Monitoring local government in Monroe County
Even without local media covering it, private citizens can easily track what local government is doing.
The B Square Beacon, which has consistently been one of the best sources of news on city and county government, closed down in December. The Herald-Times is dying on the vine, with the former headquarters abandoned and very little local news reporting compared to 15 years ago. The Indiana Daily Student has had good coverage of local government, but is not consistent year-to-year and is also struggling financially. So if you want to know what local government is doing, how do you follow it?
The good news is that you can do this from your phone, tablet or PC. You can follow the Bloomington City Council, Monroe County Council and Monroe County Commissioners. You can read meeting agendas, council packets, and proposed legislation online. You can even "attend" meetings online, watching them from home on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, via the link provided in most meeting agendas posted online. You can also watch archived meetings on the CATS TV website through the public library. City and county government have done very well at being transparent to the public.
Not every unit of government is as good. As of February 21, 2025, Perry Township last posted meeting minutes in September 2024. I could not find meeting agendas anywhere on the website. When I ran for township board in 2018, I made transparency a key issue in my campaign, provoking the anger of the Democratic trustee. With a budget in the millions of dollars, township government can be more transparent without spending any extra money. It is simple and quick to post meeting minutes and agendas online, for maybe five minutes of work per meeting, and share them on social media.
But for the major units, it is very easy to follow, and it is easier to make your voice heard in meetings than it has been in a while. There are still improvements that can be made, especially at the county level. The County Commissioners should end the practice of holding meetings during the work day, so working people can attend the meetings. While the loss of local media does make it less convenient to follow than it was fifteen or twenty years ago, we are fortunate to have local government that is committed to transparency.
Note: When I wrote this, in February, the B Square was inactive. I kept pushing the publication date back to publish other posts first, and since then the B Square has returned.