The committee formed to outline budgetary needs for a new Monroe County Jail has composed a draft list of fiscal recommendations for the Monroe County Council to consider.
Members of the Justice Fiscal Advisory Committee presented that list during a public meeting Monday — the latest one since the group’s creation in May.
The roughly three-dozen bullet point list is the culmination of the group’s work since early June. The committee has met several times each month since then to identify budget priorities for the community’s justice needs.
Monroe County Council member Peter Iversen, one of three voting committee members, said the committee will present its recommendations to the council on Sept. 26. It is unclear when the council will vote on whether to adopt the recommendations, however.
“We are hoping that it will occur next Tuesday, but we aren’t certain,” Iversen said told WFIU/WTIU News.
The committee’s recommendations include, but are not limited to the following:
Ensure investments in diversion and treatment programs are equivalent to those in jailing
Fund supportive, transitional and affordable housing
Ensure public transit adequately serves all user groups for the jail site selected
Support in-jail treatment and transition planning
Ensure local funding continues to exist for crisis services
Locate the new jail as close to downtown services and bus lines as possible
But the first version of the list presented Monday is not what the council will vote on, as the committee made several changes to the document. The edited version of the document is available here:
Committee members made changes to consolidate some recommendations and to add, remove, or revise certain language. They may also make additional changes before presenting an updated version to the council next week.
Some noted the initial draft list lacked a bullet point suggesting the jail be co-located with other services such as the prosecutor’s office, public defender’s office, community corrections and probation. That’s a suggestion local officials have repeatedly advocated for, and one committee member Jennifer Crossley said she’d like to see added to the list.
“We’ve heard various times — in this particular committee and in another committee — how it is important for all of the services that are currently in the courts right now to co-locate,” Crossley said.
Several members of the public commented on the list, including Rob Depert, who said he lives near the former Thomson site — county-owned land on Bloomington’s southwest side where officials are considering placing a new jail.
The county has not formally selected that land as the future jail site, however. It has asked for environmental and geological studies, which is an important but not final step toward choosing a site.
Deppert said he felt the county has not done enough to collect feedback from residents who live near the site, which is located across Rogers Street from Switchyard Park and near the RCA Community Park.
“I think that should have been a community conversation as (much) as the rest of this has been a community conversation,” Deppert said. “I don’t feel like it has actually been that.”
Committee members have previously heard from others opposed to placing the facility at the Thomson site and say they want to gather feedback from residents.
On Monday, the committee announced it plans to hold two listening sessions on that topic: one at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Summit Elementary School, 1450 W. Countryside Lane, and another at 3 p.m. Sunday at RCA Community Park, 1400 W. RCA Park Drive.
The committee also wants to collect public input on the document before presenting it to the council next week. Members of the public may provide input by emailing the committee at jfac@co.monroe.in.us before the end of Sept. 25.
