- Good evening folks Adam Wason public works director for the city of Bloomington it is 530 p.m. On July 1st 30 July 1st 2025 we are here in City Council chambers at 401 North North North Morton Street Bloomington Indiana. We also have a live zoom link going with a meeting ID and passcode on the agenda and the city website.
- If you're a member of the public on the Zoom link and you would like to make a public comment this evening, you can do so with the raise hand function or the chat function, and we'll be sure to unmute you at the appropriate time for those public comments. Otherwise, I will turn it over to Board President Kyla Cox-Dekard, and thank you so much. Thank you.
- I call to order this regular meeting of the Board of Public Works this Tuesday, July 1st of 2025. First up on the agenda, we have messages from board members. Do we have any messages from the board this evening? All right. Next we have petitions and remonstrances. Now is the opportunity to make a public comment about something that is not on our agenda. If you're on Zoom joining us and would like to make a public comment, you can use the chat function or the raised hand function to let us know. And if you're here in the room, you may approach the microphone.
- And if you can introduce yourself, that would be great. Hello. Thank you. My name's Greg Alexander. I'm here about the sidewalk. It's on Third Street, on the north side of Third Street, just west of college. It's like where the new hotel should be for the Convention Center. It's still closed. It's been more than three months since I came here to mention it the first time. And then immediately after, you allocated a little bit of money for it, which I appreciate.
- But it's still closed and I can only imagine that director of public works has a very Good reason because I know he keeps track of a million things and really pays attention to a bunch of them So but that's not what I'm here for There are four divisions of city government that have had responsibility for this closure the RDC owns the property and so therefore housing a neighborhood is responsible for it, but of course they have a million responsibilities and They don't care about pedestrians
- Public works has accepted the maintenance responsibility Which I think is admirable and I think that's that's a very difficult position to be in for every maintenance responsibility in the city to land on you but they haven't taken care of it and Engineering has a responsibility. I want to point out to you that this responsibility isn't to you guys. It's not to their bosses It's not to the mayor. It's not to the City Council. It's to us the citizens to provide a safe and efficient pedestrian network throughout the city and
- Given that I think the buck stops with engineering they the city ordinance gives them the requirement to issue fines to issue stop work orders to To collect the money and once you collect the money, they're allowed to go in and hire their own and do the work and so I I think if engineering staff came here and asked you to enforce a fine against department or the the Redevelopment Commission
- They would feel like they're walking out of line and yet that's their responsibility they owe to the citizens and so I'm here to beg you to reiterate to them that that responsibility to the citizens is absolute and a regular property owner doesn't have
- They can't be like, oh, I have a good reason that I'm disobeying the law. No, they get a fine. And they can choose. They can choose the fine or the remediation. They can choose. But I think we need to give that choice to the Development Commission, because the Redevelopment Commission has so far chosen to put it off, which is very understandable, because they're exempt from the law. But they don't have to be. They shouldn't be. And I know you're appointed by the mayor, so you probably disagree with me on the fundamentals here. But this is a responsibility to the citizens. Thank you.
- Try to provide some more information here and I appreciate your comments. Mr. Alexander there We are doing everything we can possibly do to try to get that sidewalk open the issue we're having is the supply of The fencing that's required the contractor that has gotten this is not it's on a backorder. We've been following up every week That's still not been delivered. This is the black kind of rock. That's not wrought iron, but aluminum fencing that is along the
- Southern portion of that sidewalk where third Street goes under They it's simply not arrived yet. I've asked for an update again this week We are it does need to remain closed as a safety issue the other part that we're trying to
- Make sure we keep putting up laminated signs that are explaining the delays. They keep getting taken down. We're trying to provide as much information of why it's delayed as possible, but we'll have another update next week and I'm really hopeful that fencing gets in real soon. Thank you. Other comments about items not on the agenda.
- None we have title six abatements a 914 West 3rd Street Hello Mike Arnold from housing and neighborhood development This is a property that we've received several complaints on for not mowing the yard That's properties been cited four times beginning on May 9th and ending on June 6th for
- Overgrowth and we've had no movement from the owners and we're requesting permission to abate the property Questions on this item I'm sorry what you said about the owners of the property we haven't We've notified the owners where we have we haven't heard anything back from them Thank you Any public comments on this item
- Seeing none is there a motion I move that we approve the abatement at 914 West 3rd Street and I second I will call the roll. Caron I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Thank you. Thanks. Next is the consent agenda under the consent agenda. We have approval of minutes for March 11th 2025 approval of minutes for March 25th 2025 approval of minutes for April 8th
- 2025 Board of Public Works appointment for the Transportation Commission and approval of payroll. Do we have any items that need to be removed from the consent agenda this evening. Do we have any public comments on anything within the consent agenda this evening. All right. Seeing none. Is there a motion on the consent agenda. I move that we approve the consent agenda for tonight's meeting of July 1st 2025.
- And I second. I will call the roll. Chrome I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Next we have new business first under new business. We have approved addendum number one to service agreement with Caramita for soil investigation on the beeline. Good evening. Roy Aten with City Engineering Department. This is our beeline project which was an extension of the beeline from
- the end of the terminus Adam Street over to Fountain Drive and then a multi use path that went up Fountain Drive Crescent and connects to the multi use path network that we have on 17th Street. March 25th of this year the board approved a services agreement with Caramita to do some soil testing in the area of Adam Street was discovered that there was a salvage yard there at one point in time.
- What we have this evening then is this is an addendum to that agreement that will provide additional soil testing for the area and then also the removal of some 250 cubic yards of unsuitable soil that will be transported up to Danville in Indiana. The addendum will increase the contract amount by $31,775.
- For a final not to exceed amount of thirty seven thousand one hundred fifty dollars Thank you questions on this item any public comments on this item Seeing none is there a motion I move that we approve addendum number one to the service agreement with caramita for soil investigation on the beeline and
- And I second I will call the roll. Crone I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Next we have approved consulting contract with tool for Roger Street South Madison Street Kinzer Pike corridor study. My name's Hank Duncan a planning and transportation department the planning and transportation department request board of public works approval to execute a two hundred nine thousand two hundred twenty one dollar contract with tool design group for a comprehensive study.
- the Roger Street Madison Street Kinser Pike corridor Spanning 4.5 miles from State Road 45 46 bypass to Country Club Drive This study aligned with Bloomington's visions your goal to eliminate fatal and serious crashes by 2039 Will assess current conditions engage the community and develop long-term safety and design recommendations funded through the approved planning transportation department budget and
- The project will run from July 2025 through April 20 26 Tool design was selected through a qualifications based process for its strong team Well relevant experience and alignment with city goals and happy to answer any questions Thank you questions on this item Can I ask what was added to the packet for this item that was not in for discussion yesterday I
- There on the staff report I only included Hank summary and he included the summary of the actual project versus just the initial project information. So it updated the staff report and a conflict of interest form for Councilman Matt Flaherty for tool design company was also added. Thank you.
- So yesterday during the work session we talked a little bit about kind of the overall scope of some of these studies because they come from, they're sort of rooted in that comprehensive plan to then the transportation plan to then some of these studies that have branched out from that transportation plan including the college walnut corridor study, the addendum to the college walnut corridor study.
- and then now the Roger Street, Madison, Kinzer corridor study. And so I had just asked some questions about how these are interconnected and how the work had gone up to this point with the college walnut corridor study and that addendum, because all of the, from the transportation plan on, all of those studies were completed by tool.
- I think is correct. I'm not sure how much involvement they had in the comprehensive plan. But transportation on, it's all been completed by the same group and this proposal comes from the same group as well. So I thought it was good to just cover kind of where we were on each of those and the knowledge that had been gained up to this point on each of those studies.
- It'd be great to hear a little bit about the selection process because you know they have been selected multiple times during this this study period and planning period. So if you could tell us just a little bit more about the way that the selection took place. Sure of course. I want to preface it with the fact that I was not at the city nor nor was I involved with previous selection processes different different administration different director different department staff.
- This was the first selection process that I have led. I've been in other selection processes through the engineering department. I follow their selection process very well in which we have an independent scoring system. So we gather a team of folks in relevant departments, planning and transportation, engineering, Bloomington Transit for this particular project. We send out an evaluation sheet that evaluates their project manager, their project team and structure, relevant project experience,
- values, project approach, and another category. We tally those scores up independently, score them, and then we come together as a group and talk through them. Essentially, what did we not get through the scoring process that we need to talk through? Through that process of the scoring and discussion, we found that Tool was far and away the best firm. There were definitely other qualified firms for this project. I want to make that clear.
- I think one of the important things that Hank may have left out there is there was an RFP, RFQ process? There was an RFI process that we sent out through multiple sources, APA Indiana, I believe the National APA as well, and we actually sent this out to specific firms as well to make sure that they received it and we had a fair and competitive selection process.
- we received responses from six firms, proposals from six firms. It was a competitive process. There were a number of firms that we did genuinely consider, but at the end of the day, whether it was one variable or another, tools stuck out amongst the rest, essentially because one, they do things in-house where we don't have to deal with subcontractors, which introduce a number of other variables. And then, most of all, we are qualified to lead quarter studies in-house, and frankly,
- We are actually working to increase staffing within the department within the department to lead future quarter studies in health. So we don't have to go through these processes. But in the meantime with whichever firm we choose we want to choose a firm that pushes us beyond what we are capable of beyond what the planners think of beyond what the engineers think of.
- Tool especially from their relevant project experience and our working relationship with them They have done that and we know that they can do that. Whereas some other firms Simply did not sell themselves as well as they could have or their relevant project experience was not exactly what we were looking for with this project I appreciate that Overview of the process because you know when the Board of Public Works looks at these we get just the surface level of
- paperwork that says you know they were selected as the as the best and we don't necessarily have all that background so I appreciate you being able to walk us through what that looked like particularly with this you know in the past I had had concerns when we entered into the college and walnut corridor study I'd had concerns about how that evolved from the transportation plan process and so you know following up with this
- coming before us I just appreciate having the opportunity to talk through that to alleviate some of those concerns that you know existed back when we went through that process of that particular agreement. The other thing that I'm excited about with this proposal is that the corridor is a critical corridor.
- When we think about the College and Walnut corridor, we can hardly think about that corridor without also thinking about this corridor. I think that, you know, it does give an opportunity and, you know, if I were creating a wish list for this contract, I think it gives an opportunity for TUL to be creative in how they look at all of the corridor studies and how they're
- engaged and how we can creatively adapt the needs that we have considering we do have those two strong corridors. So it would be great to see some creative options in thinking especially because they have this deep background.
- 40 years ago, this particular corridor looked quite different. I still remember as a kid going over the bumpy wooden bridge on Madison, you know, over the hill. So, you know, it's just in my time, it has evolved and we've seen RCA go and we've seen, you know,
- Neuronovics come in and we've seen a lot of different changes through that area. So I'm looking forward to what tool might be able to envision having had the depth of experience that they've had up to this point and maybe not relying on sort of a cookie cutter approach to
- What the corridor may look like given that we're kind of navigating those two really important corridors Yeah, I very much appreciate that perspective you know and
- From a public works perspective we are also excited to have this corridor studied. You know we've got some payment payment maintenance needs that we're going to have to take care of just as part of course of just general maintenance. But this also offers an opportunity to look at the various as Hank and Ryan and David and I talked about earlier there's a lot of different types of uses on along this whole corridor. I mean it stretches all the way from the bypass Harley Davidson and the wide street and the hotels and all of that.
- You know then into a very heavily apartment centric area and then a very narrow street there between 17th and 11th and then you get behind city hall. So there's a lot of different there's a lot of variety and diversity of the uses around that surround the corridor. But we also look forward to you know we know that there are sidewalk improvements that are needed throughout that corridor. You get south of Dodds. There are some that you know curbs that are down to two inches and such. So it's going to provide a lot of
- opportunity for multiple departments to get some input and get some benefit of a study that's going to look at a very important corridor with Norbert and others in that area too. And then the only other point I wanted to make and a specific request if I could of the consultant could the very first recommendation be that we not have roads with three names.
- Sorry I'm sorry because it wouldn't be Bloomington if it wasn't a corridor that had four names on the road. So sorry I'm sure there are very specific reasons why there are different names for the different sections of the same road. Yes it made sense at one time. No that's yeah I appreciate that opportunity and thinking about this. So with corridor studies there tends to be a large public
- process that happens What can the public look forward to in being engaged in talking about this particular corridor? So the particulars we are still ironing out of course But this will there will be some aspects similar to previous projects. Some will be different quite honestly Last last year we hosted the safety week which was a week around the entire city based on how we can improve our streets for safety what our residents hearing and feeling as they
- go throughout their day, we're going to do a similar approach with this specific corridor. Go out and have different pop-up table events. Talk to businesses, not simply just public meetings in a formal setting. We will definitely have those. But also, talk to the people who don't normally get out to these meetings. Talk to the people who need this probably the most. Along with that,
- Of course, the end product will be a long-term vision of what we want this quarter to look like in 10 or 20 or 30 years, but we also want to make short-term improvements too. And that means demonstration or quick build infrastructure projects. If there's an area that we know we need reduced pedestrian crossing distance, we can put out some hay bales, some delineator posts, something very quick and trial it. This is the opportunity to experiment and trial with things
- and hear what the public has to say. So that's just one example. But there will be many other ways that the public will be engaged because at the end of the day we're built we are building it for them not for us. I just want to say in this kind of piggyback on something that you had said but there's nothing in the proposal from tool that says we will incorporate information learned from the Walnut in college study.
- And as we discussed yesterday the intersections in this study they don't overlap with the intersections in the college and Walnut study but I really would like to ensure that this study incorporates everything that is learned especially in the addendum to the college and Walnut corridor study and this is not looked at in a vacuum.
- I mean we don't want I don't think you're asking for a contract change or anything else that it's just a recognition of staff that is that is a desire of the board as we move through the process that we do specifically ask them to consider what they're studying with college and Walnut and you know to the point kind of Hank made earlier it does give us the confidence in the team that has worked on so many so many aspects of this that they would be easily able to do such things so I don't think that's a huge ask.
- Do we have any public comments on this item. I'll go ahead and read Mr. Oseman is Eric. Eric Ose may make a comment but I'll just read what he put into the chat. He asked where the quarter study. Where was the quarter study RFI published. Can a link to this document be added to the meeting packet and public record. Can all RFI response documents also be published and linked for access as public record. And so
- And then publish a revised packet with that information Miranda sent him a link to where the RFI was Located and such and then we'll follow up with planning and legal about what can be released as far as the RFI responses Other public comments on this item
- Do we have a motion on this item. I move that we approve the consulting contract with tool for Roger Street South Madison Street Kinzer Pike corridor study and I second. I will call the roll. Crone I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Next we have approved contract with Crider and Crider for Hopewell West South Jackson Street and South Roger Street. Zach Rogers with engineering.
- So this is a contract with Crider and Crider for Hopewell West, which would be Jackson Street and Rogers Street. So this would be a reconstruction of Rogers Street between First and Second Street and one block of Jackson Street. This will include new stormwater infrastructure, sidewalks, and a multi-use path along Rogers Street and a protected bike lane on Rogers Street as well.
- These bids were publicly opened and read aloud at the Board of Public Works session yesterday, June 30th at noon. Criter and Criter was the lowest and responsible bidder. Their bid came in at $1,687,318.85. We had three bids on that. Engineering is recommending to award the contract to Criter and Criter. Additionally, on this project, there will be some lane restrictions on Roger Street between first and second.
- And there will be a 30 day closure on 1st Street just west of Roger Street. There is a maintenance of traffic plan that I did attach to the agenda and the MOT route for the westbound traffic would be South Euclid Avenue and then eastbound traffic would go down Fairview to West Wiley Street. Be happy to answer any questions. So just to confirm we are not simply approving the contract but also the closure as well. Yes. OK. Thank you.
- There will be making sure to coordinate very closely with the Convention Center project on overlap of detours or any of that. Make sure that all aspects are taken into account with both projects and also BCM contractor who's working on the core building as well. We're working pretty close with them as well. Any public comments on this item.
- Is there a motion. I move that we approve the contract with Crider and Crider for Hopewell West South Jackson Street and South Roger Street. And I second. I will call the roll. Crone I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Next up we have staff reports and other business. Just a few staff reports. Brief ones we've got forced to the July parade coming up on Friday. So that'll be on College and Walnut in the downtown.
- I hope everybody that would like can make it out to the great Parks and Rec run downtown Fourth of July parade. So that'll be this weekend. Still working with a lot of special event organizers on their events this summer. Taste of Bloomington, Pride Fest, those are still awaiting some approval. So we're working, Cassie, Wernie, and our office is working closely with all of them. Also working with IU on the Homecoming Parade and what that might be this year. So lots of conversations about some of our big downtown
- special events yet this year that will be coming to the board. And I just want to give you a heads up on a change order that will be coming. We are trying to get on the agenda for tonight but next meeting we'll have a change order for the downtown alley project that was awarded to case. There are a couple of things that have come up that we've needed to address quickly in the field to keep that project moving ahead of the summer.
- the end of summer that is ever so close already. And so we'll have more information and that for your consideration at the next meeting.
- Keeping those projects on schedule the alley project behind Nick's and village deli and such and north and south between tracks and towards the principle that's all complete new pavement down and Appreciate milestones effort on that. They're going to be moving. They're working on some I you parking lots and then we'll also be
- Doing Grant Street here soon between 3rd and 10th. So busy busy busy work is ongoing up on Kinzer Pike north of the bypass with pavement maintenance project ADA ramp improvements and a Pedestrian refuge island They're just north that will help folks get from Kroger to the bus stop on the What would be the east side of northbound Kinzer there? So
- major improvements happening throughout the city. The project down by Childs Elementary the roundabout from everything we're hearing is still on schedule for originally published dates and such. So lots going on big community projects that will have long term impact. So thank you. Next up we have approval of claims. Are there any questions from the board on claims. Do you have any public comments on claims.
- Seeing none is there a motion I move I move that we approve claims this evening in the amount of three million two hundred ninety four thousand two hundred six dollars and eighty two cents and I second I will call the roll crown I Cox Deckard I motion passes and seeing as we have nothing else on the agenda I will call for adjournment.