- Welcome I will call this meeting to order. It is Wednesday August 19th 5 31 p.m. And with the chief
- deputy clerk, please take the role Here daily here Rallo Ruff Rosenberger here and flaring here
- Welcome everybody. This is the Bloomington City Council's departmental hearings for the 2027 budget
- This is night two of four sequenced over two weeks And the rest of the meetings are Monday and Wednesday
- next week same time 5 30 p.m If you go to bloomington.in.gov budget, you can find all the relevant materials
- including the Budget book that the mayor's administration puts together links to the meetings and the schedule
- Tonight we have departmental budget presentations from the planning and transportation department that
- is allotted 20 minutes the engineering department at 20 minutes the streets and traffic division of
- the public works department 10 minutes the parking services division of the public works department
- 10 minutes and Finally City of Bloomington utilities at 20 minutes as well Termine folks. We did have
- a motion on Monday to structure a
- this meeting and council deliberations for the week or for the two weeks rather. And so the details
- of that are after the department's presentation we will have a period of questions from council members.
- The max time allotted for each council member is three minutes and then we will move to any public comment
- on the department's budget proposal that is two minutes per speaker available here in the chambers or
- by raising your hand in the zoom
- screen online, and then finally back to council members with up to three minutes each for comments on
- the department's budget. So that will be the sequence for all of the department and division presentations
- we're hearing tonight. And with that, I think we can go ahead and get started with the planning and
- transportation department first. Welcome Interim Director Coyne. Thank you. I am Interim Director Lynn Coyne.
- Transportation Department. Also with me here this evening are Jackie Scanlon, Assistant Director, and
- Ryan Rubling, Director of Planning Services. I mentioned them because I came late to this process, which
- is a large process, and their help was invaluable, and I'm grateful for that. So if we could go ahead
- and start. It's up to me, right? All right. The department, as you know, is 18 staff, one permanent
- part-time.
- Our budget change in total is increased by $88,126 which represents cost of living increase for salaries
- and insurance and those other factors as well as $46,000 for a new vehicle. That's the only thing we're
- adding to it. I'll discuss that in a minute. Our key budget areas for the year are the downtown corridor
- and sub-area planning study which we'll talk about.
- Also development of our safe routes to school plan for one MCCS school and our quick build safety projects.
- Highlights of last year, go through those briefly. We were awarded a $1.44 million grant from USDOT,
- thank you very much, for corridor studies and transportation improvements. Our match is 20%, that's
- what you see in our budget this evening in the package.
- We also awarded eight thousand dollars in local motion grants. So on to the priorities and goals for
- 2027 Top priority is downtown Bloomington corridor and sub area planning study That is the Kirkwood
- corridor study from Rogers over to Indiana. That's a high priority for us that is 265,000 which is our
- match from the local
- local match for the DOT grant That also our safe routes to school and our quick build safety projects.
- We have allotted seventy five thousand for those quick build projects. So the downtown study project
- Is designed to call together all the work we've done in the past. It's been 20 years since there was
- a Sorry to interrupt you just for a moment. I think our slides are not progressing and that's up to
- me. Sorry about perfect. Oh good. I
- Thank you, and if you could speak out just a little bit or a little closer to the microphone that might
- be helpful as well I was relying on councilmember Piedmont Smith to tell me when to change Thank you
- Thank you very much I'm looking here I need to be looking up there and also our quick build safety projects
- Which I just mentioned where we have allotted seventy five thousand dollars for that Those are projects
- where we are able to respond quickly to safety concerns and needs
- in our transportation area. We can use temporary services, we can test things, whereas the longer term
- solutions, as you know, take quite a while to fund and study and design. So our initiatives for 27 implement
- the recommendations from the development review audit that's rolled into the second one. So what that
- is, as you know, we had an audit of the
- Development processes the permitting and application process and that indicated that it was fragmented
- We have three major areas involved of that. We have planning transportation We have utilities and we
- have engineering and a permit comes in it needs to circulate among those three departments and what
- we're Already begun with a staff led initiative is to create concurrent processing and what that means
- is is when a
- permit comes in or an application comes in, it will automatically populate to everyone that's involved
- in that type of application. That will be done through the EPL software. Our department, we're cooperating
- with Katziger and Utilities and Andrew Sibber and Engineering to coordinate input into EPL so the software
- will drive a lot of that process.
- It will have timelines. It will have a portal so the applicant can look in and see the status of their
- permit. And we will know, most importantly, is if someone in one department comments on it that it impacts
- another, we will see that in real time and be able to respond and not recycle that application. So that'll
- save a lot of time. So to be more efficient, staff time will be reduced and we'll be able to process
- things quicker.
- That's our goal in that. A second major emphasis of the report is the transparency and communication.
- We have a lot of emphasis on that. We will continually cite the UDO so that people understand the source
- of where we're coming from when we make comments on their applications or their permit applications.
- Also in terms of communication,
- be as helpful and communicative as we can, assist them through the process. It is a long, complicated
- process. The UDO is 384 pages and it's our job to help people through that, help them navigate that
- and understand it and do our best to make it as clear as we can. So couple that with a revised application
- process, we should be able to improve
- shall we say customer satisfaction, as well as processing time. There were a lot of recommendations,
- but those two are the main ones we've already begun to implement, and they're in process. So long-range
- planning and community visiting, that's the long-range plan for downtown Bloomington, the downtown corridor.
- We're looking at a South Walnut Street plan, the North Walnut
- Area of study is underway. It's moving along very well. We're in community outreach and communication
- on that. The hope with the downtown plan is it says create a conceptual design shared street and try
- to address the issues that have been coming up along one at a time or occasionally arise, coordinate,
- organize those and try to deal with as many of those as possible in one process. So we have a coordinated analysis.
- Public engagement, that's a major part of what we do. Last year there were over 60 outreach events,
- public meetings, stakeholder conversations. Our goal is to make sure that when we roll out a project
- or whether it's transportation or whatever it is, that everyone who has a voice in it has had an opportunity
- to speak to it.
- that elevates community acceptance. So that's our real goal is to help people understand some of the
- newer concepts that are coming around. To that end, I'll shamelessly plug Safety Week, which is coming
- up August 22nd. Three events, one with the IU Office of Sustainability is a guided bike tour from campus
- that will help show them where they can get their groceries, other areas around campus that are important.
- The 26th will be traffic cones. This is planning traffic staff will be down there, and you can get an
- ice cream cone and talk to our staff and learn about what's going on. And Kittickle Mass, that'll be
- at Bryan Park, and that's on the 27th, five to six, and that's to help kids going back to school learn
- safe biking practices and encourage them to use their bike to move around, so get them started young.
- So that's our, and we'll continue those obviously throughout the year. Our challenges, as always, improving
- transportation safety, but we're doing our best to address that through the projects we mentioned. The
- large amount of money it takes to initiate some of these significant traffic safety plans. We continue
- to develop strategies in cooperation with engineering.
- And we'll do our best to move funding along as we can develop that. The quick build strategy that I
- mentioned earlier is a step in that direction. We can prototype and test things before they get into
- permanent design. And our process improvement we've talked to. One thing I wanna make clear, we're gonna
- try to get these permits through quickly, the applications. Some of them we'll get to know. I mean,
- it has got to follow the UDO.
- going to alter from what the requirements of the development ordinance is. So I'm blazing through that,
- but I'm here to answer your questions. Our overall goal, safer, more efficient transportation, and a
- department has transform processes. Now, some of you did ask questions about measurements of how many
- this, how many that, performance, and so forth. I can't tell you that now, honestly.
- But next year when you hear this, you will be able to get those major. That's part of the process. By
- putting this information into EPL, we will be able to do real time status of how many permits are there,
- where are they in the process, how many went through, how many had to come back, why. Explain those
- reasons and develop that kind of data reporting mechanism. That is a big part of the goal of concurrent
- processing that we're working on. So, sorry I don't have better data for you,
- I'll get you better data next year. It won't be me, but someone will have better data when they come
- to the next meeting So with that I thank you for your time Appreciate your patience and tolerance and
- I'll answer whatever questions you may have Thank you very much for your presentation may have set a
- speed record That's the way I am As a good reminder at the end of your marks there as well that Council
- members are also submitting written questions online which are available to you all in real time and and
- Will be Answered to the extent possible and posted for the public as well With that we can open it to
- have some words for questions. That's more of Piedmont Smith Yes, I wanted to ask whatever happened
- to the Walnut College corridor study Was it completed where their conclusions drawn? It is Thank you
- for that. It's very close We have just a little more community outreach to do which I expect to take
- place in the next two
- Couple of months and then it will be ready to go. So it's in process. It's near completion. Is there
- any money in the budget for next year to implement any of that. No.
- Ryan Roebling planning services manager. There's no budget in the plan for the budget in next year.
- We're looking for federal grant dollars to fund that. So that's the target for the next couple of years
- for College of Walnut. I'm sorry. What was the amount. Oh you don't have. We don't. Yeah we don't have
- it but we are looking for federal grant dollars to help fund the project. That's why they're here.
- And then my other question is what projects from the straight safe streets for all action plan will
- be pursued in 2027 and what's the funding situation for implementing that plan? Well, then I'm going
- to go back to Ryan on that one because that's a detailed answer that is not in my thing. So have that.
- I'm so sorry. Can you repeat that question? What projects from the safe?
- Streets for all action plan will be pursued in 2027. And what is the funding situation for implementing
- the plan for planning purposes? We have the downtown corridor study coming up and South Walnut Street
- corridor study coming next year or starting this year, excuse me, and then Transfer engineering has
- the remainder of the project based budget. I believe 10th Street is the priority project for next year, but
- Director Seaborg could answer that better than I can So The downtown corridor study in the South Walnut
- Street corridor study are in the safe streets for all action plan. Yes, they are both I did has Studies
- in it. Yes, the plan is one of the items in the safety action plan calls for future corridor studying
- so that we can both target future grant dollars, but also have a plan and community outreach prior to
- Actual implementation so that we are ahead of the game rather than playing catch-up So with the 30 seconds,
- I have left. Is there any actual build out of transportation improvements planned for next year?
- Yes Again, that is a question for engineering, but we do have funding in the budget for next year Thank
- you. I will ask again when we get to engineering. Thank you. Yes Thank you additional questions. I see
- councilmember Stossberg and then comes my morale. Oh
- Thank you so much. I have a couple questions. I'm hoping that they'll maybe either be short answers
- or things I need to follow up with on paper. The first one, I guess, is you didn't mention any UDO changes
- with respect to goals next year. So are there any specific pieces of the UDO that are being looked at
- for updates next year in terms of developing things that we need?
- Every year there's a process. The department goes throughout the year collecting situations where there
- were conflicts or things came up with the UDO that caused problems that were unforeseen. So we are going
- through that process right now with staff. They're being assembled. We're evaluating them for which
- one we bring forward. One of the things, and there's a long list of various conflicts or something,
- I'll just give you an example of what we might be thinking of Well, I guess I'm gonna interrupt you
- because I only have two minutes. All right Is there anything that's gonna require use table changes
- in terms of like budget for? Mailings for use table changes. No, so none of that. No, these are procedural
- structural changes to avoid remedy gaps in the UDO and things like that. Okay, um
- The second follow-up you mentioned the 60 public engagement events throughout the year Do you have any
- idea how many unique residents gave input at those events? Oh my goodness We do keep that data, but
- I didn't compile at all. Okay Quite a few yeah, we can we can provide you that information. I'll follow up with
- That in one of the written comments then and that will give you guys take a look at that data since
- you have it And then the last question I have actually has to do with your actual line item budget stuff
- under Other services and charges then you have other services and charges down at the bottom that in
- 2027 was almost $600,000 and then in
- 26 was almost $600,000 and in 2027 it's about that too. So I guess I'm wondering what all is included
- in that other because it feels like an other category for the other and that just Those are the The
- funds that we we mentioned 265,000 for the Kirkwood study 75,000 for the quick build safety projects
- We have fifty thousand for community safety projects. That's the bulk of that number. OK. So that's
- the line item for like some of these actual projects that you're doing and it's just like categorized
- under other. Yeah that's where they come out of. Yes sir. OK great. Thank you. Because my brother makes
- Thank You director coin I I had a question about so the wanna college study is pending and Given the
- findings of the of that report. What role will the council play in its potential implementation? There's
- been some you know, I Guess differences of opinion about the role of council in title 15. I wonder if
- somebody from planning could elaborate
- Various street modifications and things like that will will to what role will the council play in any?
- Implementation or will the plan simply be reported to the council? Anyone could you repeat the first
- part of that question? Yes So the one a college study is pending. Yes when it arrives There'll be presumably
- a presentation to council and then there will be a decision about implementation given funding constraints and
- Maybe federal funds what role will the council play in its implementation? I Honestly don't know except
- as it may be necessary to approve funding If there are funding programs that require your approval,
- I don't there may be Actual you do map changes that come out of that Particularly with the downtown area
- You know what should be in what should be out. So you'll definitely play a role if that comes out of
- that process. OK. So changes in relation to the UDL appropriation of funding Mr. Rowling did you have
- something.
- Yes, council will have final authority to the final study will be adopted by council as an amendment
- to the transportation plan So you'll see this study and then for implementation. Mr Okay, so we'll have
- an up or down vote on that. What can we amend it? You can definitely amend it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, it's
- a it's an addendum to the Comprehensive plan technically so you can it's your document to amend. Okay
- terrific. Thank you for that
- The two yeah, the two plans will be effective be the transportation plan in the comprehensive plan and
- those are for your to approve Additional questions from council members. I Am seeing none With that
- we could go to public comment on the planning and transportation departments budget proposal a reminder
- you will have two minutes if you are in chambers and you would like to comment please go ahead and step
- to the podium and
- And if you are joining us online this evening and would like to comment on this department's budget
- please use the raise hand feature in zoom or if you're having trouble with that you can always message
- the meeting host and we'll get you on mic to share your comment. Any takers online. We do have one.
- OK. Please state your name for the record if you will and proceed. Good evening council for budget
- Workshop part two on just a quick quick word. I just want to commend interim director coin and department
- for taking Structure points audit seriously. They didn't have to do that But the audit gave us a pretty
- clear roadmap and I appreciate the response which isn't simply hey, let's add staff It's about improving
- the process and making permitting more predictable and efficient. It's exactly the direction the business
- community wants to see Thank you for your time tonight Thank you. I believe that was mr. MG from the
- chamber joining us online
- Any other comments online or in chambers? I am seeing none So we can return to counsel for any comments
- on the planning and transportation department. Oh one more Yep, no worries, please. Go ahead. You can
- set your name for the record and you will have two minutes It's Paul Russo quickly I hear a lot of words
- that I really appreciate such as safety and sustainability and transparency and I want to know
- how the public will be able to measure the effectiveness of improvements in transportation dollars that
- are, I mean, as taxpayers, we're all wondering how to measure the effectiveness of our government. And
- my experience so far with getting data from the city has not been positive. And so I'm wondering if
- there are any
- Anybody could comment about how we're gonna know that safety isn't increased. How will know
- that sustainability is increased? Thank you Thank you Any other commenters online Still seeing none
- in chambers. Okay, we will return to counsel then up to three minutes for our comments Councilor Marala,
- please ask an additional question Yes, you could use your time in that way. Yes
- Whomever would like to feel this is a good question. I assume say the downtown the whole plan the college
- Walnut College quarter study if it's implemented We're gonna benchmark this we're gonna have we have
- data Before and after that sort of thing and that will be accessible to the public. Absolutely. Okay.
- All right. Thank you Additional comments councilmember Piedmont Smith
- I just wanted to to say for the record that I understand the downtown corridor and sub area plan study
- will include Kirkwood Avenue and Considerations towards making that a pedestrianized Street or shared
- Street So I just want to make sure to get that on the record that is going to be part of the study that
- we're funding for next year Thank you additional comments
- I will follow up briefly on mr. Rousseau's comments. This came up in a recent Transportation Commission
- meeting on which I serve Mr. Hank Duncan was with us Proposing some metrics that they're going to begin
- measuring with respect to safe streets for all and that process isn't quite yet finalized but staying
- plugged in through the Transportation Commission is one way to See that process unfold and I think we
- are looking for metrics to measure improvements in safety or
- Worsening safety conditions year over year. We'd also welcome input on what those metrics should be
- through that Commission Additionally, I think it does go to We do measure other things like you know
- mode share so percent of people walking biking that kind of thing on the sustainability front And some
- of those other metrics I think it does go to a broader implication that we talked about in night one
- of budget hearings of outcome-based budgeting and the need for a clear discrete and you know
- meaningful set of measurements across all the department's work that are shared that are you know, kind
- of formally adopted that we can actually Budget to plan to operationalize city government to we're not
- there yet. But that is I think a theme will be talking about some this year Okay, any other comments
- on? planning department budget planning and transportation Seeing none we can move on to our
- next presentation for the evening That is the engineering department which has 20 minutes
- We have director Andrew Seabor with us if you would like to come to the podium, I guess share your name
- for the record and welcome We look forward to your presentation Good evening council members. I'm Andrew
- Seabor the city engineer and the director of the engineering department I look forward to providing
- you with an overview of the engineering department our 2027 budget proposal and some of the department's
- initiatives and challenges for
- Please know that I'll be happy to answer any questions after my presentation or in follow-up dialogue
- in the coming weeks. To quickly introduce the department, we oversee use of the city's right of way
- through permitting work done by other entities, managing capital infrastructure projects, and making
- data-driven decisions regarding transportation operations. The department comprises 17 full-time positions,
- one part-time position, and two summer interns.
- I'll describe more details here shortly, but as a quick preview, the proposed 2027 budget reflects a
- $3.7 million decrease compared to 2026 with the largest need revolving around capital project funding.
- To set the stage for what lies ahead in 2027, I'd like to quickly reflect on some 2026 departmental
- highlights. This year, the department expanded to 17 full-time positions and we were able to fill all
- positions for the first time since 2022.
- Our turnover is also down as we went a full year without a single staff departure. Thank you to HR and
- Evers for supporting all that. Given the needs of being a growing department, sharing a suite with other
- growing departments, engineering also relocated to Showers West, so no more workspaces squeezed in former
- hallways. The team I'm here representing is a full of all-stars. They care deeply about the city and
- the people they serve,
- They support and push each other and frankly I think you'd struggle to find a more knowledgeable and
- professional engineering team in the state. This year the department continues to play a pivotal role
- in the development of Hopewell. Construction supporting the core project in Hopewell West is essentially
- wrapping up and design and subdivision work for Hopewell South is actively moving forward.
- We've also made great strides in the city's efforts to coordinate meaningful safety and accessibility
- improvements into what would have formerly been routine maintenance maintenance projects features that
- encourage improved speed limit compliance and providing pest improved pedestrian crossings have been
- added to multiple city streets. In addition to physical improvements operational improvements to things
- like signal timing are being deployed to better reflect community adopted goals and in response to city
- council requests.
- While I could keep talking about the great team I'm representing and what they are accomplishing, I
- need to transition to what lies ahead in 2027. The engineering department's work and priorities are
- guided by the community's adopted plans, like the comp plan, transportation plan, and safe streets for
- all plan. Additionally, I believe our initiatives are in alignment with the council budget priorities
- such as maintaining and enhancing city assets, transportation, economic development, and more. At a
- macro level,
- the department's major initiatives really don't change much year to year. However, specific projects
- and programs within each initiative can change. One of our priorities is stewarding the city's public
- infrastructure. This includes things like capital planning, asset preservation and rehabilitation combined
- with safety and multimodal improvements and seeking grants.
- Another priority focuses on community investment and collaboration. This includes things like Hopewell
- and Summit PUD development support, stakeholder coordination, development review, and right-of-way use
- management. The last priority focuses on building an effective and resilient organization. This includes
- things like staff development, project management that includes quality control and fiscal responsibility,
- and improvements to things like processes, policies, and standards.
- This slide summarizes the engineering department budget by category and compares the 20 27 proposal
- with 20 26. The engineering department's 20 27 budget proposal is approximately three point eight million
- dollars. This budget proposal is significantly down compared to 20 26. However the 20 27 budget is more
- comparable to 20 24 and 20 25 which are summarized in the budget memo but not captured on the slide.
- It is also important to keep in mind when reviewing these numbers that the engineering department manages
- projects and receives funding from sources that are not captured in the slide. Some of those sources
- include TIF other departments like City Council federal funds and state funds dialing a bit into some
- of the proposed changes. Our personnel line is up eight point four percent which is a reflection of
- cost of living adjustments and step advancements in tenure.
- The department supplies account is up slightly to support increased fuel and oil and additional allocation
- for other supplies and uniforms and tools to reflect workspace and staff needs. Our services budget
- is down slightly to offset increased supply needs. This decrease was achieved by refining expense estimates
- to more precisely reflect anticipated costs.
- And finally, capital outlays reflects a significant decrease attributable to the elimination of ED lit
- funds and a decrease in allocated CCD funds compared to 2026. While this decreased value appears significant
- in isolation, bond allocation pursuits are planned to support capital investment in projects that will
- maintain and enhance transportation infrastructure assets. Speaking of capital projects,
- I'd like to take this opportunity to remind folks of the life cycle of a typical transportation project.
- I tend to think of this project as having five phases, planning, design, right of way acquisition,
- construction, and operation and maintenance. Some projects like a maintenance effort or traffic calming
- project may be able to take place within 12 month period. While other projects can easily consume at
- least three years of time or may be planned out years down the road, depending on funding availability
- and prioritization.
- The planning phase is generally led and facilitated by the city's planning and transportation department
- who you just heard from. In this phase project concepts and general direction are identified. Key questions
- about prioritization and funding tend to also be included. The engineering department is typically involved
- in this phase of a project but generally in a support role. The following three phases design right
- of way and construction are phases in which engineering is typically the lead department.
- In the design phase we look to engineer solutions that reflect city goals and priorities including balancing
- issues like constructability future maintenance needs stakeholder input and property impacts. Speaking
- of property impacts some but not all projects require acquisition of right away in the right away phase
- we look to mitigate property impacts and make fair offers based on industry best practices and legal
- requirements. And finally in construction we advertise and award contracts.
- oversee the construction work, coordinate pay applications, review change orders, and ultimately transfer
- the asset to the departments responsible for their management upon successful closeout. The final life
- cycle phase of a project is generally led by the public works department, but depending on the facility
- type or other other departments like CBU or parks may also be responsible. That being said, the engineering
- department supports this work much like we support the planning phase of a project.
- A focus continues to revolve around exploring and implementing enhancements to what might have been
- traditional maintenance projects. In essence when an asset requires a major maintenance focused investment
- we are asking the question should it be put back just as it was or should modifications be explored
- as the city continues to have new and different types of infrastructure. We're becoming more mindful
- of the different and increased maintenance needs the city is responsible for.
- The engineering department is involved in coordinating many more initiatives than the examples provided
- on the prior slides. We recognize that there are many areas we can and should improve. However, there
- is also only so much time in a week and so many resources available. This requires the understanding
- that in order to say yes to doing something, it also requires the need to say no to something else.
- Looking ahead and reflecting on this annual budget proposal naturally raises questions about capital
- project funding.
- Future funding uncertainty is a result of statewide legislation makes it difficult to project a long
- term capital investment plan. This highlights the importance and value of prioritization while not directly
- a part of the annual budget proposal. Further legislation regarding bonding opportunities will be presented
- for your review that will allow the city to continue investing in and maintaining and enhancing the
- city's infrastructure assets beyond the city's expected revenues. Staff continues to seek new and additional
- external funding sources.
- As a couple examples we just heard about the successful safe streets and for all grant where we're getting
- money from the US Department of Transportation and two point four million dollars in requested earmark
- funds have been approved by the House Appropriations Committee and we are hopeful will be approved by
- Congress later this year. These outside funding sources are great opportunities to invest in the community
- but also pose challenges to administer as they include new programs and processes to navigate.
- Engineering plays an important role in the review and oversight of development projects, especially
- as they impact the public right away. These projects provide great opportunities for investment in the
- city. However, they can also produce natural conflicts and can consume significant staff time, which
- is especially challenging given the city does not have control over the timing and quantity of these
- projects. Not specifically within the annual budget.
- We anticipate presenting a new program focused on improved lighting for intersection and roadway visibility
- within the forthcoming GEO bond proposal. The SS4A plan identified this as an immediate action item
- to develop in 2027. Using the street lighting program as an example, in referencing the numerous
- opportunities that continue to present themselves, there are always opportunities to refine and define
- roles and responsibilities. It is not always entirely clear what department
- body or sometimes even agency is responsible to manage certain things. While these tension points can
- be a challenge to navigate, they also produce opportunities to engage and collaborate with others with
- the spirit of learning and serving the community. Thank you for your time and your consideration of
- the engineering department's budget proposal and updates on some of our initiatives. I'm happy to answer
- any questions that you have.
- Thank you very much for your presentation. You did not beat interim director coin, but you did come
- in well under time Okay councilmember questions for director seabor I see councilmember Rallo Thank
- You director seabor On page 12 of the budget it describes a
- Several safety related projects from engineering that don't appear in budget requests But will be included
- in a new 2026 general obligation bond request. Could you elaborate on that? Yeah, I don't have that
- page in front of me, but I'm guessing it's the list of projects There's probably four or five that we
- anticipate presenting to you in a forthcoming budget proposal Are you wanting me to walk through what
- each of those projects are? Could you just mention them in brief? Yes, what they consist of?
- Yes, there is, let me just get my sheet. What page did you say that was on? Just want to make sure I'm
- using the right words. I have the projects. Is that what you're looking for? Sure. Sorry about that.
- So we have an allocation set aside for safe streets for all priority network sidewalk or bikeway improvements
- that would be bicycle pedestrian focus improvements on the high priority network identified
- in the transportation or the SS for a plan. There is a series of crosswalk projects that we receive
- MPO federal funding for. And so there is the local match needed to continue to support those investments.
- There will be an allocation proposed for improvements to 3rd Street specifically Close to Rogers the
- Rogers and Madison traffic signals are some of our older signals needing replacement And we're also
- looking at some roadway infrastructure changes tied to the ongoing Kinzer Rogers Madison corridor study
- plannings leading and
- There's a funding request in there for 10th Street. You've mentioned that's gonna be one of our bigger
- projects. We're moving forward So they'd be construction funding to help support that project and the
- last one is the lighting improvement program I mentioned in my report Okay, wonderful. Do you have happen
- to have a ballpark of what this? request will entail and Also, could you is there any consideration
- of the Hawthorne in that water? any signal ization there
- That has been discussed at all In the new bond were roughly four point two ish million dollars of engineering
- projects based on the spreadsheet I'm looking at right here And then I'm sorry. I missed the other part
- of your question There was a there's a traffic light that was placed in operation at 3rd Street in Hawthorne and
- To help pedestrians there's not a companion one at Hawthorne and at water since Hawthorne is a greenway
- Has that been discussed as a signalization it? Certainly has been discussed. It's not actively moving
- forward at this time a project I know that's one of the roads probably a future corridor study that
- planning will be leading but not Anticipated in 2027. Okay. Thank you Additional questions councilmember
- Piedmont Smith
- Yes, so I wanted to bring back the question that I asked Mr. Coyne What projects from the safe streets
- for all action plan will be pursued in 2027? I think you may have touched on that a little bit already
- and what's the funding situation for plan implementation? Yeah, and I guess my first reaction is that's
- a maybe a tricky question actually to answer Part of me wants to say everything that we're doing is
- a part of or related to the SS for a plan what they're
- or at least a project or investment on what would be identified as a high priority corridor or intersection.
- That being said, there might be opportunities where we're doing maintenance projects where some investment
- is happening on other facilities. But those investments are likely some of the suggested enhancements
- that are also in the SS4A plan. So that's my first reaction. What are the high priority ones that are
- in the plan that you're
- planning to implement next year I guess the SS for a plan identifies like just high priority corridors
- to focus it doesn't really say projects but they also there's programs and things that's where the street
- lighting comes in but some of the projects I think like planning mentioned that is a significant investment
- will be the 10th Street corridor I'm happy to follow up with a more a better answer if you want to do that
- Let me switch gears for another question then. So for the lighting project you were describing, I know
- the Commission on Sustainability and Resilience has been talking about a dark skies initiative. So when
- you consider new lighting or new guidelines for lighting, do you consider the impacts on the natural
- environment and on the homes near where the lighting is installed?
- I guess this will honestly the street lighting program would be a new thing for us to be really implementing
- in a meaningful way when we've done some projects like first street street lighting has been added when
- we're doing intersection improvements were evaluating intersection lighting. But in this kind of robust
- way it'll be a relatively new thing for engineering.
- I know just from speaking a little bit with some of the staff involved in supporting those commissions,
- I'm not particularly involved in the process, but there certainly are standards that when it comes to
- street lighting, like how much lighting should be provided, what type of lighting, how uniform is it,
- where is it directed? Those are all measurable things that we either should have in code or in adopted
- policies and standards. That's my opinion.
- I might ask you to follow up on that in the written questions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on my two of our glorious budget hearings. I had a question
- about traffic this week. So please let me know if this is a better suited question for public works.
- OK. Then I will ask. I will ask right now.
- I've gotten a lot of feedback from constituents, especially in district six that traffic was tough yesterday
- to navigate I'm curious if You could speak to where that breakdown might have happened at least let
- me back up a little bit tougher than in years previous So I'm curious if you could speak to maybe why
- and how we could prevent that next year Yeah, that's a really good question and maybe another really
- complicated question too because there's so many different things happening in different parts of the city and
- There's a combination of city projects of various natures I just became aware of a closure that happened
- that was not permitted So there's also that's where our right-of-way use management and enforcement
- tools come in one that happened on 17th area so so some of that may be related to so If there's maybe
- more specific locations or issues, but moving week is always just a busy hectic week recognizing there
- are a lot of ongoing activities right now and
- As we're trying to wrap up a busy construction season. Thank you.
- So I have a question that maybe is kind of similar to what councilmember Piedmont Smith was asking that
- you couldn't quite answer but I figured that I would ask it anyway because in your memo under the first
- priority and goal you have is to plan and deliver infrastructure investments that preserve and enhance
- the city's transportation systems and so I guess like that's My first question was well, what are the
- project priorities for 2027 that are going to deliver infrastructure investments? So are there specific
- Projects that you were thinking of when you wrote that paragraph Yeah, and I think I just provided a
- written response to Piedmont Smith's written. There's maybe more to it too, but listed some projects
- Like a high street project a Dunn Street multi-use path project 10th Street Those are some of the bigger
- projects that we'll start seeing moving
- But I'm also honestly really particularly proud of the coordination that's happening when we're leveraging
- what public work staff are doing and we're taking most of those opportunities to make sure we're improving
- safety and accessibility more than we might typically have in the past. Great. Thank you. And I had
- a couple more to you about the
- Lighting program. Are there specific areas that you're already knowing to target for? Enhanced lighting
- or is that all kind of like to be developed next year? Good question. The answer right now is it's to
- be developed once we make sure we get the funding is Approved and it'll be a new thing that we're developing.
- Okay, great And then I still have another minute look at us be really speedy here and
- So now I actually have time to get into your actual line item budgets. So under your supplies line and
- services and charges, you have significantly less budgeted for 2027 in motor repairs. And I was wondering
- if you were specifically expecting fewer repairs. Because in those sorts of lines, it's always kind
- of like, why are we
- Budgeting half what we budgeted last year for it I can try my best to answer that in that generally
- those numbers are provided to departments from the department that manages those vehicles But I can
- also say that we've recently Been replacing and making an effort to replace some of our really old vehicles.
- So we're expecting less maintenance needs Okay, great and
- The last one which maybe you'll have time to answer has to do with your dues and subscriptions line.
- So in twenty twenty five the actual expenditure was less than two thousand dollars and then in twenty
- twenty six the budget went up to almost thirty nine thousand dollars and then is it thirty six thousand
- dollars ask for twenty twenty seven. And when I looked now I don't have time for it. All right. That
- one anyway when I looked in the quarter to like year to date.
- Not very much of that was spent and so I guess I'm kind of wondering why you need the full amount for
- 2027 if it hasn't been spent 2026 so I will follow up with that though and the written questions because
- I Can yield some of my time for the answer I guess just to quickly answer you asked a similar question
- last year. I'm remembering we changed a lot of our last year our software annual fees into that
- From another line. So that's why it bumped up significantly in this year's budget And my guess is we
- just haven't because we're starting to get the invoices for that the renewal of those those Programs,
- okay So you do probably expect to have to spend that whole line before the end of the year that it's
- just more of a second Half of the year expenditure. I do. Okay. Thanks Council more rough Thank you
- Director Seaborg is there a document that lists that breaks out all transportation capital projects.
- I mean I know there are projects listed in the NPO document. I know there's the transportation plan
- but is there is there a single place where one can go and see every project
- and where it is in terms of the five stages that you talked about when you started your your comments
- in these five phases of project where they are and what's been roughly spent so far what the what the
- cost what the total projected costs are and funding sources. I mean is that does that exist. Is that
- something that if it doesn't exist would it be hard to put together. That's a thank you for that question.
- That's a good question.
- My first thought is I would encourage folks to look at our department web page. There is a page dedicated
- to our active projects. So that should have a list of the vast majority, if not all, of our ongoing
- projects. And when you click on each one, it would say roughly where it is and what its schedule is.
- It might even talk somewhat about funding sources. But I don't know if it will provide you the cost
- information you were asking. But that would be a really good starting point.
- And that might be one I'm happy to follow up on and think through it might be harder than we think to
- get it exactly what you're asking for. OK. I may follow up with you at some point about the idea. But
- thank you. Any remaining questions. Seeing none we can go to comments from members of the public. If
- you would like to comment you can raise your hand and zoom online or step to the podium here in chambers.
- Seeing none in chambers. Okay. You can unmute them and please state your name for the record and you'll
- have two minutes. Good evening. Paul Russo again. I appreciate the work and the expertise of Mr. Seward
- and his fully staffed department. And so my comments are not necessarily any should not be taken as
- any sort of an attack against any of them.
- But I have a really strong objection to money being spent for multi-use paths as a transit bicyclist.
- Multi-use paths are things that are traveled by pedestrians of all kinds, including toddlers of age
- two, three, and four, because I see them on the beeline. And to expect a transit bicyclist to use a
- multi-use path instead of the street
- is I don't know how to say this. It's insulting. It's unproductive. It's not practical. And it feels
- like a way to get the bicycle out of the way off the street. So I'm not a big fan. To whatever extent,
- the city's budget is paying for multi-use pads. I object. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comment.
- We have any other comments out see one here in chambers go ahead and state your name and you'll have
- two minutes Hello, my name is Colin Nielsen. I Just wanted to say that as a recently hired concrete
- tester for patriot engineering I it's been really cool to see all the projects the improvements that
- the city's been carrying out on his streets Such as like the Kirkwood project and Grimes and Patterson
- and other improvements that brought changes like pedestrian islands and curb bump outs and
- and humps as well and also like truck aprons too. It's been really cool to see all those carried out
- because I'm already seeing them working as I'm there on the job sites and it's with slowing car traffic
- down through infrastructure rather than through speed limit signs and through also reducing pedestrian
- crossing lengths and improving their visibility as well.
- So I appreciate all those improvements coming by and I also think that like the improvements coming
- to Kirkwood I think that They these kind of project demonstrate that you don't always necessarily need
- to have bike lanes on a street in order to make it safer a bike to crop to go through it as long as
- car traffic is brought to a reduced speed to where to where a bicyclist feel safe traveling there though if I
- You would want to prioritize more high speed or heavy traffic through like collectors like College and
- walnut. I think it makes sense to introduce bike lanes to corridors like that That would feel less safe
- and currently do feel less safe And yeah, I just want to say I appreciate all the work that the planning
- department puts into
- Planning out these projects the engineering department puts into getting the specifications done for
- these projects and the construction crews that are involved in carrying them out Thank you so much any
- other commenters online Don't see any here in chambers either so we could go back to council members
- for any comments on the engineering department budget this councilmember Rallo Thank you anticipating
- increasing debt service for
- further bonds At times where we're anticipating I Don't know what we're anticipating actually in terms
- of economically but it is safety related projects and I think that we ought to consider as a safety
- related project the continuation of the Weatherstone Hawthorne Greenway spent almost I think three-quarters
- to a million dollars on those improvements and
- A lot of people thought those improvements didn't improve things much But one thing I think that wouldn't
- prove that greenway and make it very effective would be signalization at Weatherstone proper crossing
- so that people could cross there and and also and at water and and Hawthorne so I mean we all can experience
- it hillside and at water are very busy arterials very very difficult to cross and
- Especially at water has a lot of pedestrian traffic to the university and and bike travel So I would
- just like to put that and people's radar that and if I'm anticipating Approval of a bond for safety
- related projects. I sure hope that appears We'll see. Thank you Comes over Stasburg
- I just wanted to speak for a minute about the Roger Street improvements. And one of our public commenters
- mentioned that, too, in terms of the pedestrian islands through a little anecdote that I was driving
- with my kid recently. And I expressed how great they looked. And my kid said, why did they even do that?
- It slows down traffic. To which, of course, I was like, well, that is literally why they did that. And
- kid was like, oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense.
- Anecdotally does seem to be working but not only that I think that when those things happen it suddenly
- gave said child who I'm trying to anonymize to some degree that Realization that on a street that they
- usually only Travel down in a vehicle that there are people that travel down that street by walking
- right, or by bicycling. And so slowing that traffic really matters because we don't live anywhere near
- there. And if we're going to bicycle, we bicycle on a different street. And if we're going to walk,
- you know, yeah. So it kind of gave them a better appreciation and understanding of how streets that
- we might individually associate with a certain type of travel, other people associate it with a different
- type of travel and how important it is for all of these streets to be able to safely accommodate all
- types of users and
- transit, you know transportation experience, so I guess I'm saying thank you for for Prioritizing these
- sorts of projects through the engineering department things That's my peanuts Well, I wasn't going to
- comment but since I live on South Roger Street and I do take my bike I also appreciate the slower traffic
- and There's work being done
- Near my house right now to put in new curb ramps. So I'll thank the street department for that Additional
- comments Just briefly I wanted to recognize and thank the engineering department for one of the things
- and the 2026 highlights which was the signal retiming study which included implementation of leading
- pedestrian intervals in many of our high pedestrian areas around the city
- Because of staffing reasons that was kind of a long time coming I think three or so years since the
- council had directed that change via resolution And along with another council directed change of limiting
- right turn on red in those high pedestrian areas Both of those safety interventions have pretty dramatic
- implications like 40 50 percent reduction in crashes by people driving into pedestrians things like
- that. So that's going to save lives and prevent injuries And so the capital improvement projects the
- safety by design
- Are the main slice I suppose but these smaller interventions too that are data-informed to go a long
- way And so that's a great thing that happened in 2026 Thank you to the engineering department for your
- work and for your presentation and we could move on to our next one for the evening which is with the
- streets division, I believe of public works I see director Adam Wason coming to the podium and some other
- Folks from our public works team entering from the hallway So, please go ahead if you can introduce
- to yourself for the record and you'll have I believe ten minutes for this divisions presentation. Alrighty
- Good evening folks Adam Wason public works director for the city of Bloomington
- Always an honor to be in front of you for our budget requests on an annual basis. I won't lie this is
- a little weird in the new format where we're doing more of the topical based I usually get to start
- with our administrative division budget and give you an overview of the whole department. But with this
- format it's just a little different. So just a few first general comments. I do want to send a big dose of
- Public works mojo up to our colleagues in the communities north of us as we've all seen over the last
- several weeks There's major flooding going out throughout central and eastern, Indiana and public works
- employees in those areas are the ones responding to help and We just send all the best wishes to them
- and their recoveries in that in that same
- Line of thought public workers and especially employees and divisions like Street Department or Street
- Division of Public Works are also first responders in my book. They're the folks that respond
- when Emergencies happen like we're seeing up around Indianapolis. And that's the same thing that happens
- here in Bloomington I also just want to make a quick note that
- We're just a few weeks out from having our American Public Works Association national accreditation
- something we are very very proud of something that for those of you that have been on council for many
- years have heard me talk about for many years. And so as of the end of July we are a nationally accredited
- public works agency and we're very proud of that.
- I'd also just want to start with a big thank you to the team at the street division. So whether it's
- our laborers our operators Our supervisors our administrative team There are big reason for success
- like we've had with the APWA accreditation and
- Big thanks to Joe and divinder. He's our deputy director of public works This is his first year in that
- role and he's helping oversee the street division sanitation and fleet divisions But big thanks to Joe
- and then Dan Bittner our director of operations down at Street Jeff Morris our deputy director down
- there Ron Arthur Freddie love Tony Carroll and Dana workmen our numbers genius down at public Street vision
- The hard-working crews that are doing all the duties of the street division are represented by 47 full-time
- staff members And we have an overall budget Request this year. That's about 82,000 more than last year
- some are key needs and issues for 2027 that we're working on and I'll have some more slides about our
- efforts on all things infrastructure maintenance and investment whether that's street
- Pavement and maintenance sidewalk and ADA accessibility and then of course all of our winter weather
- operations So far to date in
- 2026 we've got nearly 9,000 potholes filled. We're at about eight miles of roadway that we've paved
- in-house so far We have a lot more happening with private contracts I think many people saw all the
- great work that happened on Kirkwood as part of last year's budget request where we were able to eliminate
- trip hazards in the court the iconic corridor of Kirkwood from Indiana to walnut and
- We've been making significant upgrades in our ADA ADA ramps throughout the the city and then again achieve
- that APWA accreditation Overall for 2027 were I mentioned this in a different email the other day But
- this is one of our more challenging budget years as you all know and so what we're really trying to
- do is balance all of our all of our efforts with the community's expectations and
- and then continuing to invest in our infrastructure with either modernization or being responsive to
- community needs. One thing that you'll see in a coming report to the city council is we've finally gotten
- all of our pavement and sidewalk data delivered to our team. And so I think we've got a report scheduled
- in early September where our contractor will come in and give a big overview of all that project. But
- wanted to note in our presentations today,
- Good news is is our pavement had our pavement condition index rating has gone up to a fifty eight point
- eight from our last I think it was fifty four in our 2023 Study and then as part of this year's budget
- overall, we're investing nearly four million dollars into street maintenance and restoration and one
- big note that we'll talk about in more detail with our report on overall pavement such
- What that report is going to show is that it's going to be a 30 million dollar investment to raise our
- overall pavement condition across the city to mid 80s, which is a very desirable number to be at and
- This chart has a lot of lines and a lot of a lot of explaining to do but so overall you know, this chart
- is going to show you the various funding levels that
- If we do nothing what our the black line would show at the bottom. There's what would happen to our
- pavement Condition index numbers and then everything with the various levels of Incremental increases
- to our overall budgets so I could spend a whole hour more talking about
- PCI and sidewalk information with you, but we'll save that for another day when it comes to sidewalks
- We do have a sidewalk condition index rating that shows about 75 citywide We have about a million dollars
- that we're asking for for sidewalk investments next year and then overall When we look at the entire
- sidewalk network the the study is estimating that we would need about a sixteen point three million
- dollar investment to Get all sidewalks in the community up to that
- 375 rating as well So again, it's just different way of showing that and this is a brief overview of
- our overall ratings for sidewalks community-wide And again, we'll get into more detail as we present
- that to the council and get all that data Publicized on the be clear portal
- Some of our big 2027 initiatives, so we are continuing our major investments in street and sidewalk
- maintenance We're again gonna ask for the full maximum 1 million dollars in the community crossings
- matching grant program We're increasing our well, we're gonna continue our efforts that we started in
- 2026 here for our snow response with some of our high pedestrian high
- High priority pedestrian network areas and then always focused on traffic management and safety So just
- to the community crossings grant program, so the work that's being done on Kirkwood Patterson South
- Rogers, that's all
- part of our big twenty twenty six project. What we're hoping to look for look to apply for in twenty
- twenty seven for the twenty twenty seven funding is a major payment maintenance project on college and
- Walnut from 17th to the bypass. Also looking possibly at Dunn Street from 17th to the bypass as well.
- And that's again going to help us leverage state funds to improve our overall pavement condition citywide.
- We're continuing major investments with our ADA ramp and accessibility improvements. So Just for counsel's
- background and knowledge
- Whenever we go in and do any type of mill and pave we are required to upgrade all the ADA ramps in the
- corridor that we're milling and paving So we're always going to continue focusing on that As well as
- just trip hazard reduction in the sidewalk network something that we've been super successful with is
- our as you'll see in the third column here third row down
- Over the last several years where you've eliminated that literally thousands of trip hazards across
- the city. They've just kicked off their Contract again for this year. So that number will only rise
- But I do want to just point out some things with our with these numbers So when it comes to our lane
- mile paving you'll see year to date this was a couple weeks old at this point but we still expect to
- be in the 18 to 20 miles of
- 20 lane miles of paving for this year both in-house and contracted the ADA ramps will go up
- pretty significantly as well and then We'll continue our pothole repair efforts into the winter season
- So that will only go up. I did want to just kind of give a brief overview of our budget requests 2027
- budget request overall is thirteen point three two three three two million dollars roughly eighty thousand
- dollar increase from last year
- This is from a variety of funds So it's going to include our local road and street fund the motor vehicle
- highway fund the motor vehicle highway restricted fund the cumulative cap Improvement fund the cumulative
- cap development fund the parking meter fund and all of those will then total out to that thirteen point
- three million dollar budget the street division is our largest division of all public works, so It's
- our largest budget request as well
- And just a couple other things that we're seeing for 2027 that we You know, we've all seen what fuel
- prices have been doing throughout 2026. So we're continuing to manage and Try to be within our budgets
- on that but one of the big issues that we're seeing coming down is
- Salt supplies throughout the Midwest are quite low right now. So Our salt barns are rather full But
- we do have some concern going into the winter on making sure we can meet all of our demands for salt
- supplies Hoping we don't have quite as intense of a winter as last year And I am happy to answer your
- questions with four seconds left Thank you What questions do we have from councilmembers Councilmember
- Piedmont Smith
- Yes, thank you. Mr. Wason first of all the slide presentation in the Google Drive does not include The
- two charts about road conditions and sidewalk conditions. Oh We updated those this afternoon. I thought
- we got those included so They'll be updated because they came in this afternoon just before the meeting
- we didn't get those materials Yeah, those were late updates. I apologize for that. We're trying to get
- those from the contractor. Um, I
- In your memo you talk about your aim is to ensure safe and smooth transportation routes for both motorized
- and non motorized transportation users. Does this mean bike lanes as well. Are you also responsible
- for making sure that those are maintained. We do we do some of that work as far as bike lane maintenance.
- We also partner with our friends at the city of Bloomington utilities with their sweeping program.
- I see James in the back James was sending us some fun emails this last week about some new equipment
- that they're looking to trial or use to do bike lane sweeping. So yes it's a team effort. And then is
- the street division responsible for side paths or is that.
- Yes, so based on city code a traditional sidewalk would be the adjacent property owners responsibility
- and side paths become the city's Responsibility for maintenance snow clearing etc. So is that the Street
- Division? Yes Okay Thank you. Yes on a winter weather event You will often see Joe or Danny or Ron and
- one of their smaller pickup trucks working on all the side paths So those are not like you said those
- are not responsibility of
- Property owners, so those do get cleared of ice and snow. Yes. Okay. Well, that's something Thank you
- Councilmember Rallo, I Really appreciate you take you taking the time in effort to To look at the long
- view projecting out the maintenance for streets and sidewalks. It's really helpful so You said the black
- line is doing nothing then there was a steady state line. What line do you aim to to
- hope to fulfill. In a perfect world, we would be looking at that bright pink line at the top. So on
- the right side of the slides for you all too, that's going to be
- It's a lot of data points there. But basically that shows the incremental spending increases needed
- to reach different target levels No community. There's not a community in the state of Indiana anywhere
- near an 80 citywide Rating, you know, so that that's what you would dream for if we could get above
- 60 in the next several years I think we'd be doing really well, but it does require increased investments
- in a time when Funding is not increasing Well, I want to ask controller
- About that fifty eight million dollars just became available today from the governor Allocated to local
- governments. Do you do you know anything about that for for road road improvements? I mean essentially
- that additional funding is just replacing the funding lost from the gas tax holidays and so there's
- I don't we don't anticipate seeing any great influx of of money We're just hoping that and we believe
- that that that money from the state will at least keep us whole During this time when no gas tax was
- collected. I see doesn't mean much for us then it just keeps us where we are Yeah makes for a good headline
- though. Yeah Additional questions Councilmember Stasberg
- Did I hear you write director waste then that you said that College and walnut between 17th and the
- bypass was being prioritized for repaying next year For community crossings, okay. So does that mean
- there's gonna be other upgrades along We always work with engineering to look at the transportation
- plan what other safety improvements can be made? absolutely, I guess I'm kind of wondering because I
- that is part of the college walnut corridor study and there are potentially extensive changes that have
- been proposed. And so I guess I just want to know how you guys are like collaborating and thinking about
- that in terms of potentially large changes in that area and not wanting to like needing to make it safer
- as soon as possible but also not
- Wanting to invest in something that then is going to have to be removed later on for a different investment
- This is a challenge we face on a regular basis with our large our large-scale paving needs You know
- the long-term future possibilities of the corridors versus actual pavement maintenance You know a fresh
- coat of pavement on a main thoroughfare like that is gonna last hopefully ten years if not
- Hopefully 10 probably closer to six to seven based on traffic volumes and such so we look at community
- crossings as you know an opportunity to make safety improvements, but also focus mostly on pavement
- maintenance Okay, and I guess the and let me I sorry I should have meant and yes We are coordinating
- with other departments to make sure that we the types of pavement maintenance Improvements we would
- make would also be compatible into the future knowing that that is a giant proposal for that whole corridor
- Yeah, and I guess the other thing that I'm
- particularly concerned about with that segment is that currently the speed limit there is 40 miles an
- hour and my understanding is people tend to speed through there anyway and that is of course by Miller
- Showers Park and there have been a lot of pedestrian safety concerns so to put fresh pavement on that
- as it is even if you enhance crosswalks
- That don't actually make people stop that that's just of concern to me in terms of the overall picture
- of that corridor and Yeah, so that was maybe more of a of a quam at but I just want to make sure that
- that's considered and If I could just comment on that though Understanding speeds in a corridor like
- that could be higher than we would like I don't know that you could directly correlate with
- Fresh pavement with higher speeds after that Pavement made the longer you go without improving pavement
- the more it costs in the long run to improve it. So we identify our paving priorities based on the PCI
- indexes and overlay that with the type of roadway it is and being a main arterial entrance to the community
- that's going to require more pay
- Repaving more often than your typical neighborhood residential street. Yeah, I mean I get that and I
- appreciate that but it's also much easier to drive faster on nice New pavement, so I just am expressing
- that safety concern of that area And wanting to make sure that that is addressed as a primary piece
- of that repaying. Thanks. Thank you additional questions from council members council member rough
- Talk at all about or inform me at all about materials costs increases relative to other costs increases
- and Also project into the future a little bit on materials costs money not equipment necessarily or
- but materials costs
- In a simple gesture, they're going like this and they're continuing to rise So we see what's happening
- with fuel costs which directly relates to asphalt cost being a petroleum product What I can do is I
- don't have any specific Numbers that I could provide right off the top of my head right now but we could
- provide you some analysis and some projections on and
- The cost per ton of asphalt over the last several years that we've been paying do some review on that
- But yes, we're seeing it go up. We are concerned about that the price of salt salt a good example as
- well. It's a commodity that Even for what we may be able to get it will come at a 25 to 35 percent increase
- From what we've seen in years past. So these are real numbers that we're trying to trying to
- Live within so did you would you say paving? materials supply As as dramatic as the salt Probably not
- quite as dramatic as it's all but let us do a little We can we can run some numbers on that and put
- it in the written questions and kind of show you some examples of what we're seeing The other one that
- you'd mention equipment to whether it's dump trucks triaxles Sanitation trucks. Those are all Quite
- the premium as well
- So finally just on the same exact topic real quick Suppliers local suppliers Are that how's that front?
- How does the materials suppliers? Is that being Constrict is it consolidating are we seeing less? Come
- to competition. Is that contributing in any way do you think the prices and
- Whether or not the lack there's two main outfits for your materials you've got in EMB and milestone
- have their own material facility so I think it's the old Rogers quarries out there off of Ord Road are
- now EMB's facility and then milestones got their facility out by 445 and I 69 there just on the Green
- County border. But those are your two main suppliers for asphalt and for asphalt. Just two. OK. OK.
- Thank you.
- Questions I Have a few One was he thought up with an email to myself and a few other council members
- following a constituent Concern about maintenance of brick streets in historic districts kind of north
- of 7th Street near campus there Could you tip share a little bit more about the challenges
- with me maintaining brick streets over time and any? current plans to try to work on that I
- Yeah so I can tell you this has been on an agenda for our IU city coordination meetings for probably
- last six seven years at least as a long range topic of concern of how do we how do we find the limited
- funding that with the limited funding we have available how do we
- How do we prioritize improvements to those brick streets. I can tell you we focused on it a bit in 2018
- 2019 looking for some grant opportunities. We're not successful in that. And then we had a whole coded
- period where we were just trying to, you know,
- maintain operations but it has come back up again. I appreciate Miss Cole in the neighborhood reaching
- out and reminding us that there are some obligations the city committed to back in 2004. So you know
- the main effort right now is we've inventory there's about nine or ten block frontages that need full
- restoration at this point. So we're doing some outreach with our friends at utility to understand what
- the underground utilities are like.
- They'll need replaced. We're getting cost estimates on what we think each block frontage could cost.
- We're also doing a property inventory to say to really look at who owns all the property from 7th to
- 10th Indiana to Woodlawn where all these streets are. There's a.
- not an elephant in the room, our friends over on campus at IU, they're mostly IU affiliated or on properties
- outside of a few owner occupied and rentals. So my overall hope would be that we would be able to prioritize
- all of our relationships with the university, maybe the state house and others to try to prioritize
- that over the next several years. But I'm guessing it would be several years before much progress would
- be made just with the amount of planning and utility coordination that would need to go into it as well.
- But I'm hopeful. Thank you. One brief follow up with it comes to snow removal on multi use paths. We
- had a deliberation session a few months ago in which we identified some gaps and they didn't get cleared
- by the city. And then I'm curious how you and your staff manage
- That at a systems level I think that we've improved gradually over time But probably there's still things
- that come up where it's like, oh we missed this one How do you all manage that to make sure that you
- get it the next year that kind of thing? Yeah, so we've got it all mapped, you know So we use our city
- works asset management program to map all the locations where we do snow control Where we have it whether
- it's contractors whether it's our city staff You know some instances it's in dot rights of way where
- we're actually doing that snow control efforts as well as they don't and they don't
- Snow-control on their pedestrian facilities, but it's all mapped and then you know if we've missed something
- we get the phone call Yeah, but thank you. Appreciate it any other questions before we go to public
- comment seeing none Members of the public who would like to comment on the streets division public works
- budget Raise your hand online come to the podium and chambers Seeing no in-person takers do we have
- any online I
- We are back to this council members for any final comments on this divisions budget Councilor Aralo
- Thanks, just to say I appreciate your work on street maintenance I've seen just anecdotally
- great improvements and It was a concern. It seems to be a priority from the survey. It was just Data
- collected so other people are concerned and I know it's tough
- Incline I suppose but I appreciate you focusing on it. So, thank you Other comments that's my treatment
- Smith Just to acknowledge that we do as a community still have a problem with The fact that our Sidewalks
- are often impassable because of snow and ice
- I think that I may have mentioned this on Monday night in the context of another department But it's
- something we still need to work on I know it's the property owners responsibility But the fact is that
- it doesn't get done and it puts pedestrians in jeopardy Walking in the street. So just point that out.
- Let's work together on finding some solutions. Thank you Thank you additional comments Sure, just a
- few just to follow up on the
- Snow removal item. It was the multi-use path on the north side of Patterson between Morton and and Rogers,
- I think new hope for families had cleared cleared their section, but that the additional section Wasn't
- this winter. So it's just a FYI if that hadn't been communicated I appreciate that you all document
- that map that and update your maps to manage through a continuous improvement process. We heard similar
- things from Tim Street and that's that's much appreciated and
- Agree that we still have work to do. I'd be curious. I'll follow up in questions written questions about
- Some of the the ways that we've the public works has tried to spend a small budget allocation. I think
- I might be like $50,000 on augmenting snow removal and other ways in high pedestrian areas that kind
- of thing So I'd be curious to hear more about how that's gone and if we're anticipating any changes
- The other thing that I with the community crossing grants I'm also always kind of thinking about like,
- okay like are there ways that we can
- better leverage this to move in the direction of infrastructure safety improvements that we that we're
- planning for and For instance, we added bike lanes to College Mall Road. I think in the first year I
- was on council through some Deliberation we had in sessions in this chambers and you know and that was
- one area of marginal improvement that we were able to accomplish through that that moment and on something
- like North walnut between 17th and the
- The bypass I wonder about I mean obviously we're not going to invest in like an overhaul of those three
- blocks of the walnut corridor that we have this major study in capital, you know project in but I do
- wonder about The the the quick build project, you know, what does it actually cost us on a lane mile
- basis or I guess it
- Yeah, the land mile basis to put in temporary materials like we have on 3rd Street along campus for
- instance to significant effect in terms of the safety of Bicyclists and other you know scooter users
- that are in in those lanes. So we do have striped bike lanes they might even be buffered in a few areas
- on along Miller Showers Park, but Obviously, it's not a comfortable place to bike and we've also had
- crashes including deadly crashes on North walnut generally
- With people using bike lanes, so that's that's a thought of maybe we can and I can follow up and getting
- written questions about how you receive that as a Department but it's another idea about how to make
- incremental progress even when we can't do the big infrastructure improvements in a synergistic way.
- So Those are my comments any others Okay
- When you see when you said temporary materials, I thought you were referring to like gravel or Yes Ballards
- or you know what I mean? Yes. Okay Moving on we are To the fourth of five presentations for the night.
- This is going to be the parking services division of Public Works. I believe director Wason Will be
- presenting again also
- Michelle wall parking services manager was listed on the presentation Thank you again for your presentation
- and to streets division staff for joining us for that portion. Perfect Yeah, so I've got Michelle wall
- Jessica Goodman and Charlene Lawson our leadership team at the parking services division I've got them
- online tonight. They're in the midst of their busiest busiest busiest of weeks right now and we've had
- some staffing shortages there, so I've
- We've given them the permission to be online to help answer questions as needed. But first to start
- off with again a big thanks for the staff and parking services. So our whether it's our parking enforcement
- officers our customer service and security specialists at the parking garages our administrative team
- of customer service reps financial coordinator and then the leadership team of director wall parking
- garage manager Jessica Goodman and
- Charlene Lawson our new parking enforcement manager who took over for Ryan Cox who was able to retire
- this year our longtime city employee ran so Big thanks to the whole team that makes the whole parking
- system work So not only our parking staff enforcement staff out helping manage our parking assets, but
- also doing much more Parking staff are our special events setups set up specialists So if you see an
- orange barricade in the wild whether it's for a park lit a special event
- or any other use the team and parking enforcement is the one are the folks that are Deploying those,
- you know getting them from the parking garage delivering them to the events or to the sites and removing
- those so It's not just parking enforcement that they do. It's so much more beyond that They're going
- to fill in for the crossing guards when we have crossing guard absences and
- You know We manage with with the same team at parking services We've got a group that's managing the
- thousands of residential and garage permits that are issued every year So it's just a real big operation.
- I mentioned our school crossing guard program I do want to make a special shout out to anybody that
- might be listening online If you've got a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon,
- you want to earn a few bucks we're always looking for staff members to help in our elementary school zones for
- Crossing through our school crossing guard program overall so as a division overview
- Parking enforcement is going to handle all of our downtown parking meters the park mobile system. That's
- not only The enforcement side but also all the technology and maintenance that goes with it We've got
- our four city-owned parking garages our five surface lots in the downtown We do all of our special events.
- Like I mentioned the neighborhood residential parking permit program, which I'll talk a little bit more
- about based on some revelations this year and
- and parking enforcement generally. I do also want to make a note that we've had some a comment come
- through online through the report system about how we try to manage the parking system. Our number one
- goal is to actually manage the assets as they exist on the streets. So helping encourage turnover things
- like that. But in no ways are we ever trying to be out there to be punitive or overly to be overly punitive
- in any way.
- really out there just trying to enforce the rules for all the users of the system and applaud the whole
- team there that is doing that. I think I've said in some previous budget hearings you know nobody likes
- to get a parking ticket and our parking enforcement staff are probably the most verbally abused staff
- in the whole city. So I always just hold them in high regard for the way that they're able to deal with
- that in the field and day to day. Overall it's 26 full time staff members across the whole department.
- Key budget change for twenty twenty six is a two point eight one four million dollar increase that's
- currently budgeted. I'll talk a lot more about that as we go through the slides here as you as council
- was present was a couple of weeks ago now the Walker parking study report was presented to the council
- and a lot of what we'll talk about today is the result of the recommendations of that parking study
- and the next steps there.
- So overall we did that final review with the council or got the final reports in June of 2026 presented
- that to the council a couple of weeks ago. You know the overall goal here is to just improve the overall
- parking network to have it work best for all users.
- at the same time looking to and improve the customer experience whether it's With wayfinding and signage
- to make it easier for them to use the system but then also to support the overall priorities of the
- administration Council Transportation Commission and others so When we talk about our 2027 priorities
- a lot of this has to do with investing in the parking system So parking meters were originally installed in 2010
- 2013 when we I was part of that discussion and Typical useful life for a parking meter is seven to ten
- years We're doing a lot of maintenance on this old equipment and so knowing we need to make investments
- both from the technology the parking technology The parking meter system and more we do have a two point
- five million dollar capital
- budget item in this in this budget request to Help implement that as we go through after we go through
- the full stakeholder vetting process with You know the community the Transportation Commission City
- Council and everything to find to figure out those final decisions on on where we head with it one of
- the things I mentioned though is it's that kind of
- making sure we do the appropriate amount of communication out of why it's necessary why it makes sense
- at this time and to take the input of the community to help us move that forward. I mentioned neighborhood
- parking permits that's gotten a lot of attention lately and just wanted to talk about that very briefly
- here. So we've got we're up to
- We've got the zones that are listed here are shown here on the map for our residential neighborhood
- parking program. What we've seen in the last year and what we've been working with our friends and planning
- and transportation and housing neighborhood development on is really understanding the impacts of the
- redevelopment of single family properties to multifamily
- Multi unit properties and as we were getting into parking permit season here We were seeing that we
- were going to have some pretty significant impacts of that so we've been collecting a lot of data working
- with hand and planning to understand what the overall
- percentage increase of bedrooms has been on certain properties and what that impact would be for neighborhood
- residential parking permits. We've worked through a lot of that. We've made sure we worked with property
- owners rent units that had gotten them in the past to make sure they're getting them again this year.
- But this will be a big focus of conversation as we move through any of our ordinance updates related
- to implementing the Walker study. We would also hope to include that in the conversation.
- overall for parking services Again, the big increase is the 2.5 million dollar investment that we're
- earmarking for upgrades of the parking system The overall 2027 budget and is going to be seven point
- seven million Which is again a big increase but the vast vast majority of that's all with the earmark
- for parking technology improvements and
- so beyond the improvements with the The technology and the meters systems and such we also realize we
- have to do a rate review for both the on-street parking and our garages for Looking at the revenues
- into the future and how we want to manage the system We're working
- with a I'm not sure if it's what it's gonna be called from the Transportation Commission whether it's
- gonna be a subcommittee or I think the word task force has been thrown around I don't always love that
- term but to really come up with some recommendations that would meet the the goals of the study and
- the needs of the residents and visitors using the parking system so with that I will be happy to take
- questions and Appreciate Michelle Jessica and Charlene being here to back me up
- Thank you for presentation and thank you to the parking services folks for joining us as well. Do we
- have questions from councilmembers councilmember Stasberg Kind of a quick and easy one first under your
- Goal number one of replacement of parking technology. It says that two and a half million dollars is
- Becoming a placeholder from the parking facilities fund but farther down it says that it's the
- From the parking meter fund and I just want verification over which one of those funds that's coming
- It would not be the parking garage facility. It's possible that we would We would look at the parking
- facilities fund for upgrades to the parking garage equipment But anything on street would be the parking
- meter fund or potential bonding opportunities. Okay, so the typo is in the first goal, okay
- And then the second thing I wanted to ask about so I went to taste of Bloomington this year and I had
- a car full and we went to the 4th Street garage and saw that There were folks there were attendance.
- They're collecting a flat fee for parking that day And I was wondering if that was the first year that
- you had done that for special event parking and just like how that went in terms of
- from revenue perspective but also like what you heard if you heard anything from people who might have
- I mean I know I often go to the garage because it costs less to park in the garage than it does on the
- street and it's like I didn't really care it was fine it didn't matter but I also hadn't seen that really
- advertised anywhere and so I'm just kind of interested in what kind of reaction you've got
- Yeah, so starting with your first question of have we done that in the past our first attempt to do
- that I have a chuckle and a smile on my face because that was for the eclipse and It didn't really pan
- out as we expected in terms of the amount of visitors here locally. So this was our our big This was
- our our first time where it really was effective so the whole thought process behind this is
- We charge a very low flat rate. I think we charge $3 for the day. And the point, what we're trying to
- achieve there is when we have these large scale events in the downtown, we have the ability to do special
- event pricing. The whole purpose of that is to lessen the amount of time it takes to get out of the
- garage when the events are over. So you've prepaid and instead of each, you know,
- The whole hope is that if you're parking in the garage, you're going to take your ticket with you. You're
- going to pay at the kiosk and you're going to be able to zip right out of the garage. You also have
- the ability to pay at the gate. And when you have, you know, I think we've had events in the past where
- we've had big things downtown where, you know, 40, 50 cars are queued up and it's taken forever to get
- out of the garage. So that was our attempt to ease that this year and it worked really well. I can get
- you some revenue numbers. I don't have those off the top of my head.
- I might follow up about revenue numbers. Just I'm just kind of curious. I'm not sure it matters That
- does seem like a general good benefit and I'll talk more about that during comment. Thanks Additional
- questions from council members, I see councilmember Smith Yes, um director Wason does this division
- handle scooter parking enforcement and
- They help assist with it. Yes Actually was just on the phone with our bird rep today noting a couple
- locations We needed some assistance with so they do they'll make note. They'll reach out. We'll Robert
- with bird our new rep locally has been real real helpful with that. So, yes So When you say they help
- out so that is the city staff the only city staff that
- Works on parking problems with scooters right. Yes I would other than a staff member that may see it
- in the field report back. But and do they how do they handle it. Like if there's a complaint.
- Either called in or through your report. Do they go out and move the scooter or they contact Bird? Well,
- we usually always try to contact Bird to have them deal with their own products You know the the caveat
- here is they're focused mostly in the downtown area in the parking meter zone If it's a residential
- issue One of our neighborhood parking enforcement officers might assist Oftentimes in a residential
- area if they see a parked scooter blocking a sidewalk, they're gonna move it off the sidewalk. They're
- gonna just
- take care of the accessibility issue but we know it's still a challenge. We know we don't have 100 percent
- compliance with people parking where they're supposed to. We're having conversations with ESD right
- now about possible renewals of that contract and what we need to see improved from the current contract
- and in future contracts. But it is parking enforcement staff that assist with that. Do you have a sense
- that there are.
- It's getting better that there are fewer parking issues with the scooters than yeah the downtown geofencing
- Of the corrals has been super helpful They will the last communication we had from Bird is that they
- will there will be a financial Penalty to a user if they leave it outside of the geofenced area the
- corrals that we have downtown We're still seeing it on occasion. But I think in the downtown it's had
- a tremendous effect. I
- Okay, I might follow up with your department at ESD to get some more. Yep details I think D is helping
- with that right now. So thank you Additional questions a customer rather than customer rough Constituents
- have noted that trash recycling and or recycling containers sometimes sit on sidewalks for multiple
- days Is it feasible?
- the parking enforcement could Hand housing neighbor. There's a cans at the curb part of code that hand
- is responsible for enforcing so if we get you reports that you know a Specific address is leaving their
- cans out for several days hand staff do that as part of their compliance efforts. I see Okay, good good
- to know. Thanks Thank you
- I just had a quick question about the technology the parking technology parking meter technology upgrades.
- You've written in the outline slides that building public understanding support is a challenge
- and opportunity for the coming for the future. I'm wondering I was unaware till just the other day that
- There are blocks where they you can only use park mobile. I was unaware of that. And the if we move
- to kiosks are there are we going to be seeing more of that or are is someone going to be able to use
- cash for a spot paying at a kiosk.
- I think it's fair to say at the at the at a majority or high percentage of places currently there's
- there's the opportunity to use cash card or Park mobile on I can get some information on exactly how
- many blocks are Park mobile only but I know it's North College between like 12th and
- 2015 There's a block on South Washington That was park mobile only after some changes to the configuration
- of Washington Street But there are certain number of spaces that are park mobile only It is that a part
- of any of the contract with park mobile Is there anything in the contract that says we will have a certain
- percentage of spots that are park mobile only spots? Is that if there is I'm wholly unaware of it. I
- don't think there is no I
- Okay, so I will just say that for now I'm I'm a Concern about that. I'm opposed to it You know, you
- have people so I did not have parked mobile day out until I Told the other day when I tried to park
- on South Washington across some da Vinci's that's the block you're talking about and I realized I put
- in your credit card all these things
- There are people with credit issues. There might be people that are correct there's it just seems to
- be a problem that An equitable, you know an opportunity problem for certain segments of the population
- if we have and they're put its publics, right? There's public spaces, right? They're public. Yeah parking
- and I think it needs to be equally accessible everywhere and that includes having the option of not
- having to pay 50 cents extra to the
- Parkmobile or whoever gets that extra money And and have your credit card status good and be able to
- do the app I just I just wanted to make that statement now. This was a recent experience I had yeah,
- and again the vast vast majority are gonna be all three options There are just specific locations, but
- I understand the concern and it'll be the robot It'll be a very robust part of the discussion of what
- technologies we move to with its kiosks single space meters dual space meters
- License plate reading technology will be a big part of the conversation So we expect it to be a robust
- conversation with both the Transportation Commission and the council if we were to come with ordinance
- updates Well, thank you And I am glad to know that it's not part of a contract with Park mobile that
- they have a certain amount of guaranteed Park level only spots I appreciate your representing the thoughts
- of Dan combs here All right other questions I
- More from custom umbrella. Just was short just to follow up. Yeah just for clarity. So So when the scooter
- company They collect a fine from the user That's violating by leaving on the on the sidewalk, but we
- don't we don't We don't find bird we don't get any revenue from the
- We get revenue from Bird on an annual basis part of their I don't remember what the number is for I
- guess I'm talking about for for five nations. Yeah. No and I'm and I what I'm trying to think of the
- exact term he uses email I'll have to follow up in a written response on that one. But yeah we don't
- collect the fine that would be issued to the user for improperly parking it. I think the thought for
- Bird is that they're sending staff out to fix the problem and that's why the fine is
- Issued but yes, we'll follow up there. Okay. Thanks. I have a brief follow-up question which Piggybacks
- on council member all those first question this came up in our discussions on Monday some of the challenges
- with trash and recycling containers blocking sidewalks a major accessibility challenge and really the
- the the inability of hand enforcement staff to be able to like respond to or keep up with that in a way that
- with a level of service that rivals our parking enforcement services. So that's where it came up. And
- we wondered if there's, I mean, it seems like a process efficiency opportunity if there are people that
- are actively monitoring the neighborhood zones, you know, to be able to assist in issuing citations
- where there are accessibility barriers created by carts left, you know, 24 hours past the time they're
- supposed to be there. What are your thoughts about that as a cross-department collaboration opportunity?
- We're always wanting to be good collaborators good partners and be willing to consider innovative ideas
- on how we do things. That could certainly be a good conversation. You know the key for us is we're we
- charge staff at sanitation with making sure that they're trying to leave them in the most ideal spot to
- maintain accessibility throughout the community. And so we have we have followed we have you know kind
- of spot checks and different things. There are certain areas there the monolithic sidewalks tend to
- be the most difficult or a monolithic sidewalk with a retaining wall next to it. Those tend to be the
- hardest ones to get you know full accessibility. But we're open to all conversations about how we could
- yeah how we can improve that. Thank you.
- Any other questions we can go to public comment on the parking services division budget proposal any
- commenters online Raise your hand at the zoom or here in the chambers, please step to the podium Not
- seeing any takers online and None in chambers we can go back council members for comments Councilmember
- Rallo Just to say I
- I'm in agreement it seems to me Although I maybe I could be convinced otherwise that if you know hand
- is is charged with property maintenance of various kinds and you know, they have their hands full Whereas
- you have parking, you know enforcement Patrolling and there's a violation blocking of trashkins blocking
- sidewalks. It seems you know, maybe fairly straightforward to find the
- To to address the problem as it's as it's noticed as it's seen so I'd like you know some consideration
- of maybe whether that's and you know The most efficient way in which we deploy resources additional
- comments councilmember Stossberg I'll just follow up on the taste of Bloomington special event kind of
- flat rate parking thing and I generally would say that I support that for special event parking and
- it definitely seems like an efficient way for folks to exit because I have been sometimes stuck in lines
- like that. I mean the other thing that it did is once I paid the flat rate I was like there right. And
- I'm like hey I'm here for this while we're downtown. Let's do this and this and this because we had
- to pay this flat rate parking.
- And so that could also be another sort of way to encourage more than just say people going to the one
- special event but also doing other things. And the only thing is I didn't see that advertised anywhere.
- So maybe we just need to like work on making sure that the public is then aware that we're doing something
- not usual for certain types of special events.
- I don't know if you're also planning on doing that for pride for example which is coming up later this
- month. I'm not sure if that was in both of the parking garages or just 4th Street garage but that would
- be my plea is to make sure that we're just really
- Communicating pretty clearly because I do tends to like, you know I mean I get all these city emails
- right and I tends to read You know press release kind of stuff at least skim them and I just don't remember
- seeing anything like that So you don't need to respond. It's just comment time But that's just like
- feedback from a user and wanting to make sure that our community is kind of like prepared for that because
- it was also at that moment I'm like, oh gotta grab the three dollars in cash and and so and there was
- like the wait was the line coming in and
- As opposed to the line going out and that also can be awkward if people aren't prepared for that different
- sort of action as they go into the garage. So great idea. It just you know refining a little bit in
- terms of process I think would be great. I don't think I have other comments. I also support maybe.
- Exploring some ways that we can do something different with the trash cans on sidewalks Which it's not
- such a problem in most of district three, but as a problem in some other areas And I have other questions
- that I'll end up submitting online. Thanks Just very briefly do expect that for special events and some
- of these really big football weekends We'll do the same and we did try to get the word out through social
- media, but we'll do more as we move forward Their comments
- I just think this would be the right time to say thank you to director race in and also Cassie Wernie
- for being so responsive when I had a lot of questions about the parking permitting process and They
- were very helpful in working out a solution that worked for as many people as possible So just kudos
- and thank you so much Other comments Briefly on the neighborhood zones front. We do have issues to figure
- out there. No doubt that
- We've also requested changes to the UDO that would impact that there's lots of opportunities for improvement
- in terms of how we price it how we treat visitor permits how we think about The variance across different
- neighborhood zones. So those are some policy conversations We'll definitely need to move into this year
- to make improvements for for residents that are equitable and inclusive and also on the Trash and recycling
- can front director waste it brings up a good point, which is that sanitation staff are
- Actively, you know emptying those those bins and putting them back And that there's I mean it sounds
- like they're already playing an active role in trying to avoid accessibility issues wherever possible
- but that we have a bit of a broader systemic issue and you know with with Some specific areas, you know
- that that our space constrained one option is to put them in the street and when there is parking on
- the street that works relatively well as long as there's space for it and
- But yeah again one of these areas where there's not an easy answer, but it is a problem. That is a real
- Civil rights and accessibility issue and something we need to keep working on and finding ways to improve
- Thank you for engaging some of the questions and ideas that we had on that front There aren't either
- comments that will wrap up The two divisions we had from public works this evening. Thank you again
- for being here Thank you for your presentations and we'll move into our last departmental presentation
- of the evening
- Comes to us from city Bloomington utilities. We have director Catherine Seger Here with us if you could
- introduce yourself for the record you have 20 minutes for the presentation. Thank you Good evening council
- Catherine Seger utilities director and tonight I am presenting the 2027 City of Bloomington utilities budget
- So the mission of the city of Bloomington utilities is to enhance the quality of life in our community
- by providing safe sustainable and high quality drinking water wastewater and stormwater services in
- a cost effective manner promoting public health economic vitality and environmental stewardship. CBU
- currently has one hundred ninety one full time staff and four permanent part time staff. Our key budget
- change from the twenty twenty six budget is
- in addition of seven point five million dollars. And one of the key budget topics this year is that
- we have implemented our water rate case with the new rates showing up on our customers September bills.
- This has the largest impact on our budget and allows us to have continued investment in the modernization
- of mineral water treatment plant and the distribution system improvements including water main replacements
- and booster station upgrades.
- First I'm going to share with you some of our successes in each utility since our last budget presentation
- starting in water First we rehabilitated our fluoride system, which has been operating consistently
- since the beginning of the year and delivering fluoride to our water We also rehabilitated one of our
- vital pumps at our intake tower or low service pump number four and
- We installed secondary backwash pump, which was a requirement by item and Our chemical feed line project
- is closing out by the end of the year providing redundancy and reliability to our water treatment systems
- In wastewater we have done the rehabilitation of our non potable water pumps at Blucher pool wastewater
- treatment plant and
- We've also replaced the VFDs or variable frequency drives at Blucher Pool wastewater treatment plant,
- which improves the energy efficiency of the plant.
- We have replaced the suction lines and the pump station at Dillman and the finish the installation of
- a fifth blower And this is a capacity improvement that will increase the wastewater treatment plants
- permitted capacity from 15 million gallons per day to 19 million gallons per day and Increase its peak
- flow capacity from 30 million gallons per day to 40 million gallons per day In stormwater we have
- Released our Clear Creek renewal feasibility study RFQ and RFP and We now have a firm selected for the
- feasibility study We have completed the Winslow rain garden as part of our continued commitment to partnering
- with the city of Bloomington engineering for the installation of green infrastructure and right-of-way
- projects where possible
- We also this year had an O'Neill fellow who delivered a report on E. Coli sampling project in Clear
- Creek and its tributaries. This report included recommendations and where higher concentrations were
- found to guide our illicit discharge elimination program. We are also hoping to finish by retention
- facility at 8th and fountain.
- Also wanted to give an update on our assistance program, which we've made a lot of strides in this year
- So in 2025 CBU budgeted a hundred thousand dollars each year for the program But participation levels
- do not fully utilize the available funding This prompted updates to the program that include two big
- shifts first shift is consecutive assistance and
- Previously customers receiving direct payment assistance were required to pay two bills after every
- three months of support Under the updated program customers may receive assistance consecutively provided
- that they reapply and continue to meet our eligibility requirements The second big shift is program
- flexibility customers were previously required to apply for assistance before being shut off and
- That requirement has now been removed allowing eligible customers to apply even after their service
- has been disconnected as long as they meet program requirements to have this is the service restored
- We again budgeted a hundred thousand for the program this year and so far we have assisted a hundred
- and fifty two customers and spent forty nine thousand seven hundred and seventy six dollars through July and
- which is about halfway through. So this is keeping us on track to spend all of the funds we have allotted
- for this program for the first time. All right, now I'm going to move on to our 2027 priorities and
- goals. This budget prioritizes maintaining or enhancing our existing assets with a focus on reliability
- and climate resiliency.
- several of our goals center on upgrades and modernization of our water treatment plants and throughout
- our distribution system. Multiple projects focus on electrical improvements, which strengthen the resiliency
- of our systems. We are also going to be focused on goals that center on building resiliency to the impacts
- of climate change, such as increased intensity storms. These include our relief sewer project and multiple
- stormwater system improvements.
- And now we'll go through those individually. So first is our distribution system improvements. CBU will
- be updating and replacing equipment at the South Central and West booster stations, which have met or
- exceeding their life expectancy. This project will fully modernize both stations with new pumps, valves,
- controls, electrical system, SCADA and telemetry. Design for this will be in 2026 and 27, with construction
- beginning in 27 and 28.
- We also plan on completing several large water main replacement projects with full neighborhood replacements.
- I also want to take a moment to highlight this photo that was taken during our work on the second street
- modernization project, which was jokingly called the world's worst hot tub party. But in all seriousness,
- I think this picture does a really great job of illustrating the hard work and difficult conditions
- that goes into a lot of these projects.
- Also the estimated total cost for these projects is eleven point one million for the combined design
- and construction Okay, next is electrical and control upgrade at Monroe water treatment plant Critical
- electrical upgrades will be made to the water plants transformer and switch gears emergency generators
- variable frequency drives and associated conduits and duct banks these electrical upgrades
- will be accompanied by
- by improvements to our SCADA system, including replacement of our programmable logic controllers or
- PLCs, and conversion of our system to a more modern system platform. This will increase reliability
- and cybersecurity at the water plant. The estimated total cost for this is $10 million. We also have
- upgrades at Blucher Pool Wastewater Treatment Plant. We will be improving the dewatering and solids
- handling systems.
- This will include the replacement of our belt press system with a new screw press system Improving the
- efficiency of our treatment processes and reducing cost of waste disposal Design will be in 26 and 27
- with bidding for construction occurring in 27 Estimated total cost is 2.3 million for design At Dillman
- We are at the Dillman wastewater treatment plant. We are starting our phase 2 electrical upgrades and
- The second phase of our whole plant electrical upgrades will begin. This project will include the replacement
- of the medium voltage switch gears, the main substation for the plant, and the addition of a plant-wide
- emergency generator. The design is slated for 26-27, with bidding for construction in 27. The estimated
- cost for design is 500,000. Next is the lower cascade stormwater culvert.
- The goal of this project is to connect to the north walnut box culvert and the old state road 37 or
- lower cascades box culvert. This will eliminate erosion improve flow and capacity and protect our sanitary
- sewer that's in this area. The total cost is seven hundred and fifty thousand. Next is our Clear Creek
- renewal project.
- Our goal is to convert the hundred-year-old limestone block open channel that confines Clear Creek south
- of West First Street into a more naturalized urban stream channel with water quality treatment amenities
- The study phase is underway and will run into 2027 with designed to follow in 27 and 28 the study phase
- will include the
- Include the development of no fewer than three technically feasible alternatives that aim to reduce
- the regulatory floodplain for potential redevelopment within the corridor and will provide innovative
- stormwater treatment technologies Our total cost for the study phase is five hundred thousand Next is
- our Winslow sports complex detention We will be partnering with the Parks Department to improve the
- detention of stormwater runoff from this facility
- We'll be combining innovative water quality treatment techniques to improve the quality of the runoff
- specifically from the parking lot We'll be incorporating stormwater detention to lessen the impacts
- that large storms have on our downstream neighbors Further enhancing our communities resilience to climate
- change The estimated total cost is seventy five thousand for design. I
- And then finally we have our utility service center at the Winston Thomas property with implementation
- of the water rate increase. You will now be in a position to resume the design and make progress towards
- the plans for the Winston Thomas service center. Plans are currently at 50 percent with the ability
- to resume design work this fall.
- Purpose-built service center improves logistics for field crews allowing faster deployment and better
- emergency response It also allows for stronger protection of our capital assets such as specialized
- service vehicles and supplies which are currently being stored in the elements Building a service center
- that meets the needs of the utility moving forward is an investment that will save resources over time
- and the estimated total cost
- Design is 2.5 million and then 2.3 million for construction management So in challenges and opportunities,
- you know, one of the biggest challenges is that the cost of projects are only increasing So I see it
- as our responsibility to our customers to find ways to mitigate these impacts on our rates and
- In an effort to do so we've been fairly aggressive this year in pursuing outside funding opportunities.
- So I'd like to highlight a few of our successes on that front. So first we secured a five million dollar
- state revolving fund loan which is low interest and partially forgivable from the Indiana Finance Authority
- to replace lead service lines and aging water main infrastructure.
- We also secured two point five million dollars in congressional funds for our booster stations and another
- potential seven hundred thousand for Dilman relief sewer We also have a pretty strong application for
- FEMA's flood mitigation assistance grant that will help go towards our Clear Creek renewal project and then
- our Clear Creek renewal project along with some of our other climate mitigation projects were recently
- added to the county's multi hazard mitigation plan which puts us in a position to access additional
- funding sources like brick funding. All right. And I'm going to wrap up with plenty of time. And this
- is our 20 27 revenue budget summary.
- So in water we have a twenty eight point eight million dollar budget which represents approximately
- a 25 percent increase due to our newly implemented water rate in sewer. We have a thirty one point five
- million dollar budget which represents a slight increase anticipating a possible rate increase in twenty
- seven. But we are currently uncertain on timing.
- That is a conservative increase and the same is true in stormwater with a four point eight million dollar
- budget. With that you know the budget request from the city of Bloomington utilities allows us to provide
- safe sustainable and high quality drinking water wastewater and stormwater services in a cost effective
- manner promoting public health economic vitality and environmental stewardship. Thank you for your consideration.
- I'm open to questions. I also have our CBU crew here if you need any detailed Responses, so thank you
- Thank you very much for your presentation and proposal Councilman Rollin Yeah, thanks for that Presentation
- I had a question about could you unpack a little bit further the the cost of the of the new service
- center 44 million dollars I believe is that is it still is that the correct total cost for construction?
- In total in total forty four million dollars. So we are current since we have had the water rate case
- We are currently reengaging to have that estimate updated because it has been so long so I do not have
- a Solid estimate for what the total construction and total cost for the Winston Thomas service center
- would be right now It is more than that Okay, so the increase in water rates in part will service that
- debt. Is that likely?
- The increase in the water rate will service that debt service the debt service. In other words, we're
- going to bond for that, I assume. Yes. And then we've got to pay debt on that. Would that come from
- the new water rate? It will come from both water and wastewater. We will service the debt in all of
- our utilities because it will serve all of our utilities. OK. It'd be great to know to what extent that
- will that will be required of that.
- Customers will have to pay in addition for that new service center My with time I have a remaining I
- was concerned about it's been a lot of attention for cyber cybersecurity concerns and a lot of warnings
- a lot of potential hacking of systems Could you are we hardening our systems for that purpose or to
- prevent that from happening? Absolutely. Okay. We've been very active and engaged and
- and working with ITS as well to make sure that we are Not vulnerable for the types of attacks that we
- are seeing Okay, so we won't be vulnerable to cyber security any breaches I Cannot guarantee that we
- are not vulnerable to any cyber security threats But the cyber security threats that we have seen thus
- far we have made efforts to make sure that we are not vulnerable to that Okay
- To the type that the types that we got it. Okay. Thank you Additional questions from council members
- council members Stossberg and then Piedmont Smith Thank you It's great to hear that the assistance program
- is being more utilized this year and I guess I was wondering and turned like just real quick first in
- terms of advertising for that and communicating with customers who might need that assistance is there
- like are you
- Targeting in any way as customers who may have like missed one payment or two payments with like a hey
- Here's this option if you qualify for it sort of like inserts and their bills or anything like that
- Or are you generally waiting for folks to come to you? So we With the rate increase we are putting bill
- inserts about our financial assistance program and that's going to all customers we do have our
- collections person who does reach out to customers individually we Yeah, we do some targeted outreach
- but for the most part we try to do broad outreach to all of our customers Okay, thank you. Um, and then
- the other thing that I wanted to be sure to ask you about tonight was that earlier this year you brought
- a rate change with regard to septic drop-offs and
- You know, we had a lot of questions about that. There were a lot of community concerns about that. It
- ultimately didn't pass. And I was just wondering if you could give us any kind of an update on how that
- is going. There were several like pieces of trying to upgrade some of those systems so that you could
- better differentiate the type of waste that was being dropped off to more accurately charge those providers
- based on or those customers based on
- what it took for you guys to process that waste. So where are you in that whole thing. Yeah absolutely.
- And so we will be providing a written response. This was a question that was asked by council member
- Piedmont Smith. But just to summarize we have actually Stephen Stanford our pretreatment coordinator
- has done an
- excellent job of designing a sampling program to sample the waste that we are receiving to verify that
- that waste is see where it stacks up against the EPA estimate that we were using because one of the
- issues that we had brought or that was brought to us was that the EPA estimate was potentially outdated
- or not reflective of our own community. And so we are currently doing samples of that high strength waste.
- So that is one aspect of it. We are also looking into way station technology at the plant so that we
- are able to charge not just per truck but for how much is in that truck. And so both of these things
- are happening in tandem right now. Very very rough estimate of how much that would cost would be around
- a million dollars.
- to in like for the equipment and the installation and design of a way station essentially Yeah, and
- then we are hoping to bring an updated a septic rate to council with our next sewer rate Adjustment
- request. Okay. Great. Thank you so much.
- Director Sager I wanted to ask about the Clear Creek renewal project which is very exciting to me. I've
- talked a little bit with Jane Cooper Smith and ESD about it and I'm wondering what neighborhood input
- there there could be with this project. What engagement you might have with people who live or have
- a business near near the
- renewal site. Absolutely. So we've already started some essentially preliminary outreach to adjacent
- property owners. But as part of this study that we are warning the RP for part of the study a huge component
- of that is outreach. This is a big project. It impacts our community and we know that we need to have
- input from the community. And so there will be
- Multiple community input sessions there will be at least I think two or three sessions with community
- where you gather input and potentially these alternatives are shown to the community because we've requested
- that there are at least three feasible alternatives. Three feasible alternatives. Yes.
- It's handy to have the text on the zoom so I can I love captions catch things that I didn't hear. Okay.
- Well, that's great. Sounds good. Thank you teleprompter in reverse Because I'm a rough I just want to
- follow up on Councilman Smith's Clear Creek renewal questions and believe me, I'm not being Skeptical
- or anything. No one once would like to see Clear Creek
- Cleaned up more than me. I've been waiting in that creek fishing that creek from Dilman Road all the
- way down to Gore Road for 40 years and so it's very exciting to me, but I mean if we the the estimate
- for in the presentation for the study phase was five hundred thousand dollars half a million dollars
- What are we talking about in terms of a potential
- Ballpark cost of actually implementing what we are gonna maybe be paying half a million dollars for
- just for a study Yeah, so It's hard to have an estimate when you don't know what's technically feasible
- yet And these are just the steps you have to take to make such a big project done. Well So I think we're
- being very deliberate with this study
- You know at the very least what we need to do is improve that channel. So we know that we have to do
- something and that would be the most cost effective alternative is to just improve the channel improve
- the channel walls. You know that is something we have to do. But depending on what we choose to do as
- a utility and as a community. Yeah those those costs could get up there.
- And the pay paying paying for what could be a massively expensive project How was the funding going
- to go for it So the funding for a project like this Again, I wanted to highlight how we are aggressive
- with seeking outside funding because we recognize that this project could be a very large project but
- additionally
- We anticipate that a fair portion of it will be funded through the stormwater fee and we've we don't
- typically bond for projects in stormwater because they don't come up to the same amount as some of these
- larger projects at the plants. But this would likely be a project we would bond for and then pay for
- through that stormwater fee.
- All right. And then I in my last 20 seconds just it'd be nice to get at some point an update to council
- on the still speaking of stormwater on the sort of overall sort of stormwater initiative. I remember
- you and I have talked before about like finding opportunities to do little stormwater improvement things
- wherever in the community we can just seizing each opportunity as it appears or as we think of it. Be
- nice to somehow get out.
- Comprehensive plan on where we're at with that and what what the strategy is from here forward? Absolutely.
- Yeah Additional questions council members, I'm not seeing any So we could go to members of the public
- for comment on the city of Bloomington utilities budget proposal for 2027 Anyone in chambers that wants
- to come out, please come to the podium. I'm not seeing well member the public still with us Thank you
- for being here
- Or members online who'd like to comment if you want to raise your hand and zoom virtual hand Seeing
- none, okay with that we can come back to council members for comments on utilities proposal See councilmember Stossberg
- Quickly kind of send out some appreciation to the whole utilities team out there It is really really
- this valuable essential service that they provide to the community of clean water of adequate treatment
- of our storm water of maintenance of those storm water systems so that You know, we can better manage
- heavy rains and flooding and things like that and Management of our of our wastewater so that we can
- You know keep everything clean and there is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes of that and
- you know, I For those of you don't know I host exchange students on a regular basis and every year inevitably
- they say is this water safe to drink and there are a lot of places in the world and even in this country
- where you have to say no that like I would not recommend drinking the tap water and this is not one
- of those places so I
- I'm just really appreciative toward that and I mean one of the things this budget shows is how much
- it really costs to maintain the kind of infrastructure that is necessary to provide that to the community
- and It it is a lot, but it's also just an incredible Necessity you can say in terms of our community
- needs. So that's all thank you so much Additional comments councilmember Gallo
- Yes, I want to echo that it's very important and But I did want to just reflect a moment on anticipating
- rate increases, which no one likes of course, but necessary nonetheless In part because of inflation
- in part because of some variability I'm sure prices of certain materials specific materials that are
- needed. There's deferred maintenance or replacement costs of piping and things like that but
- We're also going to have a new facility expand an expansion for a new facility and Just to say that
- this is a reflection of growth of the community And those costs were never essentially internalized
- to those who benefited from that growth necessarily So the current residents will see the rate increase
- in order to subsidize a larger facility so this is something that has
- Bothered me for some time. I'd like to unpack that further. I don't think it's fair necessarily for
- the current residents to subsidize growth if growth occurs growth may be inevitable and you know some
- quarters people want it but those that benefit from it should be paying for it and not necessarily those
- who are just you know current residents that see more traffic have more crowded schools need to pay
- for new facilities etc.
- So it's a conundrum that I think deserves attention and to be addressed and packed a bit. Thank you
- Additional comments I'll echo in a few of those themes first just appreciate the attention that director
- Ziger has shown to the bill payment assistance program and finding ways to improve that and bring the
- assistance to more folks who are facing economic insecurity and Have trouble accessing these essential services
- So yeah, it's just notable, and I appreciate you sharing the highlights from that here. Also, echoing
- Councilmember Stosberg's comments, I work in the utility regulatory sector, not water, electric, in
- my day job, but I do have an occasion to interact with a lot of regulatory staff and folks from across
- the country at conferences and events, and there's a much broader trend of municipal water utilities
- that are really not in good shape.
- from an infrastructure perspective, financial perspective, and a lot of privatization as well as a result
- of that, which almost always leads to less local control, higher rates, et cetera. So just noting some
- of those things that we shouldn't take for granted here in Bloomington. So thank you again to all of
- CBU and the staff for being here with us tonight for the proposal. That is the end of our presentations
- for tonight, and that is
- at the end of our agenda. However, before we adjourn, if there's no objection, I did want to offer a
- brief moment for a report from Council Member Zulek.
- Yes. Thank you. I was asked by a constituent to share an event. There will be a vigil for a peaceful
- vigil for the detainees of the ice Miami correctional facility held on Friday August 28th at 850 p.m.
- On the southeast corner of the Bloomington courthouse square. Again this is going to be a peaceful vigil
- and it is sponsored by the Indiana organizing project for anyone who would like to Google it.
- Thank you. Thank you for that report.
- And with that, we are adjourned. We'll see you back here Monday next week.