- Seeing is at 630 and we have a quorum. I'd like to call this meeting of the Bloomington Common
- Council to order here on March 26
- Would the clerk please call the roll?
- Councilmember Flaherty here
- rough
- Rollo here Piedmont Smith here Sally Stasberg here
- Daly here Zulek here Rosenberger here and Desiree here
- Great, thank you
- I'm going to start the meeting tonight with my historical note of interest
- I'm going to talk about gerrymandering tonight because I kind of learned a little historical
- Tidbit about it
- I think that we're all familiar with the term used to describe electoral maps that are drawn to
- highly favor one political party over another
- And these districts are frequently drawn in very odd shapes in order to heavily influence outcomes
- in such a way
- as to skew representation
- And what I learned today was that this term originated when, on this day, March 26th in 1812
- satirical cartoonist Elkhana Tisdale published a cartoon in the Boston Gazette of a salamander-shaped
- district
- that had been created by then Massachusetts Governor Eldridge Jerry
- and Tisdale titled the creature a gerrymander, like a salamander, salamander only with Jerry in the
- front
- And so that is the term that stuck for a manipulated electoral district
- And I thought that that was really interesting as kind of a word origin and as something that, of
- course, does apply broadly everywhere
- and including in Indiana where Indiana as a state is one of the most gerrymandered states
- like it's on that list of the most gerrymandered states, so that was interesting to me
- So, moving on then to our agenda summation for this evening, we will start with an approval of
- minutes from November 6th
- and I would like to note there was a revision to that sent out this afternoon, so that will be the
- minutes that we will ultimately approve
- We'll then move on to reports, first from council members, then from the mayor and city offices
- where we have a report from the commission on Hispanic and Latina affairs
- Then we will have reports from council committees, I do not believe we have any of those this
- evening
- and then we'll have our first period of public comment and reports from the public
- and members of the public will have up to three minutes to comment on items not on the agenda
- After that we will have some appointments to boards and commissions
- and then we'll have three items of legislation for first reading, ordinance 2025-09 to establish a
- public safety answering point local income tax fund
- or PSAP lit fund, appropriation ordinance 2025-03 to transfer revenue to that new fund that was
- newly created
- and then ordinance 2025-10 to transfer remaining debt service funds cash balance to the city's
- general fund
- After that there are no items tonight for second readings or resolutions
- and so we will have an additional period of public comment where once again members of the public
- can speak for up to three minutes
- As a note you can only speak at one of those two general areas of public comment, not both of them
- We'll have a note on council schedule and then we'll adjourn
- So if we want to move first to the minutes
- I move that the minutes from November 6 2024 be adopted as revised
- Second
- Thank you. We have a motion and second to approve those minutes. Are there any comments or
- questions from council members?
- All those in favor of approval, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
- Thank you. That passes unanimously moving on to reports from council members. I'll start on my left
- with council members. Sorry
- Thank you. I'm just a very brief report. I'm shared shared this and more formal report will sort of
- come in in its time
- But I shared this at the budget committee this afternoon, but we had the first meeting of the
- budget task force
- last week and
- Started the process of evaluating what it might look like and for us to move towards outcome-based
- budgeting
- We're working on two specific deliverables and so hope to be able to report back on this in the
- weeks ahead
- But the the two specific deliverables and I would love feedback from any colleagues on other things
- that you think would be helpful
- But one is to establish a clear roadmap. So sort of moving from concept to you know step-by-step
- guide to adoption of outcome-based budgeting and the second is
- sort of guide
- for city offices in
- formatting
- outcomes and so those are the two
- Outputs right now that we're that we're working on but if anybody has any other ideas of useful
- deliverables
- In the interim would love to hear it with that. No other updates for me
- Great thank you councilmember Rosenberger
- First I wanted to say to the sidewalk committee. I sent out an email today with a bunch of dates if
- you can
- Oh, great. I haven't looked at it since I sent it
- but if you could fill that out and we will schedule a time to have that our first meeting of
- 2025 I think
- It's gonna be a good one
- And then I wanted to talk about
- last week, I went down to Louisville, Kentucky because Jeff speck was down there doing
- a presentation on a walkability project
- He's doing a new Lou which is a neighborhood just right in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. So
- he is
- nationally famous planner who
- Has written several books the walkable city the walkable city
- Rules among others and he's done a ton of work. Some of his projects are here in Indiana
- He did a Hammond, Indiana downtown plan. He did the Monon Boulevard in Carmel
- He did a river district in Elkhart and and a street design a street redesign for the network in New
- Albany my hometown
- So he has a class at Harvard that he offers every now and then and it is for design professionals
- engineers
- developers community leaders and public officials
- It is called the walkable city and it's a comprehensive two-day program on the most effective
- arguments techniques and tools for reshaping
- Places and support of walking biking and transit
- So I just want I'll send an email to you all but I just wanted to kind of alert colleagues about
- that
- It's a little expensive, but I I think maybe potentially we could get in there if anyone is
- interested
- It is at the end of May and it is at Harvard
- So deals with walking around those neighborhoods as well
- So some fun stuff that he said in the in the presentation that I took notes on
- he said since the pandemic there's less traffic coming through towns and
- It's a time that governments and people can really ask themselves like for whom do our streets
- function and that we live in a different era
- Now and it is a really great time to just think about the functionality and who goes where and when
- He one fun thing he said it's not fun
- 78 percent you're 78 percent more likely to be killed by someone driving a car now than 15 years
- ago
- And a major reason for that is speed so a good thing that we're already kind of on the lookout for
- is
- Decreasing speeds in our in our downtown streets and everything like that
- He talks about rebuilding versus restricting and like rebuilding spend takes a lot of money
- But restricting can mean like putting in bike lanes or pulling a sidewalk off of a street
- And it is often cheaper to do that and you can do it faster than you can do
- major street redesigns
- He talked about a study that finds Sharos make streets more dangerous or at a minimum no safer
- You know, the Sharos are the arrows on the roads that say bikes can be here
- People on bikes can be here too and that there's I guess kind of a funny competition that it's show
- us your most unsafe Sharos
- a fun fact
- One of the happiest country in the world the drive the country with the happiest drivers in the
- world
- Is the Netherlands and the Netherlands is also, you know
- The country that has a very comprehensive low stress bike net network
- So it seems as you make places for everyone to get around in their own space. Everyone is happier
- There is a PBS walkable
- Documentary about the Hammond, Indiana project that he did I haven't watched it
- But it seems kind of neat and maybe I will send that over as well. That's it. Thanks
- So
- In April I will be starting my district six councilmember newsletter
- Part of the reason that I have decided to pursue this is because when I was campaigning and now my
- top two goals are accessibility and transparency and
- One of the things that I've noticed about local government is even if you're in it
- It's so hard to find information. And so one of the things that I'll be covering in my newsletter
- is you know, what?
- Council passed in the past two weeks
- What's coming up in the next two weeks what I'm working on and then because I want people to feel
- like
- We as a body and me as an individual are more approachable
- I'll be sharing some fun things that I'm doing to de-stress as well. So if you'd like to subscribe
- It's on all my social media under a councilwoman Zulek, but it's also just tiny URL comm slash
- civic zoo
- And thank you. Mr. Dave Askins for suggesting the name
- Member daily
- Yeah, thank you, I love that
- council member Zulek, I'm going to subscribe I just want to announce that I'm going to have a
- Constituent meeting on April 5th, which is a Saturday at
- 1130 a.m. At the downtown branch of Monroe County Public Library in room
- 214 if they approve my request that I put in
- Which was available. So if it changes, I'll let you know but it will go up on the website as soon
- as I get confirmation
- I hope to see lots of people there including people you don't have to be in my district
- If you're not in district 5 come chat with me. Anyway, thank you
- Thank you moving down to the other end councilmember Flaherty
- I'll just briefly highlight that Earth Day is not too far away. It is April 19th
- and there is a celebration the city is having on
- Saturday April 19th at switch yard park from noon to 4 if you go to bloomington.in gov slash
- sustainability slash Earth Day
- You can find out more about it. And so that should be a good time. I
- Think I'm going to share some remarks briefly with the mayor
- As well as council county councilmember and Peter Iverson and then there's a whole kind of program
- to follow
- So that kicks off at noon with lots of different prizes games things going on. So check it out at
- the URL. I shared
- Great, thank you councilmember Ruff
- Thank You councilmember Rallo
- Yes, speaking of the environment. There was an excellent environmental writer
- but I got to meet a couple times named Jerry Mander and
- and
- he was a
- former advertising executive that
- Came from the dark side
- To write some excellent books. I would recommend in the absence of the sacred. It's still timely
- and
- it in part it refers to the singularity and warning us of
- the merger of humans and machines which of course we're about to do and
- So it's very timely to to read that again
- But I wanted to mention
- the notification that we received
- Some months ago from corporate council that permanent changes in the roadways
- stop signs bike lanes
- The closure of Kirkwood, which just occurred greenways speed bumps and so forth are
- Are in the domain of the administration?
- It's their decision whether to execute that ultimately it's in the decision of the of the city
- engineer
- according to state statute now that is new to me, but apparently that's how they're interpreting
- the code and
- it was left to our discretion in the past as
- Recently as just a couple of months ago, actually
- when we were asked to approve the closure of Kirkwood and
- But in any case I would advise
- That we no longer accept legislation
- Relevant to those closures. It's not our responsibility according to the administration and so we
- shouldn't be assuming it
- I'll certainly make comments about it. I I'm happy that the 7th Street stop signs have been
- Reimplemented at a number of crosswalks for pedestrian safety
- And for the safety of bikers and so forth
- but
- with that interpretation of state statute
- Comes with the responsibility of the administration that it's solely in their discretion and their
- Responsibility of making those changes and so they will assume that responsibility
- I hope the press is paying attention and the public because it's ultimately up to them
- Of course, we're going to be hearing tonight something about
- Our new Transportation Commission and appointment to that that will be just be advisory
- Just to be clear. Thank you
- Thank You councilmember Piedmont Smith, I
- Don't have a report tonight. Thank you
- Okay, thank you. Um, I also have a short report
- I just want to point out that my next constituent meeting will be in April on Saturday, April 19th
- Giving plenty of warning right now. I was last year trying to have those on third Saturdays and so
- far in 2025
- My third Saturdays have been a little bit interesting just just interestingly scheduled
- But I'm hoping to get back on that more regular schedule again starting in April
- So April 19th 11 o'clock down the hall here in City Hall and McCloskey just in person
- So that wraps up councilmember reports
- so now we're moving on to the report from the Commission on Hispanic and Latina Affairs who is here
- to present tonight, please
- make your way up and
- state your name and
- Thank you very much for being here
- Good evening. Good as much as
- My name is Marlo label. I'm the chair of the Commission of Latino Hispanic Affairs and
- We are pleased to have the opportunity tonight to come in front of you the representatives of the
- residents of this
- Vibrant community to present its 2024 annual report
- First I want to recognize the support we have had
- From the mayor through the community and family resources department
- our work could not have been accomplished without
- the dedication and commitment of mrs. Jimena Martinez the
- Latino outreach coordinator, which of glasses Jimena
- in the last decade our Latino community has witnessed a significant increase from the
- 2020 census
- 4500 individuals identifying as Latino to approximate approximately
- 3,000 in 2025
- this socioeconomic reality requires a concerted effort by private and
- governmental local organizations
- To improve the well-being and integration of these individuals and families
- It is unavoidable to recognize that the current political environment
- conspires
- against this goal
- However, the Commission is devoted to address and advocate
- For the needs of the Hispanic and Latino communities within the city
- Our
- Commission consists of nine members
- two male and six female one vacant spot
- We are very fortunate to have a group of highly competent and devoted community members
- seven of which including myself
- are immigrants with personal knowledge and sense of identity to the community we serve
- our focus is to empower the Latino community through advocacy and action our
- ambitious charge
- is to identify and research key issues affecting the Hispanic and Latino community in Bloomington
- and
- to develop and support
- solutions in education
- health
- housing
- public safety
- to promote Latino history culture and the contribution to the community and
- to collaborate with local and public
- agencies
- next slide
- in 2024 we have achieved several
- milestones
- especially in the areas of health education and cultural competency
- in health we have identified
- the
- less than optimal
- availability of
- language services interpret medical interpretation in health services in this community
- so we
- were able to call on the
- health care
- providers
- to
- identify what is
- going on
- What we identify is that even though the health services are
- is has a mandatory
- policy of having
- Spanish into medical interpretation when receiving medicaid and medicare funds
- This is less than
- Satisfactory they use agencies with tablets and phones and try to use that to resolve
- the
- language barriers, so we were able also to identify
- Young people in training as medical interpreters through a agency in Indianapolis and we were able
- to
- Link them to the providers in Bloomington 10 of them were able to be
- Offering their services not that they were being hired, but at least we did this connection in the
- education
- We have received in the Commission
- Complains and even with personal stories from parents
- relating to the fact that
- they
- Did not receive enough
- Information regarding requirements to access to higher education in their high school
- so we
- review data from the high school and identify a
- significant
- Inequity with regards to
- graduation levels and
- access to higher education from the high school we were able to meet with the two vice principals
- of that school and
- By doing so we were able to advocate for
- more
- Work with counselors in those in those schools with regards to
- information in Spanish being delivered to the parents and
- Better orientation to the students in order to get
- To the point where they can apply to college
- with regard to cultural competency the
- Several activities were done with the community
- in settings such as the fall festival that we
- Co-sponsored with other organizations and also with some
- Music events where the community was able to participate as well
- Next slide
- For
- 2025 we will
- continue to work in this same areas of
- Focus in education the we are now
- Contacting the the schools in our city to offer
- first to ask
- About what we have been hearing about students being absent from school
- I mean immigrants families students because of fear of what can happen with their families
- so we are contacting the schools and working with them in trying to
- Support the families to not
- Be in that situation and not affecting the performance of the of the kids
- in
- the health subcommittee
- we are going to continue to work on the medical interpretation, but also
- Put a lot of emphasis on mental health and this is again associated in part with the fear that
- We understand is running in the community with regard to
- potential risk of deportation and the
- the
- schools and even
- not going to churches and
- This brings a lot of stress and a lot of uncertainty to the community so we are going to
- Work with regards to to that as well in that regard. We are also going to
- Establish
- Quarterly
- welcoming
- Town Hall sessions where?
- In Spanish we are going to relate to to
- Inform the community about the resources that are available here and how they can access that
- The last point I'd like to to make is with regards to
- What can we expect from the City Council?
- so
- There are several points that we understand we would like to ask for your support
- first and foremost is when
- discussing public policy that the immigrant community needs and
- Current situation is taking into account. I mentioned language barrage barriers
- But there are a lot of issues really related to public safety for instance and transportation
- issues that
- specifically for this community
- There needs to be a special attention
- The other point is with regards to the other commissions in the city. We have commissions
- many of them human rights
- recreation
- Environment there are several that touched in
- Issues that are pertinent to our community. So we'd like to see a more
- coordinated
- Communication between the community the commissions in order to pull together the resources
- available
- on the other hand
- We also see
- opportunities to
- Identify
- Special funding
- to for instance to I
- Mentioned that we have to work with the private sector. So how do we go about fundraising? So we
- need
- Resources to do the fundraising. We need also or we think we could
- Do a better job and offering for instance either
- scholarships or
- Organizing workshops where we provide the community with better
- resources to
- Defend themselves in general terms. We have had some several
- Anecdotal stories about way of being treating by
- In housing, you know by by employees
- Etc. So I think that
- Doing a little bit more of being available to this community and being able to talk to them and
- offer
- the opportunity to
- Direct their needs to the appropriate resources
- With that I
- Close and thank you the council for your time
- Great, thank you very much. Are there questions or comments from council members?
- Council members, sorry
- Thank you so much first and foremost for this
- very fantastic presentation I was going to ask whether
- You could send us some of the data specifically about sorry
- I'm not speaking very loudly
- Whether you could send us some of the data of
- Disproportionate access that that would be very very useful and then secondly, I'd love to follow
- up with you
- I have a lot of ideas on how we might better use resources in the community. For example at the
- university
- To deal with some of the language barriers creation of materials, etc
- So we would love to brainstorm with the Commission on how we can do that
- Thank you
- Thank you for that comment are there other questions or comments from council members councilmember
- Rallo
- Well, just to follow up there. Thanks for the presentation. I
- So when a resident experiences the language barrier interacting with say the city
- So they have a need they call an office
- And they have difficulty because of the language barrier
- Do you do you have any ideas about how to?
- how to address that I
- Mean it seems I I just bashed AI a few minutes ago
- but AI could be your friend in a sense because there are application apps for instance that could
- help in and in that in
- Understanding each other I guess do you have any ideas about how to how to proceed like other
- communities that have done?
- Work in this that we could that we could adopt
- first I'd like just to make a
- brief comment in regard to medical interpretation the different nature of
- Medical interpretation that I mentioned in my report because that's this is a specialized kind of
- interpretation
- And that's separate and I think I mentioned that because it's a problem sometimes
- Not qualified individuals are doing that and that is a safety risk for the patient
- To to understand secondary regard to your question. I have also been asking
- In at the City Hall
- There are not more than one or two
- Persons that speak Spanish and I think this is another
- Point to be raised
- With regard to solutions, of course there are
- Informing the families or the person that they could bring someone with them that could help them
- second volunteers we can you know
- mobilize
- volunteers to to translate
- with regard to technology or
- There are many many solutions some of them are
- By private companies that could include
- Life translations and others are machine language translations
- And I was going to mention another one another idea
- So the other one not not not
- Practically with immediate solution is to promote the learning of Spanish
- amongst the City Hall employees with some incentive to do so that's
- What the course to me?
- Thank you, are there other first rounds before we move on to councilmember sorry again
- Go for it councilmember. Sorry
- Thank you again
- When you and la verdad es que debo de preguntar esto en espanol la verdad pero, but when you when
- you think about
- the fact that we have for the first time now made some type of a declaration in the United States
- that we have a
- That English is our national language, etc. Do you see that as a threat in any way to?
- the ability I mean you talked about how
- Medicare for example is required currently to get translation when necessary
- Do you where does the Commission see sort of future needs going in light of policy changes?
- across the United States
- Even though we have not discussed this in the Commission
- For me at least personally it's clear
- That there is a threat there that this kind of rules that the Medicare and Medicaid
- Has to have mandatory
- It's not only for Spanish. We are talking about Spanish, but it's for any language
- Has to be that service. So yes most definitely I think that kind of
- Achievements that have been done in
- Having the US being a more inclusive and more welcoming country for immigrants is threatened
- The size roughly if you if you know the size of the population
- in Bloomington of blooming or even Monroe County, but Bloomington residents who
- Don't speak English. Do do we do we have some
- sizing of that or maybe sorry there do we know the amount of people who've
- Who've reported issues with getting access to translation and in medical facilities, etc
- I cannot give you a exact number, but
- Yeah, we have a lot of stories of people not only in schools
- but in health care settings where they have not been able to
- be
- Served in in a in a satisfactory way
- Yeah, and the reason I was asking is just so so it was exactly but I'm just trying to size
- you know the the type of response that we should be anticipating and you know, how what what gap we
- would need to be filling in and
- For you know, the size of residents and you know, my guess is that it's maybe larger than we might
- might think
- You know, and so so figuring out where yeah
- if you think that the population has grown from
- 2020 now so all this
- this difference
- Are from people that are just arriving in the last five years
- so you have a lot of people that are still struggling to to get enough English to be able to
- work to go around and and have the
- the
- So that's easy for them to get the information they need to have
- Thank you
- Questions councilmember Piedmont Smith
- Yes, thank you so much for your report
- Does your commission also represent?
- Portuguese speaking people for the community from Brazil. I
- Am originally from Brazil
- Yes, definitely yes
- Yeah in the larger sense
- Latino is related to Latin America. So Brazil is part of Latin America
- so yes, and is
- is there a
- Significant portion of the Latino population in Bloomington is a significant portion from Brazil or
- Portuguese speaking
- Yeah from my from my estimate
- we have around the
- 150
- People that are from Brazil living in Bloomington right now
- There is a large proportion of them, of course
- related to the University probably
- 70 a little bit more 80
- and
- Additionally, you have other people that
- Yeah, not related direct or have are not any more related to the universe
- Thank you
- Report time if there are further questions we could extend but
- Do I see any great?
- Thank you very much
- And I just want to state in the last like 30 seconds just to emphasize again that medical
- Translation and how important it is and how different it is from other translation for those of you
- who haven't done that
- It's not just about going to the hospital or the doctor. It's also about say going to the dentist
- Which is sometimes, you know an eye doctors as well
- which are sometimes overlooked pieces of health care that can be really vitally important and also
- need translation for those services and
- Those smaller offices aren't always as set up to manage that and so it can be really hard to have
- those sorts of services
- That's in my experience helping different refugees get some of those services that can be more
- complicated
- Almost than dealing with with other medical providers, but thank you very much for your work and
- your presentation
- Moving on we have reports from council committees. Are there any that I was unaware of before the
- meeting? I
- Don't see any
- We have now then reached our first period of public comment reports from the public
- This is a 20-minute period set aside for these public comments if you are interested in commenting
- on an item not on the agenda
- Please make your way to the podium
- You will have up to three minutes and I ask that you state your name for the record and sign in
- Thank you very much for remembering to sign in
- And if you are on zoom
- You can either send a chat message to the host saying that you would wish to say something or you
- can
- Send a message to the host to be read into the record or you can raise your hand for
- Acknowledgement if you're on zoom, but let's go ahead and start here in chambers, please state your
- name and you have three minutes
- Hey, my name is Jen Pearl
- Excuse me, and I'm the president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation. We're a
- nonprofit that serves all of Monroe County in
- essentially attracting and growing quality employment for the community and
- This evening I come bearing tidings of job opportunities
- For the community the BDC recently was tracking open jobs across the community and there are
- currently
- hundreds of open jobs
- I shared with you a printout of the article
- But with graduation season upon us
- We wanted to make sure that we were spreading the word about this as well as anybody else who might
- be in a job transition
- Right now the leading industries that we have job growth in include health care and life sciences
- That's everything from IU health Bloomington hospital to the Bloomington regional rehab hospital
- card on
- Bloomington Meadows cook medical Simtran Novo Nordisk and Singota solutions
- We have jobs open in education both higher ed and k-12
- advanced manufacturing tech and innovation
- We have over 50 local companies that are either tech companies or use tech
- There's opportunities in entrepreneurship and growth and then because we're in the catchment area
- for NSWC crane
- There's opportunities in defense and defense contracting the article that we published
- Was out in the Herald Times just a couple weeks ago. You can also find it by
- Looking up the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation on LinkedIn or my LinkedIn as well
- And we just hope that all of you will help us spread the word about all these great opportunities
- that we have here for people
- and
- Also, I should note with gratitude that this council has supported the growth of some of these
- companies in the past either
- Through incentives or just other policies that have helped their growth. This is the fruit that it
- is bearing
- So thank you for that and thank you for helping us to spread the word
- Great thank you very much
- Do we have anybody on zoom right now
- No, okay. Thank you
- Okay, let's go ahead and next in chambers, please state your name for the record and then you'll
- have up to three minutes
- Yeah, I think either one should hello hello, okay, my name is Adam Martinez
- I'm here to express my disappointment with the special legislative session on March 12th
- some
- Context March 12th. It's a beautiful spring day 70 degrees and sunny the gentle breeze. I
- Could have spent this evening laying in my backyard under the pine trees listening to the birds
- I could have visited my aging parents dealt with my mom asking why she doesn't have grandkids yet
- I could have walked through the park holding the hand of my loving fiancee, but I did not do those
- things. I
- Like dozens of other residents took time out of my day to sit in this cold harshly lit auditorium
- with flickering lights
- Because I thought the council would be deliberating on an issue. I cared about I
- Thought I could make my voice heard and do my part to make the community better
- But on that day the council voted against introducing these two resolutions
- I wasn't allowed to give my opinion and nor were the other members of the public
- We didn't hear from the sponsors or the mayor or the planning and transportation department
- These resolutions had they been introduced would not have required a vote
- If there was a vote and they passed they still would not have changed the UDO
- They would have directed the plan commission to begin the process of preparing a proposal to change
- the UDO which isn't exactly radical
- We're in a housing crisis right now rents are skyrocketing and incoming tariffs are only going to
- make it worse
- But we know what can be done about it because other cities have done it
- If you allow more housing to be built and a larger variety of housing then the city will become
- more affordable
- Every week we don't do this is another week of single mothers paying half their income in rent
- It's another week of a stagnant local economy and another week of our fellow humans sleeping
- outside on the ground because they can't afford shelter
- Doing nothing is a choice and I ask that you please make a better choice. Thank you
- Thank you, do we have anybody on zoom at this time
- Okay, thank you we have another speaker here in chambers, please state your name for the record and
- then you'll have up to three minutes
- My name is Matt Gleason. I'd just like to echo what Adam said and
- hope that we can get some sort of reform on the agenda whether that's a
- Amendment to the current UDO or some sort of form-based thing. I've heard is you know an option but
- anything is good that
- improves density and sustainability
- Thanks
- Thank you, is there anybody else in chambers who would like to make a public comment at this time
- And are we still without zoom comments
- Okay, I
- Think that means we can move on from this section of the agenda to
- Appointments to boards and commissions. Do we have any appointments to boards?
- From team see
- We have two appointments
- Reappointing Randy Cassidy to seat C1 and Deborah Meyerson to seat C2 of the Redevelopment
- Commission
- Thank you, we have a motion and a second to reappoint
- Randy Cassidy and Deborah Meyerson to the Redevelopment Commission. Are there questions or comments
- from board from council members?
- All those in favor we don't have to do a roll call vote on this is that correct
- Do we need to do roll call on this? No, okay. All those in favor of these two reappointments,
- please say aye. Aye opposed
- Thank you. Thank you very much to mr. Cassidy and miss Meyerson for their service on the Redevelopment
- Commission
- that passes unanimously I
- Believe we have one more
- Councilmember Rosenberger. Hi. Thanks interview committee team a would like to recommend for the
- Housing Quality Appeals Board
- seats see one to a point Brian Warner
- Thank you, we have a motion in a second to a point a point Brian Warner to the Housing Quality Appeals
- Board
- Are there any questions or comments from council members?
- All those in favor of the appointment, please say aye aye
- Opposed
- Thank you very much. Thank you to Brian Warner for his service
- and
- the other part of
- Appointments tonight is our council appointment to the Transportation Commission and I believe we
- have
- Proposal to suspend the rules to
- Deal with this appointment tonight. This is an appointment from somebody within our own body to
- serve on this Commission
- It's been the rules to allow for the appointment of council representative for the Transportation
- Commission in the following manner
- Each candidate shall require a nomination and second by other members each candidate may make a
- brief statement
- No more than three minutes expressing their interest in and or qualifications for the position
- Members may ask questions and discuss the nominations of any seat before a final vote is taken
- After discussion a modified roll call vote vote will be conducted in which each council member will
- state the name of their chosen
- candidate
- Thank you, we have a motion and a second for how to
- Format this appointment
- And it is a suspension of the rules. So that means it does have to pass with a two-thirds majority
- and we can't debate it
- We can't debate the motion though. We can ask questions for clarity on the motion
- So does anybody have any clarity questions?
- Okay, seeing none can we do a roll call vote on the motion to suspend the rules, please
- Will the clerk, please call the roll on the motion to suspend the rules because it requires a two-thirds
- majority
- I'm so sorry everyone. That's okay. I was
- Okay, let's try that again. I'm councilmember Flaherty. Yes, rough. Yes
- Rollo yes Piedmont Smith. Yes
- Stossburg. Yes, Bailey. Yes Zulek
- Yes, Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Thank you
- Great. Thank you. That passes
- unanimously nine zero so
- in this process then tonight just to make sure everybody understands we will take nominations and
- and then members will get some time to
- State why they would like to serve we will have questions and discussions
- I would like to remind council members that the statements and questions need to be confined to the
- Transportation Commission
- Appointment and also need to per Bloomington code avoid personalities
- and
- Then we will vote by name and this of course assumes that there is more than one
- Interested party in serving so the first step is to have nominations and I would say that you can
- nominate yourself or
- Somebody else can nominate you. So
- Anybody wish to nominate themselves or nominate another councilmember?
- I guess councilmember ruff. Is there a second for councilmember ruffs nomination self nomination?
- All right councilmember ruff is up for consideration. Are there other council members who wish to
- be considered councilmember Flaherty?
- Yeah, I also like to self-nominate. Thank you
- Okay, there's a nomination a second for councilmember Flaherty. Is there a third councilmember who
- wishes to be considered for Transportation Commission?
- All right seeing none
- Councilmember ruff for councilmember Flaherty do either of you care who goes first?
- otherwise, I would just say councilmember ruff can go first because
- He nominated himself first
- Was that work for you guys?
- So I'm fine to defer to you if you want
- All right, so councilmember ruff you'll have up to three minutes to state why you would like this
- position. Thank you
- Okay back in December
- I co-sponsored with councilmember Rallo legislation to bring the decision-making power on some
- types of transportation greenway projects back to the council and before that meeting a
- constituent asked me if maybe it wasn't a waste of time to do that legislation because
- Why did I think that bringing these projects to council would make any difference in outcomes of
- these projects given the makeup of the council?
- And I told him he was totally missing a point that controlling outcomes
- Wasn't what I was seeking to influence and promote with that legislation rather. I was it was
- simply I was trying to promote the council
- retaining our power in our role
- regardless of the outcomes
- and
- That was the reason I brought forth those
- Legislation the outcomes I would respect as long as decisions were made with adequate and
- appropriate
- council involvement and a council role
- and this is related to
- Similar to the reason I'd like to serve as the council rep on the new transportation commission
- I think it's critical that this trans transportation commission, especially in its formative phases
- Which we're coming into have a strong and direct council participation by a council member
- Who's not just well qualified in terms of requisite transportation experience?
- But a member who believes in approaching the role
- as representative of the council as a whole
- as laudable as any given intense focus might be but really seeing it at least it certainly at this
- point as
- As really being a representative of the council
- So if appointed as council member rep on the transportation commission, I would pledge to be
- in timely and thorough communication with members of the council
- And that will include emails that council members were never called for regardless of whether
- There may be concerns that these would violate some
- Transparency statute. It's the only efficient way to communicate in some cases with with fellow
- council members
- I would be in timely thorough communication on matters related to TC business and I'll actively
- solicit input
- From all other council members again using email if needed
- In striving to be a representative of the whole council to the best of my ability
- Regardless of my own personal position on given policies and proposals
- You know
- I believe for this new commission to launch in a way that elicits confidence within the community
- Will best be served this time by a council rep who know who's known in the community is not only
- well qualified when it comes to transportation
- Issues, but it's also seen as being broadly focused when it comes to those transportation issues
- I'm a commuting cyclist here for literally 50 years. I'm an urban dweller here and hence a frequent
- pedestrian
- I raised two children here using bicycles and walking for transportation and
- I
- Know about therefore. I know about safety concerns and councilmember rough. That's your three
- minutes
- Oh, wow, that was a quick three minutes. That was a quick three minutes. Thank I'll just make my
- summary statement
- So I hope my colleagues will support me
- And if not, thanks for not creating the extra workload for me that will obviously be entailed by
- this commission's work. Okay. Thank you
- Councilmember Flaherty
- Thank you
- Want to have it four points maybe just overall first is just that I've at various times in my life
- been a
- Used all four main modes of transportation as a primary mode of transportation
- I've been a primary transit user to get around for work and seeing people I've been a primary
- automobile user
- Same with bicycling as a commuter and for my daily trips and now my primary mode of transportation
- is walking
- I think all those experiences help give me perspective and understand needs within the
- transportation system
- I also am a public policy professional by by trade and also a civil engineer by education
- I've got bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois that I think does
- help
- with with relevant expertise in this
- Arena second is I'm supportive of this commission and it's I think it's a positive step for the
- city
- in terms of how we're approaching transportation policy development implementation, I
- Believe in it. I helped to meaningfully shape it through feedback first via the Parking Commission
- and and had substantive changes there and then as you know via a
- Significant substantive amendment when we considered legislation to adopt I'm making sure that we
- were balancing safety accessibility and sustainability as three
- Pillars of our transportation system and all of them really being needed for complete streets,
- which our goals have adopted
- I think
- a third point is I think continuity specifically with respect to the Parking Commission is
- important in the first year
- Especially of this Commission there were concerns about the the mission being lost. That's why I
- helped structure
- Changes and requirements for reporting to take that up. I think having served on the Parking
- Commission until we dissolved it
- there's a
- Continuation of that service that I would see here
- Second is the dissolution of the climate action resilience committee in favor of channeling our
- efforts to implement the climate action plan into more
- Collaborative venues in other spaces and so I see that here as well
- Again, I helped bring amendments that more deeply integrated sustainability and climate action into
- the Commission's purview the transportation
- Section of the climate action plan is 58 actions. Most of them aren't implemented yet. That takes
- work. We need to be doing it
- That's a good place to do it
- Fourth is I think I've demonstrated a willingness to do the work in this space
- Bringing in the past legislation to help center evidence-based policies like leading pedestrian
- intervals and ped recall into city policy
- In our new signal retiming study that's coming soon
- advocating for more sidewalk funding bonding for multi-use paths a
- Systemic systemic approach pushing hard for four years now to get a sidewalk master plan, which is
- finally happen happening
- And still working on future issues. So look accessibility challenges with snow removal for instance
- I think we have overall a need to work on our
- Norms with respect to communications between Commission appointments
- I also serve on the utility service board and I fully agree with council member roughs points about
- strong communication
- Input among council members also can commit to that and want to just note that it's part of a
- broader system that the process
- Committee's working on councilmember Flaherty. I'm sorry. You three minutes are up. No, that's
- great. Thank you
- Thanks also for your consideration and
- Happy answer questions. Great. Thank you
- Are there questions from council members for our two colleagues about their interests?
- Councilmember Piedmont Smith
- Yes, I have a question for councilmember rough
- How do you reconcile your desire to serve on this Commission with your vote against creating the
- Commission?
- Yeah
- My vote was not against creating the Commission at all
- My vote was against creating a Commission at a time when we were still this confusion about
- Exactly what powers were being conveyed from the existing
- Ordinance the existing code related to title 15 and particularly the powers of the
- bike and pet safety Commission
- To creating this
- When we still really had I felt a significant amount of confusion and uncertainty about it
- And I still have some confusion uncertainty about what exactly?
- the council's role
- Is in title 15, so it wasn't a vote against the Commission
- I had no problem with combining the Commission's I understood the arguments of efficiency and that
- this could be a good thing
- But I just I didn't think they were it was fully explained and explored yet at that point
- Okay, thank you are there other questions
- Councilmember Rallo
- Well, I guess this is for both but
- Since customer rough just spoke
- Councilmember Flaherty, I'm interested in
- utilizing scarce resources efficiently
- Did you support the Hawthorne weatherstone greenway would you support a similar greenway and what I
- mean by that is
- similar in terms of proposed need based upon
- traffic volume speeds etc and the public expenditures that were brought to bear in terms of
- engineering that greenway
- I think to answer adequately I need to share a little bit of context
- Which is kind of the purpose of greenways, which is to create a safe high comfort network
- That creates connectivity throughout our city
- And so they're planned as part of a network and meant to be the alternative to less safe options
- I think the Hawthorne weatherstone greenway in particular is meant to be an efficient high comfort
- north-south connector
- You know as an alternative to something like woodlawn for instance that would be very hard and
- expensive to retrofit
- and I think that gets to part of your question about stewardship of funds and
- My understanding as somebody who reads a lot about transportation policy
- Is that greenways and the types of tools used within greenways mainly?
- Traffic calming measures are an incredibly cost-effective
- Use of public funds compared to alternatives of creating safe infrastructure on a street like woodlawn
- That's higher volume and difficult to retrofit. So creating a multi-use path along woodlawn
- For instance would be like creating a multi-use path along high street
- Which we've been in process of doing for years and years and years
- But we had to bond for five million dollars and that still wasn't enough and we're getting matching
- funds from the MPO
- And so I think that illustrates that
- Yes, I think the Hawthorne weatherstone greenway cost something like seven hundred thousand dollars
- or maybe maybe more
- I know both you and councilmember Ruff have at times
- spoken
- Unfavorably of that and and believe it's a poor use of funds. I think I have a different
- perspective and I think comparing the alternatives
- Of creating safe infrastructure is is really relevant for that context
- The other piece I bring into it is and and it would dictate or it have an impact on how whether or
- not I would support
- A project is what we adopt as plans
- So I noted that you know greenways are meant to be part of a transportation system part of a
- network
- And so we don't make one-off decisions in isolation, you know
- The 7th Street Greenway in parts it is a protected bike lane in the higher traffic areas
- It also becomes a greenway that extends all the way into you know, the East Park Ridge neighborhood
- and so
- The connectivity matters the plans we adopt matter if I was opposed to a project
- I think what I would seek to do and what I've recommended the council do in the past if we were
- opposed to
- some aspects of that network and wanted alternatives is to
- Propose amendments to our plans that that establish what that network will be and what the priority
- projects will be
- So that's kind of my orientation to it. And I think those are the relevant factors
- What are the alternatives and what are their cost? What do our plans say? Have we changed those
- plans or not?
- I think those are the factors that would affect whether or not I would support a project
- moving forward actually one additional point, which is that I think
- You know that project in particular obviously had more public opposition than than many others
- And I think that is absolutely a factor. I think there were a variety of challenges there
- I think we have to keep working on how projects are communicated who is involved how we track that,
- you know
- So I think there's there's always improvements to be made with respect to communication and
- bringing people along
- I do think that's an important piece of the puzzle and and you know, I
- Think that could be part of a factor in sending something back so to speak or recommending that
- staff take another look
- At how something is designed and I know staff has been very attentive to changes like for instance
- in Park Ridge with the greenway there
- making changes based on neighborhood input and and so
- You know, I think that's a factor too that would weigh into decision-making with respect to making
- recommendations on the Commission
- Thank you
- Yeah, I was about to ask did you want council member rough to answer the same question or a
- slightly different one
- Okay
- Yeah, this relates to the legislation I referred to in my opening statement
- This was the kind of decision that I felt the process completely failed on and illustrated why
- council needed to have
- more direct
- decision-making power in these types of projects
- that public process
- alienated people divided people
- really upset a
- lot of directly impacted people and
- so
- This idea that well it was in the plan and we keep hearing this and I go to turns I go to meetings
- where
- Projects are discussed with the public and while here. Well, this was in the transportation plan
- approved by the council
- Well in this case, it was a dust from small dotted line on a map, right?
- that it was going to be built with these diversions and deflections and large boulders dropped into
- people's yards and you know
- $800,000 or more worth of
- Features that vary marginally
- arguably if at all
- Improved safety because the route was extremely low traffic slow speed
- Extremely safe before I know because I live right there and I am on this all the time
- So, you know, I certainly support connectivity, right?
- That is a low content low cost and high return on investment way
- of
- using our scarce funds the the connection between
- Weatherstone and Hawthorne great. We've made a connectivity increase that makes that much more
- usable
- and
- We've left on the unsafe
- intersections north of there
- while spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on
- bump outs and and and features so, you know
- They're only cost-effective
- traffic calming that's only cost-effective in
- if it provides significant returns on investment on in terms of safety and
- User increases and I don't see significant user increases there
- and
- The safety bang-for-the-box is not coming from much of what the expenditure was though the
- connectivity
- I totally support and
- I'm aware of project other projects around the community that we could get connectivity without
- Fairly cheaply without other
- What I think are unnecessary expensive marginal and disruptive features in roadways
- that I would be
- Looking hard for these these real connectivity options
- the
- It's a long and short of it is
- There's already safe infrastructure. I
- Would advocate only for using our scarce
- resources on projects that are
- very well vetted
- With the community and with neighborhoods stage most directly impact and that we can demonstrate
- Where we're really going to get have reasonably if we're gonna get significant safety and use in
- mode in share increase
- Returns on that investment and that Hawthorne Weatherstone project is a textbook example of
- What's wrong?
- Not what's right
- Thank You councilmember after that answer your questions that's wonderful. Does anybody else have
- any questions?
- Okay seeing none
- If the clerk would please call the roll and as a reminder when we vote we
- Need to indicate the name of the councilmember who we are supporting
- Oh
- Councilmember Ruff councilmember Ruff
- Rollo
- Ruff Piedmont Smith Flaherty Stasberg Flaherty
- Daly councilmember Ruff
- Zulek councilmember Flaherty
- Rosenberger councilmember Flaherty
- Sorry Ruff
- And Flaherty Flaherty
- Well, I would like to thank both councilmember Ruff and councilmember Flaherty for being interested
- in this position
- And note that this is the first one in
- In a you know over a year where there were actually two people who really wanted to take on a
- responsibility
- So I appreciate that and then say that councilmember Flaherty has the position with five votes to
- Councilmember Ruff's four votes. So but thank you both. I really appreciate that. There was such
- interest in this position
- So moving on to our legislation for first reading
- I
- Move that ordinance 2025 09 be introduced and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only
- Second it's been moved and seconded to read ordinance 2025 09 by title and synopsis
- All those in favor, please say aye. Aye opposed
- Thank you. Will the clerk please read
- Ordinance 2025 - 0 9 to establish the public safety answering point local income tax peace have lit
- fund
- The synopsis is as follows ordinance
- 2025-09 establishes the public safety answering point local income tax fund to ensure that revenue
- from the peace app lit is separately
- Maintained and used exclusively for the Joint City County Dispatch Center as required by Indiana
- law
- Thank you that ordinance will be heard next week on April 2nd I
- Move that appropriation ordinance 2025 oh three be introduced and read by the clerk by title and
- synopsis only
- Second it's been moved and seconded to read appropriation ordinance 2025 oh three by title and synopsis
- All those in favor, please say aye. I
- opposed
- Thank you. Will the clerk please read
- Appropriation ordinance 2025 - 0 3 to transfer revenue and appropriations from the PS lit fund to
- the peace app lit fund
- The synopsis is as follows appropriation ordinance 2025 - 0 3 authorizes the transfer of revenue
- and appropriations related to dispatch
- Operations from the public safety local income tax fund to the newly established public safety
- answering point local income tax fund
- Thank you very much that ordinance will also be heard next week on April 2nd I
- Move that ordinance 2025 - 10 be introduced and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only
- second
- Thank you, it's been moved and seconded for ordinance 2025 - 10 to be read by title and synopsis
- only all those in favor
- Please say aye. I
- opposed
- Thank you. Will the clerk please read?
- Ordinance 2025 - 10 and ordinance transferring remaining debt service funds cash balance to the
- city's general fund
- The synopsis is as follows ordinance 2025 - 10 authorizes the transfer of remaining funds from a
- dormant debt service fund
- To the city's general fund in accordance with Indiana code
- 36185 b2 and
- 36185 point one ensuring ensuring compliance with state law and proper financial management
- Great thank you very much that will also be heard next week on April 2nd
- And that does it for first readings. We have no second readings or resolutions this evening
- So we've moved on to our final period of public comment
- So a maximum of 25 minutes is set aside for this section
- If there's any buddy in chambers who is interested in making a public comment, please make your way
- to the podium
- You will have up to three minutes. And if there's anybody on zoom, please raise your hand or send a
- chat message to the host. I
- Don't see anybody moving in chambers. So we'll give just a minute for anybody to
- Make their wishes known online
- Any
- Hands raised yet
- No hands raised
- Okay, and I still don't see anybody moving here in chambers. So I guess we do not have additional
- public comment for this evening
- Regarding council schedule, I would like to
- Call a special a special. Oh my gosh a special session for Wednesday, April 30th at 630
- We discussed this at our last meeting
- That session is for the purpose of discussing and hopefully approving a document from the special
- fiscal committee that will synthesize and
- Prioritize budget priority is that we will discuss at our deliberation session on on April 9th
- So at our last meeting y'all told me that April 30th was the preferred day for that over April 23rd.
- So
- I'm sorry. What was that?
- Okay
- So that that session will be Wednesday April 30th at 630 here in chambers
- And unless there are other notes about council schedule
- We are adjourned
- Thank you
- ("Pomp and Circumstance")