- It is 5 30 p.m. By my clock on Tuesday February 24th 2026. This is the regularly scheduled Board of
- Public Works meeting on the agenda and posted on the Web site. There were links to a zoom meeting link
- for anybody that needed to attend virtually. There's a meeting ID and a passcode for that also listed. So
- If you are a member of the public on the zoom feed and you do need to offer any public comment this
- evening Please use the raised hand or for the chat function for that for any of the given items. There
- will be also a a
- Petition and remonstrances at the beginning of the meeting for anything that is not on the agenda for
- public comment Just a quick note for the board. Sorry for the late final packet. We were working on
- the Tree the award for the High Street tree clearing contract turning those around quickly always can
- be kind of a challenge from opening those at the work session to getting
- Everything ready for the packet for your meeting. So sorry for that little bit of a delay. And otherwise
- I will turn it over to Elizabeth Caron president of the Board of Public Works and we will kick off the
- meeting. Thank you Adam. I called to order tonight's meeting of the Board of Public Works for February
- 24th 2026 and we will begin with messages from board members.
- I actually have a message since this is my first meeting in the president's role and I would like to
- thank my now vice president, Kyla Cox-Dekert, for her brilliant and thoughtful leadership of the board
- and to thank her for the very large shoes she has left for me to fill and how much I look forward to
- continuing to work together.
- I'll piggyback that I'm not sure that we ever had a single member of the public serve for 10 straight
- years as the president of the board. But Kyla did so very well and we appreciate her continued service
- and know you'll do a great job as well as this. So thank you. Thank you. Now we'll move along to appeals.
- First we have a noise appeal at 2 0 3 8 North Walnut Street.
- All right. Good evening Adam Wason public works director. As you mentioned this is an appeal of a noise
- violation for 2038 North Walnut Street Apartment 310 a. This was a noise notice a violation for a noise
- that was issued on January 29th 2026 about 10 55 p.m. with Officer Tyler Bodie. And we do have the officer
- with us today.
- And so the appellant, this was issued after a complaint was called in for the address. The officers
- arrived, they observed, or they witnessed the loud noise and talked with the residents at the property.
- The property, the Tyler Bodie that submitted the appeal made note that they were, did have music going,
- et cetera, but
- They were requesting a warning in these situations. They're not issuing warnings and the citations are
- always issued for this type of noise violation. The officers here as is and Adina from legal. Do we
- have the appellant online or I don't believe the appellants actually here in person or online. So turn
- it over the board for any questions. All right. Could we hear just.
- Briefly from city legal if there's anything to add to Adams report Okay, thank you questions from the
- board on this item Okay, are there questions from the public and again if you are online you can use
- the raise hand function or chat and
- Okay seeing none do we have a motion I move that we deny the noise appeal for 2038 North Walnut Street
- and I second I will call the roll Cox Deckard I Caron I motion passes Next we have a snow appeal at
- 530 North Grant
- I was gonna get a stellar introduction at him. That's Taylor from here Well aboard Taylor Brown city
- legal this is regarding a notice of violation issue January 29th To 530 North Grant Street I'll draw
- the board's attention to Bloomington Municipal Code title six chapters seven
- Excuse me chapter six Titles seven no titles say whatever six seven six point. Oh seven point. Oh one
- I had in front of my I just don't know the exact things Subsection a makes it the duty of every owner
- of any premises abutting a sidewalk in all parts of the city to remove or cause to be removed all snow and ice
- From the sidewalk to allow safe and reasonable travel on said sidewalk within 24 hours After snow or
- ice has ceased to fall or in any way accumulate The next subsection states that unless in a designated
- area downtown There is a minimum requirement of 36 inches to be maintained on sidewalks and
- Provided data from the National Weather Service that shows snow stopped accumulating on January 26th
- I know the new snow occurred after that time hand officer Sean Hampton provided the Actually issued
- the notice and that was on the 29th to powder monkey LLC Happy to answer any questions Thank you
- Questions from the board. I have a legal question about the ordinance but with the word accumulate does
- that also include snow that has been brought upon the surface by other means. So blowing plowing other
- activities that might take place in this instance the code
- It specifies this could be instead of just snow falling it could be You know ice that builds up on If
- they're shoveling like their front walk or something like that They can't just take it and then throw
- it onto the sidewalk if that makes sense So they can't take it from their driveway and then put it on
- this on the public sidewalks, right? So technically that would be an accumulation but not a
- not actually precipitating from the sky if that makes sense. Well the reason I ask I know we have a
- couple of these so we're going to talk about this more but you know in some cases in
- There have been some questions about issues related to activities like plowing that then increases the
- amount of snow that's on a surface and The the violations generally were issued a couple of days after
- so it would have been in most cases after The plowing had for the most part correct ceased So I just
- wanted that clarification that these citations were not issued like in the in-between period when
- Snow had fallen but the plowing had not yet happened the plowing had happened snow had fallen the plowing
- had happened and the clearing Still needed to happen Correct. That's the case with I think all of these.
- Yeah, we're about to review. Yeah, and I'll just make note here So this is one of the biggest challenges
- we have with in particularly monolithic sidewalks Sorry, we have Okay
- This is for that address. Okay, perfect. All right. We see that you're here for the gold word gold worthy
- miss Goldwater We'll get to your comment here in just a moment. So to go to your question Kyla is that
- Oftentimes the sidewalks that are considered to be monolithic sidewalks are the sidewalks that are directly
- adjacent to the roadway And there's no tree plot
- So those are the most challenging when it comes to the snowplows You know past practice has always been
- that you know We recognize that the snowplows are gonna move the snow off of the streets, but the sidewalks
- still do need to be cleared That's been past practice for many years now as far as as long as I've been
- in public works That the property owner is still expected to get that snow cleared. We do recognize
- this was a large snowfall that I
- You know was challenging for folks but in the end, you know, we do have plenty of examples where citations
- were issued for a lot of addresses across the city for not having the sidewalks cleared. Thank you.
- I understand we have the appellant online. So that's what's interesting is the appeal is actually.
- from Powder Monkey LLC, which is a rental agency or a contracting agency, so that was what threw me
- off with. Andrew, are you online for 530 North Grant? Yes, this is Susan Goldsworthy. Okay.
- And I'm online, yes. Okay, the actual appellant is Powder Monkey LLC. Is that your business? Yes, I am.
- Able to speak on behalf of pattern monkey. Yes Can you clarify that I'm a managing member and I'm a
- property manager for okay pattern monkey. So yes, okay I can speak on behalf of pattern monkey.
- Got it. Perfect. Okay It's now a good time for them to make comment. Yes, please. Yes, please. Go ahead
- Okay, so I gave you a packet I believe you should have. What we're requesting tonight is a waiver for
- the snow removal citation that was issued for the tenants and the property at 530 North Grant. We understand
- and support the city's initiative to keep the city sidewalks safe and accessible. However, the extreme
- circumstances of this winter storm within this time period did make it difficult not only for us, but
- for the county, city, the state, IU.
- Multiple people were having difficulties. So we are asking for grace based on the following factors
- that we've not had this kind of a snowfall in decades actually We have a lot of property. This is the
- only violation. We had the tenant that is there did call me on Monday and
- They were requesting a snow shovel. I did have one here they but they couldn't get their car out to
- come to the office to get one. Most of my people also lived out in the county did not make it and I
- didn't have a car to take one because I wrote in with my husband that day and had one other person that was here.
- We we actually started with the multiple properties that we do have. We actually started shoveling on
- Sunday and Monday. So we had people working around the clock even before that accumulation period had
- stopped. But people do need to rest. We had two or three companies ourselves spent thousands of dollars
- on snow removal because we do believe it is very very important obviously. One of the crews they were
- having trouble even went up to Greenwood because they had backed in and popped tires and these crews are
- that we subcontract out. They're not just plying for me, they're plying for other people or shoveling
- for other people as well. But another one, they were having trouble with their cylinders. I had talked
- to somebody with IU and I heard 20 or 30 percent of their equipment and some of their equipment was
- even new. They were having trouble during that period of time. This was not a typical
- snowfall. The city, as you know, was also having trouble on that same day at that night in your packet.
- You will see this is 15th Street and the street itself is not plowed. And I think we know that the streets
- should be plowed. This is the Bloomington, the old convalescent center, and these sidewalks are not
- plowed, which we're on the very same day. This is down by Showers building the very same day. I'm not
- saying we shouldn't and the tenants shouldn't have it
- Shoveled absolutely we want to have them shoveled, but we're just asking for grace that it be reduced
- to a warning This time and to just be thinking with some common sense that everybody was having trouble
- earlier that week We didn't even have a turn lane on the bypass to the Bloomington Hospital I've got
- another picture in the packet that shows you 10th of the bypass So this that was the state not just
- the city was having trouble or private contractors and individuals
- But I know that one of the companies told me they couldn't even buy a snow shovel except for black lumber,
- that those places were having trouble. I had seen some other people trying to use little toboggans and
- trying to shovel out. So I think everybody was trying to work on this. I'm not saying that we shouldn't
- be shoveling our sidewalks at all. I'm just asking that we do have some grace in this situation. And
- I think we do take pride in our properties. We want to maintain them in a safe manner for all of our
- residents throughout the entire city and the county.
- We're just asking this be reduced to warning because it is an unusual storm. We don't get this type
- of storm very often at all. And so I think it's made difficult situation for everyone. And so I would
- just have to be reduced to a warning.
- I appreciate the comments and you know, we do recognize this was a Challenging snowfall in terms of
- the amount of volume What I see when the in the picture that I see for what the citation was issued
- for was that there had been no effort at all made at this address when the citation was issued there
- hadn't been any any clearing done what I can tell you is from all of the appeals and different
- Conversations for all the addresses across the city that had notices of violation issued if there was
- shown to be an attempt made Staff was working with them and in almost all cases if an attempt had been
- made it appears that there was no attempt made at this property whatsoever This was the tenant that
- called me on Monday to see if she could borrow a shovel They couldn't get their car out. She asked if
- we could drop a shovel off I was unable to I had didn't even have a car myself, but we did offer a
- If they could walk up to here to even get a shovel from us, they certainly could as well. I think they
- were trying to shovel out. It didn't obviously you have a picture of that as well. But again, I point
- you to some of the city properties that it didn't look like an attempt had been made on theirs either
- in those pictures, if that's what we're going to go by. Not saying that we shouldn't have it safe. I'm
- just saying this was a really
- Big storm that caught everybody by surprise. A lot of people didn't even come into work for a couple
- of days. A lot of people were out there trying to work. My husband and my son, they were out shoveling.
- We were trying to do what we could as well. But I'm just asking for some consideration and grace in
- this situation. Thank you. Taylor, is it fair to say, is it four days after that the snow, that the
- ticket was issued?
- Ticket was issued on the 29th accumulation according to National Weather Service stopped on the 26th
- So Monday they had two inches and then that Thursday is when the ticket was issued. Okay All right additional
- questions from the board I
- like to know in a multi family residence such as this is that the property owners responsibility or
- the tenants responsibility to clear snow. I have an answer but I'll let you answer first. I think that
- always depends on the lease and the language in the lease. So whether it's lawn mowing or snow removal
- some leases will stay at state that its attendance responsibility some leases will state that its property
- owner responsibility. But I think that all comes down to the lease itself.
- Okay. Thank you. Ultimately I will say as the looking at the the law and the statute itself it says
- every owner of any premises. So ultimately statutorily the responsibility is on the owner. Thank you.
- Is there any additional public comment on this item. All right.
- None is there a motion? I move that we deny the appeal for 530 North Grant Street and uphold the notice
- of violation Second I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Caron I motion passes Next we move on to the
- snow appeal at 801 West Howe Hi Taylor Brown city legal
- This was issued by hand inspector Sean Hampton I Will refer you to the same codes already cited to you
- this ticket was issued on February 2nd 2026 well after snow had ceased to accumulate This was the following
- week, I believe I'll spare you from repeating the previous Arguments that it's going to be very repetitive the next
- But I'm happy to restate should you really just be interested in Bloomington code? That's fine.
- Thank you. Okay, is the opponent available either in person or on zoom? Don't believe are either mr.
- Mrs. Newton in the audience Okay questions from the board for this
- Notice of violation at 8 1 West how was it a single notice of violation at fifty dollars. Was that what
- we're reviewing. Any additional questions. All right. Any public comment or question on this item. Seeing
- none do we have a motion.
- I move that we deny the snow appeal for 801 West House Street and uphold the notice of violation And
- I second I will call the roll Cox Decker. I Caron I motion passes Next we have a snow appeal at 28 11
- through 28 17 East 3rd Street Hi Taylor Brown city legal see previous arguments above this particular
- Violation was issued by hand inspector Rob council on again February 2nd Snow cease to accumulate on
- the 26th. It does not appear that there was any Attempt to clear this snow at this time as well I'll
- just make note. This is on East 3rd Street on heavy
- commercial area with lots of pedestrian traffic this would be in front of chilies and Arby's as a point
- of Direction of which properties this is from And so this the notice was granted to The owner of either
- chilies or Arby's yes, okay same property owner same property owner, okay Is the appellant Online or
- in person today?
- Any questions from the board. I'm having a little bit of trouble reading the appeal but I just wanted
- to make sure I'm understanding their appeal. It looks like that they say they receive the notice by
- mail on the fifth which would align with the notice being issued on the second on that
- Friday January 30th, they received a call from the owner of the Chili's parcel about the citation So
- were they issued two citations? I'm just trying to figure out how How that was communicated a warning
- was issued, okay a warning and then a citation So a warning was issued on the 30th and then the citation
- was issued on the second. Okay, and then Let's see
- It says we immediately had our snow removed Removal vendor clear the sidewalks the snow issue was caused
- from city clearing the streets therefore blocking the sidewalks we responded immediately So that what
- their appeal is stating is that They after receiving the warning
- They did a clearing but then somehow following January 30th February or January 30th 31st. Let's imagine
- this happened by the 31st that somehow it became so blocked by plowing activity that it was then covered
- again. I just is this.
- This silly I have the inspector here. Yeah, so let me make a comment and then Rob I think can clarify
- here So what's East 3rd Street here is a state road? I can tell you from our practices within with within
- the city. We were not going back and clearing all the way to curb lines I'm not sure if the state went
- back and cleared to curb lines here or not These would that would have been an in dot route so I can't
- clarify specifically there But did you ever see any effort for snow removal Rob? I
- Hi board Rob council from the hand department on the second when I issued that ticket previously I had
- spoken to the restaurant manager and said hey guys you know this needs to be addressed. This is a hazard.
- She said of course we'll get on it and I think that's what they're alluding to and they reached out
- when I returned there on the second. Nothing had been touched at that point. That's when I issued that
- ticket. So.
- Like it was bad guys. I mean it was piled pretty darn deep I will say that you know, the state trucks
- had pushed a pretty significant mound onto the sidewalk I'm sure it was very difficult for them to clear
- but as Adam stated before this is a very high traffic area It needed to be cleared. I tried to speak
- to him as friendly as possible and then I got you know nothing out of that so Thank you, and we have
- no photos of this location. Is that correct? There was a photo Jeremy did you?
- send that photo in. I had a photo looking down Third Street and Taylor might have it. I might have missed
- it. That one is not in the packet that is not in the packet. Okay. Yeah. We're not going to be able
- to show it on the screen at this point. I do have it.
- Okay. Any additional questions from the board. None. Any questions from the public on this item. Again
- if you are online feel free to use the chat function or raise your hand and zoom. Okay. Seeing none.
- Is there a motion.
- I move that we deny the appeal the snow appeal for 28 11 through 28 17 East 3rd Street and uphold the
- notice of violation And I second I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Caron I motion passes And our last
- snow appeal Contains for notice of violation appeals for 10 13 North College Avenue Taylor Brown for
- city legal
- This is four for the price of one as president so eloquently stated Issue the notices were issued January
- 30th the second the sixth and the ninth On the so for your Ease of access on the weather data I highlighted
- in red the
- First was when the last snowfall accumulated and then in the next The next 1 2 3 4 Highlighted portions
- again in the red circles were when the tickets were issued As you can see there was no snowfall after the 26th
- Just make quick note here. So you see there are four four notices of violation after each notice of
- violation. No progress had been made in any of the subsequent photos through the February 9th final
- notice of violation there. Okay. Is the appellant online or in the room tonight. We were just not sure
- who one of the online.
- OK. Questions from the board. I'm trying to I see the photos that are included and I'm just trying to
- gain a sense as to like is there
- Is there an obvious reason why those sidewalks would appear to not be like contiguous with the property
- to me? It looks like the sidewalks belong to the Property and there's not a lot of lack of clarity there.
- I just want to make sure I'm seeing it right though It's not like a stretch of sidewalk that somehow
- Apart from the property in a way that would cause them to not realize it was we have our inspector can
- explain it to you Sean Hampton
- Neighborhood compliance officer with the hand department the sidewalks in question were along college
- and then the adjacent along the side 14th Street. Yes And yeah, there was no attempt to clear those
- When I spoke with the person that was working there at that day they said that they had no idea that
- they were responsible for that and questioned the city bus stop being there too and
- And that is on their property. So they are required to clear the snow. I'll just make note the sidewalk
- sits behind the bus stop and the tree plot. There's two driveway and three driveway entrances to this
- property one on 14th two on college. The sidewalk sits behind the driveways. I'm looking at the Google map.
- Overview right now without the snow on it. So the the sidewalk is contiguous from ramp to ramp on 14th
- all the way up to 15th Street There's the next apartment complex to the north that you can see in the
- pictures had cleared their snow But they do sit off the roadway about six feet. So this wouldn't even
- really be an issue where Plows were pushing that snow up there either Okay
- And it may have been the lack of awareness since the appellant isn't here we can't clarify this but
- the lack of awareness could simply be a lack of awareness of the ordinance that requires the sidewalk
- to be cleared. Not so much that it was not the sidewalk that was part of their property. And it does
- look like the address for the business is at the local address but the appears that the property owner
- has an address in Chicago. So I'm not sure if that how long that property has been in the same hands
- or not. OK.
- Just thinking back to the last appeal and the first, was the first one given at that address a warning
- or a citation? A citation. And so the first on this one was a citation instead of a warning. Yes, because
- it was five days after the snowfall. Okay, thank you.
- And I might have misstated whether or not Rob actually issued did you he did Rob did issue a warning
- on the East 3rd Street ones on the 30th after talking to the managers Trying to and this is the same
- day the 30th Okay Can you I'm sorry to ask you to repeat this but could you When you spoke to someone
- who was working in the business, they said that they were not aware that it was theirs Yes, and then
- no progress was seen thereafter. I
- So they had admitted that they have a contractor that plows their drug or the parking lot and that that
- contractor may have piled the snow on the sidewalks as well. And they were unaware that this was their
- responsibility to take care of. Even after speaking with that, they waited till the very end when the
- snow was melting to address it. And actually the pictures pretty clearly show that the parking lot was
- cleared onto the sidewalk as well.
- All right. Other questions from the board. Questions from the public on this item. All right. Seeing
- none do we have a motion.
- I move that we deny the snow appeals for 1013 North College Avenue and uphold the four notices of violation.
- I second. I will call the roll. Cox Deckard. I own I motion passes. Thank you very much. Thanks.
- Thank you. Now we will move to petitions and remonstrances which is a time for questions about anything
- that is not on tonight's agenda.
- If anyone has a question about something not on the agenda, please come to the microphone and council
- chambers or if you were on zoom use the raise hand function or chat Thank you now we'll go to the consent
- agenda on tonight's consent agenda is renewal to with IMI for concrete supply
- bid acceptance with milestone contractors LP as primary and ENB paving and secondary for the asphalt
- supply. Contract addendum to asset condition project imagery with IMS and payroll. Is there anything
- that needs to be removed from the consent agenda tonight? No. All right, any questions from the board
- on the consent agenda? No. No, any questions from the public? None on Zoom. Hearing none, is there a motion?
- I move that we approve the consent agenda for February 24th of twenty twenty six. I second. I will call
- the roll. Cox Decker. I Caron. I motion passes. Now we'll move along to new business. First our new
- business is the preliminary engineering contract infrastructure engineering incorporated or IEI for
- third in Woodlawn and third in Hawthorne signal replacement project.
- And I see that we've made no short thing to the agenda title since yesterday's work session. Apologies
- for that. Neil Copper with the engineering department. So this is a project to replace two existing
- traffic signals at Third and Woodlawn and Third at Hawthorne. We have selected infrastructure engineering
- incorporated, IEI, to perform the preliminary engineering.
- for this project. The contract amount is set at a not to exceed of one hundred and three thousand nine
- hundred and forty seven dollars. We're tentatively expecting construction in summer of twenty twenty
- seven. Staff has reviewed and supports this contract and I'd be happy to answer any questions.
- Thank you. Questions from the board. Questions from the public on this item. Do we have a motion.
- I move that we approve the preliminary engineering contract infrastructure engineering incorporated
- for third and Woodlawn and third and Hawthorne signal replacement project. Second with a motion and
- a second I will call the roll. Cox Deckard I Caron I motion passes. Thank you. Next item is to award
- the high street multi use path tree clearing contract. The bids were opened at the work session yesterday.
- Jason current with engineering again. This project is for the multi-use path along High Street This
- is for the tree clearing aspect of it bids were open like you mentioned yesterday at the work session
- Excuse me again. This is for tree removal in selected areas and installing tree protections along particular
- areas along that section maintenance of traffic and the project will include lane restrictions while
- the tree removal process is going on and
- Bids yesterday there was three Bluestone tree was at sixty one thousand thirty eight and twenty one
- cents. Gerald and tree experts was at fifty three thousand four hundred and forty five dollars and Monroe
- LLC was at thirty nine thousand five hundred and fifty. At this current time Monroe LLC was the lowest
- responsible responsive quota and engineering recommends that we award the contract to Monroe LLC. Any
- questions. Thank you. Questions from the board.
- I infer from the recommendation that we don't have anything outstanding related to Monroe LLC. Everything's
- in good standing. The proposal was all in alignment with what the engineering department had anticipated.
- That is correct. Yes. Yes. Everything was passed within our open gov computer system so we were good.
- Thank you. And I have no additional questions. Are there any questions from the public on this item.
- Seeing none. Is there a motion? I move to award the high street multi-use path tree clearing contract
- to Monroe LLC Nice second. I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Korone I motion passes. Thank you Next
- we have the contract with Stewart and Associates for elevator consulting All right, you get me for the
- next two Adam Wason public works director This is a contract with Stewart and Associates Stewart
- Steward and associates for engineering consulting services for the Morton and Walnut Street garage elevators
- they will do a review of Both of those elevators and the work that was recently completed on them to
- assure Quality assurance they'll do an on-site electrical elevator visual inspection assessment of current
- equipment and condition
- quality review of recent alterations Provide a report and any follow-up the total not to exceed on this
- one is eighteen one thousand eight hundred dollars Thank you questions from the board on this item no,
- I'll just reiterate what we had discussed in the work session which was the
- This is reviewing specifically the elevator work. It's not associated with some of the other work that
- we have done recently on those garages. That was a question I had asked and it was confirmed it was
- specific to the elevators.
- Yes, so the Walnut Street garage had a major rehab project over the last couple years and the Morton
- Street garage had a full replacement of the elevator over the last couple years. Those projects went
- longer and had some challenges and so this is kind of a third party inspection of that work to make
- sure that everything is as it should be. And just to clarify, both elevators have been signed off by
- Homeland Security. They are currently permitted all of those things. This is just more of the
- An audit of the projects as much as anything is this kind of audit typically requested after Such work
- is done or there are likely issues based on I will say this with With my legal representation in the
- room. These projects did not go like we would have liked them to they
- The vendor had a lot of problems with their subcontractors with a lot of staff turnover on their end.
- So projects that were supposed to take eight to 12 week eight weeks in one case and 12 weeks in another
- took a couple years. So this is our follow up to make sure that we are before we make final payments
- on those projects to really have a third party independent review. Thank you. I hope Audrey's not mad
- at me. Other questions from the board. Any questions from the public on this item.
- None, is there a motion? I move that we approve the contract with Stewart and associates for elevator
- consulting. I Second I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Caron I motion passes Next we have the contract
- with route where for Recollect software. There you go on behalf of Lazarus Sears director of our sanitation
- division Adam Wason here. This is a
- Software system that we use to both push information out and allow the public to get information from
- with website outreach tools for our sanitation waste collection recycling operations.
- And so we had a contract before you earlier in the year that we pulled did some more negotiating with
- the software provider got a bit of a reduced cost want to give this another year to see if it can really
- improve our communications both to our residents and when they need information about various aspects
- of sanitation collection. So we request your approval. Thank you. Questions from the board. We talked
- a little bit yesterday in the work session about
- How residents may use this or not be aware of it. Could you just talk a little bit what we spoke about
- yesterday how you might be trying to increase.
- Residents use of this software. Yeah, so It's become more dynamic to the the company that Purchased
- the recollect software as a larger company They've added some new features to this but residents can
- just go to our sanitation web page sign up for this service So if we have a great example of when we're
- pushing information out during the recent snow storms We had a two-day delay of sanitation services
- So anyone that signed up to receive information was getting that sent directly to them, but via their perfect
- preferred communication method, some of the things that we're looking to integrate into the system.
- Right now we use some Google Forms online for if you want an extra Friday pickup or if you have an appliance
- pickup. We're hoping to integrate those requests directly into this system. And so just trying to make
- it more robust as we move forward with this next calendar year. Thank you. Questions from the public
- on this item?
- Seeing none. Is there a motion? I move that we approve the contract with route where for recollect software.
- I second I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Caron I motion passes Next we have resolution 2026 dash
- zero zero six for the 2026 outdoor dining guidelines Get this to short person height
- Good evening Cassie. We're need Department of Public Works I'm going to summarize the staff report that
- we presented in full yesterday at the work session Staff recommends that the board adopt resolution
- 2026 dash 06 and approve the 2026 outdoor dining program guidelines The recommendation maintains Kirkwood
- Avenue as an open public right-of-way while continuing to allow parklets for outdoor dining This approach
- balances stakeholder interests and maximizes overall public benefit
- Under the ordinance 2025-02 staff update the outdoor dining guidelines each year through the Board of
- Public Works The ordinance also authorizes the city engineer to temporarily or permanently suspend all
- or part of the program See the memo that we included in the packet suspension of seasonal Kirkwood closure
- which cites lack of participation and impracticality which we discussed yesterday as well
- Kirkwood serves a wide range of users, including restaurants, retailers, service businesses, visitors
- and motorists, event organizers as well.
- Regarding a full street closure has been mixed with business surveys reflecting approximately a 50-50
- split which historically it has been that split and it was during this last outreach period as well
- of more than 25 restaurants located along Kirkwood 5 Participated in outdoor dining during the previous
- closure period construction on the 100 block will further decrease participation
- None of the non-restaurant businesses activated the street and several expressed concerns regarding
- access and operational impacts.
- operational observations indicate that while outdoor dining spaces were active during peak meal periods
- a 24-7 closure resulted in extended periods of underutilized public space and increased public safety
- concerns during lower activity hours as stewards of the public right-of-way staff's responsibility is
- to consider all perspectives and recommend an approach that serves the corridor as a whole and
- Maintaining the street as open to vehicular traffic while permitting parklets supports outdoor dining
- in a flexible format preserves accessibility for service businesses promotes equitable access to the
- right-of-way inclusive of downtown festival organizers and reduces extended periods of inactivity staff
- Respectfully requests the board's approval of the outdoor dining guidelines Thank you Board questions
- on this item
- As we talked quite a bit about this during the work session yesterday, we reviewed the ordinance language
- and understood the relationship between the city engineer the relationship between public works related
- to this ordinance and the relationship of the City Council related to this ordinance which what you've
- brought forward today Basically includes information about all but it is
- Part of the ordinance that public works will review this on an annual basis And and bring forward the
- outdoor dining agreement will come forward to public works on an annual basis So that's the part that
- we are reviewing and understanding today City Council has governance over the ordinance and any adjustments
- to that ordinance city engineer has governance over the recommendation to cease or change
- the use of the street in this way due to the different Situations that you described and this so I just
- wanted to capture most of our conversation yesterday was around the relationship between these different
- entities and Why we're hearing it today Why we would anticipate hearing it today and in future years
- when we're making these decisions Yeah, I'll just add a quick comment to that
- Is that you know you see a memo from the city engineer about You know being the authorized and you know
- staff person that can make the call on this
- That was not done in a vacuum or just by the city engineer that was done with the support of all city
- departments that are involved in this That's the public works department the economic sustainable development
- department planning and transportation mayor's office police fire You've got all of the different departments
- that are supportive of this approach. It is good middle ground And you know, I'll just further say that
- I kind of mentioned this yesterday in the work session This is a very typical Bloomington issue in some
- ways that you've got very
- Passionate folks on both sides of it. You got some folks that want it completely closed year-round All
- day every day. You've got some folks that want it seasonal. You got some folks that don't want it at
- all And so this has been a challenge for staff we're trying to thread the needle for lack of better
- terms here with trying to you know, really balance all of the users and the You know this being a public
- right-of-way, so we think this is a good approach and
- Just want to further say thanks to Cassie and all the folks that have been working on this. It's been
- a big staff effort Something else that's mentioned in the report is that the plan is to conduct a Kirkwood
- corridor study starting in 2027 If that Study is engaged. I'm assuming that the contract for that study
- will come to the Board of Public Affairs
- Works as well as with the other corridor studies those have all come to you. I wouldn't see why this
- one would not okay So just for clarity this is it's mentioned in this report, but that is a decision
- the Board of Public Works would make In a different meeting the other what we're deciding today is about
- the outdoor dining For this summer not specifically the corridor study or some of those other elements,
- correct? I
- I'll just make just a couple other quick comments because I
- I can't help myself but okay, you know two things that We've talked about a lot in the last couple days
- around this outdoor dining and the Kirkwood closure aren't mutually exclusive They're still gonna be
- outdoor dining. There's still gonna be opportunities. It's just it's not the full closure and Cassie
- made another great statement that I want to credit to her she's you know in some ways folks want it
- to be kind of like a bourbon street environment at night and then during the day more of a pearl street
- environment out in Boulder if anybody's been out there and
- Those are two hard things to intermix and make happen and balance. And you know that's that's the sort
- of thing that the Kirkwood study would really look to like what is the highest and best use. What does
- it look like. We're simply not there today. Any other questions from the board. No. All right. Any questions
- or comments from the public. If you are in person you may approach
- We have no members of the public comment on this online for this And seems no public comment in the
- room With that you're good you're allowed to If you would state your name at the mic, please sure, my
- name is John Santos I'm a business owner in the Kirkwood neighborhood I
- I wanted to just point out like a basic concept that seems to be lost is that this is a public You know
- Kirkwood is a public access and public parking and the closure Whatever you guys do. I'm okay with that.
- Just you know, but whatever is done should be done with the you know with the benefit of the entire
- public in mind not five businesses that are financially profiting from it and
- while the rest of the businesses are losing parking spaces and these parking spaces aren't replaced.
- You know there's not a new one that when they're closed their clothes that's that many less. The more
- people that are there the more we will do. What I am seeing is it started for me hearing it from the
- customers about them whining about they can't find parking they can't even drive around a block because
- of the closure and all that. I didn't think much of it at the first but then I'm seeing
- When I walked down Kirkwood 24 7 the dining spaces aren't even being used and there's all these empty
- spaces that could have been used by the you know the restaurants and then someone else also pointed
- out another issue of Emergencies if there's a fire on one of these buildings, you know, you got to remove
- barriers Some of these barriers are concrete Barriers things like that. So that would be an issue
- Handicap people I got a friend this handicaps and he can't park in front of the business He wants to
- go to because all those spots are taken away on every corner You know if you want to make it a pedestrian
- place make it a pedestrian place You know like like your rails to trails or whatever But if it's going
- to be shared I mean it's not I'm not seeing it being shared because the only thing place is benefiting
- other places using it for dining and
- And the cost you know frankly the cost of retail space on Kirkwood is a lot more than what you guys
- charge for the for taking that street away. So you know I'm just I'm just here to kind of point out
- it's a public thing. Just keep in mind what's actually benefits everybody. I mean I love some of these
- restaurants. I like going there. It's nice that they got extra seating so I know I can get a place.
- But at the same time
- It wasn't their place in the first place. You know it's a place that people should be able to drive
- through and park and visit other places. You know a lot of times people are if they're there a lot of
- decisions that they might go there for one business but then there's a lot of impulse of decisions on
- other businesses to go to too. So just being there convenient you know right now people have to know
- the secret places to park and stuff like that but it's still spots are still taken away.
- And that's the part. And then summer, it seems great in the summer, but no one wants to be out when
- it's raining. No one's going to be out on asphalt when it's really hot. But summers are also the times
- when a lot of businesses struggle in Bloomington. So anything that helps them get through the summers,
- I think the first three summers for us was disastrous. I think we've been in business for 41 years,
- and it was just disastrous. And I've heard a lot of other business owners tell me that, you know,
- you'll make enough money during the school year that it doesn't matter if you lose money in the summer
- and that was not true. It wasn't until we started breaking even in the summer and making money in the
- summer that our business actually became viable year round. So it didn't matter about the students.
- It's the town people. I think what helped us through covid was you know a lot of places were closed
- and the university was closed and there was a lot of town people that came to Kirkwood and they said you know
- It was a great opportunity. It's the first time they actually had parking and places to go. So they
- thought it was a great opportunity to try new places. We also survived by you know like what's it called
- the curbside pickup which we couldn't have had if we were on a closed street you know but that actually
- helped save us. We had a delivery service established but obviously we had no dining anymore or anything
- like that and it's nice that you guys
- Offered dining for some but only five are taking advantage of it over five blocks. And and that's you
- know and they're definitely benefiting. You know that's great. But charging them a couple of hundred
- dollars or whatever it is you know is free in the beginning and then I think it's a nominal fee now.
- But that's not that's not benefiting the public. I think that's just benefiting certain places. And
- that's the only thing I just kind of want to point out is just think in terms of what's really beneficial.
- Most of the people are not going to come here when it's sub zero to speak out about it. They're not
- going to come during a game night to say but everybody criticizes but they're not going to come forward.
- So I thought I'd take the opportunity to come here and just say that. Thank you very much. All right.
- Thanks. Any other comments.
- I just wanted to add something that we did discuss yesterday, but we didn't clarify today. With the
- parklet program, that is looking at the spaces directly in front of the businesses. So if businesses
- are opting into that parklet, they're looking at basically the spaces that are directly in front of
- their own storefront. They wouldn't be picking other spaces that might impact other
- Businesses, they'll be picking the spaces right there in front of their Storefront All right.
- Thank you. Do we have a motion? I Move that we approve resolution 2026 dash zero zero six the 2026 outdoor
- dining guidelines I Second with a motion and a second. I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I'm Caron.
- I motion passes. I
- Next is staff reports and other business. Good evening folks. Adam Wason again. I'll try to be brief
- as we've got a little longer than we normally do. But do you want to make note of a couple of important
- things or not important but recent events. Just want to say thanks to our partners over in Monroe County
- government and others. You know we had another tornado touchdown in Bloomington last week and
- once again became very lucky as a city proper you know for that tornado to stop to have its last touchdown
- right west of I-69 right before city limits over there and the heart of the city just you know just
- really recognizing how lucky we were that there wasn't a major incident within city limits there want
- to say thanks to our friends at the county.
- Humane Association Andrew Krebs and their team dr. Sarah nickel and others doing great work to try to
- get that facility back up and running on the west side Partnering help. We're trying to help with the
- animal shelter wherever we can there But just want to make note that you know, that's two tornadoes
- in almost the same very similar path within a 10-month period so these weather events seem to be more
- active and that west side corridor seems to be the hot spot and
- Know from personal experience as well that you know, so just you know Thankful to all the crews that
- were responding that night public safety all the linemen out there doing the work for the power grid
- Just want to thank everybody for those efforts and trying times and a big shout out to Jamie Nibel over
- at the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency Jamie does great work to make sure folks are keeping
- up to speed with exactly what's going on You know minutes after it was going on. Jamie took my phone
- call. We were coordinating So just want to highlight that partnership between the agencies that all
- respond and say thanks again and
- Of note there is a cleanup that the Van Buren Township is promoting for this Saturday in the area for
- residents So if you look up Van Buren Township, whether on Facebook or social medias or their website,
- they'll have information but planning a cleanup for This Saturday for the general public to come help
- So wanted to make note of that and otherwise I'm you know we had a lot of conversation about snow this
- evening and I'm just really really glad we're not in New York City and the East Coast right now seeing
- what they're dealing and digging out of. I said my well wishes to our public works friends out East
- because it can't be anything but challenging. So that's all for today and thank you. Thank you for your
- service. Thank you.
- Next we have approval of claims any questions on claims tonight Any public comment on claims Seeing
- none is there a motion I move that we approve the claims for February 24th 2026 in the amount of one
- million two hundred and seventy nine thousand seven hundred and thirty one dollars and sixty seven cents
- Nice second. I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Caron I motion passes
- And with nothing else on the agenda I will call for adjournment tonight.