Despite message in TV ad, non-Bloomington residents can vote on 8.5-cent school referendum

Residents who live in the Monroe County Community School Corporation district (the whole purple area), but not in the city of Bloomington, can still vote in the Nov. 7 election—on the MCCSC referendum question.

All registered voters who live in the MCCSC school district will be able to vote on the school referendum question as part of the Nov. 7 “municipal election.”

That’s despite the message in a TV ad featuring Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne, which has run over the last few days on some Comcast channels like the Food Network.

The ad states incorrectly that only registered voters in the geographic boundaries of the city of Bloomington are eligible to vote in the election. The TV ad is supposed to be taken down by Saturday, Browne has told The B Square.

Voters can check their registration and preview their ballot on the Indiana Voter Portal.
Continue reading “Despite message in TV ad, non-Bloomington residents can vote on 8.5-cent school referendum” →

Movement, but no progress yet, on site selection for new Monroe County jail

Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas (April 17, 2023)

Monroe County councilor (April 17, 2023)

Monroe circuit court court judge Darcie Fawcett (April 17, 2023)

Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (April 17, 2023)

DLZ’s Scott Carnegie (April 17, 2023)

Monroe County commissioner Lee Jones (April 17, 2023)

From left: Monroe County councilors Jennifer Crossley and Kate Wiltz.

Kay Weinberg with Care not Cages (April 17, 2023)

CJRC meeting on (April 17, 2023)

A significant bit of news out of Monday’s meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC) was an announcement from the public mic by Bloomington’s public engagement director Kaisa Goodman.

Goodman told the committee that a tour of some county-owned land south of Catalent had been arranged for later in the week.

Touring the property, which some see as a viable site for a new jail, will be Goodman, Bloomington’s corporation counsel Beth Cate, Bloomington planning director Scott Robinson, county attorney Jeff Cockerill, jail commander Kyle Gibbons, county councilor Kate Wiltz, and possibly one other county council member.

The location of a new jail has been a wide open question since December 2022, when Bloomington’s city council unanimously rejected a rezone request for some land in the southwestern tip of the city, where county commissioners had proposed building the new jail.

The site south of Catalent, also known as the Thomson PUD, has been frequently mentioned as a possible alternative—it’s not downtown but is closer to services and is better served by public transit. County commissioners are cool to the idea, because they have reserved the acreage for the pharmaceutical company’s possible southward expansion, among other reasons.

Despite the scheduled tour, it’s an overstatement to say that any momentum is building towards the choice of that site or any site as a new jail location. Continue reading “Movement, but no progress yet, on site selection for new Monroe County jail” →

Confrontation over transparency of jail architect selection shows continued rocky relations between Monroe County commissioners, sheriff’s office

Chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker

Administrator for the county commissioners Angie Purdie

County commissioner Julie Thomas

Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill

County commissioner Penny Githens

At a work session held on Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners and chief sheriff’s deputy Phil Parker did not mince words when they took up the topic of transparency in connection with the selection of DLZ as the design-build firm for a new county jail.

Making a recommendation for DLZ, as the best of three respondents to an RFQ (request for proposals), had been a six-member committee: Richard Crider, Monroe County’s fleet and building manager; David Gardner, ASI Facilities Services contractor; Lee Baker, county attorney; Kyle Gibbons, jail commander; Matt Demmings, assistant jail commander; and Angie Purdie, administrator for the commissioners.

The recommendation for DLZ was presented at a county commissioners March 8 work session. On March 22, the commissioners voted to enter into a contract with DLZ.

On Wednesday, Parker told commissioners that based on statements that have been made at recent public meetings by Crider on behalf of the RFQ review committee, and by the commissioners, about their understanding of the selection of DLZ, the public would conclude that the RFQ review committee had been in perfect alignment on every aspect of the process, and its selection of DLZ.

Parker said the committee’s work had been portrayed as if “everybody on the committee was in lockstep, there was no dysfunction on the committee about that process, that everybody was in agreement, the vote was unanimous.”

About that portrayal, Parker said, “That’s simply not true.”

Continue reading “Confrontation over transparency of jail architect selection shows continued rocky relations between Monroe County commissioners, sheriff’s office” →

Video: Race Across America leader hits Bloomington time point @ 11:23:40 on June 21, 2022

Late Tuesday evening, Nicole Reist cycled through Bloomington, Indiana as the overall leader in the 2022 Race Across America—a 3,079-mile west-to-east bicycle race across the United States.

Racers start in Oceanside, California, and finish in Annapolis, Maryland.

Reist has been leading the race since La Veta, Colorado, which was the 1,181.9-mile mark. She hit Bloomington’s time check at 11:23:40 p.m.. That was about seven hours later than her pace a couple days earlier had projected her to hit town. Her speed slowed a bit, because she took more time off the bike in Illinois than she had up to that point. Continue reading “Video: Race Across America leader hits Bloomington time point @ 11:23:40 on June 21, 2022” →

Video produced opposing Bloomington’s planned “island” annexation: “We definitely don’t want to pay higher taxes.”

The aerial photo of Area 4 is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

Closeup map of so-called “island” areas for annexation.

Screenshot of YouTube video opposing annexation of Area 4. https://youtu.be/TpX0e6pxhTk

Histogram of net increases in property taxes based on projections of Reedy Financial Group, Bloomington’s consultant.

If Bloomington’s planned annexation is successful, the city will add to its population an estimated 14,000 people, several cows, a pig or two, and at least one chicken, whose “eyes don’t work any more.”

For the hen’s owner, Susan Brackney, the longer phrase in place of a single adjective is a nicer way of describing the bird’s current abilities.

Brackney would prefer that she and the chicken not become a part of the city’s census.

But Bloomington’s annexation plan calls for Area 4, where Brackney and about 400 other people live, to become a part of the city starting on Jan. 1, 2024.

Area 4 is one of eight separate areas that Bloomington wants to annex into the city.

With an Aug. 4 public hearing on the horizon, and a city council vote that will likely come in September, some residents who oppose annexation are using the earlier part of the summer to organize their opposition.

To help with the organization, Brackney has produced a three-and-a-half minute video, which was posted on YouTube earlier this week. The footage highlights the rural aspects of Area 4, and features on-camera speaking turns from residents like her, who oppose annexation into the city. Continue reading “Video produced opposing Bloomington’s planned “island” annexation: “We definitely don’t want to pay higher taxes.”” →