City of Bloomington submits final batch of remonstrance waivers to Auditor
On Friday, February 4th, the City of Bloomington submitted its last responses to Monroe County Auditor Cathy Smith detailing which annexation remonstrators own properties believed to be subjected to remonstrance waivers. With this final set of waiver reviews, the City has reviewed 4,034 unique signatures and identified 1,980 as having an applicable waiver preventing remonstration. The City’s review process is ongoing and will involve closely scrutinizing all details surrounding signatures including notarization, timeliness, circulation of petitions, and more.
A remonstrance waiver is a voluntary contract negotiated between an unincorporated property owner and a city wherein the property owner agrees not to challenge a future annexation proposal, and the city agrees to extend sewer or water service to the unincorporated property. Bloomington, like municipalities around the state, negotiates waivers as a routine part of its operations to allow services to be established before formal annexation. A 2019 Indiana law negates any of those agreements older than 15 years.
Under Indiana’s annexation statute, individuals opposed to a proposed city annexation have a 90-day period to file remonstrance petitions with the County Auditor, which period ended on January 6th in the Bloomington process. The Auditor has five business days after she receives a petition from a property owner in an annexation area to transmit the petition to the city. The city then has fifteen business days to send a response to the Auditor documenting the existence of any remonstrance waivers assigned to the property.
Indiana Attorney General leads 15-state coalition supporting Air Force Veteran in appeal to US Supreme Court
Indiana AG Todd Rokita and Arizona AG Mark Brnovich are leading a 15-state coalition taking up the cause of a US Air Force veteran who was denied disability benefits. AG Rokita and the coalition are asking the US Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that accepted an interpretation of federal law concocted by federal bureaucrats at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
In the case at hand, Air Force veteran Thomas Buffington stopped receiving his disability benefits after returning to active duty for several months. When he eventually sought to have them reinstated, he was told he had failed to follow a VA rule against waiting more than one year before submitting a claim to resume benefits. In his lawsuit, he argues that the VA rule is not authorized in the underlying statute passed by Congress.
“I am committed to pushing back against agency overreach,” Attorney General Rokita said, “even if that means amending or undoing judicial precedents that have allowed it to fester.”
Federal grant supports university center advancing electrified and autonomous vehicles at IUPUI
The School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI has been named a grantee of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s 2021 University Center Economic Development Program Competition to support its work advancing the next generation of electrified and autonomous vehicles.
The five-year $300,000 grant will fund the Initiative for Electrified and Autonomous Mobility University Center, a regional gateway that will serve as a portal for government, industry, the public and academia to prepare for the next generation of electrified and autonomous vehicles. The initiative builds on the knowledge and expertise of the Transportation and Autonomous Systems Institute at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI.
The Initiative for Electrified and Autonomous Mobility is believed to advance Indiana’s economic competitiveness by working with industry, government and academia to cultivate innovation; develop a highly skilled workforce; and ensure attractive locations for new business development in intelligent transportation systems. Among other activities, the initiative will develop a strategic plan for the state to provide a vision for electrified and autonomous vehicle transportation systems, convene discussions, and extend applications to develop more inclusive and agile supply chains.
This Week in Hoosier History
1936 – Fred Jewell died in his hometown of Worthington, Indiana. He was conductor of the famed Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus band. A prolific composer, he became known as “Indiana’s March King.”
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