- All right. Good evening folks. This is Adam Wason public works director for the city of Bloomington.
- It is 530 p.m. on Tuesday April 7th 2026 here at City Council chambers for one North Wharton Bloomington
- Indiana. This is the regularly scheduled Board of Public Works meeting and we have two members president
- present today. President Elizabeth Caron and vice president Kyla Cox Deckard Secretary James Roach had
- a last minute
- thing come up so he's not able to make it today and I will turn it over to so we do also have a zoom
- link going live with the meeting before we are. It just did not. Okay. Thank you. And so we've got a
- zoom link and a passcode on the agenda and on the online on board for those
- of the public that would like to attend virtually, if you are on virtually and have a public comment
- to offer, you can do so in the petitions or remonstrances for those items not on the agenda, or you
- can do it during any agenda item using the raised hand function or the chat function. I'll turn it over
- to Board President Elizabeth Crone.
- Thank you Adam and good evening all I call to order tonight's meeting at the Board of Public Works for
- April 7th 2026. First we have messages from board members. Any messages from the board. Seeing none
- we will move on to petitions and remonstrances. Does anyone have anything that they'd like to make a
- comment about that is not on tonight's agenda. Good evening.
- My name is Greg Alexander. I want to address the walk around at 115 East Kirkwood was approved by this
- board back in January First thing I want you to understand is I'm not going there to inspect it. I'm
- going there because I have business downtown It failed from day one They closed the sidewalk about a
- week before establishing the walk around which means people were walking in the street during that time
- City enforcement should have been immediate. We collect an escrow account for exactly this kind of condition
- They should have spent that money to reopen the sidewalk and then issue to stop work order until the
- escrow could be paid back
- instead a week of non-compliance and hazard to pedestrians. Since then, it has been closed many of the
- times that I have simply happened to be passing by. For example, they parked a concrete truck and a
- giant crane within the walk around for hours at a time on at least two occasions. When I reported one
- of these blockages on your report, Director Wason added his opinion that it would have been compliant
- if they had moved the flaggers to a different location. That's not true. Parking vehicles and equipment
- in the walk around for any duration of time is a violation of the MOT.
- Vehicles can pass through the walk-around to get to the staging area. That says that in the MOT, but
- they must not stage within the walk-around itself. It's a straightforward violation. In February, when
- this board approved this year's Kirkwood Outdoor Dining Program, we received a memo from the administration
- that said, quote, pedestrian safety is a non-negotiable priority, end quote. It's inappropriate for
- the Director of Public Works to negotiate away pedestrian safety.
- And it's inappropriate for the director of public works to supervise engineering staff. It's not only
- a bureaucratic misstep It is a criminal misdemeanor under state law for a non-engineer It's a certified
- profession to supervise this kind of work if the existing MOT does not provide sufficient space For
- the staging that they require at the petitioner, you know 115 East Kirkwood they need a new MOT approved
- by a certified engineer and this body and
- Because they did unapproved closures at least twice. I expect this to continue. We need a stop work
- order We need to make a new MOT if they can't Work within the MOT that they have Compromising pedestrian
- safety is not an acceptable remedy pedestrian safety matters you all thank you Thank you very much do
- we have any more public comment on anything not on tonight's agenda if you were
- On zoom you may use the raise hand function or the chat none on zoom. All right. Seeing none we will
- move along to tonight's consent agenda on the consent agenda is resolution 20 26 dash 0 1 6 mobile vendor
- donor kebab resolution 20 26 dash 0 1 7 mobile vendor top notch Filipino fusion.
- Resolution 2026 dash zero one eight pushcart license for Rasta pops outdoor lighting service agreement
- with Duke Energy for West 12th Street between North Monroe Street and North Summit Street Right of way
- special event for the 2026 summer science blast off updated contract with precision concrete for cut
- sidewalk cutting license agreement with the trustees of Indiana University for sidewalk construction
- on North Jefferson Street
- License agreement with the trustees of Indiana University for crosswalk improvements on North Union
- Street and payroll. We have any items that need to be removed from the consent agenda tonight. Any public
- comment on the consent agenda tonight. If you are in the room you may approach the podium if you are
- online again use the chat or the raise hand function. None on zoom seeing none is there a motion.
- I move that we approve the consent agenda for this regular meeting on Tuesday April 7th of twenty twenty
- six and I second I will call the roll Cox Deckard. I Korone I motion passes Next we will move on to
- new business The first item is the memorandum of agreement between the Indiana Department of Transportation
- and the city of Bloomington concerning the transfer of Pete Ellis Drive Discovery Parkway
- It's you. Hi Audrey Brittingham city attorney. I Am here to just memorize two or sorry three changes
- Reflected in the agreement with in dot in paragraph one point eleven that paragraph was revised to reflect
- that Bloomington will not be responsible for permitting after the date of transfer to the city and that
- in dot is going to work with the city during the transfer on issues of permits and
- on issuing permits, excuse me. And then paragraph 1.7 was revised to clarify that the city hadn't had
- the opportunity to inspect yet, so it was revised to say that the city after inspection agrees to accept
- the transferred road to the city in an as-is condition on the date of transfer. And then the final edit
- was revising Kyla's name.
- Any questions from the board on this item. Any public comment on this item. Is there a motion. I move
- that we approve the memorandum of agreement between Indiana Department of Transportation and the city
- of Bloomington concerning the transfer of Pete Ellis drive Discovery Parkway. And I second. I will call
- the roll. Cox Decker. I'm Caron. I motion passes.
- Next we have resolution 2026 dash zero to zero permitting permitting directional voting signs on the
- right of way. Audrey Brittingham city attorney. So the I think everyone may have noticed that early
- voting location has changed this year to be on the county side of the building and the county owned
- portion on North showers. Sorry the north side of the showers building.
- there were, when we came into work, there were signs placed in the right-of-way, the public right-of-way,
- largely signs that were just directing people to the voting location, and there was one or two signs
- regarding rules about electioneering where you can and can't stand. So those were placed on city property
- by the Monroe County government. This is just a resolution from the Board of Public Works saying that
- they can, for the 2020,
- For 2026, the county can place signs like that, signs that are directing people to vote, that are outlining
- the rules within the polling locations, within the public right of way. It also clearly indicates what
- signs cannot be put in the right of way. So signs on political issues, campaign candidate signs, things
- like that.
- Thank you. Questions from the board. So when we do clarify that and I apologize I'm just looking at
- the document now so my I may have missed this. There are a lot of polling places across the community
- and there are a lot of scenarios by which signs might be in what would be considered the right of way.
- For the city in other locations like not just City Hall. So is this Covering all of those locations
- or is this covering the City Hall? showers location both the way that this is drafted for the year of
- 2026 any Public right of way that the city owns will allow these signs to be placed in them directing
- people where to vote Okay, so in the case where
- Because signs that aren't just directional signage would be prohibited. This would be saying that the
- sign the signage that would be considered prohibited would need to be placed in within the property
- line beyond the right of way at all of the polling locations.
- That's correct. You mean like candidate signs and issue a signs. That's correct. They currently can't
- or shouldn't be placed in city public right away anyways Yeah, so yes, they would need the permission
- of course of the owner of the polling location right, right so Really what this is doing is Clarifying
- the allowed placement
- The polling direction signs, it's not changing anything about where candidate signs can be placed That's
- correct candidate signs would have already been restricted right from being placed in the right-of-way
- or on like city property in other Fashion if that that's correct What does this mean for? organizations
- or I should say more like events and
- Where signage is present on city property and right-of-way? So generally speaking Signs shouldn't be
- placed on city property or property or within city right-of-way Unless the city is the one placing the
- signs in that property or within that right-of-way If you have a more specific example that I can consider.
- Yeah every sign at the farmers market so
- Would say that every sign in the farmers market has been approved through the Board of Public Works
- and through I'm sorry through the Board of Park commissioners Or do you mean like signs from the farm
- vendors themselves like this is our farm vendors like all the miscellaneous third party signs that go
- in because we do have of course farm vendor signs, but we also have participation by issues
- political parties, other organizations that would be active in that space and since, you know, the property
- is city property. I'm just trying to figure out because this could cause some...
- Guess or my take here and I want Audrey to back me up is that the way that the Board of Public Works
- allows for the farmers market and they're in your Approval of their use of the showers Plaza that it
- then allows them to govern that that space while they're there so in consideration of information alley
- and things I think they're
- we would refer back to the guidelines of the Board of Parks commissioners that outline how the farmers
- market is then administered and managed for lack of better terms that allows for the signage in information
- alley or that each, I don't know this for sure, but I would guess that there is language about what
- types of signs the farmers can use, the vendors can use, things like that, and that it would fall under
- the guidelines of the market at that point.
- What I'll let what I'll add here as well as our intent today was really just to Clarify and make sure
- that we were Covering our bases when it comes to having the appropriate signage to direct the voters
- to where they needed to go And then clear up some issues with we did have some issues on City Hall's
- front lawn with candidate signs this morning and where they needed to be placed so just trying to proactively
- address these issues as were
- Looking at this new location, but I appreciate your question of like how does it affect other? But would
- you agree that it's probably the guidelines of the farmers market through the Parks Commission I would
- say so. I mean I would say that the Board of Park Commissioners Has the authority to outline that within
- the regulations for the farmers market? So they have the authority to say here's the free speech alley.
- Here's where people can put up issue and
- Signs anyone is welcome to do that What we're trying to actually address here is the fact that you know,
- we can't have people putting up signs without us Indicating when and how that's appropriate. Otherwise,
- you could have anyone come in and say well the county put up a sign We want to put up our sign. I Think
- that given that it's the county we would probably even in that at that point have a decent argument
- that that's not the case but this is
- Sort of a cautionary situation for us to try to to prevent that and make it clear to people that we're
- adopting the Excuse me. Sorry. We're adopting the Language here. We're really adopting the signs as
- our own and saying look, this is city speech as well It is within our best interest to direct people
- to the correct location to vote That makes sense well and I think I
- Just the clarity that this resolution is providing permission for a specific sign. It is not changing
- any of the precedent for the way signs are managed in other city properties in other ways. So those
- rules still stand with this resolution. It's it's totally focused on this specific
- Signage for this specific time frame. That is correct and I mean it is my understanding that You could
- propose an amendment if there's something you wanted clarified in here further but But yes, the way
- it's been drafted it hasn't been It shouldn't change anything it just clarifies an existing situation
- on the north side of showers hall
- East East. I'm sorry, whatever Down that way If you want us to change any of the language within it
- when you make the motion to approve it you can make the motion to approve it with the language change
- and then That would we can amend it without actually doing an amendment. I think we can change the language
- there and resign so if you Want to change any of the language? Yeah, I think
- I think the language makes sense. I just wanted to confirm that we weren't inadvertently sort of revising
- other policy with this policy that we may not be intending to upend. But the frame of it seems very
- specific to these specific signs in this specific time frame. So I don't have a lot of concern and I
- don't have a different
- Type of language to propose. I do have a question. I did read Mr. Askin's article earlier today about
- the signage Has it been clarified between the city and the county what areas are the county's areas
- for any kind of Adjustment on their part versus what this is covering. Yeah, I
- So I spent the most of my day trying to work through this so I've got I want to thank County clerk Nicole
- Brown and her team over there Tanner Tanner Branham and Kylie Ferris. We spent a lot of time this morning
- looking at we don't have survey pins that we can go out there and like specifically identify exactly
- where the survey pin is but we were able to look at the GIS maps through elevate and other documents
- to see where
- There are some very odd lot lines around here. The right of way of Morton Street is very wide. So we
- were looking at that and yes, we were able to clarify where near the north entrance there is a triangular
- shaped grass area that is on the county's land that Works for some of the for the candidate signs as
- well as the area between the parking lot sidewalk and the building there there's a grass area that they
- were noting as a location for the candidate signs
- and then the some of the other interesting parts of the right-of-way lines and the property lines are
- That with that wider Morton Street right-of-way it actually includes like the islands and the bump outs
- that are out into Morton at the entrance to the parking lot where the Vote the early voters will be
- serviced. So just working through those issues as well like exactly. Where is the right-of-way? Where
- is the property line?
- Between city property county property, etc. So did our best to identify those areas mark them off and
- try to be explicit with that And just on that note big thanks to their team We did we worked
- very cooperatively today to try to figure this out. It was new, you know with
- Early voting being here for the first time next to City Hall. That was something that you know We just
- didn't expect or didn't anticipate in terms of for city operations So we all work together and tried
- to come up with something reasonable and that meets the public's needs and so yeah, thanks to them From
- the public on this item comments or comment public comment on this item Thank you
- Dave Askins be square bulletin. I will make a comment in the form of a question. I wonder Why the city
- Bloomington would not simply grant permission as it can do under state law to allow campaign signs And
- other kinds of sciences associated with elections on city property. So the state law is pretty clear.
- It just says if you're gonna allow Campaign signs you have to do it for all candidates
- Or you can banish all of them and it seems like the city has adopted the position that we're going to
- ban all of them which means that we have to worry about where city property is and where county property
- is and where public right of way is when it could be simple we could say we don't really care because
- the county and the city have Decided to invoke the state law that allows them to do that So that is
- what I'm wondering and it would be helpful I think if some clarity on that exact point could be provided
- Thanks Thank you Hi, hi guys Kylie Ferris, Manara County election supervisor I just wanted to cover
- come over and thank Adam for working with us very very hard today with making sure that we understand
- where those lines are but also just to Remind that this is a new location for us But this is also going
- to be our permanent location for as long as we can foresee at this time. So I
- Not only is it just this election but also next year's city election and then the following year for
- the presidential election And so as we all know the presidential's are always going to be the ones that
- are the highest Turnout and so those are the ones that we're really going to need to try to get some
- communication back and forth and really see where those deadlines and try to get some timing set with
- each other for us to know about these resolutions and see
- what we can do for the right of way. But then also we are. I also just wanted to give a little bit of
- information today for the first day of the midterm election. Currently with us still having about 10
- minutes left of early voting we are sitting higher than any other midterm election in Monroe County
- for turnout for the first day. So just wanted to let you guys know that. And then thank you again for
- working with us. Thank you very much.
- All right. Any other comments on this item. One thing I just wanted to comment on the question or the
- comment about the right of way and sort of granting like a blanket approval for that. I one am speculating
- that would require
- some additional intervention by other city bodies beyond us. I've always known that the public right
- of way is not a place where you can place signs with a couple specific exceptions, sandwich boards that
- get approved by planning, you know, like they're obviously construction signage and barricades. There
- are some really specific types of signage that can gain approval, but that broadly speaking,
- signage in the public right of way is not permitted by the city and just this is more personal opinion
- but if it were we would see just I mean wide swaths of signage across the city's right of way sort of
- unfettered because
- anyone could come along and say, well, it's city right of way. It's not technically private property.
- This is city right of way. So I can plant my sign in this roundabout. I can plant my sign in this little
- island. I can plant my sign in this and this and this and this, and it becomes untenable, right? So
- I've always understood the city to take a pretty specific stance on not allowing signage in the right
- of way. And I just wanted to confirm that that is the
- Reason why we are in this position of approving specifically this signage specifically in you know certain
- areas and not just granting or considering granting All city property slash right-of-way for the purposes
- of candidate signs for a certain period or a
- Yeah, no that is correct. And I mean this is specific to the right-of-way so One of the things that
- we're I mean the there's a large part of the area front that is not Controlled by this board. It's controlled
- by the RDC right and so This is not necessarily just about city or this is not about city property.
- This is about what goes in the right-of-way which is
- Under the authority of the Board of Public Works. So and yes, that is correct. That's the general concern
- I it's my understanding From Margie that candidates can put their signs in the county on the county
- property as well, which is right right next door Within not, you know outside of the 50-foot barrier, right?
- I've tried to learn more about election law and placement of signs today than I ever expected to when
- I woke up this morning, but deferring to city legal on some of these issues as far as the X's and O's
- of which laws apply where on this. But what I can tell you is with the signs in the right of way, we
- have definitely taken the stance of it's no signs or then it is all signs. So you're right. If we allowed
- one sign in the right of way for
- The Lions Day fish fry or whatnot. We have to allow any other sign in the right away. So I believe that's
- all governed through the UDO as well in terms of public signs and in the public. So again, this effort is just
- kind of a quick interim effort to make sure we have appropriate signage near the building on our property
- to get the voters there in terms of whether or not under state law we can just blanket allow other political
- signs for the candidates. That's one that I'm not even close to being able to answer at this point without
- legal taking some time to look at that as well. But it's all in the spirit of trying to work together
- and do it the right way.
- Thank you for the discussion. Is there a motion on this item. I move that we approve the resolution
- twenty twenty six dash zero twenty permitting directional voting signs in the right of way. And I second.
- I will call the roll. Cox Decker. I own I motion passes. All right. Next on the new business agenda
- is a service agreement with Murphy Elevator.
- All right, Adam waste on behalf of both public works and the parking garage staff Murphy elevator We're
- looking to bring them on as our full service maintenance contractor for including our monthly preventative
- maintenance and repair services This will include City Hall West showers BPD dispatch Morton Street
- garage trades garage 4th Street garage and Walnut Street garage and We request your approval of this
- contract with Murphy elevator company happy to answer any questions
- Thank you questions from the board on this item Are there any priority projects that they might be working
- on as they get started or is it really just Yes, we've got some work that is gonna take place on One
- of the they've done some inspection work for us and
- I do think they have one. I can't remember if it was Morton or Walnut but one of those two had something
- they were going to work on right away and then otherwise it's more of just that monthly preventative
- and certification and then on call things. So something goes on wrong throughout the day or evening.
- They're the on call provider to to come service. How is Morton garage doing.
- Good we've had our third party inspection come in Walnut Street garage has been fully released after
- third party inspection Morton Street garage still has One Maybe two items that Kona needs to repair
- before that project gets fully turned over But we've worked on those negotiations with their senior
- leadership and have an exit strategy for both Thank you, is there public comment on it
- this item. None. All right. Is there a motion. I move that we approve the service agreement with Murphy
- elevator. I second. I will call the roll. Cox Decker. I run. I motion passes.
- Next, we have staff reports. Anything this evening? Just very quickly, I wanted to make note that we've
- talked about our American Public Works Association accreditation a bit in the past. We're continuing
- along that path, working with the divisions right now, wrapping up some of our strategic operations
- plans on how we do things, but just really want to commend the staff for the effort we're putting in
- there. Our final panels will be in July with the accreditation board, and look forward to wrapping that
- whole big project up.
- Big effort on behalf of all the staff So I just want to thank them and keep the board up to speed on
- where we're at with that Otherwise, we're starting to implement some of the outdoor dining measures
- for the parklets on Kirkwood and downtown Working with those restaurants. So thanks to the team both
- with downtown specialists and parking enforcement and Cassie for getting that
- All straightened out and put in and otherwise I will just note on the 115 East Kirkwood We will I've
- got a staff update with the engineering department tomorrow And ask them for an update on what they've
- been seen on that 115 East Kirkwood project and that walk around So we will keep monitoring that as
- well and take mr. Alexander's Comments into account for whether or not that can be blocked at all in terms of
- the walk around with their delivery. So staff will make sure that they get out there and I'll talk with
- Dr. Seymour as well. Thank you. Next on the agenda is approval of claims. Are there any board questions
- on the claims tonight? Any public comment on claims? None. Seeing none. Is there a motion? I move that
- we approve claims in the amount of two million eighty thousand six hundred and sixty four dollars and
- thirty seven cents.
- Second I will call the roll Cox Decker. I'm grown. I motion passes with nothing else on the agenda.
- I will call for adjournment