WEBVTT 00:00:00.066 --> 00:00:07.076 - So I'll go ahead and call the order of this meeting of the Common Council's Interview Committee B. Just 00:00:07.076 --> 00:00:14.086 - naming who is here. I am Matt Flaherty, at-large council member. Courtney Daly, council member District 00:00:14.086 --> 00:00:20.827 - 5. And then the other committee member online. Andy Ruff, council member at-large. And then we have 00:00:20.827 --> 00:00:27.770 - Jaycee. Jennifer Crossley, deputy clerk. And we are interviewing for the Environmental Commission with 00:00:27.770 --> 00:00:29.118 - our two candidates. 00:00:29.410 --> 00:00:34.978 - Carl and Justin. We'll get to introductions in a moment. And as Deputy Clerk Crossley probably communicated 00:00:34.978 --> 00:00:40.237 - to you, the council divides the responsibility for its appointments to various boards and commissions 00:00:40.237 --> 00:00:45.548 - on the city through these interview committees. We convene to both review applications and then decide 00:00:45.548 --> 00:00:51.167 - on who to interview and make recommendations to the full council. So we don't ourselves make the appointment 00:00:51.167 --> 00:00:56.581 - per se, but we're recommending to our colleagues. And I would say 99% of the time, those recommendations 00:00:56.581 --> 00:00:58.334 - are taken up by the full council. 00:00:58.466 --> 00:01:03.910 - regular session. The next opportunity for that, for recommendations to be formalized appointments, I 00:01:03.910 --> 00:01:09.623 - think is the March 4th meeting, because we like to get folks advance notice through the packet. So that's 00:01:09.623 --> 00:01:15.066 - kind of the process, what we're doing here. And with that, we can kick off maybe some questions from 00:01:15.066 --> 00:01:20.618 - us, and hopefully we also have some time for any questions you all have. I'll start us, and we'll kind 00:01:20.618 --> 00:01:26.007 - of just rotate among council members for questions. And then maybe we can just alternate who starts 00:01:26.007 --> 00:01:27.678 - with respect to each question. 00:01:27.874 --> 00:01:34.146 - out of fairness, I guess. And so maybe just first question, if you can both introduce yourselves and 00:01:34.146 --> 00:01:40.728 - tell us a bit more about why you're serving on the environmental question. We can start with you, Justin. 00:01:40.728 --> 00:01:47.124 - Absolutely. I'm Justin Mechter. I've met you before. But currently, I am the water quality coordinator 00:01:47.124 --> 00:01:53.706 - for the use that you do in the utilities. I'm quite interested in this council because I see some changes 00:01:53.706 --> 00:01:56.190 - at state and federal levels that aren't 00:01:56.642 --> 00:02:02.537 - my favorite changes to see recently. And, you know, I think a lot of these changes impacted us locally. 00:02:02.537 --> 00:02:08.206 - I see coworkers at work go through some of these changes with their respective programs as they try 00:02:08.206 --> 00:02:14.101 - to navigate that. But I think a lot of, you know, environmental changes happen at the local level. It's 00:02:14.101 --> 00:02:19.769 - kind of at that local level where you see the impacts more directly. I mean, how they can influence 00:02:19.769 --> 00:02:23.454 - your day-to-day life, your neighbors, your friends, whether it's 00:02:23.618 --> 00:02:30.384 - know how we treat shared green space or interact with our waterways and maintain contaminants and we're 00:02:30.384 --> 00:02:36.889 - out of our home systems. And, you know, I have a background mostly in environmental sciences on the 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:43.459 - research side of things. So I think this council has a good opportunity to meet with people that are 00:02:43.459 --> 00:02:50.290 - kind of like-minded and have similar goals as far as environmental standards go. And, you know, probably 00:02:50.290 --> 00:02:53.022 - have some different backgrounds as far as 00:02:53.154 --> 00:02:59.831 - their interaction with environmental research or legislation or policy through different avenues in 00:02:59.831 --> 00:03:06.709 - their life. So I think it's a good way to get kind of a lot of different opinions, but kind of the end 00:03:06.709 --> 00:03:13.386 - goal being the same in the same room and hopefully have some sort of positive impact on potentially 00:03:13.386 --> 00:03:17.726 - legislation or policy or kind of our local community. Thank you. 00:03:19.714 --> 00:03:26.458 - Yeah, so I'm Karl Geiser. I'm a freshwater ecologist working in the Department of Public Health at Indiana 00:03:26.458 --> 00:03:32.824 - University. I actually found out about the environmental commissions and commissions in general from 00:03:32.824 --> 00:03:39.253 - the Residence Academy. At the time, I was very interested in the survey, so I took a look at the list 00:03:39.253 --> 00:03:45.871 - and figured out where my skills and expertise would kind of intersect with my interest and where I could 00:03:45.871 --> 00:03:49.022 - be best at contributing to the city, so to speak. 00:03:49.154 --> 00:03:56.685 - I also have a freshwater ecology background. That's what I'm doing now. I'm currently monitoring southern 00:03:56.685 --> 00:04:03.790 - Indiana freshwater and wastewater streams for avian influenza monitoring. You might have remembered 00:04:03.790 --> 00:04:11.107 - aid prices shooting up to like six, seven bucks a while back. I'm trying to work on a solution to that 00:04:11.107 --> 00:04:16.862 - issue. But the environment is very much a passion of mine. I think one of the... 00:04:17.186 --> 00:04:26.222 - I went to, I graduated from Indiana University in 2016 and I've spent time in Chicago, in Seattle and 00:04:26.222 --> 00:04:35.169 - I ballooned back to IU. And one of those, one of the reasons I did is because Bloomington has such a 00:04:35.169 --> 00:04:43.851 - wonderful environment and I would like to do what I can to preserve and protect that. So I think, 00:04:43.851 --> 00:04:46.686 - you know, maybe one of the big, 00:04:46.978 --> 00:04:52.904 - one of the big questions of serving on one of these boards and commissions. I know you served on the, 00:04:52.904 --> 00:04:58.714 - I wanted to say Jack Hopkins, it's the other one. The block grant. Yes, the block grant. Thank you. 00:04:58.714 --> 00:05:04.582 - The CDBG. So these are very much made up of teamwork. A lot of different voices coming together. And 00:05:04.582 --> 00:05:10.391 - as you said in your statement, different opinions may not all agree. So can you talk to me a little 00:05:10.391 --> 00:05:11.902 - bit about your experience 00:05:12.002 --> 00:05:19.887 - working in teams and maybe how you handle working with somebody who has a different viewpoint than you. 00:05:19.887 --> 00:05:27.620 - So Carl, you can go first. Yeah. Well, you may or may not know science is completely collaborative at 00:05:27.620 --> 00:05:35.430 - this stage. It's very rare to be the individual-owned scientist working on your own thing and not have 00:05:35.430 --> 00:05:41.950 - any input with anybody else. Typically, we work in groups. We present to conferences. 00:05:42.530 --> 00:05:49.676 - There's plenty of opportunity to communicate our research and findings there. You'll often run into 00:05:49.676 --> 00:05:56.893 - people that have an issue with something you're doing or your work. I actually value that because in 00:05:56.893 --> 00:06:04.396 - a lot of ways, the problems that you're trying to tackle are too big for one person. You need some input 00:06:04.396 --> 00:06:05.182 - to get you 00:06:05.826 --> 00:06:12.507 - acclimate a different perspective. It's very important to consider that because otherwise, you might 00:06:12.507 --> 00:06:19.188 - get stuck in your own viewpoint perspective and you're not going to get to an ideal solution. We had 00:06:19.188 --> 00:06:26.001 - the experience of that on the Community Black Grant Committee where everybody had their own philosophy 00:06:26.001 --> 00:06:32.881 - on how to assign funding. I think we got there and it was good that we came to a consensus there. Let's 00:06:32.881 --> 00:06:35.262 - try that generally. Yeah, I'll echo 00:06:35.394 --> 00:06:40.846 - what he said because, you know, that's the background of the sciences. You know, one of the fun things 00:06:40.846 --> 00:06:44.286 - I found in the sciences is you kind of took a bunch of different 00:06:44.834 --> 00:06:51.121 - not opinions, but different research aspects on similar projects. Some may agree, some may disagree. 00:06:51.121 --> 00:06:57.907 - And it always gives you a chance to kind of find a place that you could have some input into that discussion 00:06:57.907 --> 00:07:04.194 - or that project or that bigger picture. And once you kind of find that niche, you can take different 00:07:04.194 --> 00:07:10.482 - opinions from people that have done similar research or are doing the same research and kind of find 00:07:10.482 --> 00:07:13.470 - a way to implement that into what you're doing. 00:07:13.986 --> 00:07:20.145 - I think one of the big things though is if you don't kind of have a similar end goal, that's when it 00:07:20.145 --> 00:07:26.304 - becomes very difficult. If you don't see, if you have point A as your end goal and they have point B 00:07:26.304 --> 00:07:32.524 - as their end goal, it's a lot harder to find that middle ground. But I think one of the big things is 00:07:32.524 --> 00:07:38.804 - always be open to different ideas. As people have told me in the past, I've been wrong. So it's always 00:07:38.804 --> 00:07:39.902 - okay to be wrong. 00:07:40.258 --> 00:07:48.027 - But as long as you're okay to actually accept different viewpoints and do a little research into them 00:07:48.027 --> 00:07:55.948 - and why they may have that viewpoint, it's a much easier way to find kind of that common middle ground. 00:07:55.948 --> 00:08:03.717 - Yeah, great, thank you. Councilmember Ruff, did you have a question you'd like to ask? Yeah, I'd just 00:08:03.717 --> 00:08:09.886 - like to ask both candidates, do you think there are low-hanging fruit that bloom 00:08:10.210 --> 00:08:18.298 - Let me rephrase that. Do you see some ways right out of the gate that we could be doing better as a 00:08:18.298 --> 00:08:26.386 - community in terms of environmental protection, enhancement, and maintaining a quality environment? 00:08:26.386 --> 00:08:34.474 - Do you see some? Where do you think we're not doing super well? Yeah, I will say I've only lived in 00:08:34.474 --> 00:08:37.790 - Bloomington about five or six years now. 00:08:37.922 --> 00:08:44.722 - I've been at the utility for about three years. One of the ones that stick out to me is since I've been 00:08:44.722 --> 00:08:51.587 - here, the changes we've seen in our MS4 program and our strong water runoff, I think it was two or three 00:08:51.587 --> 00:08:58.257 - years ago, I would have said one of our big issues, we had a big rainstorm and half Kirkwood flooded. 00:08:58.257 --> 00:09:03.422 - We went through some utility changes. We had some big projects go on downtown. 00:09:04.002 --> 00:09:10.439 - Um, you know, and then since then we've, we've handled bigger storms in a much better way. Um, but as 00:09:10.439 --> 00:09:16.875 - part of that, I think runoff in general, as we see Bloomington, um, quickly, you know, expanding, um, 00:09:16.875 --> 00:09:23.438 - and a lot of new construction projects, uh, what it feels like around every corner. Um, there's always, 00:09:23.438 --> 00:09:29.054 - you know, improvements that can be made in every sort of runoff, whether it's, you know, 00:09:29.282 --> 00:09:34.989 - pollutant runoff, whether sediment runoff, you know, sediment runoff is one of the biggest issues when 00:09:34.989 --> 00:09:40.640 - it comes to stream water quality in these kind of urban areas. You know, I've looked into some of our 00:09:40.640 --> 00:09:46.180 - Clear Creek, you know, it's listed on the 303b list. It's not a very healthy stream running through 00:09:46.180 --> 00:09:51.887 - Bloomington. And we've done some B-Cola and we're looking at kind of how bad it is in different areas. 00:09:51.887 --> 00:09:53.438 - And, you know, I think just 00:09:53.538 --> 00:10:01.495 - being able to take a small piece of that to help mitigate runoff and how quickly runoff reaches these 00:10:01.495 --> 00:10:09.607 - kind of pressure points would be kind of an easier one to tackle. But when you say easy in these terms, 00:10:09.607 --> 00:10:17.642 - it's not as easy as it sounds. But I think that's one of the ones that could be addressed more readily 00:10:17.642 --> 00:10:23.102 - available. So low-hanging fruit. So I've been in a position to attend 00:10:23.266 --> 00:10:29.608 - We've had a couple of the previous environmental commission meetings and one of the main focuses in 00:10:29.608 --> 00:10:30.750 - the commission is 00:10:31.010 --> 00:10:39.227 - thinking about how to better communicate with the city and also the community as a whole, what the EC 00:10:39.227 --> 00:10:47.284 - is doing, as well as how we can best get resident input on how to benefit Bloomington as a whole. I 00:10:47.284 --> 00:10:55.421 - would say that would be kind of my priority to join the outreach subcommittee in the EC. I also find 00:10:55.421 --> 00:10:57.918 - it interesting, there's an ACM 00:10:58.146 --> 00:11:05.232 - a white pollution subcommittee that's occurring right now in the EC. And I think it would be very cool 00:11:05.232 --> 00:11:12.455 - to join that and very useful because Bloomington as a whole, I think has some gaps in the UDO concerning 00:11:12.455 --> 00:11:19.472 - white pollution guidelines and regulation. That would be a very low hanging avenue. I also agree with 00:11:19.472 --> 00:11:26.902 - the stormwater approach that mentioned by Justin. But yeah, those would be kind of things I'd be interested 00:11:26.902 --> 00:11:27.934 - in. Thank you. 00:11:30.690 --> 00:11:36.839 - I have a logistical question, which is that the commission meets, I think it is third Thursday at 6 p.m., 00:11:36.839 --> 00:11:42.989 - estimated time commitment of maybe five hours a month, give or take, but the EC is one of the commissions 00:11:42.989 --> 00:11:49.312 - historically that's done really terrific policy advisory work on development, unified development ordinance, 00:11:49.312 --> 00:11:55.172 - things like that. And as you kind of referenced, Carl has some different working groups or subgroups 00:11:55.172 --> 00:11:56.158 - that we'll meet. 00:11:56.866 --> 00:12:02.704 - we sometimes run into challenges achieving quorum, having people, like we need a quorum attending in 00:12:02.704 --> 00:12:08.601 - person, things like that. So just wanted to check in about your own availability and commitment to be 00:12:08.601 --> 00:12:14.439 - able to attend meetings regularly in person, contribute, you know, as it fits with working groups or 00:12:14.439 --> 00:12:20.220 - that sort of thing. So just that the time works, the commitment works in your life, all that. And I 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:26.174 - guess start with you, Karl. Oh yeah, I mean, the meeting typically, or the EC typically meets in like, 00:12:26.402 --> 00:12:33.849 - 5.30-ish if I recall correctly. I've had no issue and I will have no issue attending these meetings. 00:12:33.849 --> 00:12:41.516 - That's not going to be a problem for me. Again, I've attended a couple in the past just recently. It'll 00:12:41.516 --> 00:12:48.963 - be very rare for me to miss a meeting. Yeah, I echo that statement. That should be a time that works 00:12:48.963 --> 00:12:55.230 - very well for me. If it means I can go to that instead of the USB meeting on Monday, 00:12:55.906 --> 00:13:05.467 - Yeah, I mean, just really pretty basic, you know, are you familiar with the work of the board or the 00:13:05.467 --> 00:13:15.407 - commission, I should say, you know, their past and maybe what they're working on now. I think it's here. 00:13:15.407 --> 00:13:25.726 - You know, I'll be 100% honest. Like I said, I haven't been here all that long. And having a kid last year or 00:13:25.826 --> 00:13:31.526 - a year and a half ago now has been more busy. So I haven't really dove too deeply into it. I've seen 00:13:31.526 --> 00:13:37.282 - some of their bigger and I went back through some of their yearly reports. I guess our last one I saw 00:13:37.282 --> 00:13:43.095 - nervous from 2024. So in all honesty, I'm not the most familiar with what they do, but it's, you know, 00:13:43.095 --> 00:13:48.794 - I've read through some of their admission statements and you kind of what their goals were. And it's 00:13:48.794 --> 00:13:54.494 - definitely something I felt aligned with kind of what I was interested in. Is he doing what? I mean, 00:13:54.626 --> 00:14:01.936 - What, with an 18 month old? What would you be doing? It's nice to start walking until you never sit 00:14:01.936 --> 00:14:09.392 - down again. And when you start getting the sleep back, that's always a joy. Knock on wood, that's one 00:14:09.392 --> 00:14:16.775 - thing I won't complain about. It doesn't stop that issue for us yet. Well, congrats. So again, I had 00:14:16.775 --> 00:14:23.134 - the pleasure and privilege to attend the November meeting, which actually is when they 00:14:23.362 --> 00:14:30.021 - all got together and made a plan for next year. I got to actually hear a full outline of every single 00:14:30.021 --> 00:14:36.550 - subcommittee and how everybody is assigned to those subcommittees and what the plans are, the grand 00:14:36.550 --> 00:14:43.079 - plans are for this year. I feel very confident that I'm aware of the EC's mission statement and all 00:14:43.079 --> 00:14:49.804 - the work they do with the eco-heroes and the Arbor Day celebration. I'm very comfortable with what the 00:14:49.804 --> 00:14:52.350 - EC is doing in Bloomington. Thank you. 00:14:56.994 --> 00:15:04.990 - Did you have additional questions you wanted to ask? Oh, I would just ask, sort of following from Carl's 00:15:04.990 --> 00:15:12.681 - last response, being very comfortable with the work, the duties and the responsibility of the EC and 00:15:12.681 --> 00:15:20.372 - as being an EC member, what's the closest role that comes to mind to you that you can think of where 00:15:20.372 --> 00:15:23.646 - it was similar? You served a similar role. 00:15:28.130 --> 00:15:35.461 - Well, I mean, I guess if we're talking about government, then probably the CDBG board community block 00:15:35.461 --> 00:15:42.720 - grant funding. If we're talking about just environmental volunteering in general, I've been involved 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:49.691 - in the Friends of the River, the Chicago River and River Cleanups, discussing how to best tackle 00:15:49.691 --> 00:15:57.022 - environmental issues in the environment of Chicago. But truthfully, I've never actually done probably 00:15:57.314 --> 00:16:07.780 - exact type of work. What I was getting at more is the EC handles and advises on some fairly controversial, 00:16:07.780 --> 00:16:17.561 - I won't go so far as to say divisive, but issues that can cut two ways to a lot of different people 00:16:17.561 --> 00:16:23.038 - in the community. We just had an issue with the council 00:16:23.138 --> 00:16:33.719 - where there was a proposal to increase the percentage of a lot that could be impermeable surface in 00:16:33.719 --> 00:16:44.935 - development in exchange for some density, some housing, in exchange for some public housing type benefits 00:16:44.935 --> 00:16:51.390 - that would flow to the city, arguably. I was more getting at 00:16:51.586 --> 00:16:59.246 - one of you served, you know, in a group dealing with issues that are likely to be kind of difficult, 00:16:59.246 --> 00:17:07.285 - controversial. Like when you're doing the cleanup, you get the example of doing the river cleanup. That's 00:17:07.285 --> 00:17:14.869 - pretty, everybody kind of gets on board with that. Yeah, I knew what you're saying. Something where 00:17:14.869 --> 00:17:20.254 - there's going to be kind of strong feelings on both sides. You know, I 00:17:20.738 --> 00:17:28.293 - I had my opinion on that measure as I shared with you and many council members. I wouldn't say that 00:17:28.293 --> 00:17:35.848 - I've had a lot of experience with that if I'm going to be frank, but I will say that I think I have 00:17:35.848 --> 00:17:43.706 - a level head. I think I'm willing to share and articulate my thoughts and hopefully mediate and balance 00:17:43.706 --> 00:17:47.710 - my strong opinions wherever it becomes a way if not, 00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:57.764 - in a disagreement, at least kind of respecting each other. But yeah, I don't know that I've had a direct 00:17:57.764 --> 00:18:07.931 - political role in that respect. Yeah. I'm in a similar boat. I have worked recently in some of the watershed 00:18:07.931 --> 00:18:16.606 - protection stuff for Lake Monroe with the Friends of Lake Monroe and Lake Monroe Water Fund. 00:18:16.738 --> 00:18:23.295 - The closest example would be the Friends of Lake Monroe. They have some grants that they give out for 00:18:23.295 --> 00:18:29.723 - cost share programs. So, you know, we do have to take applications for different projects from some 00:18:29.723 --> 00:18:36.152 - landowners and kind of decide where that money is best spent based on what we feel those, you know, 00:18:36.152 --> 00:18:42.645 - environmental impacts or the mitigation to, you know, issues we have in the watershed. So, you know, 00:18:42.645 --> 00:18:44.766 - there is an aspect of, you know, 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:51.524 - Who we're going to fund and how much we're going to fund these projects for. So, you know, there is 00:18:51.524 --> 00:18:58.050 - some disagreements there, but, you know, not quite to the level of what, you know, the dilemma you were 00:18:58.050 --> 00:19:04.449 - discussing was. Okay, thank you. We have this section of the interviews, I guess, until seven. And so 00:19:04.449 --> 00:19:09.406 - I wanted to offer the opportunity to ask us any questions you might have about 00:19:09.570 --> 00:19:15.740 - uh, service on the forest commissions, how it works, et cetera. So any questions? Uh, I guess start 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:22.034 - with you, Justin. Yeah. Um, you know, as a, as city council members, what do you guys view or what do 00:19:22.034 --> 00:19:28.513 - you view the environmental commission as kind of like their main focus should be or their, their biggest 00:19:28.513 --> 00:19:31.166 - benefit to you guys as a council would be? 00:19:35.170 --> 00:19:45.540 - I would say the advisory role on policy is really, I put a lot of weight onto what the recommendations, 00:19:45.540 --> 00:19:55.610 - the advisory recommendations of, positions of the environmental commission are. So guidance from the 00:19:55.610 --> 00:19:58.302 - input from the commission. 00:19:58.434 --> 00:20:08.884 - more so than any specific type of issue like stormwater or something. It's more just this overall role 00:20:08.884 --> 00:20:19.435 - of applying the work, the research you've done, the discussions, the study of important topics and then 00:20:19.435 --> 00:20:26.942 - sharing that with council. Yeah, definitely. We want the expertise people 00:20:27.842 --> 00:20:34.177 - who can guide us as we're making some of these decisions and know better than us, because we're not 00:20:34.177 --> 00:20:40.575 - the experts. Also note that the importance of environmental quality is kind of a focus area. We also 00:20:40.575 --> 00:20:47.100 - have a commission on sustainability whose focus is more holistic from the sustainability framework and 00:20:47.100 --> 00:20:53.435 - also more climate oriented and emissions, climate pollution mitigation oriented, which can be quite 00:20:53.435 --> 00:20:56.286 - different than environmental quality issues. 00:20:56.386 --> 00:21:03.951 - explored the possibility of combining these, but I've decided to keep them distinct because of the importance 00:21:03.951 --> 00:21:10.966 - of having focus on environmental quality issues that are not the same as climate issues. So that's an 00:21:10.966 --> 00:21:17.913 - area that I think is important for the commission to continue to focus on, which they have done. And 00:21:17.913 --> 00:21:25.822 - so that's, I guess, context to share, I guess, about their priorities also. Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. 00:21:26.690 --> 00:21:33.842 - I guess that was your expectation of the Environmental Commission as a whole. What do you expect from 00:21:33.842 --> 00:21:40.994 - your individual appointee to the Environmental Commission compared to maybe a mayoral appointment? Is 00:21:40.994 --> 00:21:48.145 - there a difference? Between the council appointees and the mayoral, I don't see a difference. I don't 00:21:48.145 --> 00:21:54.526 - think there is one. I think everybody serves equally. I don't have different expectations. 00:21:56.802 --> 00:22:05.647 - I can't speak for everybody. Yeah, I mostly share that. I think occasionally you'll find that a council 00:22:05.647 --> 00:22:14.491 - appointee might feel more suited to like engage with the council versus, I don't know, like most people 00:22:14.491 --> 00:22:23.251 - probably doesn't matter at all. It's probably a very unique situation if there is a delineation. Yeah, 00:22:23.251 --> 00:22:26.142 - that's right. Any other thoughts? 00:22:26.242 --> 00:22:34.925 - No, no, thank you. Um, so yeah, yeah, not a lot of goodness there. Uh, any closing thoughts, I guess, 00:22:34.925 --> 00:22:43.523 - or maybe we could just wrap with that. Yeah. Any, any parting, parting thoughts from, from you both, 00:22:43.523 --> 00:22:49.822 - uh, Karl and Justin? Um, you know, I, I'm, I'm actually kind of happy to, 00:22:50.242 --> 00:22:58.296 - Both myself and Justin, both kind of coming from a science background are applying here. I know that, 00:22:58.296 --> 00:23:06.191 - you know, David Park just, you know, has stepped down and I think that EC would benefit from having 00:23:06.191 --> 00:23:14.166 - a science, more people with a science background to fill the commission. So I'm happy to put my name 00:23:14.166 --> 00:23:19.614 - in the ring. And yeah, thank you both. Thank you all for being here. 00:23:20.002 --> 00:23:27.164 - That's all I have to say. Yeah, no, I echo that. And regardless, if I end up on the committee or not, 00:23:27.164 --> 00:23:34.396 - I want to thank you guys for the time. And I never realized how difficult your positions are at times. 00:23:34.396 --> 00:23:41.488 - Just in some of the watershed protection stuff we're doing for Lake Monroe, you see how difficult it 00:23:41.488 --> 00:23:48.510 - is to deal with different groups and entities when you're trying to figure out policy or actions or 00:23:48.802 --> 00:23:55.743 - So you think I'm in a better interest of getting from the drought, but it's something. Yeah, I appreciate 00:23:55.743 --> 00:24:02.422 - it. As far as next steps, you will probably hear next from Deputy Claire Crossley. That will probably 00:24:02.422 --> 00:24:09.231 - be in a few weeks after we get a chance to make recommendations to the city council. Also, just to note 00:24:09.231 --> 00:24:15.779 - that I needed to double check or review how many vacancies we have available. Is it one or is there 00:24:15.779 --> 00:24:16.958 - two? One council. 00:24:17.538 --> 00:24:23.672 - Mm-hmm. Actually, they're well- I don't know about that one yet. I was having a hard time interpreting 00:24:23.672 --> 00:24:29.746 - the onboard system. Yeah. It's a carryover. So we may have two appointments to make. That'd be great. 00:24:29.746 --> 00:24:36.059 - And then also just noting that even when we aren't able to appoint everyone we'd like to in the immediate 00:24:36.059 --> 00:24:42.193 - term, sometimes vacancies open up or there's an oral appointment and we'll make recommendations across 00:24:42.193 --> 00:24:44.158 - branches and that kind of thing. 00:24:44.770 --> 00:24:49.646 - One way or another, probably in early March, you can hear from Debbie or Crossley if you have questions 00:24:49.646 --> 00:24:54.382 - or, you know, that sort of thing. Feel free to reach out. Yeah. Great. Thank you both. Thank both of 00:24:54.382 --> 00:24:59.118 - you. Thanks very much for your interest. Thanks for coming in. Have a good day. It's good to see you 00:24:59.118 --> 00:25:03.807 - again, Jess. See you. Have a good evening. You know, I went home after the tour and I kicked myself 00:25:03.807 --> 00:25:04.510 - for not taking 00:25:04.642 --> 00:25:15.086 - pictures to go home and show my kids the water plant and brag about it. Daniel Frank, he's been out 00:25:15.086 --> 00:25:25.843 - there with his drone a bunch, taking a lot of you. Oh, fun. Thanks so much. Thanks. Thank you. Graham, 00:25:25.843 --> 00:25:30.334 - who's coming in for the USB interview. Hi. 00:25:32.738 --> 00:25:48.702 - check in my email and I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. 00:25:49.154 --> 00:25:55.878 - Yeah. I wasn't used to this happening in the evening. I feel like it mostly happened during the day. 00:25:55.878 --> 00:26:02.070 - I know. I went to RSVP and realized it was a conflict of this. Hello. Hi. Courtney. Awesome. 00:26:02.070 --> 00:26:08.794 - Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. How are you? And then we have Council Member Ruff that's joining 00:26:08.794 --> 00:26:15.452 - us virtually. Hi. Okay. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, no problem. Can I kick us off here again? Yeah, 00:26:15.452 --> 00:26:17.982 - that'd be super. Well, Graham, we are 00:26:18.402 --> 00:26:23.520 - interview committee B of the Bloomington City Council, and we kind of subdivide responsibilities for 00:26:23.520 --> 00:26:28.587 - reviewing applications, interviewing folks when appropriate, and making recommendations to the full 00:26:28.587 --> 00:26:33.756 - city council for appointments to the various boards and commissions, including utility service board. 00:26:33.756 --> 00:26:38.823 - And that's what we're here this evening to do. And so we'll probably have some questions for you, a 00:26:38.823 --> 00:26:43.891 - little time for any questions you have for us, and kind of talk about next steps, then we can wrap. 00:26:43.891 --> 00:26:47.742 - So with that, we could probably just get started, and that can kick us off. 00:26:48.130 --> 00:26:53.965 - I guess it's not that you're familiar with folks, but we kind of did introductions on the way in. 00:26:53.965 --> 00:26:59.979 - But yeah, I guess first question is just could you tell us a bit more about your background and what 00:26:59.979 --> 00:27:06.112 - got you interested in serving on the utility service board? Sure, that's a good question. I moved here 00:27:06.112 --> 00:27:12.126 - right before kindergarten in 1987, so I'm a long time resident. And grew up here at all my schooling 00:27:12.126 --> 00:27:14.686 - here, tried to get away, that didn't work. 00:27:15.298 --> 00:27:23.389 - Ended up at IU and got an undergraduate degree in environmental management, then with SPIA, now a middle 00:27:23.389 --> 00:27:31.095 - school. Just procrastinating for internship, tried to get away, did not succeed that well. Ended up 00:27:31.095 --> 00:27:39.263 - getting an internship at IU's Office of Environmental Health and Safety, doing predominantly food safety, 00:27:39.263 --> 00:27:44.734 - working in public health on the administrative side of the university. 00:27:44.866 --> 00:27:51.912 - From that experience, got a job as an environmental health specialist at Brown County Health Department 00:27:51.912 --> 00:27:58.958 - when I was a baby. And then about one year after that, I returned to IU and started as an environmental 00:27:58.958 --> 00:28:05.801 - health specialist full time there. And I was there for 20 years and essentially ran our version of a 00:28:05.801 --> 00:28:12.712 - local health department, mainly background in public health. I think my expertise is mainly like food 00:28:12.712 --> 00:28:14.270 - safety, water quality, 00:28:14.466 --> 00:28:21.141 - recreational drinking water and communicable disease and things like that. And over time, that led to 00:28:21.141 --> 00:28:27.161 - COVID and managing that as well. And my last five or six years at IU, I was the Director of 00:28:27.161 --> 00:28:33.770 - Public Environmental Health. So I had all of our environmental managers supporting to us as well. So 00:28:33.770 --> 00:28:40.642 - learning more about our hazardous waste permits, our stormwater activities as well, as well as all those 00:28:40.642 --> 00:28:43.390 - things. A lot of personal health, family, 00:28:44.162 --> 00:28:51.546 - professional reasons I left IU after 20 years and I took a gap year and it was awesome other than the 00:28:51.546 --> 00:28:58.929 - lack of income. And so just was really trying to work on myself and my health and now I'm back at the 00:28:58.929 --> 00:29:06.313 - State Department of Health now I'm the health educator for the lead and healthy homes division at the 00:29:06.313 --> 00:29:11.742 - state of Indiana. Loving that job and it's a it's a full time job sure but 00:29:12.514 --> 00:29:19.129 - It's a much more managerial workload than I used to have. I also taught a class at IU for 10 years, 00:29:19.129 --> 00:29:25.744 - environmental science, H316, which we've talked a lot about water issues and infrastructure and the 00:29:25.744 --> 00:29:32.360 - importance of things like preventative maintenance and routine and preventative maintenance and how 00:29:32.360 --> 00:29:35.998 - that impacts your health. But I was just so stretched. 00:29:36.994 --> 00:29:43.213 - I had another dotted line to a small office at IU that existed called the Chief Health Officer, OCHO 00:29:43.213 --> 00:29:49.431 - we called it affectionately. And I just wasn't doing any one thing well. And so, so happy to just be 00:29:49.431 --> 00:29:55.712 - focusing instead of a mile wide, a mile deep now and wanting to do and get involved locally more. And 00:29:55.712 --> 00:30:01.869 - with my background, I've been considering working with the County Board of Health. I know we've got 00:30:01.869 --> 00:30:06.302 - some resignations there as well, but I've also been looking at this and 00:30:06.466 --> 00:30:12.447 - considering this and I've always been following different drinking water regulations, changes and things 00:30:12.447 --> 00:30:18.541 - that are happening, you know, either nationally or locally, like, you know, really follow the disinfection 00:30:18.541 --> 00:30:24.237 - byproducts issue we had in 2007, 2009 at the height of that, lead and copper rule and those changes 00:30:24.237 --> 00:30:30.104 - following that closely now with my day job as well. And just so always had an interest in this and our 00:30:30.104 --> 00:30:32.382 - resource here at Lincoln Grove as well. 00:30:32.706 --> 00:30:39.944 - some encouragement from some utilities employees as well to have gone in. I know some of the USB members 00:30:39.944 --> 00:30:47.044 - now that just seemed like a good opportunity, so that was a very long answer, but that's why I'm here. 00:30:47.044 --> 00:30:53.661 - Thank you. Yeah, so I'm sure you're probably pretty aware that serving on a board like this is, 00:30:53.661 --> 00:30:59.038 - you know, really a team project, you know, everybody pitching in together and 00:30:59.138 --> 00:31:05.817 - Lots of different, aren't they fun? But yeah, then lots of different voices and, you know, maybe everybody's 00:31:05.817 --> 00:31:12.251 - pulling their weight a little bit differently. So can you talk to me a little bit about your experience, 00:31:12.251 --> 00:31:18.440 - you know, working on teams and also then as a part of that, how do you handle when team members have 00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:24.752 - different perspectives? Good question. I think my experience as a director, I had seven direct reports 00:31:24.752 --> 00:31:26.590 - prior to my previous job too. 00:31:26.690 --> 00:31:32.867 - just managing personalities, managing expectations. I got a lot better at delegating as well and just 00:31:32.867 --> 00:31:39.105 - being direct and, you know, just being able to like, we're here to work, we're not here to do anything 00:31:39.105 --> 00:31:45.343 - else and just kind of get over those kind of things. So I have a different experience in team building 00:31:45.343 --> 00:31:46.494 - and, you know, HR. 00:31:46.786 --> 00:31:52.363 - lessons in management as well. But also, I just think looking at the makeup of the board now and its 00:31:52.363 --> 00:31:57.996 - dynamic, I think there is a pretty good dynamic there, knowing some of the people and what they do in 00:31:57.996 --> 00:32:03.628 - their expertise. And that's where I think where I could bring a great perspective to utilities in the 00:32:03.628 --> 00:32:09.206 - environmental health and public health field. And so I think just kind of analyzing, I'm really good 00:32:09.206 --> 00:32:14.783 - either at leading if I have to or sitting back and seeing what is needed and maybe stepping up where 00:32:14.783 --> 00:32:15.998 - people are lacking or 00:32:16.130 --> 00:32:22.716 - encouraging or nudging people in areas I think they would excel and just kind of reviewing those kind 00:32:22.716 --> 00:32:29.173 - of things. I think with something like this, having not done this before, I'd probably listen for a 00:32:29.173 --> 00:32:35.695 - little bit and learn and maybe mainly talk to my old friend, Kirk White, who's done this for a while 00:32:35.695 --> 00:32:42.346 - as well, just to get some education. Yeah. Awesome. Thanks. That's more rough. Did you have a question 00:32:42.346 --> 00:32:44.606 - you'd like to ask? Well, you know, 00:32:44.866 --> 00:32:52.678 - Councilman Flaherty can talk about this probably a lot better than I can. He has served on the USB as 00:32:52.678 --> 00:33:00.566 - a council ex officio member. But you know, the DSB, they participate in budgeting for those contracts, 00:33:00.566 --> 00:33:08.301 - all kinds of things. You know, you obviously got a lot of experience in certain areas, but you know, 00:33:08.301 --> 00:33:13.662 - what would you, are you comfortable and confident dealing with things 00:33:14.530 --> 00:33:21.610 - those other types of things that the USB does, like, I mean, really, really votes to run on policies 00:33:21.610 --> 00:33:29.182 - running the utilities. Yeah, yeah. I'd say I'm comfortable, I mean, either creating or maintaining policies 00:33:29.182 --> 00:33:33.598 - at IU for our program areas, I think translates a lot to this. 00:33:33.890 --> 00:33:40.883 - And actually being an advocate, the conduit for city ordinances of policies as well, being the liaison 00:33:40.883 --> 00:33:47.876 - essentially between IU and CBU for any issues or complaints about waste or drinking water on campuses, 00:33:47.876 --> 00:33:54.054 - but also informing people like our retail food establishments of 10.17, the fats, oils and 00:33:54.054 --> 00:34:00.911 - grease requirements as well. And that, you know, just trying to be that conduit and informing people 00:34:00.911 --> 00:34:01.726 - of the law. 00:34:02.178 --> 00:34:08.405 - And so I have less experience with some budgeting, certainly, but I'm also aware of some of the costs 00:34:08.405 --> 00:34:14.631 - that some of these systems can incur and some of the costs of creating clean water or clean affluent. 00:34:14.631 --> 00:34:21.041 - Did a big project at Bradford Woods, not nearly this size, but we had a transient community water system 00:34:21.041 --> 00:34:27.451 - at Bradford Woods that was severely aging from 1949 and it failed for lead in 2007. And it took me eight 00:34:27.451 --> 00:34:30.686 - years and a lot of work and hundreds of thousands of 00:34:31.266 --> 00:34:37.065 - dollars and lots of people, but we were able to transition that to Morgan County rule of water. And 00:34:37.065 --> 00:34:43.038 - so some of those bigger projects, the scopes, those policies I feel familiar with, I think, and again, 00:34:43.038 --> 00:34:49.301 - having that basis and that broad expertise on the board, I think helps kind of spread some of that workload 00:34:49.301 --> 00:34:55.391 - out. But I would say, yeah, I'm not a subject matter expert in those things, but I think I'm comfortable 00:34:55.391 --> 00:34:59.102 - and familiar enough with them to be able to evaluate the effect 00:35:01.410 --> 00:35:08.625 - Kind of build on the same, which is a little bit more about the specific duties. And as customer graph 00:35:08.625 --> 00:35:15.911 - noted, it's really the oversight body for the utility. And so from a fiscal perspective, in particular, 00:35:15.911 --> 00:35:23.126 - so doing a lot of reviewing invoices, claims, thinking about rate design and our different costs being 00:35:23.126 --> 00:35:28.030 - appropriately allocated across different parts of the utility, right? 00:35:28.162 --> 00:35:34.932 - Jeff Amen, who is the outgoing person in the seat, did a really good job of getting the details on that, 00:35:34.932 --> 00:35:41.702 - even a few other board members who do. And so just wanted to invite your additional input on suitability 00:35:41.702 --> 00:35:48.279 - for that type of work, really, I think, paying attention to the details and reviewing claims and that 00:35:48.279 --> 00:35:49.246 - kind of thing. 00:35:49.762 --> 00:35:55.554 - Part two is just about time commitment and availability, which is that, I'm sure you're probably aware, 00:35:55.554 --> 00:36:01.123 - but the board meets typically bi-weekly from about five to six. Sometimes it goes a bit longer. And 00:36:01.123 --> 00:36:06.803 - then there are also a few different committees that advance certain things. Usually they meet at like 00:36:06.803 --> 00:36:12.373 - 4 or 4.30. And in particular, if you are generally available for the USB meetings, but then also if 00:36:12.373 --> 00:36:17.886 - you need to serve on a committee at some point, is it possible to be able to attend something that 00:36:18.274 --> 00:36:23.736 - 4 o'clock hour, I guess. Yeah, I would think so. I think I could make that work. Certainly. I saw, I 00:36:23.736 --> 00:36:29.306 - think the environmental subcommittee meets around that time as well. I think that'll be one that would 00:36:29.306 --> 00:36:35.092 - be of interest, particularly. And then in terms of rates and reviewing things, I think I'm very meticulous 00:36:35.092 --> 00:36:40.446 - in that regard, at least just in my own work and on experience. But also, I think just translating 00:36:41.794 --> 00:36:47.057 - this to the public is very challenging. And I think that's something that, you know, a lot of people 00:36:47.057 --> 00:36:52.476 - get upset about when rates increase, but of course they expect clean water, but people don't understand 00:36:52.476 --> 00:36:57.531 - what goes into that. And some of the costs of these systems, I mean, look at the fluoride thing, 00:36:57.531 --> 00:37:03.002 - for example, just the cost of installing a permanent system alone is so expensive and just the operating 00:37:03.002 --> 00:37:08.734 - maintenance costs. So I think translating that to the public, I think is important and trying to garner that, 00:37:09.570 --> 00:37:17.929 - public support for those, any kind of rate changes or increases. But again, this will be a bit of an 00:37:17.929 --> 00:37:26.536 - imperative. Great. Thank you. Additional questions? You guys, you covered everything that I had. That's 00:37:26.536 --> 00:37:34.977 - more rough. Other questions? Yeah, I'd just kind of like to get maybe your quick instinctive thoughts 00:37:34.977 --> 00:37:36.798 - on where do you think 00:37:38.050 --> 00:37:46.110 - As a board member of the USB, your ultimate loyalties, responsibility lies with the administration, 00:37:46.110 --> 00:37:54.411 - city administration, the leadership of the USB, the rate payers, the council as a council appointment. 00:37:54.411 --> 00:38:02.874 - What do you think about all those bodies that you're kind of serving and connected to, which ultimately, 00:38:02.874 --> 00:38:07.710 - who do you feel the most loyalty or responsibility towards? 00:38:08.226 --> 00:38:15.233 - That's a great question. I hadn't thought about all those different entities, because I originally just 00:38:15.233 --> 00:38:22.441 - assumed that the public and the environment itself, not only being an environmental steward, but a steward 00:38:22.441 --> 00:38:29.380 - of public resources and dollars as well. And so that's the first thing that comes to mind. But I guess 00:38:29.380 --> 00:38:35.646 - more in the structure, you're in service to CBU itself and ensuring that, one, they're doing 00:38:35.746 --> 00:38:44.678 - a good job and doing it the way they should, but also being supportive of their needs as well and being 00:38:44.678 --> 00:38:53.439 - able to understand. Thank you. I would open it up to questions from you, Graham, if that sounds okay, 00:38:53.439 --> 00:39:02.285 - folks. Was the term length three years? I could not remember. I have a question I want to double check 00:39:02.285 --> 00:39:04.862 - as well. Well, it's two. Two. 00:39:07.170 --> 00:39:14.138 - Am I on the right? Oh no, I'm on the wrong. It's wrong commission. It's three, thank you. I was on the 00:39:14.138 --> 00:39:21.173 - environmental commission. And does that go just from the time that you're appointed? Is it like rolling 00:39:21.173 --> 00:39:28.140 - or is it? It's four years, four years. Four years? Yeah. 26, 27, 28, 29. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. All 00:39:28.140 --> 00:39:33.214 - the way through the day. Oh yeah. Yeah, you're right, sorry. And they are, 00:39:33.442 --> 00:39:40.743 - We have Megan Parmenter, who's just reappointed, who's on this same time cycle. But then the other council 00:39:40.743 --> 00:39:47.772 - appointed seat, he decided overlapping. Wow. And meeting frequency pretty much answered that question. 00:39:47.772 --> 00:39:54.664 - With the meetings with availability, are we able to attend virtually if that is? Yeah. Obviously, if 00:39:54.664 --> 00:40:01.761 - I'm able to attend in person, I want to. I'll say it's not commonplace. I'm Swammer XFSEO, a non-voting 00:40:01.761 --> 00:40:03.262 - appointee to the USB. 00:40:03.586 --> 00:40:08.620 - On the rare occasions when I'm traveling for work or have a conflict sometimes with transportation 00:40:08.620 --> 00:40:14.009 - commission, I don't generally attend remotely because it's actually much more common for the city council 00:40:14.009 --> 00:40:19.093 - to have folks attending remotely and we navigate that a lot, but it's just not something the USB is 00:40:19.093 --> 00:40:24.178 - done a lot of. They can accommodate it and they're legally allowed to as long as there's some rules 00:40:24.178 --> 00:40:29.567 - around it, no more than I think two meetings in a row. I think I remember some of that. There's a maximum 00:40:29.567 --> 00:40:31.550 - in terms of the annual amount and then 00:40:31.778 --> 00:40:37.672 - Um, you have to do all votes by roll call and stuff like that. Yeah. I think it'd be less ideal, especially 00:40:37.672 --> 00:40:43.238 - if you're trying to review certain things in person. It was doable, but yeah, probably so. Okay. I do 00:40:43.238 --> 00:40:49.077 - work in Indy most of the time. That's just that consideration, but happy to try to make those adjustments. 00:40:49.077 --> 00:40:54.588 - And I'm usually, I know we work for the state, we only work seven and a half hours a day. So usually 00:40:54.588 --> 00:41:00.318 - we're back pretty early in the day. Yeah, it's, um, yeah, that wouldn't be a permanent option or like an 00:41:00.418 --> 00:41:14.458 - Norm yeah, yeah. Yeah What do you would all of you say are the biggest challenges to cbu currently? 00:41:14.458 --> 00:41:26.814 - Or some of them any of them? I think navigating A fraught annexation picture within the 00:41:27.202 --> 00:41:34.550 - city and county services context is a challenge. I won't get into the long history of that, but we could 00:41:34.550 --> 00:41:41.829 - talk about it if you want, which is that generally, very briefly, historically, typically sewer service 00:41:41.829 --> 00:41:49.037 - was extended at the same time as areas of what were annexed, sorry, inefficient from an administrative 00:41:49.037 --> 00:41:54.846 - perspective. And so over time that migrated toward do one now, do the other later, 00:41:55.106 --> 00:42:01.811 - shared agreements, and then there were changes in state law, a ton of time elapsed between some of those 00:42:01.811 --> 00:42:08.452 - agreements, people didn't know about them, and it was kind of just like, I'm sure you're aware of this, 00:42:08.452 --> 00:42:15.092 - like a long running issue that is broader than utilities, but it affects utilities because, yeah, these 00:42:15.092 --> 00:42:21.542 - are issues with city and county services generally, and kind of like who you serve, who bears costs, 00:42:21.542 --> 00:42:24.862 - that kind of thing. And so it's been the policy of, 00:42:25.410 --> 00:42:30.385 - utilities and some of this may be changing too. You know, I'm sure they'll revisit it at some point 00:42:30.385 --> 00:42:35.360 - of not extending sewer service, um, to additional out of city boundary places right now, uh, absent 00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:40.385 - voluntary annexation at that time. But that also is complicated by the fact that the state added new 00:42:40.385 --> 00:42:45.410 - rules about what can be annexed. There's a, there's a continuity requirement of like, you have to be 00:42:45.410 --> 00:42:50.385 - bordering the city currently. And like, so there's some complexity get there, there gets wrapped up 00:42:50.385 --> 00:42:52.574 - in housing development, uh, prior like, um, 00:42:52.834 --> 00:43:00.146 - policy priorities. That's a big one, honestly. People will come to us seeking waivers to be able to 00:43:00.146 --> 00:43:07.531 - override the policy, things like that. Another is route incursion on laterals that are generally the 00:43:07.531 --> 00:43:15.282 - responsibility of homeowners, but can spring a 30, 40, $50,000 cost on you. You would have been exploring 00:43:15.282 --> 00:43:19.230 - insurance policy options and other funding options to 00:43:19.874 --> 00:43:26.524 - help folks with this because homeowners insurance doesn't generally cover it. That's something that's 00:43:26.524 --> 00:43:33.304 - been salient the last few years and trying to figure out ways that are responsible within the utilities 00:43:33.304 --> 00:43:39.824 - responsibility, purview, and financial sustainability. Last moment, I'll throw it over, is one that 00:43:39.824 --> 00:43:46.669 - came to the council late last year that they need to go back on, which is how to charge fairly for waste 00:43:46.669 --> 00:43:49.342 - haulers who drop off solids from septic. 00:43:49.474 --> 00:43:55.886 - And it seems like there's really actually a wide range of situations, some of which is really thick, 00:43:55.886 --> 00:44:02.362 - hard to process sludge from like 20 years of buildup that is vastly undercharged for right now, which 00:44:02.362 --> 00:44:08.710 - means everybody else is bearing the cost of it. And then other folks are just sort of like treating 00:44:08.710 --> 00:44:13.662 - it more like holding tank disposal, which is quite different from the solids. 00:44:13.826 --> 00:44:19.740 - wastewater management perspective. That's been another challenging policy thing that came to the city 00:44:19.740 --> 00:44:25.596 - council and sent it back and has to be resolved. That's actually a lot. That was the one I was going 00:44:25.596 --> 00:44:31.568 - to say. That was new to me though and interesting too. What do you have? Well, I was going to say that 00:44:31.568 --> 00:44:36.670 - one, but then I would also add on top of it, we were also talking about with the water. 00:44:36.802 --> 00:44:43.615 - Increases and, you know, because doing a lot of the facilities there and looking at tremendous water 00:44:43.615 --> 00:44:50.361 - rate increases. Yeah. Rates always. Yeah. So that one was also such a steep jump that, you know, we 00:44:50.361 --> 00:44:57.174 - kind of had to stop and take a breath for a minute. I would guess that would be one of the other big 00:44:57.174 --> 00:45:04.055 - issues too. I know we have the lead service line replacement thing, but that's over the next several, 00:45:04.055 --> 00:45:06.686 - 12 years. Anything more of any others? 00:45:07.682 --> 00:45:17.323 - No, just the tension that I'm sure Matt can speak more to than me, this tension between seeing what 00:45:17.323 --> 00:45:27.158 - the utilities policy is being used as a tool for sort of non-utilities goals, which sometimes you see 00:45:27.158 --> 00:45:36.510 - a certain kind of pressure for that when really the utilities obligations are to the ratepayers. 00:45:37.090 --> 00:45:44.873 - who are it's all it is you know, we're all joined in terms of the You know helping serve the community 00:45:44.873 --> 00:45:52.806 - and help make the community better For everyone, but I do think that it can be tough to sort of navigate 00:45:52.806 --> 00:46:00.740 - those And understand and see and then make decisions when there are so many sometimes conflicting Policy 00:46:00.740 --> 00:46:06.558 - pushes coming at you for house a decision of the USB might impact some other 00:46:06.914 --> 00:46:14.346 - aspect of the city. Other questions? Kind of similar. What is the biggest priority right now? Or is 00:46:14.346 --> 00:46:22.150 - that the same as your challenge? Yeah. Good question. I don't know. I think I'll just jump on with rates 00:46:22.150 --> 00:46:29.953 - because we didn't talk about that much, which is that kind of since the Hamilton administration, I can't 00:46:29.953 --> 00:46:35.230 - speak a ton to the history, and you might be able to speak more to it. 00:46:35.522 --> 00:46:41.702 - I know we've been, because we've got the different rates for different, we have wastewater and drinking 00:46:41.702 --> 00:46:47.703 - water rates and the wastewater rate, I think, includes stormwater. And so we've kind of got those on 00:46:47.703 --> 00:46:53.764 - a counterposing cycle of roughly four years. So there's never major rate jumps or not, not never, but 00:46:53.764 --> 00:46:59.706 - it mitigates how much a rate jump might be all at once or in close succession, but it also leads to 00:46:59.706 --> 00:47:00.478 - sort of like 00:47:01.314 --> 00:47:07.357 - Regular, you know increases which of course are inevitable like everything costs more over time. Uh, 00:47:07.357 --> 00:47:13.519 - but that like I think Responsible financial management in that context, uh is you know is always front 00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:19.981 - and center for folks and being very Prudent with all costs making sure that where we have shared agreements 00:47:19.981 --> 00:47:26.083 - where utilities have shared agreements with the city of bloomington that The cost share is reasonable 00:47:26.083 --> 00:47:30.750 - and appropriate. I mean it is a distinct entity, you know and and all that so 00:47:31.074 --> 00:47:41.054 - What's that? Or with IU maybe? Yeah, yes, certainly that as well. I don't know. That's always high priority, 00:47:41.054 --> 00:47:49.752 - I think. Others? Awesome. I don't think I have many other questions. Just really do appreciate 00:47:49.752 --> 00:47:59.091 - the opportunity. And applicants or anything else? Give me my hands. I'll cover next up briefly, which 00:47:59.091 --> 00:48:00.190 - is that our 00:48:00.578 --> 00:48:06.244 - interview committee will make a recommendation to the full council. They'll vote on that. Usually it 00:48:06.244 --> 00:48:12.190 - takes a little bit, there's a little bit of a lag time, so we need to let them know, have the opportunity 00:48:12.190 --> 00:48:17.912 - for review, that kind of thing. And probably sometime in early March, I would anticipate Deputy Clerk 00:48:17.912 --> 00:48:23.747 - Crossley will be able to go back to you about outcomes. Awesome. Well, again, I appreciate it. And I'll 00:48:23.747 --> 00:48:30.142 - watch the wastewater in the meantime. Let me know when Measles shows up. That'll be after spring break. Oh, yeah. 00:48:30.850 --> 00:48:36.766 - For sure. Well, thank you so much for making this happen. Yeah, it's awesome to see you all. 00:48:36.766 --> 00:48:43.127 - Nice to meet you. Nice to officially meet you. Thanks very much. Yeah, nice to meet you, Andy. Have 00:48:43.127 --> 00:48:49.425 - a great evening. Hey, you too. Now I'm going to take out my contacts. Oh, that sounds like hourly. 00:48:49.425 --> 00:48:55.786 - Take care. Take care, sir. Thank you. Bye. And so we can talk about next steps to the Environmental 00:48:55.786 --> 00:48:57.758 - Commission and also utilities. 00:48:58.434 --> 00:49:10.960 - So is it true that on the environmental commission, Nadia Cain's seat C6 is vacant? So I pulled up this 00:49:10.960 --> 00:49:22.522 - because originally the, let me find the email again. Let's see. And here we go. So the original 00:49:22.522 --> 00:49:28.062 - recommendation from the liaison was that they 00:49:29.154 --> 00:49:38.759 - had mentioned not to reappoint her because she just recently graduated and she was moving to Indianapolis. 00:49:38.759 --> 00:49:47.017 - And according to this email, she had missed her like fourth absence. And so that obviously, 00:49:47.017 --> 00:49:56.352 - because you know, the code, those absences basically would mean that and her fourth one that she missed 00:49:56.352 --> 00:49:58.686 - was in December. However, 00:49:59.106 --> 00:50:08.918 - All of a sudden, jump to a few weeks ago. Apparently, Nadia wants to still stay on. And she says, the 00:50:08.918 --> 00:50:18.729 - liaison says, it appears that Nadia wants to prioritize the environmental commission for the attached 00:50:18.729 --> 00:50:28.926 - email. As stated, she indicated that she did not intend to apply because of her position in Indianapolis. 00:50:29.090 --> 00:50:41.446 - But she did apply and seems dedicated to continuing duties in 2026. Any explanation with respect to 00:50:41.446 --> 00:50:55.038 - the reason for her vacancies from Nadia or from the liaison? It seems like, let's see if she's said anything. 00:50:57.858 --> 00:51:07.794 - She missed four meetings in 2025. No, she just said she missed four meetings in 2025. And so I don't 00:51:07.794 --> 00:51:17.928 - know because if she graduated, if that could have been a thing that she was finishing out or what. But 00:51:17.928 --> 00:51:26.782 - it doesn't, that's kind of left to be interpreted because she didn't say the reasons why. 00:51:31.394 --> 00:51:42.379 - Which she's, I'm so sorry, just a little confused. She's living in Indianapolis? Or she's commuting? 00:51:42.379 --> 00:51:52.711 - So she's commuting. At first she was going to live. Exactly. And so now she didn't think that, 00:51:52.711 --> 00:51:59.454 - let's see. Before we do this, we need to confirm her address. 00:51:59.746 --> 00:52:09.496 - because in looking at her application right now, residency requirement means that she has to stay within 00:52:09.496 --> 00:52:19.618 - city limits. And honestly, there's no address. And- How's that even possible? Required field? It's something 00:52:19.618 --> 00:52:28.254 - I've been trying to go back and forth with with IT. She says, let's see what she said again. 00:52:31.074 --> 00:52:40.482 - As stated previously, she indicated she did not apply because of her position in Indianapolis while 00:52:40.482 --> 00:52:49.891 - maintaining residency in Bloomington, but she did apply and seems dedicated to continuing duties in 00:52:49.891 --> 00:52:57.982 - 2026. That was a follow-up that Rachel has sent later. Yes, that's all a bit strange. 00:52:59.970 --> 00:53:05.678 - Mostly inclined to not reappoint her on the basis of missing four meetings. Like normally, like it's 00:53:05.678 --> 00:53:11.386 - a bit of a, we're at a transition point. Like normally you could just sort of, like we could ask for 00:53:11.386 --> 00:53:17.094 - strenuous circumstances and all that before we would see a removal. And we have a recent instance of 00:53:17.094 --> 00:53:22.745 - deciding not to remove someone because there were strenuous circumstances. But this is a little bit 00:53:22.745 --> 00:53:28.453 - different because we're not talking about removal. We're just talking about appointing someone else. 00:53:28.453 --> 00:53:29.470 - And I don't know. 00:53:30.050 --> 00:53:36.267 - I'd love to have more information about it, but at the same time, uh, you know, we don't necessarily 00:53:36.267 --> 00:53:42.546 - have the, the time or the bandwidth. Yeah, exactly. Um, Andy, do you have other thoughts? I'm kind of 00:53:42.546 --> 00:53:49.010 - inclined to maybe recommend the two folks we interviewed for environmental commission tonight, proceeds, 00:53:49.010 --> 00:53:55.227 - I think C1 and C6. Yeah, I'm kind of like you guys that I'd like to know. I wish I knew a little bit 00:53:55.227 --> 00:53:55.966 - more about. 00:53:56.450 --> 00:54:05.586 - if they were just casually missed those meetings or if they were, you know, really extenuating circumstances 00:54:05.586 --> 00:54:14.304 - that now will no longer be, you know, but in the absence of knowing that, I'm kind of in agreement with 00:54:14.304 --> 00:54:22.770 - appointing the two applicants. I mean, it's, yeah, it's a, like, four meetings is a lot. Also, like, 00:54:22.770 --> 00:54:24.446 - it's not, you know, 00:54:25.666 --> 00:54:31.873 - And additionally, there are two mayoral vacancies and actually three. And so if the staff lays on like 00:54:31.873 --> 00:54:37.959 - really felt like, hey, to our satisfaction, this person has justified four absences and we feel like 00:54:37.959 --> 00:54:44.045 - that's not gonna be an issue anymore. They could always appoint her to a mayoral appointment. And so 00:54:44.045 --> 00:54:50.132 - I feel like that's also. I feel like, yeah, yeah. I feel like if that had been the sentiment though, 00:54:50.132 --> 00:54:52.542 - that probably would have been conveyed. 00:54:52.962 --> 00:55:02.183 - I do know that Julius from the mayor's office kind of wanted to take these two interviewees that y'all 00:55:02.183 --> 00:55:11.225 - just did to potentially try to make some mayoral appointments. So you also want to keep that in mind 00:55:11.225 --> 00:55:20.894 - too. But I told him to hold off until we do our interviews and then we'll go from there. So what you could, 00:55:21.346 --> 00:55:29.988 - If you are still wanting an audience, is we can get more information. First of all, we need to get her 00:55:29.988 --> 00:55:38.461 - address because that's first and foremost. You know, if she says that she's an indie, then obviously 00:55:38.461 --> 00:55:47.774 - like that's a no because she doesn't qualify because she doesn't live here. So we'll have to, we can get that. 00:55:49.794 --> 00:56:00.680 - So you already have like one vacancy and then you have Nadia that is kind of looming. So. I'm trying 00:56:00.680 --> 00:56:11.134 - to say this. The whoever is I've seen other interview committee teams do this where if there is. 00:56:13.474 --> 00:56:24.410 - a person, whoever is the liaison to the EC, can get more information about Nadia. If you all are feeling 00:56:24.410 --> 00:56:34.930 - comfortable with that, then that one individual can say, hey, I talked with them, here's this, and I 00:56:34.930 --> 00:56:43.262 - recommend this person to be appointed or not. So that's a thing. Or you can do, 00:56:43.714 --> 00:56:51.015 - You can do whatever. There's no way about it. Yeah, I'd support it. I think there's a very, very slim 00:56:51.015 --> 00:56:58.172 - possibility that there would be something explanatory. But even then, I'd still want to interview a 00:56:58.172 --> 00:57:05.544 - lot more. Well, and then we need to do the residency check. Right. And so because there may or may not 00:57:05.544 --> 00:57:09.982 - be vacancies, I feel like there is an option there if there's 00:57:10.690 --> 00:57:18.644 - If the staff liaison who also is in a better position to communicate with the mayor's team to a point, 00:57:18.644 --> 00:57:26.522 - like feels like that's warranted, but like on the four absences alone, absent other information, like 00:57:26.522 --> 00:57:34.630 - I feel it. We're better served to find the two folks to interview. Yeah. Yeah. That's well put, I think, 00:57:34.630 --> 00:57:38.878 - man. Would someone like to make a motion? I was. Yeah. 00:57:39.010 --> 00:57:53.808 - Um, I moved to point Carl geyser to CC one and Justin measure to CC six of the environmental commission. 00:57:53.808 --> 00:58:07.902 - Okay. I need us. Okay. Sorry. Okay. Sorry. And daily. Okay. And you said who to see one Carl. Okay. 00:58:15.074 --> 00:58:23.725 - So Daley? Yes. Flaherty? Yes. And Ralph? Yes. OK. OK. And back to Utility Service Board. We did have 00:58:23.725 --> 00:58:32.290 - two other applicants since we last met. When we met previously, there was only one applicant, which 00:58:32.290 --> 00:58:41.112 - was Graham, though certainly, I think, qualified. Since then, we've had Michael Maybin, who had a very 00:58:41.112 --> 00:58:42.654 - thin application. 00:58:42.818 --> 00:58:54.140 - and Rick Coppock, uh, who also had a pretty thin application and currently serves on the transportation 00:58:54.140 --> 00:59:05.570 - commission and something else. Um, CDBG. Yeah. I believe. Yep. Um, I think Graham was just really strong 00:59:05.570 --> 00:59:09.054 - and he knows what's what. Yeah. 00:59:09.954 --> 00:59:15.316 - Yeah. I wanted to mention that those are their applications for awareness, but also I tend to favor 00:59:15.316 --> 00:59:20.839 - like getting more folks involved than if you're already serving at several things, you know, like less 00:59:20.839 --> 00:59:26.577 - of a compelling case plus the applications of Michael and Rick. I didn't feel like there was like, there's 00:59:26.577 --> 00:59:32.261 - some qualification there, like, you know, but given where we are and the interview we had and the overall 00:59:32.261 --> 00:59:36.926 - qualifications of Graham, I'd be comfortable moving forward with their recommendation. 00:59:39.074 --> 00:59:57.850 - Well, I move to appoint Graham McKean to the utility service board serving in seat C3. Second. Okay, 00:59:57.850 --> 01:00:08.446 - Rob? Yes. Flaherty? Yes. And Daly? Yes. Okay. That's it. 01:00:08.770 --> 01:00:19.603 - And then let me pull up your teams. I'm pretty certain you all are good. But it was somebody just applied 01:00:19.603 --> 01:00:29.925 - for something. Let me see. Yes. MLK didn't have anybody that had applied until yesterday. And I just 01:00:29.925 --> 01:00:36.670 - saw it while we were in here. Lena Williams applied for a spot on 01:00:36.930 --> 01:00:47.022 - MLK Commission, and it looks like she has a pretty strong application, and she was highly recommended 01:00:47.022 --> 01:00:57.906 - by Dr. Gloria Howe, who also currently serves on the commission, too. Let me briefly... Let's see. Sometimes, 01:00:57.906 --> 01:01:06.910 - the applications don't show up for me. I'm sure most of them are not there. I'm logged in. 01:01:10.210 --> 01:01:21.709 - I'm not seeing applications for some reason on that condition. Let me see. Anybody else? No. Where am 01:01:21.709 --> 01:01:32.984 - I looking? Was that issue last time? Was there something weird? So, but it's weird that you can see 01:01:32.984 --> 01:01:38.846 - some and not know. But you're logged in. Logged in. 01:01:39.010 --> 01:01:48.021 - and then after members should be seats and then applications. I don't have an application. That's so 01:01:48.021 --> 01:01:57.746 - strange. Yeah, it's showing me I can apply. So it's an onboard issue maybe. Okay. So we do have an applicant 01:01:57.746 --> 01:02:06.846 - now and what's their name again? Lena Williams. Okay. And so let me see, I can try to, it looks like, 01:02:09.570 --> 01:02:22.846 - I can read it out loud and then it looks like she do a resume. You know, she did not. Okay, so she says she was 01:02:23.586 --> 01:02:29.528 - recommended by Gloria Howell, and she says, I'm committed to contributing to the Bloomington community 01:02:29.528 --> 01:02:35.701 - and surrounding towns, strengthening civic engagement and helping shape the policies that got our county's 01:02:35.701 --> 01:02:41.470 - future. As a resident of Ellisville who values public service and collaboration, I'm eager to bring 01:02:41.470 --> 01:02:45.278 - my professional skills, leadership training, and university-based 01:02:45.730 --> 01:02:55.056 - experience to a board or commission. I believe serving in this capacity is an important way to support 01:02:55.056 --> 01:03:04.110 - transparent decision-making, community representation, and innovation across the community. But she 01:03:04.110 --> 01:03:13.164 - also didn't put her address. And let me go see qualifications for MLQA. Yeah, I was just wondering. 01:03:13.164 --> 01:03:15.518 - I'm in code. I don't see. 01:03:16.066 --> 01:03:26.125 - organizations, but there's not a residency requirement specific to that section of code. Right. It says 01:03:26.125 --> 01:03:36.185 - can either be a city of Bloomington or Monroe County resident. Yeah. Wait. Where does it say that? When 01:03:36.185 --> 01:03:45.470 - I went to the information tab and onboard and eligibility requirements. So I'm in city code and 01:03:45.602 --> 01:03:51.291 - qualification says preference for appointments should be given to courses from your local religious 01:03:51.291 --> 01:03:57.095 - organizations, Human Rights Commission, Monroe County government, local community school corporation, 01:03:57.095 --> 01:04:02.898 - and National Association for the Advancement of Color People doesn't say anything about residency. We 01:04:02.898 --> 01:04:08.815 - don't have, there's not a, I forget, there's not a blanket provision requiring city residency. Is there 01:04:08.815 --> 01:04:14.846 - like unless otherwise stated? Yes, there is. And so it does state, I think it's in title two, like title. 01:04:14.946 --> 01:04:23.222 - Two amendments are coming tomorrow. Oh, well. Is it like under the executive branch? Yeah. And it's 01:04:23.222 --> 01:04:32.243 - in that weird spot that is trying to be moved. Yeah. It says it right here. And 2.0820 that all appointments 01:04:32.243 --> 01:04:42.174 - to city boards and commissions and councils shall be made from residents of the city, except those positions. Nope. Um, 01:04:45.826 --> 01:04:52.672 - Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's what it says. All appointments to city boards, commissions and councils 01:04:52.672 --> 01:04:59.324 - shall be made from residents of the city except positions, those positions that are directed otherwise 01:04:59.324 --> 01:05:06.170 - by state law or city ordinance. So I think there actually is a residential requirement because it doesn't 01:05:06.170 --> 01:05:10.174 - say otherwise. It says on the webs on board can be either or. 01:05:11.842 --> 01:05:19.596 - But yeah, code controls. But yeah. Exactly, code trumps that. And this person said they're from Ellensville. 01:05:19.596 --> 01:05:26.924 - Yep. So then that's really null and void. Yep. So then just kidding, you don't have any. It seems like 01:05:26.924 --> 01:05:34.465 - another one where I feel like there would be a reasonable case to be made for not having a city residency 01:05:34.465 --> 01:05:35.390 - requirement. 01:05:35.586 --> 01:05:43.439 - But remember last year we did a little cleanup to title two for some of the CFRD boards and commissions. 01:05:43.439 --> 01:05:51.292 - And I thought we did this one. But I don't know, maybe not. Okay. I think that I'm not on the committee. 01:05:51.292 --> 01:05:58.846 - You're on the Council Process Committee still. I know there was some reporting back that we were all 01:05:58.846 --> 01:06:05.054 - doing. I did already in the Environmental Commission and Transport hasn't met yet. 01:06:05.218 --> 01:06:10.697 - but I was gonna go to them as well with the question and gonna get back to the committee about it. I'm 01:06:10.697 --> 01:06:16.069 - not sure where they kept, it was like a subset of committees, like seven commissions, seven or eight 01:06:16.069 --> 01:06:21.441 - we were looking at, but it wasn't like, I forget why there was seven or eight and like why it wasn't 01:06:21.441 --> 01:06:26.760 - more holistic, but I don't remember this commission being on that list that we were collectively. I 01:06:26.760 --> 01:06:32.292 - don't remember that either, cause I do remember that. Yeah. That list was a little strange. So it seems 01:06:32.292 --> 01:06:34.366 - like we have our answer for right now. 01:06:34.562 --> 01:06:43.303 - What's possible, but we do want to take this back to the process committee for the next meeting. 01:06:43.303 --> 01:06:52.585 - And yeah, we're meeting soon. Like on the 23rd. I was going to say, is it Monday? We look, it's coming 01:06:52.585 --> 01:07:01.776 - up, which I feel like I just saw it in our office. I think it's the 23rd. Um, so racist. No. Oh yeah. 01:07:01.776 --> 01:07:03.038 - No. The 27th. 01:07:03.330 --> 01:07:12.622 - Yeah, as we think about any of those shifts, I guess. That's one that's worth thinking about as well. 01:07:12.622 --> 01:07:21.915 - I guess my gut is ones that are a little bit more cultural in their orientation. I'm more inclined to 01:07:21.915 --> 01:07:31.207 - have expansive eligibility criteria versus ones that are more about city assets, like transportation. 01:07:31.207 --> 01:07:32.574 - Yeah, exactly. 01:07:32.674 --> 01:07:42.101 - benefit Bloomington in any way to be exclusive in, like you said, a cultural one. So yeah, the next 01:07:42.101 --> 01:07:52.094 - one is the 27th at noon. Okay. So you have your two appointments that you made and I will work on getting 01:07:52.094 --> 01:08:00.862 - those in the packet for the next regular session. And other than that, that's it. All right. 01:08:01.602 --> 01:08:04.478 - Thank you, everybody.