Tag: Monroe County

Monroe County nixes $30K MOU with Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, wants BEDC to be ‘better partner’

Monroe County commissioners have rejected a $30,000 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation.

The vote, which came at the regular Wednesday meeting for commissioners, was uncharacteristically split among the three electeds, with board president Julie Thomas casting the sole vote of support.

Commissioners Lee Jones and Penny Githens voted against it. Even Thomas voted just a “reluctant yes.” Continue reading “Monroe County nixes $30K MOU with Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, wants BEDC to be ‘better partner’” →

Monroe County adds 4 jail guard positions, adds security duty, drops age from 21 to 18

Four new correctional officer positions have been added to the Monroe County jail staff.

B Square file photo. From left: sheriff’s office financial coordinator,Jordon Miller, chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker, and Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté. (March 26, 2024)

That move came at the regular Tuesday meeting of the Monroe County council on a unanimous vote.

On a separate vote, the council added one duty to the job description for correctional officers.  That duty includes providing security services at the county courthouse.

The council also lowered the age requirement for correctional officers from 21 to 18 years.

Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté, chief deputy Phil Parker and jail commander Kyle Gibbons were on hand at the council’s meeting to field any questions.

The four new positions are not related to the six other new jail guard positions that the council approved in late March.  The six new positions approved earlier were connected to Monroe County’s plans to design and build a new jail at a still undetermined location. Continue reading “Monroe County adds 4 jail guard positions, adds security duty, drops age from 21 to 18” →

Critical decisions soon for Monroe Convention Center expansion: site, budget, uses

This week, a possible path forward for the Monroe County convention center expansion project in downtown Bloomington got charted out in a bit more detail.

At its regular meeting on Wednesday, the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) got an update on two separate processes. One is to bring on board a construction manager as constructor (CMc) for the convention center project. The other is to strike a deal with a hotelier.

The CIB also got updated preliminary schematics for expansion options from Schmidt Associates, the architectural firm the CIB has retained to continue its preliminary conceptual design work from five years ago.

Schmidt presented four schematics for expansion—in each compass direction from the current convention center facility, which is located on the southwest corner of 3rd Street and College Avenue.

The East option now appears to have some initial support, but that decision is probably at least a couple weeks away.

On Thursday, Bloomington’s city council held a work session to focus on the topic of the convention center expansion. That came in the wake of the April 10 split vote of the council on the CIB’s budget.  Before its April 10 meeting, the council also held a work session on the convention center expansion.

The outcome of the work session was a consensus that the city council should spell out its expectations for the project in a letter to the CIB.

The idea is to use the council’s specific role—as the fiscal body that has to approve the bonding for the construction—as a way to influence the size, design, and use of the new facility.

Continue reading “Critical decisions soon for Monroe Convention Center expansion: site, budget, uses” →

Mapping the Dems: 2024 Monroe County commissioner primary election results

In Tuesday’s Democratic Party’s primary to select one nominee for each of two county commissioner seats, two slates formed across the two positions, which among other things shared financial resources, by sending out joint mailings.

It was hardly a surprise that the two incumbents—Penny Githens (District 2) and Julie Thomas (District 3)—worked together.

On the side of the challengers, it was Peter Iversen (District 2) and Jody Madeira (District 3) who banded together, leaving Steve Volan, who also ran in the District 3 race, as the one solitary campaigner for a county commissioner nomination. Continue reading “Mapping the Dems: 2024 Monroe County commissioner primary election results” →

Monroe County 2024 primary winners: Thomas, Madeira, Van Deventer, Munson, Deckard, Henry

The unofficial tallies for Monroe County voting in the Tuesday, May 7 primary elections made for the following outcomes in contested local races for respective party nominations:

  • Incumbent Democrat Julie Thomas over Peter Iversen for District 2 county commissioner;
  • Democrat Jody Madeira over Steve Volan and incumbent Penny Githens for District 3 county commissioner;
  • Incumbent Democrats Trent Deckard and Cheryl Munson ahead of David Henry and Matt Caldie for the three at-large county council seats, with Henry slightly better than Caldie; and
  • Republican Joe Van Deventer over Paul White, Sr. for District 3 county commissioner.

Continue reading “Monroe County 2024 primary winners: Thomas, Madeira, Van Deventer, Munson, Deckard, Henry” →

Primary Election Day: Polls are open until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 in Monroe County

Election Central processing of early in-person and mailed-in absentee ballots. (May 7, 2024)
Monroe County election board from left: Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne; Judith Benckart; and John Fernandez. (May 7, 2024)
Election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets. (May 7, 2024)

The polls at Monroe County’s election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets opened Tuesday morning, when election site inspector Maqubè Reese gave the official announcement: “The polls are open!”

Audio: “The polls are open!”

The announcement is not just for fun. It’s a  requirement of state election law, which says the announcement about the start of voting must be made “in a loud tone of voice” to “the people outside the polls.”

A technical glitch prevented opening of the polls at 6 a.m. sharp. The code that was supposed to open the scanner for processing ballots did not work, and it took several minutes for that issue to get sorted out.

Even though the announcement from Reese came at 6:15 a.m., there were no voters queued up waiting—the first voter did not arrive until a few minutes after Reese gave the announcement.

The only “people outside the polls” when Reese gave the official opening announcement were The B Square and Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry, who is running for one of the three at-large county council seats. He’s competing with Matt Caldie, Trent Deckard, and Cheryl Munson for one of the three nominations from the Democratic Party.

The B Square will try to provide some updates through rest of the day. Continue reading “Primary Election Day: Polls are open until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 in Monroe County” →

Monroe County election board finishes final prep for Tuesday, May 7 primaries

These are the lanyards for Monroe County election board members: Nicole Browne, Judith Benckart, and John Fernandez.
Election Central at 7th and Madison streets is set up to process mailed-in and early in-person ballots.
Chart of the early in-person voting totals for the 2024 primary election in Monroe County.
On Monday night, a red-tailed hawk kept watch over Monroe County’s Election Central from the antenna on top of the justice center at 7th Street and College Avenue.
On Monday night, campaign yard signs at Fairview Elementary School were guarded by the Joe LaMantia’s Aristicat.
Campaign yard signs at Monroe County’s election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets.

By around 7:30 p.m. on Monday night, all but three of the 29 polling locations for Primary Election Day on May 7 had checked in with Monroe County election division staff at Election Central to confirm they were set for the next day’s voting.

Election Central is the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Continue reading “Monroe County election board finishes final prep for Tuesday, May 7 primaries” →

Weeklong Bloomington annexation trial: It’s a wrap, each side gets 45 days to submit final brief

Attorneys in the annexation trial wanted to be able to leave their exhibits in the courtroom overnight, so a sign was placed instructing the cleaning crew to skip the courtroom used for the annexation trial. (May 2, 2024)
Map of annexation areas. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1_7o1q_H6CpeK-1gdEzDTxnPk84RZQ_E&usp=sharing
The image of Reed Quarries is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.

Now over is the trial on the merits of Bloomington’s plan to annex two territories on the west and southwest sides of the city.

Around 3 p.m. on Friday, both sides rested their cases after five full days of witness testimony in the courtroom, located inside the justice center at College Avenue and 7th Street in downtown Bloomington.

This past week’s trial was just about the merits of annexing Area 1A and Area 1B into the city, and did not address a different, constitutional question for other territories, which relates to annexation waivers of remonstrance, which were signed by some land owners.

Over the course of the week, not every witness on either list—for the the city of Bloomington, or for the remonstrators—was called to the stand. Those who did testify included current and former elected officials, current and former city staff, the city’s paid consultants, as well as a dozen or more landowners in the areas to be annexed.

Nathan Nikirk, the special judge out of Lawrence County who is presiding over the case, gave the two sides 45 days to submit their proposed orders in the case, which will include their final arguments. No closing oral arguments were given on Friday.

Before leaving the courtroom on Friday, Nikirk thanked all of the attorneys for their professionalism. He noted that annexation is a “passionate issue.”

Nikirk said he does not know the “perfect answer” on the case but promised to do his “very best.” He would be giving the matter all the consideration that he could, Nikirk said. Even if some are not happy with his eventual decision, Nikirk said he hopes that they understand that he had given it a lot of time and effort. Continue reading “Weeklong Bloomington annexation trial: It’s a wrap, each side gets 45 days to submit final brief” →

Final 2 days of early in-person voting in Monroe County: Saturday, Monday

Early in-peson voting counts for Monroe County through May 3, 2024.
Whiteboard at Monroe County Election Central at Madison and 7th Streets. (May 3, 2024)

With two days of in-person early voting left, around 3,800 Monroe County residents have cast an in-person ballot in the May 7 primary election.

That’s based on the day-by-day tallies of voter numbers posted on the wall of the election operations building (aka the old NAPA Auto Parts Store) at 3rd and Walnut streets and a partial total through the day on Friday (May 3).

The election operations buiding is the one designated location for all in-person voting in  Monroe County.

Two days are left on the early-voting calendar: Saturday (May 4) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Monday (May 6) from 8 a.m. to noon. Continue reading “Final 2 days of early in-person voting in Monroe County: Saturday, Monday” →