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