The following press release was sent to the Bloomingtonian Wednesday:
“PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2022
Residents of Annexation Areas 1A and 1B File Petition with Monroe Circuit Court
Bloomington Mayor, Common Council Named in Formal Petition for Appeal of Annexation
Bloomington, IN—On Wednesday, March 16th, residents in annexation areas 1A and 1B, in coordination with County Residents Against Annexation (CRAA), a not-for-profit public charity, filed a petition for appeal of annexation, for declaratory judgment, and for damages with the Monroe County Circuit Court.
“The residents have a right to judicial review, having achieved more than 51 percent of the remonstration signatures from property owners in each of those annexation areas,” CRAA President Margaret Clements explains. “We claim that the annexation is not fair and equitable, that the annexation ordinances did not meet the requirements of the law, and that it’s not in the best interests of the residents being annexed.”
Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, the Common Council of Bloomington, and the Monroe County auditor are named in the petition. In addition to damages against the mayor and Common Council of Bloomington, the petitioners also seek an opportunity to review remonstration signatures that were disallowed by the Monroe County auditor.
Area 1A and 1B residents opposed to their annexations expressed concerns about police protection, sanitation services, public amenities, trash removal, and more during public comment periods and the formal remonstration process. Monroe County Commissioners also were unanimously opposed to the proposed annexations.
“We’re asking the court to enter a judgment that the annexations not take place and that they be determined to be void,” Clements concludes. ##”
