After the Monroe County Council voted unanimously last week to reject spending $8 million to purchase land for a new jail and justice center at North Park, the big question is, what’s next?
The council had agreed to buy the land off Ind. 46 between Bloomington and Ellettsville last fall and had plans for the project, which included a 400-bed jail, courts and other offices. The total cost was around $225 million.
But since then, the Indiana legislature passed Senate Bill 1, which significantly changed how counties can raise revenue for projects such as the justice center complex.
Read more: Monroe County Council refuses $8M to buy new jail property
“As it stands right now, we can't afford it,” County Council president Jennifer Crossley said before the vote. “It's just real tone deaf to keep acting like we're going to continue to move forward in this when we don't have a concept of a fix, and neither does the Statehouse right now.”
Officials have been working for years to build a new jail as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which sued the county in 2009 alleging conditions at the current jail are unconstitutional.
Read more: ACLU attorney calls on Monroe County to establish new jail
Julie Thomas, president of the Monroe County Commissioners, was critical of the council’s actions, saying it was wrong to vote down the agreed upon site while offering no alternatives. The commissioners agreed to the North Park purchase last October.
“This was unexpected,” Thomas said. “And I think the troubling aspect for us as a board is that all along, we've had collaboration, and it's not just the council, it's the sheriff's department and the board of judges and the prosecutor and the public defender and the clerk and all of these entities.”
Everyone seems to agree that renovating the current site downtown is not an option, so the next step will likely be trying to find a new property site or revisit one of the sites that had been dismissed.
Read more: Consultant recommends 450-500 beds for new Monroe County Jail
On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss what the options are going forward for a new Monroe County jail after the North Park site was voted down.
Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to news@indianapublicmedia.org.
You can also record your questions and send them in through email.
Guests
Jennifer Crossley, President, Monroe County Council
Eric Spoonmore, President, Bloomington Chamber of Commerce
Julie Thomas, President, Monroe County Commissioners
