Tag: Shelli Yoder

Column: How will Bloomington’s 2024 city council build its meeting agendas?

It is sometimes useful to contrast Indiana’s General Assembly with a local city council, even though there are obvious differences.

This image was created by Bing AI. It does not do a great job at spelling. Or counting. There are supposed to be nine councilmembers in this image.

What they have in common is the fact that they are the legislative branch for their respective levels of government.

At Saturday’s 2023 Indiana NOW State Conference, state senator Shelli Yoder talked about the fact that during the 2024 legislative session, each senator will be allowed to put forward just five bills.

The limit on the number of bills is determined by the majority party, which is now the Republican Party.

Yoder is a Democrat. She said that when she first started serving in the senate the limit was 15, but has been ratched downward.

What’s the lay of the local legislative land? The group of nine councilmembers who will be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2024 are all Democrats. It has been an all-Democrat council  since 2012.

How many pieces of legislation is a Bloomington city councilmember allowed to put forward in a given year? Continue reading “Column: How will Bloomington’s 2024 city council build its meeting agendas?” →

Democrats speak at Indiana NOW conference held in Bloomington: ‘We are going to win…’

Jennifer McCormick, candidate for Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee (Nov. 11, 2023 NOW conference)
Shruti Rana, Bloomington city councilmember-elect for District 3 (Nov. 11, 2023 NOW conference)
Kerry Thomson, Bloomington mayor-elect (Nov. 11, 2023 NOW conference)
From left Carolyn Jackson and Shelli Yoder (Nov. 11, 2023 NOW conference)

On Saturday, downtown Bloomington was host to some prominent Democratic Party figures on at least three levels of the political landscape—city, region, and state.

The occasion was the 2023 Indiana NOW State Conference, which was held at the Monroe County History Center.

Delivering remarks were: Bloomington’s mayor-elect, Kerry Thomson; state representative Carolyn Jackson (District 1) and state senator Shelli Yoder (District 40); and a candidate for the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2024, Jennifer McCormick. Continue reading “Democrats speak at Indiana NOW conference held in Bloomington: ‘We are going to win…’” →

Transgender Day message: “You don’t have to let policy happen to you. You can happen to policy.”

Melanie Davis
Indiana’s Own Dana Black
Transgender Visibility Day Celebration, Monroe County courthouse lawn April 2, 2023
Nicole Bolden
April Hennessey
Shelli Yoder
Kirin Clawson

On Sunday afternoon, around 150 people gathered on the southeast corner of the Monroe County courthouse in downtown Bloomington, for a celebration of the Transgender Day of Visibility.

Melanie Davis, with the LGBTIQ+ Community Center of Bloomington, kicked off the  the event by telling the crowd “There’s a lot of scary stuff going on. We all know, we’ve all felt it.”

The “scary stuff” that Davis was talking about includes some legislation now pending in the state legislature.

When state senator Shelli Yoder took the mic she talked about two bills: HB 1608 (Education matters); and SB 480 (Gender transition procedures for minors). Continue reading “Transgender Day message: “You don’t have to let policy happen to you. You can happen to policy.”” →

Holcomb on SB4, a bill to boost local health support: “It gets funded, because of one word: commitment.”

On Thursday, Indiana governor Eric Holcomb was in town to headline a Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce event at the Monroe Convention Center.

During the Q&A, Holcomb was asked about a report that was delivered by the governor’s public health commission in August 2022.

“What surprised you from that report?”

The question came from Indiana University president Pam Whitten, who served up topics to Holcomb as the two sat in easy chairs in front of an audience of around 450 people.

Holcomb said he’d wished he’d appointed his special health commission to do its work sooner than he did—namely, before the COVID-19 pandemic. He added the conventional wisdom about hindsight—it’s 20/20.

As for anything unexpected in the report, Holcomb said he was “pleasantly surprised” that the report did more than merely acknowledge that something needs to be done. Continue reading “Holcomb on SB4, a bill to boost local health support: “It gets funded, because of one word: commitment.”” →

“We’ve gotta get moving on that,” says state rep on convention center project, given threat of tax sunset

The Monroe Convention Center expansion project needs to make some progress, state representative Democrat Rep. Matt Pierce (District 61) said at a Friday luncheon hosted by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce at The Mill.

Looming during this year’s legislative session is a threat to the project’s planned funding source, which is the county’s 1-percent food and beverage tax. The threat cited by Pierce is Senate Bill 37,  which has already been filed by Republican Sen. Mike Gaskill (District 25).

If SB 37 is passed, it would end food and beverage taxes across all counties in the state 20 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2043, or the date on which all bonds or lease agreements that are outstanding on May 7, 2023, are completely paid—whichever is later.

Pierce summed up the stalled effort of Bloomington and Monroe County government to collaborate on the convention center expansion like this: “We gotta get moving on that.”

Pierce was joined at the event by three other area state legislators: Sen. Eric Koch (District 44); Sen. Shelli Yoder (District 40); and Rep. Dave Hall (District 62).

Pierce’s comment on the convention center expansion came in response to a question from chamber CEO and president Eric Spoonmore.

The other three legislators didn’t comment on Spoonmore’s food and beverage tax question. Continue reading ““We’ve gotta get moving on that,” says state rep on convention center project, given threat of tax sunset” →

Margins, flipped results for mail-in versus in-person make Monroe County election stories

Much of the media coverage of 2020 primary elections focused on the mechanics of voting methods, instead of the campaigns.

That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic led the state election commission to postpone the primaries four weeks, from May 5 to June 2, and to make no-excuse absentee voting available for any voter. That meant every voter could vote by mail, instead of showing up in person to vote on any of the six days before Election Day or the day itself.

In Monroe County, a lot more people voted by mail, ahead of Election Day, than they did in 2016. Of the 26,791 voters who cast a ballot for this year’s primary, 17,785 (66 percent) did it by mail.

The 66 percent who voted by mail this year was more than twice the percentage who voted before Primary Election Day in 2016. The 2016 figure also includes mail-in ballots and in-person ballots cast during the early voting period.

Did the increased percentage of mail-in votes this year affect the outcome of any races? Maybe. Continue reading “Margins, flipped results for mail-in versus in-person make Monroe County election stories” →

Democratic Party noms for senate, judge: Yoder, Krothe

 

Shelli Yoder on June 2, 2020.
Kara Krothe on June 2, 2020.

Based on unofficial results of the June 2 primary, the Democratic Party’s nomination for the District 40 state senate seat is Shelli Yoder. The former Monroe County councilor prevailed over John Zody, the Democratic Party’s state chair, and Trent Feuerbach, with 81 percent of the vote. No Republican candidate appeared on the primary ballot for the District 40 senate seat.

Another closely watched race in the Democratic Primary was for the county circuit court judge Division 8 seat. Kara Elaine Krothe, an attorney in the county’s public defender’s office prevailed over Jeff Kehr, a Monroe County deputy prosecutor, with 68.5 percent of the vote. Krothe will face incumbent Republican Judith Benckart in the November general election.

The three county council incumbents—Geoff McKim, Trent Deckard, and Cheryl Munson—prevailed in the race for the Democratic Party’s primary for at-large county council seats. McKim, who was third among the incumbents with 24 percent of the vote, outdistanced Dominic Thompson by 12.5 points and Karl Boehm by 18 points. The November general election contest will feature the three Democratic Party nominees and two Republicans, James Allen and Zachary Weisheit.

[.pdf of June 2, 2020 unofficial cumulative results]

[.pdf of June 2, 2020 unofficial results by precinct]

By one-vote margin: Peter Iversen chosen to fill Monroe County’s council vacancy left by Shelli Yoder

On Thursday night, a caucus of the Monroe County Democratic Party (MCDP) chose Peter Iversen over Richard Martin to fill the vacancy left when Shelli Yoder resigned her District 1 seat on the county council, effective Nov. 1. Yoder served through the end of October.

Iversen prevailed by a 7–6 margin among the 13 precinct chairs from District 1 who attended the caucus. District 1 covers the eastern third of the county. Voting was by secret ballot.

Right after his winning tally was announced, Iversen was sworn into office by Monroe County’s clerk, Nicole Browne. Continue reading “By one-vote margin: Peter Iversen chosen to fill Monroe County’s council vacancy left by Shelli Yoder” →

Yoder chairs her final meeting of county council: “Find what makes you come alive and go do it.”

Cropped corrected 10-22-2019 yoder IMG_7730
Shelli Yoder, president of Monroe County’s council, chairs Tuesday’s work session. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

Tuesday night’s Monroe County council’s work session was highlighted by debate on the issuance of $3 million worth of general obligation bonds—the item passed on a 5–1 vote with dissent from councilor Marty Hawk.

At the end of session, councilors marked the occasion of council president Shelli Yoder’s last time to preside over a meeting. Yoder announced her resignation last Thursday, effective at the end of October—she’s moving out of District 1, which she represents.

The council left the matter of electing a new president of the council for another time. Continue reading “Yoder chairs her final meeting of county council: “Find what makes you come alive and go do it.”” →

Yoder to leave Monroe County’s council due to residency change, still considering what’s next

In a release posted on Facebook, Democrat Shelli Yoder announced on Thursday that she is resigning from Monroe County’s council and will serve through the end of October. Yoder’s resignation was caused by a pending change in her residency, according to the release.

Cropped Shelli Yoder 07-23-2019 IMG_9621
In this photo from July 2019, Shelli Yoder chairs a meeting of the Monroe County council as its president. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

Yoder currently represents the county council’s District 1, which covers the eastern third of Monroe County and the northeast corner of Bloomington.

The release quotes Yoder as saying “Although this move will take my family into a different Bloomington neighborhood just beyond the border of District 1, my commitment to our community and Monroe County’s continued success is as strong as ever. I look forward to finding new opportunities to serve and to continuing the work of meeting the challenges we face at the local, state, and national levels.”

At-large seats on the council can be held by residents who live anywhere in the county. Asked by The Beacon via text message, if she had contemplated running for one of the three at-large positions on the county council that is up for election in 2020, Yoder replied: “I’m still considering what’s next.”

The three at-large seats on the seven-member council are currently held by Geoff McKim, Cheryl Munson, and Trent Deckard.

Yoder also told The Beacon that she plans to attend the joint meeting of the county council and the Bloomington’s city council, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 29  in the Nat U. Hill room of the county courthouse. That means Yoder will spend part of her antepenultimate day of county council service in the same room where she’s chaired its meetings as president of the council for the last couple of years. Continue reading “Yoder to leave Monroe County’s council due to residency change, still considering what’s next” →