Monroe County government will not clear the homeless encampment located north of RCA Community Park for the time being, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners initially planned to clear the encampment Dec. 8, but after community backlash at a Dec. 4 board meeting, the eviction deadline was extended to Dec. 15.
In a press release announcing the previous Dec. 15 deadline, the board said that “the concerned citizens group will actively work with the occupants of Thomson to secure housing” with the help of different community organizations.
“There’s nothing planned in the near future that I’m aware of that would require our systems,” Lieutenant Colonel Randy Jacobs of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
The encampment is located on what is known as the Thomson property on South Rogers Street. It is designated as county property, giving the board control over the eviction.
“There's not been any official notice to us about a specific date, but I can say from watching some of the recent meetings that the commissioners had, I got the impression that they're going to deal with it when the weather's nicer, so in the springtime,” Jacobs said.
County residents at the board meeting earlier this month urged the board to use Monroe County Code 257, which says that camping on county property is unlawful unless permission from the board is obtained, to postpone the evictions. The county commissioners did not ultimately use the code to grant anyone permission to camp.
This decision comes after the City of Bloomington cleared an encampment in Brown Woods Dec. 8 following a one-month eviction notice. City officials attributed the eviction to safety issues, including first responder accessibility in case of fire.
