’s Feb. 27, 2024 meeting. Commissioner Penny Githens attended the Feb. 27 county council meeting by videoconference.
Monroe County commissioners have moved ahead with consideration of other land, besides the county-owned Thomson PUD, as a potential location for a new jail and co-located courts facility.
The amount to be charged by the two firms for their appraisal work is significantly different—$950 for Advisio and $3,750 for First Appraisal Group. County attorney Jeff Cockerill said that the lower price charged by Advisio is due to the fact that the firm had recently undertaken an appraisal of the same property.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Cockerill told The B Square that the appraisal work by both firms is expected to be completed in four to six weeks.
Antonio Jackson, owner of Big Boy’s Moving and Jumble Firewood.
Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz.
New Leaf New Life executive director Jordan McIntire.
County commissioner Penny Githens and Jayme Whitaker, vice president of forensic services and director of the IRACS program at Mental Health America of Indiana,
Jayme Whitaker, vice president of forensic services and director of the IRACS program at Mental Health America of Indiana.
By the end of March, local officials will likely know if Monroe County will be included in a program funded partly by the state, to help prisoners return to life outside the county jail.
On Monday night, Whitaker fielded questions from an audience of government officials and community leaders who had gathered in the Nat U. Hill room at the Monroe County courthouse.
Monroe County is currently undergoing an assessment by Whitaker of its readiness to host an IRACS program. Part of that readiness assessment includes buy-in from all the relevant players, including the county sheriff.
Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté attended Monday’s meeting, along with chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker and jail commander Kyle Gibbons.
B Square file photo of existing Monroe Convention Center facility.
On Wednesday morning, final approval of a key four-way agreement for the expansion and renovation of the Monroe Convention Center took another step forward.
At their regular Wednesday morning meeting, the three Monroe County Commissioners gave unanimous approval to the interlocal agreement that addresses the way that the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) and the different local government units will handle the expansion project.
The existing convention center stands at 3rd Street and College Avenue.
The Monroe County council, which is the fiscal body for county government, approved the interlocal agreement last week.
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson says she supports the current version of the agreement, which has been revised since the one that her predecessor, John Hamilton, and Bloomington’s city council approved last year.
Appearing on Thursday in front of around 130 people at the monthly meeting of the Building Association of South Central Indiana (BASCI) at the Bloomington Country Club were Julie Thomas and Peter Iversen.
The two are candidates in the Democratic Party’s primary race for Monroe County commissioner District 2. Thomas is the incumbent, who has served in the role since 2013. Iversen is currently in the middle of a four-year term serving on the county council.
To run for the seat, Thomas and Iversen are required to live in District 2, which coincides with Bloomington Township. That is the northern half of the city of Bloomington.
But the vote for county commissioner seats is countywide. That means any eligible voter who participates in the Democratic Party’s primary will have a choice between Thomas and Iversen.
Friday at noon was the deadline for declaration of a candidacy for local office in a major party primary this year.
When the deadline passed, the filings in Monroe County added up to four contested primary races—three for the Democrats and one for Republicans. The primary election falls on May 7, with early voting starting two months from now, on April 9.
It was the District 3 race for county commissioner that drew the most interest, with a total of five filings—by three Democrats and two Republicans.
The incumbent, Democrat Penny Githens, will compete in a three-way race for her party’s nomination. Filing for District 3 on Jan. 10, the first day it was possible to declare a candidacy, was former Bloomington city councilmember Steve Volan. Filing for District 3 on Friday, the final day of the window, was Indiana University law professor Jody Madeira.
For the Republicans, the primary race will be contested between Joe VanDeventer, who is director of street operations for the city of Bloomington, and Paul White, Sr. who has previously run for elected office, most recently for county recorder.
