Local Government

Bloomington’s 2026 community survey found general satisfaction with quality of life, but a lot of concern about affordable housing, homelessness, streets and sidewalks, and the local economy. City councilmembers will receive a presentation at their Wednesday meeting.

Bloomington’s RDC will hear two competing College Square proposals Monday: Concord would put a 160-room convention hotel there and housing south of the convention center. Dora proposes a 135-room boutique hotel and 100 apartments on the block. Both value the land at $4 million.

Monroe County transferred six IDOC-linked inmates to Brown County this past week. The move comes as population in the Monroe County facility population trends upward and the county faces fresh ACLU scrutiny. The move shifts $35-a-day state payments to Brown County.

Monroe County’s justice building reopened Friday after a sewer backup. Meanwhile, the jail population kept climbing. The total rose 7%, from 247 on July 21 to 264 on July 31, even as 70 people left during the 11-day period. Half of those released had spent one day or less in jail.

A bag of e-cigarettes flushed down a jail toilet sent sewage through the Monroe County justice building on Friday, disrupting court operations. At Tuesday’s meeting, councilors questioned why election offices were also closed and debated millions in spending for a facility described as “dying.”

Bloomington’s Area 1A and 1B annexation case is closed. But a separate constitutional challenge remains before the Indiana Supreme Court 271 days after oral arguments. That wait is near the 90th percentile among 316 argued cases decided since 2018, but about two dozen took longer.