BLOOMINGTON — The Monroe County Board of Commissioners signed a purchasing agreement Wednesday for a property off State Road 46 as the site of the future county jail.
The nearly 52-acre property, dubbed North Park, is near State Road 46 and Hunter Valley Road and costed around $11.4 million to purchase. The purchase agreement is expected to appear on the Nov. 12 agenda for the county council.
"This is an important moment," said commissioners president Julie Thomas. "It's taken a lot of work, a lot of people to get here."
The agreement comes after commissioners got late word last month about a possible alternate site on Vernal Pike—one that neighbors in the area were vocally against. Commissioners put off approving the North Park agreement until they heard from residents and received more information on the site.
However, during a joint works session with county councilors and Monroe County Sheriff's Office staff Tuesday night, county leaders were warned that more detailed environmental reports for the Vernal Pike property could take months to complete and may require future permit applications that could further delay the project.
Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental reports for North Park are already completed and indicated minimal environmental hazards that would restrict development—both immediate and future—on the property.
"The North Park site, from my perspective, is shovel-ready now," said Sara Hamidovic with VET Environmental, an environmental engineering firm tasked with conducting assessments of the properties. "Vernal Pike has a lot of work left to do, from an environmental standpoint."
Hamidovic told county leaders that initial findings in the Vernal Pike property indicate the county would have to get future permit approvals from the Indiana Departmental of Environmental Management and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which could take as long as 18 months.
From a financial standpoint, a representative with DLZ, one of the companies tasked with designing the new jail, told county leaders Tuesday that further delays could add an up to five percent increase to the construction costs based on inflation rates.
County leaders appeared to heed that warning and signaled agreement to move ahead with the North Park site at Tuesday's meeting.
Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté, who was also at the meeting, added his continued interest in the North Park property.
Marté pointed to a gas leak at the jail in September 2023 that forced the facility to be placed on lockdown. The jail was not evacuated but came close. Marté said the current jail has no room to allow a safe evacuation of the building. The North Park property, Marté said, does.
The board voted 3-0 on the purchase agreement.
Monroe County councilors voted in September to move forward with an adjusted tax rate increase to help pay for the project. Council voted 6-1 to approve an amended rate of 0.175 percent, with with Councilor Peter Iverson casting the only no vote.
Councilors originally proposed a 0.2 percent increase, which would’ve been the maximum rate that can be imposed on Monroe County residents, and up significantly from the current rate of 0.01 percent.
The jail and possible co-justice center complex could cost upwards of $200 million.
WHERE DOES THE JAIL PROJECT STAND?
Debate over the future Monroe County Jail has been back and forth for over a year.
The jail currently operates under a 2009 settlement from a lawsuit by the ACLU, which claimed the crowded conditions at the jail are unconstitutional. As part of the settlement, which has been extended numerous times, the county must build a new jail.
There have been countless security incidents inside the jail.
In June, two inmates already in the jail for violent crimes, were charged with escaping their cell and beating fellow inmate to the point he had to be sent to the hospital.
In July at a joint meeting, Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté warned county councilors and commissioners that the jail is at it’s breaking point.
“The staff at this point is at a maximum of what they do right now, and they are tired,” Marté said. We all want a clean, safe, and humane jail.”
In May, a jail feasibility study conducted by Fishers-based engineering consulting firm, RQAW, suggested that the county build a new facility that could house 450-500 beds while also having space available for future expansion.
The current jail fits 258 beds, but after classification of inmates, puts the jail threshold at 206. The original jail capacity was 128 beds before transitioning to a double-bunk system in the 1990s.
INTIAL PLANS FOR A NEW JAIL
According to the jail feasibility report, a new Monroe County Jail would cost upwards of $99-million for design, construction, and furniture expenses. Should plans call for a facility that would also house courtrooms, the prosecutors office, and probation department, the total cost could reach upwards of $150-million.
