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") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance") ("Pomp and Circumstance")