Positions of LWV-BMC on Matters of Local Importance

Family Support Services

[Adopted 1996. Last amended 2005.]

1. LWV-BMC strives to enhance public awareness of problems involving families whose children are at risk for abuse or neglect, school failure, involvement with the courts, or substance abuse.
2. In areas including nutrition, community health, alternative education, family support, and juvenile justice, we support prevention and intervention programs that are client responsive and cost effec-tive.
3. We support community education and collaboration to establish programs and facilities that shelter juveniles in need of treatment and/or detention.
4. We support programs that provide for the least restrictive community-based shelter for children in need of out-of-home placement.
5. We endeavor to advocate programs for children at risk and to work specifically with the schools. We recommend involving and training parents, and adding social workers and counselors.

Local Government

[Adopted 1973. Last restudied 2020. Last amended 2013.]

1. LWV-BMC supports close cooperation among governmental units within Monroe County.
2. LWV-BMC supports state legislation that permits the restructuring of local government for increased efficiency and responsiveness to the needs of Monroe County citizens.

Schools

[Adopted 1970. Last reviewed 2024. Last amended 2024.]

With regard to the Monroe County Community School Corporation and the Richland-Bean Blossom School Corporation, LWV-BMC supports the following:

1. Adequate funding.
2. Continuation of the arts, library, guidance, counseling, and health and fitness programs.
3. Extension of guidance and counseling programs into the elementary schools.
4. Improved walking conditions so children who live within a reasonable distance from school can walk safely. A combination of public and private funds to finance improved walking conditions is preferred. However, walkability must not be given priority over appropriate socio-economic status (SES) balance across school districts.
5. Total tax-supported education. We oppose fees for textbooks or programs, including but not limited to, introductory level art and music, foreign language instruction, and school field trips. However, to maintain specific programs, nominal user fees in certain areas would be acceptable.
6. Funding of uncollected lunch fees in a way that does not depend on charitable contributions and does not result in the shaming of students whose families have not paid their fees.
7. Increased parent and adult interaction with students.
8. Programs for continuing adult education and training.
9. Programs for skilled trades education.

Planning of Land Use

[Adopted 1953–54. Last reviewed 2022. Last amended 2022.]

LWVBMC supports sound planning and zoning in Monroe County and encourages community action on be-half of sound planning. 

LWVBMC supports ordinances that 

1. Address environmental concerns:

• Maintain and conserve by public and/or private means those areas of Monroe County that are environmentally vulnerable—karst topography, wetlands, floodplains, reservoir watersheds, endangered flora and fauna, and others.
• Create or maintain a variety of types of green space in built environments and preserve natural landscape features; ensure that all new developments include adequate greenspace; investigate innovative ways of including greenspace. 

2. Address sustainability:

• Promote a compact and contiguous form in residential, commercial, and industrial development with growth directed toward areas where utilities and infrastructure exist or where they can be easily provided.
• In determining optimal sizes for city and town growth, consider that development should be constrained to areas that are not environmentally vulnerable; consider the water supply needed to sustain an expanding population.
• Increase the use of non-polluting modes of travel, improve pedestrian safety and convenience, and improve traffic flow and public transportation options throughout Monroe County.

3. Given the above considerations, promote land use forms that address the needs and concerns of the town’s, city’s, and county’s populations: 

• Preserve and maintain the form and architectural character of the city’s core neighborhoods and the county’s local communities while encouraging demographic diversity;
• Encourage diversity in new developments, such as a variety of construction styles and choices to allow for all incomes and special needs; emphasize livability and lifetime communities;
• Direct efforts to developments that promote sustainability such as live-work developments for high employment areas and urban village centers to provide amenities to neighborhoods. 
• Provide for affordable housing, recognizing that certain racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups experience housing prejudice.

4. Maximize the benefits and achieve the goals of the city’s, the towns’ and the county’s comprehensive plans by bringing all stake holders—including Indiana University—to the table and working together productively. 

Utilities Service Board

[Adopted 1966. Last amended 2007.]

1. Continue to support an independent, policy-making utilities service board, with a professional direc-tor of utilities who should be administratively and technically trained in the area of utilities.
2. LWV-BMC supports a certification program for the Bloomington water and sewage utilities.

Waste Disposal

[Adopted 1982. Last reviewed 2022. Last amended 2022]

LWV-BMC supports disposal of municipal solid waste that minimizes dependence on landfills. To ensure protection of the environment, we specifically support

1. Source separation, reduction, reuse and recycling
2. Best practices for collection and sorting of solid waste and recyclables; siting; and design of transfer stations, sorting facilities, and recycling facilities
3. Incineration only if it protects against air and water pollution; fly and bottom ash must be tested, handled properly, and disposed of safely
4. Pollution controls for all aspects of solid waste management

LWV-BMC recommends that the title to waste and recyclables placed at curbside be assigned to the govern-mental unit charged with solid waste management.

LWV-BMC supports cooperation among all entities responsible for dealing with solid waste management, such as local government, the Solid Waste District, Indiana University, the Utilities Service Board, and neigh-boring jurisdictions.

LWV-BMC supports the safe and effective disposal of hazardous materials, including PCBs. We favor the use of the best available technology in order to destroy or contain the hazardous materials and at the same time protect human health and the environment. Proper protection of air and water, and the proper disposal of residues, must be assured.