Monroe county, Bloomington city officials and the Bloomington city council have signed a letter supporting the new proposed economic development district in south-central Indiana that would include Brown, Monroe and Owen counties. The letter highlights benefits for the three counties and similarities that they share, including robust life sciences, technology, higher education, defense sectors and a historical significance in the limestone industry, according to a press release from Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson’s office.

Owen county officials signed their letter supporting the proposed district earlier this year. Brown County is the only one out of the three that has not made a decision about the development district.

“The discussions are ongoing, but we’re trying to weigh the positives and negatives and I don’t think that we’ve gotten quite across the finish line on that one,” County Commissioner Blake Wolpert said. “One of the negatives that I see is potentially the way that Bloomington thinks about what economic development should be may not match up with what Brown County feels like economic development should be. There’s some overlap obviously where it is in agreement and I think there’s probably some areas that may not be. The politics of Bloomington are a lot like San Francisco, now that doesn’t mean the same for people in Monroe County out in the hinterland, those people are great. There’s some differences and I don’t know if those can be bridged to the point where it makes economic development sense for us.”

Despite others claiming that Brown County’s success is not based on tourism, Wolpert said that Brown County should set their sights on keeping the tourists happy and engaged.

“As far as economic development, we need to build on our strength which is our beauty,” said Wolpert. “People come down here to get married, come down with their families, they have their family reunions and they go away knowing they had quite an experience and that is what you build on.”

The economic development district would support workers from outside of the county in which they reside to find employment in other regions of the district. This concept is not unknown. Many people travel to other counties for employment. County Commissioner Ron Sanders said that his fears for the development district root in county-to-county migration encouraging undocumented workers to settle in Brown County.

“I don’t have a problem with economic development between counties, the only hang up I had was the wording that mentioned migrant workforce. Which that’s been going on for years. I guess it would be the illegal alien part of it was my hang up. I don’t have a problem with migrant workers as people who live in one county and work in another county. As far as that goes, we’ve been doing that for decades. I think that would almost qualify the majority of people who work out of Brown County as a migrant worker because they’re living in one county and driving to Indianapolis, Columbus, Bloomington or wherever. I don’t have a problem with that or anyone who comes to this country legally, more power to them, but the illegal aliens are what I have a problem with.”

The Brown County Democrat was not successful in its attempts to contact County Commissioner President Jerry Pittman for comment.