Links

Monroe County Government Website

Civil Government

Includes links and contacts for assessor, auditor, board of commissioners, county council, emergency management, human resources, legal, recorder's office, surveyor, technical services, and treasurer.

Community

Includes links and contacts for airport; boards, commissions, and committees; coroner's office; health department; parks & recreation; Purdue extension; soil & water conservation district; veterans' affairs; youth services bureau; township trustees; and Limestone Heritage.

Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Includes links, contacts, and meeting information for over 40 county government groups. Individual group pages also indicate if there are vacancies. If you are interested in applying for an appointed position to a board or commission, click here.

Township Trustees

Include links to trustees and to websites where available, addresses, and information on fire protection.

Infrastructure

Includes links and contacts for the following departments: building, planning, planning-alternative transportation, highway, waste management, and weights and measures.

Justice

Includes links and contacts for circuit court, clerk of court, community corrections, probation (home), prosecutor's office, public defender, and sheriff.

Monroe County Government

In Indiana, as in many states, counties are governing bodies whose boundaries are determined by the state legislature. By 1859, Indiana had divided itself into 92 counties and that number remains today.

As of July 1, 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population of Monroe County at 146,917, making it the 12th most populous county in Indiana. Monroe County encompasses 11 townships (Bean Blossom, Benton, Bloomington, Clear Creek, Indian Creek, Perry, Polk, Richland, Salt Creek, Van Buren, and Washington), one city (Bloomington), two towns (Ellettsville and Stinesville), and two school corporations (Monroe County Community School Corporation and Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corporation). The county seat is Bloomington.

Like most Indiana counties, Monroe has a three-person board of commissioners and a six-member county council. It divides its offices into four areas of responsibility: civil government, community, infrastructure, and justice.

A township is a geographic and political division of a county. The township trustee is the executive officer presiding over a three-person township board. The trustee and all three board members are elected to four-year terms. Townships have the authority to levy taxes; each township has a township board-approved budget.

One of the township trustee’s primary functions is to provide emergency assistance to township residents in need. Both the form of the need and the eligibility requirements must follow written guidelines that the trustee prepares according to state statute (IC 12-20-5.5-2). The distinguishing aspects of township assistance are the speed with which it’s administered (completed applications must be approved or denied within 72 hours) and flexibility.

Within each township, the trustee is also responsible for providing fire-fighting services, maintaining abandoned cemeteries, handling weed complaints, mediating fence line disputes, and seeing to indigent burials.

For more information:

LWV-BMC Government Basics

Photo credits (l-r): Ralf Shaw (League member); Steve Higgs (naturalbloomington.com); Monroe County History Center (https://monroehistory.org/); Timothy Eberly (unsplash.com)

All photos and images on the website are used with permission or do not require permission.