Melissa Moore folded brown tarps into neat bundles, gathered up utensils and cookware, stacked blankets and shoved what clothing she has into a suitcase tied shut with string because the latches are broken.

She had to move fast. Police and county officials were clearing out a homeless camp in a wooded area not far off Patterson Drive, south of Second Street. She had seen a notice posted on a tree that personal belongings would be cleared out, but it happened sooner than she expected. "The people down at Shalom (Center) let us know it was coming."

Previously:Monroe County spent $175K to clear a homeless camp. Former occupants have nowhere to go

The notice went up Monday; a county ordinance requires a three-day notice before people can be moved out. Thursday morning, deputies arrived and six or seven people residing there in tents were ousted.

"They just showed up and said we had to leave," 42-year-old Moore said. She'd been living in the camp a few months, and had planned to spend the winter camping there. Moore said she slept outside last winter, happily. She's not interested in living in a shelter.

"Because I don't trust people," she said, zipping up a backpack bulging with things she salvaged from the site. "I've had all my stuff stolen. And I've got him to worry about, too."

Nearby, 40-year-old Travis Cummings was attaching a long stick to a rake end as a handle. "We'll need this where we're headed."

Cummings said he's lived at the camp for two years, hidden away and not bothered. He could charge his phone at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, a food pantry within a short walking distance. The Community Kitchen isn't too far away, and it's not far to the Shalom Center, a day shelter for unhoused people at 620 S. Walnut St.

Moore and Cummings likely were unaware that the day before they got evicted, the Monroe County commissioners voted to pay $3,500 a day to an Indianapolis firm that will clean up hazardous material and bulldoze and clear vegetation from the camp.

Someone living in the nearby neighborhood had reported the camp to city official and police, who passed it on to the county, which owns the land. During Wednesday's commissioners' meeting, county attorney Jeff Cockerill said action was swift.

"We are in the process of getting that cleaned up so it's not a trash heap with a bunch of needles in it," he said.

Commissioners' president Julie Thomas said the camp was a public health threat that had to be dismantled quickly. Commissioner Lee Jones called the situation a "unfortunate," and said about all the county can do is shut down and clean up the camps.

"Which generally means they go some place else," she said.

It does. Cummings said he and Moore were moving to another established camp, "down the B-Line and along the railroad tracks." They had to leave their tent behind, Moore said, but might be able to get it back after the county hauls it away.

This was the second homeless encampment shut down this week in Bloomington. On Tuesday, a homeless camp on private property behind the Fresh Thyme grocery on West Third Street was cleared out.

Contact Herald-Times reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.