- Alright Hi, I'm Adam Wason. I'm the public works director for the city of Bloomington. It is 5 31 p.m.
- On Tuesday, January 13th 2026 We are in the council chambers here at City Hall Bloomington, Indiana
- And this is the regularly scheduled Board of Public Works meeting We have a zoom link with a meeting
- ID and a passcode on it we have a couple members of the public that are on the zoom meet and
- not sure why the screens flashing like that hopefully that'll kind of stop a little bit but if you are
- a member of the public on zoom and at any point have a public comment for items on the agenda or during
- the petitions and remonstrances portion of the agenda we just ask that you use
- The raise hand function and we will unmute you at that time and allow you to make your public comment
- public comment will be limited to three minutes per individual this evening and we have several items
- on the agenda of the consent agenda and then just two items of new business. So at this time I'll turn
- it over to Kyla Cox Deckard board president for the board of public works.
- works this Tuesday January 13th of twenty twenty six. First up we have messages from board members.
- Next we have appeals under appeals. We have notice of violation appeal from December 1st twenty twenty
- five for Wells and Wells.
- with our engineering department, and we have Alex Pratt with our legal team here to help as well. So
- this is a violation that occurred on December 1st, 2025, and after the engineering department received
- a submission via the UReport online reporting function for something previously noting that the gate
- was blocking the 17th Street side path.
- On December 1st, staff went out and observed that and had followed up with Wells and Wells, letting
- them know that the notice of violation would be issued. We have communicated, the staff has communicated
- back to Wells and Wells our response to their appeal, and I don't know that we have any representatives
- of Wells and Wells here at this time. Would LK or Kelly J be here?
- So we do ask that you uphold the notice of violation and deny the appeal for the improper blocking of
- the side path there on 17th Street. Thank you. I'll just call for the appellant for this notice of violation
- appeal from December 1st 2025. If there is someone present here to represent this appeal please.
- signal either on Zoom with a raised hand function or a chat function, or signal in person by standing
- up. I don't have anyone here on Zoom. All right. Seeing no appellant, is there any questions from the
- board on this? I have none. We had a good discussion about this in yesterday's work session.
- Is your mic on? Nope.
- Thank you. I said I have no questions. We had a good discussion about this at yesterday's work session.
- So thank you for all the information. All right. Is there a motion on this item recording in progress.
- I move that we deny the appeal for the notice of violation from December 1 2025 for Wells and Wells.
- All right. I second. We have a motion in a second. I will call the roll.
- Caron I Cox Deckard I motion passes. Next we have notice of violation appeal from December 3rd 2025
- for Wells and Wells director. So this is a violation and the subsequent appeal was a violation on December
- 3rd 2025 where a truck was blocking a side path.
- A parked truck was blocking a side path with no appropriate signage or maintenance of traffic in place.
- And staff, when speaking with the subcontractor, they noted that they were blocking that. And in a subsequent
- meeting, staff let them know that we did not agree with their rationale. And we do ask that the appeal
- be denied and the notice of violation be upheld.
- the appellant if the appellant is present for the notice of violation appeal from December 3rd of 2025
- for Wells and Wells. If you are on zoom if you could please enter something in the chat or raise your
- hand to let us know that you're here. All right. Any questions from the board on this item. Is there a motion.
- I move that we deny the appeal for the notice of violation from December 3rd 2025 for Wells and Wells.
- I second. I will call the roll. Crone I Cox Deckard I motion passes next we have the notice of violation
- appeal from December 5th of 2025 for Wells and Wells. Yes.
- director. So in early December staff was working with Wells and Wells who had submitted a right of way
- permit on December 3rd for a street closure on Lincoln for December 5th. Due to the other unresolved
- issues of compliance for that site staff did not approve that right of way closure request which is
- consistent with city code chapter or section 12.
- which enables the engineering department staff to revoke or withhold other approvals certificates and
- or permits relevant to the site on which the violation has occurred or to the parties committing the
- violation. So we did not issue that permit. They subsequently did close the road on December 5th after
- we did not issue the permit. And so then we issued the notice of violation for the improper road closure. I will.
- Again call for the appellant for notice of violation for appeal from December 5th 2025 for Wells and
- Wells. If you have joined us on zoom and you would like to let us know that you're here you can use
- the chat function or the raised hand function. All right. Questions from the board on this item.
- I don't have any questions but I do want to express that I have deep concern about these violations.
- This is not the first set of violations that we have become aware of on this board and we take seriously
- the access to the right of way and the particularly egregious closure of the right of way when there
- was not a permit issued.
- I would implore Wells and Wells to take seriously those ordinances and the safety of our residents and
- would hope that we don't see additional notices of violation from this project. All right. Is there
- a motion on this item violation from December 5th 2025 for Wells and Wells and I second. I will call
- the roll. Caron I Cox Deckard I.
- motion passes. Next up we have petitions and remonstrances. This is a time for public comment on items
- that are not on our agenda this evening. If anyone has a public comment on something not on the agenda,
- now is the opportunity to offer that. If you're on Zoom, you can use the raised hand function or the
- chat function to let us know you'd like to make a comment. If you're present in the room and would like
- to make a comment on something not on the agenda, you may approach the microphone.
- Next up is the consent agenda under the consent agenda. We have resolution 20 26-02 policy and procedure
- on private art installation in the public right of way resolution 20 26-03 mobile vendor Peeley's taco
- truck number one resolution 20 26-04 mobile vendor Peeley's
- taco truck number two resolution twenty twenty six dash zero five mobile vendor police taco truck three
- twenty twenty six service agreement with Parker Technology for Parker Pike parking services twenty twenty
- six service agreement with even time for parking services service agreement for upgrade of RTA to RTA
- 360 with Ron Turley and Associates for fleet services purchase of fire engine from HME and payroll.
- Do we have any items that need to be removed from the consent agenda this evening. Do we have any public
- comments on items within the consent agenda this evening. Seeing none is there a motion on the consent
- agenda for tonight's meeting of January 13th 2026.
- All right, I second. I will call the roll. Caron? Aye. Cox-Dekard, aye. Motion passes. Next, we have
- new business. First under new business is road closure and sidewalk diversion on South High Street for
- Duke Energy. Good evening. Kyle Wall, program manager, engineering. So Duke is requesting this closure
- on High Street just south of Woodstock,
- So this would be a project that would take place over the period of three days occurring between February
- 23rd and March 9th of this year I Wanted to note that this one's a fairly unique one in that there's
- no sidewalk that they're so sorry, they're requesting lane and sidewalk intermittent roadway closure
- Intermittent roadway closure is going to be because of the nature of this layout
- Only providing one sidewalk, which is on the east side of High Street in this location So we've come
- up with a kind of a unique plan to allow Flaggers to stop traffic both north and south on the roadway
- that would allow Pedestrians to traverse on the left-hand side of this work area that would occupy the
- eastern sidewalk so it's it's a little bit more intense than what we would normally see but the location
- Is what it is So myself and field specialists will be out to monitor the progress on this Also want
- to note that this would not be in place during the school arrival or dismissal hours as we know that
- there's heavy foot traffic in the area during that time Thank you questions on this item I assume as
- part of this you'll be in touch with MCC at that local elementary school and let them know about the
- The increased flagging. Yes. Thank you. Any public comments on this item. Seeing none. Is there a motion.
- I move that we approve the road closure and sidewalk diversion on South High Street for Duke Energy.
- And I second. I will call the roll. Caron I Cox Deckard I motion passes.
- Next we have resolution twenty twenty six dash zero one policy on special events in the right of way.
- Good evening again Adam Wilson public works director on behalf of Cassie Warney our special projects
- and operations manager in the public works department. We've been working for the last couple of last
- year plus with our downtown special event organizers on revamping and updating our policies and procedures
- related to special events in the downtown using the public right of way.
- The policy that we're proposing here would apply to special events in the public right of way IE events
- that take place on city streets and it does not apply to events that take place in our parks or with
- our parks and Recreation Department at their facilities This was co-created with in consultation with
- our public safety agencies both here in Bloomington and with the state of Indiana other city departments
- other comparable cities and our community event organizers and
- Several updates of note. This establishes three downtown festival footprints for events anticipating
- attendance of 1000 people or more. The application use and temporary parking permit fees per the Bloomington
- Municipal Code Chapter 12.08 and 12.10. Moving forward there will be a routine annual review of this
- policy and application and any changes will be shared with the Board of Public Works.
- Staff does recommend that we adopt the board resolution 26-01 and enact the policy. Please note that
- an exception for the 4th Street Arts Festival has been granted for 2026 in the policy. The event will
- celebrate its 50th anniversary this year on 4th Street and we want to help accommodate their use of
- 4th Street for this 50th anniversary and in subsequent years would be moved to Kirkwood Avenue.
- Submission additional context on the three downtown festival footprints. So the three footprints would
- include Kirkwood Avenue from Walnut to Indiana the courthouse square Kirkwood to the south and 6th Street
- to the north and trades district up to the north of City Hall here on Madison and Makers Way. These
- these footprints would accommodate the majority of the city's large street festivals that
- take place currently and are well suited due to the existing traffic patterns and public safety
- infrastructure that is already installed. This allows for more contained and manageable closures and
- establishing these footprints sets predictability for our public for the public public safety operations
- and those that have to adapt during these street closures.
- We've also invested significantly in downtown safety infrastructure, including the permanent bollards
- on the Kirkwood corridor. Following a project this spring, all alleys and blocks from the 100 through
- 500 blocks will have sleeves for bollard installation. This will be not only the actual intersections
- of the roadways but all of the alleyways as well.
- Standardizing event location also improves the operational efficiency for all city departments that
- support these festivals and festivals and events. We've worked very closely with our downtown stakeholders,
- including the Kirkwood Community Association, Downtown Bloomington, Inc., our downtown strategies consultant,
- and community event organizers from other peer communities to develop these best practices.
- A few things to note. There's basically four reasons we're moving this forward. A number one is public
- safety. We have to put together festival footprints and public events in the public right of way with
- footprints that have public safety at the forefront. That is absolutely the A number one reason we're
- doing this. We also need to establish some policies and procedures around this. Right now we have an
- event application and those come to the board just
- after submitting applications. These policies and procedures actually put a process in place for footprints
- for all organizations to be able to look to and then have a set maintenance of traffic plan that would
- go for each of the footprints that's more of a plug and play. Here's where your signs go, here's the
- type of sign, and it's for each of the three different footprints. A few other notes to make here.
- our work towards agency accreditation through the American Public Works Association. All of our divisions
- in public works outside of the animal care and control division are currently going through an accreditation
- process. Part of that is to establish policies and procedures for all of the various roles
- and responsibilities we have in public service. So it applies to six of our divisions. This is a several
- year process. As part of that, this is a policy that's being established so that we have
- that we have a set policy for all of our event organizers. A big other factor in all of this is over
- the last several years we've had a significant increase in the number of special events coming to the
- city to try to create an event for whatever their specific whether it's a bike race whether it's a food
- festival whether it's other types of art art showcases or things like that. Last year alone we had over
- a 50 percent increase in the number of applications coming through to use our rights of way.
- By standardizing this we will have set footprints we will have information for the event organizers
- that they can implement in an easy fashion while also keeping in mind the resources the city puts towards
- this. Sorry I think I said 54 percent but the memo states 57 percent increase.
- Overall we know this has impacts on our downtown festivals. We know the biggest impact is on the 4th
- Street Festival. We've been trying to work very closely with. Oh shoot I just closed my laptop. Sorry.
- Oh no I'm running it through the other computer today. Yesterday during the work session I closed my laptop.
- And I closed the Zoom meeting, but it's on the other computer today. Thank goodness. So overall, we
- know this affects the 4th Street Arts Festival. We've been working with their executive director, their
- board president for some time now, trying to socialize the idea that we were going to be making these
- changes. We know not all of the participants in the 4th Street Arts Festival agree with trying to move
- their festival to Kirkwood. This is very much public safety in mind. We recognize that we haven't had
- a major incident of
- of what we're trying to avoid at 4th Street, but it doesn't mean it can't happen in the future. This
- is why we're taking this approach. It is not to target one festival over others. It's one to try to
- provide consistency for all of our large festivals in the downtown. We're still going to be good partners.
- We're still going to be big supporters of the 4th Street Festival, but we do ask for your approval with
- the contingency that the 4th Street Festival would remain for 2026 and move to Kirkwood in the subsequent years.
- Cassie is here to answer questions. I'm here to also answer questions. And we'll be happy to answer
- any of your questions. Thank you. So we'll go to questions from the board. I had a question
- for clarification, but I need to find the item here.
- Just to quickly recap our discussion in yesterday's work session, we talked a little bit about some
- of the fees associated with having a
- street closed for a festival, and how some of the clarification in this policy helps to align
- the expectations of that more consistently. Could you speak a little bit more to that, Cassie, just
- about the way that the fee structure stands and how this clarifies it? Yes, happy to. So Cassie Wernie,
- Department of Public Works Special Projects and Operations Manager.
- Yes, so the fee structure currently exists in the Bloomington Municipal Code And as we were kind of
- chatting about yesterday this program really historically has been Decentralized so the right of way
- special event program different pieces were sitting with different departments And this is really the
- first chance that we've had to take all of those pieces look at it together Holistically and really
- review the program overall and as Adam said we did quite a bit of research and looking at
- What other communities are doing best practices in this space and realized very quickly that I think
- we were the only city Compared to other comparable cities that had no fee structure. Well, we realized
- we actually do have a fee structure It is in the Bloomington Municipal Code and so we adopted that fee
- structure in this policy But like I said, it does already exist I think one of the important parts to
- point out about the fees is really the idea behind this there are several one is
- Recovery should really be associated with the event that is that is Creating those costs. So that's
- just best practice Otherwise those those costs are basically being taken on through other kind of budgetary
- funds that we have at the city In addition to that. I would also say that with the fees and
- You know, looking at what other cities charge, this is still a fractional amount of our overall cost.
- But what it does allow with the 57% increase in right-of-way special events is a little bit of coverage
- for us to make this sustainable, for us to continue to support our festivals, our parades, our neighborhood
- block parties by purchasing water barricades, by purchasing no parking signs. You wouldn't believe how
- many we have to put out and how much that costs.
- So just the cost associated with supporting these events, this is a fractional portion of that, but
- it will help make it sustainable for us to continue to support moving forward. Does that help? Okay.
- And just to clarify, by no means is the fee schedule covering all the actual costs incurred by the various
- departments that are helping to support all of these agencies or all these events and festivals. So
- when Cassie says it's fractional, it's very fractional.
- You know, so we're not trying to, in any way, try to cover all of the costs. Again, it's just try to
- create some revenue stream to help manage the overall process. When you have this many events coming
- in, it also helps to, if you have a small application fee, you know, we want to work with all of our
- events, but it makes sure that they have some level of planning and resources behind to actually move
- forward with success.
- Don't think I'd understate this in any way shape or form the number of folks that approach us and that
- don't even get to the application process because they realize they don't really have the resources
- to pull off what they want to pull off. We get approached by bike races every couple months where they
- want to use large portions of the downtown and we want to have a bike race. OK.
- when we ask them questions about, you know, what have you done to figure out what types of maintenance
- or traffic you would need there, what types of public safety officers you would need to actually do
- it. A lot of them haven't even taken a remote step towards understanding all of those other resources
- that are needed to host a successful event. And it's not that we want to just keep them from trying
- to apply. We want to make sure that they recognize and have some level of financial involvement to say,
- yes, we can actually try to do something like this.
- So again, it's just a fraction of the cost recovery and it's really to help sustain an overall program.
- Cassie is one person in our department that works on all of our special events. We look at some other
- cities, they have a department of special events. Every city operates differently, but again, we've
- been working hard with everyone on this and we do hope that we can all move forward with it.
- that have existed in the code are exactly the fees that are in the code now associated with this policy.
- There have been no change to those fees, correct? That is correct. Okay, thank you. Yes. I think you
- probably can both speak to this a bit, but could you talk about the engagement process you've gone through
- in preparing for this? I know serving on the board, I have been a part of conversations and heard reports for
- years now about moving festivals into the Kirkwood Festival footprint because of the infrastructure
- improvements. Would you be able to just talk a little bit, particularly engagement with those community
- event organizers who are working in the spaces of our downtown?
- Yeah, I'd be happy to. It's been fun. So I started this role about a year ago now. And I would say I
- started meeting with all of the event organizers that host large downtown festivals, like Four Street
- Festival, Lotus Festival, Taste of Bloomington, the ones, Grand Faloon, that all come to mind, these
- iconic festivals downtown.
- I would say within two or so months of me starting this role, I met with Brendan King from 4th Street
- Festival I think in late January. So it was really great that so many had reached out and were really
- proactive even though their festivals were occurring or their events were occurring later in the year.
- We started conversations very early.
- I am a listen and learn kind of person. So when I started this job, I literally asked every event organizer
- that I met with, give me feedback on your experience to date. What's working? What's not working? What
- can we do differently? How can we improve this program? How can we support? And I will tell you the
- biggest point of feedback I received from all the event organizers
- was that there was no clear role and responsibility between the city and the event organizer, also that
- their expectations were just not clear on how we work together. And there was inconsistency from year
- to year in how we stand up these events. And they wanted a consistent approach, something that is rinse
- and repeat from an operational, logistical, public safety standpoint. The content of the event is the
- opportunity, I think, to keep it vibrant,
- keep it relevant to the community so they want to attend. But no one wants to reinvent the wheel on
- type 3 barricades. Like they just want to know what to do, where to put them, how does this go, how
- does this work. And so through those conversations, many that I've had, this policy has been kind of
- formed through that. And I've previewed the policy with all of the large downtown
- Event organizers all of our kind of festival organizers and chatted through it with them and addressed
- any kind of concerns that they had I think four Street festivals. We've said is the one that has the
- largest impact So that that was the engagement process. I would say within the city There's a lot of
- internal stakeholders as well. So this was reviewed by
- Bloomington Police Department, Bloomington Fire Department, Planning and Transportation, Engineering,
- Economic and Sustainable Development. So we have a lot of folks internally too that have a stake in
- these events that also needed to give feedback, iterated, legal. Sorry, I left our attorney who's sitting
- back there out and she helped a lot. So yeah, this has really been through quite a few reviews. So that
- was that process.
- It says moving forward though there will be a routine annual review of this policy and application and
- any changes will be shared with the Board of Public Works. Would revisions be subject to approval by
- the Board of Public Works. I think they would. Yeah go ahead. Our attorney is saying yes. Yes yes they would be.
- little bit about the inevitable situation where one of the three identified footprints might be under
- construction or in some way not a good place to host a festival for many different reasons that could
- could arise and that in that situation that the city would review what those alternative
- options would be for those events in the case that we can't use a footprint that maybe would have been
- ideal for that event. We're so blessed here in Bloomington that, you know, given our academic calendars
- and such, we do try to pack a lot of projects in during times when the university population is lower.
- So that involves a lot of the summer months when our festivals take place.
- You know, as early as spring break this year and throughout the summer, we're gonna be doing sidewalk
- maintenance on Kirkwood bricks from Indiana all the way to Walnut. We're probably gonna have a festival
- taking place, a street fair or festival taking place during that maintenance project at some point in
- time this summer. We're gonna accommodate. We're gonna shift things. We're gonna make sure that anywhere
- that's under construction is safely barricaded and outside of any of the festivals.
- footprints. We're going to modify, we're going to adjust, we're going to accommodate as best we can.
- In the instance that Kirkwood from Indiana to Walnut is obviously one of the key footprints that we're
- asking for approval on.
- If we had a major reconstruction of Kirkwood, which I don't foresee in the near future, that there's
- always been the conversations in Bloomington. Is it a pedestrian mall in the future? Are there vehicles?
- Are there not? If we were to make some major change to Kirkwood in a given summer with a major construction
- project, we're going to relook at this policy, try to identify other locations that we could make do
- in that timeframe. But we don't expect those in the next several years. We expect Kirkwood and the locations we're
- Asking for approval here to remain pretty identical to what they are for the foreseeable future and
- I think I would just add to that that Parks are other locations that we can explore So we've been working
- really closely with the event organizers to really think about where is your event best placed? I
- We know that there are event organizers that are now considering using switch yard park instead of a
- street for an event in the future So we don't just even if there is construction or some extenuating
- circumstance to consider There are other places that are actually built for recreation That we can also
- work with our colleagues and parks to adapt and adjust Any other questions
- to mind. Alright.
- Next, we're opening this up for public comment. We are giving three minutes per commenter for anyone
- who would like to make a public comment on this item. We will first go with the in-person public comment
- and then turn to the Zoom public comment. So if you are on Zoom and would like to make a public comment,
- you're welcome to notify us through the chat that you'd like to do so, but we'll first queue the in-person
- attendees. So if you are in-person and you would like to make a public comment,
- welcome to approach the microphone. If you can state your name for us, that helps us to document this
- for our minutes. Thank you. My name is Pamela Davidson. I'm on the board of the 4th Street Art Fair,
- and I have a list I would like to share with the two of you and Adam.
- I request permission to read this into the record, so it's also for CATS. It may take longer than three
- minutes, but it's very succinct, as you can see. Ms. Davidson, what I would let you know is we will
- include this whole document in the meeting minutes. If you can do it in three minutes, great, but we
- will definitely include this whole document in our meeting minutes and make it part of the public record.
- I know this is on CATS, and I would much rather it be recorded. I will read quickly. This is very succinct.
- This is a huge issue.
- This is a mighty big issue. I won't go on. What I would like to do is just start your three minutes
- now instead of with the time it took you to be able to provide us with the list. So we'll start that
- now. Thank you. Thank you. These are compelling reasons to grandfather the 4th Street Art Festival.
- I have 15. Number one, our very name, our very identity for 50 long years has been the 4th Street Festival
- of the Arts and Craft and known as 4th Street. Volunteer organizers have spent
- decades cultivating and nurturing that name recognition locally in Indianapolis and in central Indiana.
- This change would destroy decades of carefully cultivated and costly marketing outreach and name recognition.
- How do we market 4th Street on 5th Street?
- Festival has long been a revenue producer for the community. Artists travel here for it to stay and
- eat here, as do patrons on 4th Street, downtown and also Kirkwood Avenue. Number three, the treeline
- 4th Street is absolutely essential to festivals patron and artist experiences. And as a matter of public
- health, with temperatures heating up, shade keeps patrons at the festival longer.
- far more comfortable and shopping at more artists booths. Number four, artists have told us they've
- had their best day ever at this festival, which is a huge endorsement to get other artists to come and
- a shining example of how well it's run. Number five, the fee of $1,000, I'll move on, we'll talk about
- that later, I understand cost recovery.
- Number six, the city would like to move the festival to Kirkwood and suggest we avoid the bar blocks.
- How is that even possible when most blocks have a bar? So that would break up the festival
- with interruptions. The flow and continuity would reduce attendees and sales and mar the experience
- that make it such an exceptional art fair. Number seven, the hardscape of and lack of trees on Kirkwood
- is highly unsuitable for an art fair. That's why we go to the courthouse
- lawn and Penrod in Indianapolis very shaded. Number eight, hard-working volunteers for the festival
- have for decades cultivated getting artists here. That's a hard task. With the uncertainty of sales,
- distance, and the cost of being and traveling here, no doubt we would attract fewer artists. There's
- no way it wouldn't impact us. Number nine, we support local
- nonprofits with our community booth areas and performance space. That would end if the festival ends,
- no question. We have also worked with the city and law enforcement and with local businesses too to
- be good neighbors. Number 10, since we know this location change would reduce the number of artists
- we can attract, we fear this could be the very demise of this highly regarded juried festival of a half
- century that celebrates arts and crafts here locally, bringing a variety of artists to town, even attracting
- football games on game weekends. Eleven, we know the arts community is under siege. This would be a
- further attack while Bloomington considers itself artist friendly and as a vibrant and inclusive arts
- community.
- Number 12, we understand how well Kirkwood works for lotus taste and all those. We're vastly different
- because Kirkwood has a lot of foot traffic going to restaurants and bars in the library. They would
- mingle with the art patrons, cutting the intensity and the joy of walking from booth to booth. It would
- just be so disruptive.
- You could grandfather you have the power to grandfather existing events That takes care of the problem
- with the new applications. I get that Public safety you mentioned Adam. We haven't had an incident 50
- years It could happen a tornado could take my house tonight anything could happen, but 50 years is a
- long time Okay
- would like to read the other, I think you had three remaining. If there are people who weren't planning
- on making a comment but would read those, you're welcome to do that. Thank you. Thank you. My name is
- Martina Sellerin. I'm a local fiber artist, and I was the 4th Street Vice President
- 2006 to 2010 and then I was the president from 2011 to 2017 I went through a lot a lot and I appreciate
- all that the city has done but we have been very much a Self-sustained organization and all those points
- are very accurate and I feel very strongly about this So I will gratefully read the rest of this. I
- have not rehearsed it. So I apologize in advance Number
- 13, the board can make an exception or exemption and or grandfather any existing local events affected
- by this policy and our renowned 4th Street Festival warrants that exception or exempting or grandfathering.
- A tradition of 50 years, its very name and name recognition and its existence are tied for decades to
- our community's artistic identity all at stake. Number 14,
- Uniformity in Bloomington is not a virtue most times, especially at performances and the arts. Keeping
- this festival true to its roots and not mainstreaming is a huge plus with this community. And we like
- quirky and unique here. That's one of the joys of Bloomington, is not being a mall type organization.
- And number 15, finally. We understand that this plan to consolidate all such gatherings has been thoroughly
- considered for a few years by the city, but we do not know of any opportunity to provide public input
- until we heard of this vote, and I heard on social media yesterday about it, now affecting this festival
- in only a few short months.
- And as I say, for me, it's one day, and it's a lot of my own personal history as part of this. When
- applications to artists are already being sent and now cannot, we are thankful that the public at this
- meeting is given a chance with the Board of Public Works to weigh in and to hear from affected groups
- that such a move as fatal to this very existence could be happening. This truly is something
- that has been a defining feature and one of the reasons that I have stayed in Bloomington because of
- the arts community and because of the respect that the city has done for maintaining the arts community
- and the idea of forcing us to move to a completely different location when there's nothing bad that
- we have done.
- We have been good stewards of that location. We've worked diligently with the restaurants that are present
- there to try and maintain that relationship. We could have easily, over the years, it was suggested
- by city persons that we could set up food trucks, we could set up a beer tent and make more money and
- go hand over fist, but we wanted to be
- good stewards and working hand in hand with the people in that vicinity, with those restaurants. We
- have worked very hard in the past that we had to pay for all of the barricades and all of the security
- things. And so the idea that the city is willing to help with that is wonderful. We urge you, urge you
- as strongly as possible, and then I can say that, to grandfather the 4th Street Festival, the 4th Street
- Festival onto 4th Street.
- Thank you for your time. Thank you. Madam President just offer a comment here real quickly. I do want
- to stress that we have been talking to Brendan for over a year. We have been talking to Juliet the board
- president for quite some time. This is not the first we have been putting this information out to the
- Four Street Festival. This has been shared with them for quite some time. So the idea that it's only
- been a day or two is not a fair. I don't find that to be a fair statement. We have been
- Socializing this and talking about this for the last two festivals with Brendan and others to let them
- know that this was coming This is all driven by public safety We understand there hasn't been a public
- safety major public safety issue in the last 50 years We did have a pedestrian struck two years ago
- at Dunn Street, this is all about public safety and putting the public in the safest locations in the
- city. We understand the quaintness of 4th Street. We understand the restaurants are there. We wanna
- still be good partners. We want your event to last for another 50 years. And we're gonna help you do
- that. 4th Street has 51 points of entry that we have to try to solve for with barricades that are temporary
- and do not provide the level of safety that the Kirkwood bollards provide.
- a car going they do not provide the same level of safety. So if I would just like we are not trying
- to put this festival out we are we want to work with you folks into the future and I just want to make
- that blanket statement that we do want to be good partners. But this is very much a public safety driven
- proposal and policy. It's not to try to put the festival in bad shape. We will work with you. And so
- I just wanted to make that comment.
- I truly appreciate that. I come at this also as an artist, and I know that when there are dramatic changes
- at a festival, the first thing that an artist does is it raises red flags. The uniqueness of the 4th
- Street Festival is that we have worked to try and bring truly
- a top-notch high-level artist to this location from all over the US and Canada. We have a phenomenal
- number of people who expect that and who look forward to that. And to change it this dramatically is
- going to mean that we are not able to present that level of art to the Bloomington community, to have
- those people coming. We also have 50,000 people that attend the event, 50,000 people.
- and to try and cram that all on that little spot in Kirkwood, that's not going to happen. Also,
- The roads that are not closed going up and down Dunn Street in past years, where that accident happened,
- in past years, the City of Public Works, the Public Works Commission has allowed us to close Dunn Street,
- therefore making it safe to connect the two sections of the show. The reason that their accident was
- there is that the city did not permit us to close that area, and therefore it makes it more dangerous
- having traffic running through
- the sections of the show. Having one contiguous is the key. Public safety standards of 2025 do not allow
- for that. We have to allow the public safety agencies to get where they are. When I say this is driven
- by public safety, I truly mean that this is not just public works trying to say we want to move you.
- It's because public safety standards for events like this have changed so significantly over time. It is not
- 20 years ago, it is not 15 years, it's not five years ago when it comes to the public safety standards
- for large scale events. We are trying to keep vehicles from large crowds of people in every way, shape
- we can and in the safest way. That is where this is being driven from, I promise. So I appreciate it
- and I'll be happy to. And I would like to go ahead and honor the next public comment so that we can
- make sure everyone is heard. I will not chime in anymore, I will, yes.
- If you can just state your name for us. Yeah, I'm Juliet Roberts. I'm the president of the 4th Street
- Festival This is my 20th year being involved as a volunteer Just want to be extremely clear Adam mentioned
- my name twice as someone who they've worked with consistently I just want to clarify that my meeting
- with him and Cassie yesterday was the first time that I have met with the city so
- Brendan King, our director, has been in a paid position where he has been meeting with and liaising
- with the city. That is not in my job description. So I apologize. I thought that you and Cassie had
- been talking as well. It's just been Brendan. Thank you for that. All right. All right. Why keeping
- the festival on Fourth Street matters.
- Public safety shade and crowd comfort like you said public safety is of the most the utmost importance
- Patron feedback from our on-site survey this year was clear. We need more shade This act this feedback
- was echoed by comments on our Facebook post yesterday patrons concerned about heat exposure on Kirkwood
- Fourth Street's mature shade trees materially improve safety Comfort and crowd flow during late summer
- heat and allow patrons to spend more times browsing the wares Kirkwood Avenue lacks shade Increasing
- heat exposure and limiting how long patrons can safely remain on site We have had incidents each year
- where patrons have needed medical attention or attention from the firehouse
- to deal with heat stroke or heat exposure. The lack of shade on Kirkwood is my largest concern. Parking,
- or let's see, direct economic benefit to local restaurants. Visitors experience art and global culture
- together, something unique to 4th Street and not replicable elsewhere. The festival does not sell food
- by design.
- intentionally directing foot traffic into 4th Street's international restaurant corridor. Patron feedback
- confirms this in our survey this year. Quote, perhaps trying to showcase the 4th Street restaurants
- more, Siam House was great with their stand. Relocation would shift spending away from these restaurants,
- reduce concentrated economic benefit to these locally owned food businesses, whereas Kirkwood's bar
- and retail heavy mix does not provide the same economic impact.
- Cultural identity is tied to place number four the festival has operated on 4th Street for over 50 years
- Again 20 of which for which I've been a volunteer and the festival is named for the street Its identity
- is inseparable from fine art traditions multicultural artists and experiences and Bloomington's international
- restaurant corridor
- Booth fees, travel, lodging, and time are significant investments for artists. Artists make careful
- economic decisions about where to apply and attend each year. A permanent move risks loss of identity,
- artist confidence, and possible long-term stability. Community trust has been built over decades. These
- quotes come from patron surveys and interactions. OK.
- Our request essentially is that the board pause or provide an exception to the relocation of the 4th
- Street Festival and authorize a collaborative solution such as jointly covered street closure costs
- that would allow the festival to remain on 4th Street while infrastructure options are explored. Thank you.
- We have the opportunity for the next public comment if we have someone here in the room who would like
- to make a comment. Hello, I'm Rebecca Lowry. I am a ceramic artist here in Bloomington. I have been
- a part of 4th Street since 2014, and I have served on the executive board in the past as vice president
- and secretary, or not secretary, something else, but.
- most recently, but I am currently, I've been stepping back because I'm very busy and I do lots of art
- fairs around the country like Martina. Martina and I go all over the country as far as, for me as far
- as Denver and Florida and I know Martina is all over also. They're some of the highest rated art fairs
- in the country. 4th Street has some of the highest level artists
- the region and I am also do I also do the social media and the public Martina is no longer on the committee
- and she only found out about this yesterday because I posted something on social media and it's the
- first our public has gotten to see about it because it has been as far as the committee has been concerned
- a talk about making this change and
- We were rather surprised that it was going to be a permanent change this year and we're very grateful
- for the Concession of late giving us our 50 50th year So I just wanted to say our public social media
- posts people are very shocked at this because we are 4th Street and
- It's very hard for the public to imagine 4th Street anywhere else. It's very hard for, I've already
- had one artist say that if he goes to Kirkwood, they're not going to apply, which is just a taste of
- what we may end up having. And if we don't have artists applying and buying the booth, we can't afford
- to be anywhere. We will no longer exist if we cannot get the artists to come and do the show. And that's
- pretty much what I have to say.
- Hello, I'm Chris Bush, also a local artist. I've been on the committee for about 25 years and it's been
- a labor of love the whole time. All the committee members are volunteers. We meet once a month and work
- outside of that time too. So it's close to our heart and we would hate to see it end under our tutelage.
- My main concern is what Rebecca just said, that artists will not apply to the show anymore. We already
- have people saying, we're not going to apply anymore. And we've kind of been struggling to keep the
- show going for quite some time now. Through the years of COVID, it was difficult and things are always
- changing. So it's a constant struggle to make sure that we can still have this festival. So I would
- just say one, I wanna reiterate one important thing are the trees.
- People suffer from heat stroke every year at the show. And so it's only going to be worse when it moves
- up to Kirkwood. Thank you. Thank you. Other public comments in person? Any other in-person comments?
- If not, we can go ahead and move to any Zoom comments.
- My name's Ruth Conway, and I was part of the original committee back in 78. And one thing that does
- trouble me on Kirkwood is the safety of the art units that are set up. I mean, they're large. It takes
- an awful lot of setting up. And if you have several people there at night, late on Friday night or Saturday
- night, can you really assure that no drunken people are going to
- lean back and, oh dear, we fell on a booth. And suddenly, you've got horrendous destruction for the
- artists. If that happens just once, that could actually give sufficiently bad reputation that artists
- would not apply again. You know, it has to be safe. On 4th Street, it's safe, it's quiet, but Kirkwood
- is busy at night, which just seems so inappropriate to leave
- valuable art up overnight. Thank you. Any other in-person comments on this topic? Did we have any Zoom
- comments or typed comments or requests for... Kelly J. asked a couple of questions that I was able to
- respond to about
- If water barriers would be needed in 2026 on fourth they would remain. The answer was yes. And that
- if the bollards on Kirkwood are removable which they are. I just answered a couple of those questions
- but I don't I don't have any members of the public that have done a raise hand to offer a public comment
- or anything. Now would be the time if you are on the zoom meeting if you would like to offer a public comment.
- I just wanted to clarify a few things One I think I heard someone say attendance of 50,000 the attendance
- for 4th Street Festival for last year for Saturday was 1700 and for Sunday was 1600 this is based on
- an attendance data platform, which is called placer.ai, which uses cell phone data to determine how
- many people are in a space during a date and time frame. That is what we use for attendance data for
- right-of-way special events. There's a margin of error. If someone doesn't have a cell phone, they would
- not be counted. This number does also obviously account for every artist that was there, as well as
- other folks that dedicate their time to make the event successful, volunteers,
- I'm sure many of the folks in this room. So I just wanted to share that I also wanted to share that
- The way the exemption is written is that 4th Street Festival in 2027 Would move to one of the festival
- footprints I have heard since I've been in this role many people talk about Kirkwood in particular I
- think because it's adjacent
- The other festival footprints are also available. So I just wanted to clarify that the courthouse square
- and also the trades district and I wanted to just personally thank Juliet who I think has just been
- super accessible over the last few days and really made herself available to Adam and myself to just
- better understand, you know, kind of
- some of the conversations that we've been having. And Juliette, I wanted to also say that you submitted
- a letter to us, and I think you were reading from that. We will make sure that the full letter, which
- is very thoughtful, is included in the packet as well. And I think that's it for me. If I could just
- follow up with a couple comments as well. Is public comment period over, or are we? It is. Yeah. Comment?
- No, we don't have a time for response So right now is just you know an open time for public comment
- if there if we don't have any additional public comment We'll close that and then we'll then move to
- just final board Questions, so we've got another yeah, we can do that My name is Dawn Adams, I'm a former
- president and been on the committee a long time I wanted to address the crowd count
- Dennis Conway, a former emeritus professor in geology, set up as an opportunity for us to count. We
- stand in a position for five minutes every half hour, and then we compile those numbers and then guess
- what the attendance is. And I have this 2022,
- The attendance we estimated 16,680 on Saturday and 27,546 on Sunday. And there's a survey that he quoted
- for us that underestimates this between 9 and 25%. So that's where those numbers came from.
- Thank you. Right, yeah, it's definitely dependent. The place or AI is dependent on the cell phone technology.
- Other public comments before we do a final staff and board? No, that's not how the Board of Public Works
- is structured.
- Adam did you have some additional clarification. I just wanted to offer a comment to all the attendees
- with the 4th Street here. You know I hear some talk about you know that this could put the future of
- the festival at risk by off by by working with Brendan and Juliet yesterday to try to come to a compromise.
- hearing that the whole board hadn't been kept up to speed on all the conversations that had been taking
- place, specifically with Brendan over the last year. That's why we came to a compromise yesterday to
- say, hey, it's the 50th anniversary. No one had said it was the 50th anniversary this year. Once we
- heard that, we were like, OK, hey, let's give it another year. It's the 50th. But we want to help you
- plan for 2026 and beyond, to help you plan to have it be a great festival into the future, to tell your
- artists that it is a place where you're still going to sell a lot of art, even though we're on Kirkwood.
- we still think we can create a safe environment for the artists, their artwork. Right now you have security
- overnight.
- right. You know we want to continue to help you plan for this. We understand there's an identity with
- 4th Street your name. We want to help you transition that. So you know we did have a lengthy conversation
- with Brendan and Julia yesterday trying to come to a compromise. We thought we had reached that. We
- thought we were talking with the folks that had decision making authority with the board. We thought
- information was being widely shared. If that's not been the case you know
- We've been trying to communicate with who we think we should be, the executive director, the board president,
- et cetera. That's why we had the conversation yesterday. Our intent is not to try to damage your festival.
- We understand a new footprint is different. It's change. It's hard. We want to help support you in moving
- to Kirkwood. We understand it doesn't quite have the shade. We understand these things. But when I say
- it's done with public safety in mind, that is our police department.
- That is our fire department. That's the Department of Homeland Security for large scale events in this
- day and age where we have so many instances of violent activities taking place in large scale attended
- places. We are not trying to be adversaries with you. We want to work with you. I hope that's the spirit
- that you feel like we're coming with. We know this is a big change. We're not trying to be damaging
- or anything like that. So I just want to make that comment that if we want to be good partners and we
- will commit to doing that into the future.
- clarifying questions from the board or comments from the board at this time. My question was about overnight
- security and you mentioned that. So I think I'm good. Thank you. So
- I first of all want to say I appreciate everyone who is here in attendance to speak about the Fourth
- Street Festival. It is obviously a very important event in our community and something that really our
- community identity identity is.
- Entwined in the identity of the 4th Street Festival. So I appreciate the the passion and the commitment
- to which you have Come to this meeting and to this discussion broadly speaking for people who couldn't
- attend in person But have also been having these discussions Appreciate the work that Adam and Cassie
- have been doing to put a policy in place that does put public safety at the forefront I think that this
- is an important policy
- You know the I truly hadn't realized what an increase we had experienced in those requests for public
- events in the right of way. And it is a challenge for the city. I mean it's one this board I would say.
- Maybe 40 to 50 percent of what we work with our issues of events in the right-of-way or other important
- things that are happening in the right-of-way that we have to consider so I appreciate the effort that's
- being made to make this both a safer plan and a consistent plan because that is another issue that we
- hear about within the city is consistency is often You know an issue for
- community residents who are looking to engage with the city on something and so consistency is really
- important. One one request I might make on this policy I think the policy is written well I think that
- the information is there that we need to have as a board and also that community partners need to have
- when they're considering their events. I appreciate the plan for 2026.
- the festival carrying on with its location on 4th Street as plans are already underway. I do have a
- deep appreciation for the amount of time it takes to put an event like this on and understand that you
- need a long runway to prepare for the changes that come forward. I don't
- think that I have a specific change to the wording of this policy as it's currently written. But what
- I would ask is that this comes back to the board for that annual review following additional conversations
- that continue to happen between specifically the 4th Street Festival and the city. Because I think that
- while the conversations that needed to happen, several of them may have happened in the last week
- We'll give it a week. Maybe it's been the last day. I think that there are additional planning activities,
- coordination activities, and other elements that need to come into play to ensure that this transition
- is functional for everybody involved.
- Proposal is that this policy be approved as it is currently presented with the one addition that the
- Board of Public Works would Review this policy again. I don't know if January 2020 So maybe we say October
- this year October of 2020 November we conduct a
- Another review after we've had more opportunity to engage in deeper conversations about the plans Hearing
- how porous the 4th Street corridor really is and how
- Our world has changed so much. I feel so very strongly that the work that you and your team has done
- to create a safer space along Kirkwood with about the bollards not only on the major streets and the
- side streets, but the alleys as well. Yes, nothing has happened here. Let's hope it doesn't. But I think
- as a board member, I feel like it would be irresponsible
- Allow a festival to continue to happen In a place that we know is not safe. Thank you. Thank you So
- I Will I offered a vague motion, but I will make a motion that we lost my documents here
- That we approve a resolution twenty twenty six dash zero one policy on special events in the right of
- way with a review of this policy taking place in October of twenty twenty six by the Board of Public
- Works. All right. We have a motion and a second. I will call the roll. Caron I Cox Deckard I motion passes.
- Next up is staff reports and other business. Sorry turned it off. Quick staff report. So as we talk
- about public safety and we talk about large scale events and gatherings we hope to have a large scale
- gathering on Monday evening next week after a
- victorious Hoosiers team in the national championship, but we are undertaking major public
- safety conversations and efforts Knowing that the students will be back in town for the championship
- game and for when the Hoosiers do win What precautions need to be taken? So we are working very closely
- with all of our public safety partners all the partners at the university to understand what additional
- what additional precautions we're going to be taking. There will be closures on Kirkwood. There will be
- whether it's snow plows or sanitation trucks or public transit buses blocking vehicle access to any
- of the areas, including Kirkwood and surrounding. So major undertakings going on and major planning
- efforts there. We just urge everyone to celebrate safely. We know this is an exciting time, but safe
- celebration is the A number one goal of all of this next week. And we wish our Hoosiers the best.
- Couple other just staff reports. We may get some winter weather coming through as early as tomorrow
- afternoon, tomorrow evening. So crews are gonna be out doing.
- pre-treatment and brining, and then they'll be on call to respond as needed for any winter weather events
- we have over the next day or two. And then just the final thing I wanted to update the board on,
- we've been, I mentioned the APWA accreditation is part of this, so we are continuing to work with each
- of our divisions. We do have a July date that we're setting for the accreditation managers to come in
- and review our application and all of our submissions.
- So we expect that to occur in mid-July, and we'll make sure we get that on your calendars for you to
- be available to meet the accreditation team and see what we're doing. Actually, very last thing, we
- are still continuing to gauge with Access Design Group on a Public Works Operations Center preliminary
- design. We may be as early as the next few meetings coming with a, we're doing preliminary design right
- now, next up we would move to actual
- The design process with architectural civil engineering etc. So you may be seen a contract for that
- coming in the near future But that's all I have for tonight. Thank you Are there any questions on the
- claims this evening Any public comments on the claims Is there a motion on claims
- I move that we approve claims tonight in the amount of three million eight hundred forty two thousand
- three hundred and seventy eight dollars and twenty eight cents and I second I'll call the roll. Chrome
- I Cox Deckard I motion passes and seeing as there's nothing else on our agenda I will call for adjournment.