- Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the most enjoyable thing to do on a Wednesday night, City Council
- in Bloomington, Indiana. Hooray. Today's meeting, oh, I'm sorry, will the Honorable Clerk please call
- the roll. Oh, I am. Councilmember Flaherty? Here.
- I didn't, I just didn't hear him. That's all. Oh, it didn't hear. Okay. Let me try that. Council member
- Flaherty here. Can you all hear me? Okay. His volume's not working, but we'll note it. Stasberg here.
- Piedmont Smith. Zulick here. Sorry. Here. Daily here. Rollo rough here. Rosenbarger. Thank you.
- All right, today we have a handful of reports, including a letter to the Redevelopment Commission, reports
- from the Commission on Aging and Commission on Status of Women. We have two things for first reading
- and two things for second reading. I'll just make a note about Ordinance 2026-12, which is to amend Title 15.
- of the Bloomington Municipal Code that we're not able to pass that today. So we will be discussing it
- should the body desire to discuss it, but we're not able to pass it today because we haven't yet received
- a statutorily required report from the Transportation Commission. But other than that, we will be taking
- all of those other things up for discussion, assuming that the body wants to do that. With that, there
- will also be two times of public comment.
- The rules as they usually are agendas are posted. Oh Theoretically the agendas are posted on the door,
- but they are they are under okay fantastic And there's and there's ones here as well if you'd like to
- follow along. Do we have any minutes for approval? We do not so we will move right on to reports from
- council members and I'll start with councilmember Piedmont Smith if you'd like to go first Yes, thank you
- As my report this evening, I'd like to read a letter addressed to the members of the Redevelopment
- Commission. And well, I'll just read it and then we can say a few more words after the letter. Dear
- members of the Redevelopment Commission, we the undersigned members of the Bloomington Common Council
- are writing to clarify our position regarding the disposition of the College Square site
- currently owned by the RDC and identified by the capital improvement board as the ideal location for
- a new convention center hotel. In a May 6th, 2024 letter to you signed by eight of nine council members
- and a December 15th, 2025 letter to you signed by four council members, members of the council communicated
- to you that the college square property should only be used for the convention center project, including
- a new hotel,
- if the RDC recouped the monies it spent acquiring the site, which came to a total of $6,895,000. We
- wish to state clearly that we are not opposed to the RDC's disposition of the site for an amount less
- than the purchase price if significant public benefit can be gained, such as the preservation and or
- provision of low-income housing. As the December 15th letter indicated,
- There are multiple ways to leverage this property to advance affordable housing and enable downtown
- residency for those who otherwise could not afford it. These options include one, developing affordable
- housing on the site, two, exchanging the property for nearby land owned by the Monroe County government,
- now the CIB, and then developing or preserving existing affordable housing there, or three, selling
- the property at market rate and reinvesting the proceeds in affordable housing.
- So that all is talking about the College Square site. In regard to option two, we recommend that the
- May 18th proposal by Bloomington Homes for All and the Bloomington Democratic Socialists of America
- Housing Working Group be considered, which would entail an exchange of property with the CIB to allow
- a hotel on the College Square site. Creative solutions should be considered to maximize public benefit
- and also facilitate the best location for a convention center hotel. Sincerely,
- members of the common council who choose to sign on to this letter. So I think we have we have an exciting
- opportunity here to do things differently than the status quo. We have multiple parts of this city lost
- affordable housing to new development and this is an opportunity to preserve affordable housing and it's
- In my view it's worth not recouping the amount of money that the RDC spent on the College Square site.
- They would certainly the site of the Seminary Point housing is certainly worth something. We're not
- sure how much it is no doubt worth a little bit less than College Square or the amount less is unclear
- but but I still think that
- The vision of preserving Seminary Point as affordable housing affordable business commercial property
- and a community space is something that should be given a chance. And the only way that that can happen
- at this point is if the CIB swaps the Seminary Point property for
- the College Square property owned by the RDC. So that's what this letter intends to support. And I welcome
- any other comments from council members if they'd like to chime in on this. I think there are a majority
- who would sign on to this letter. I'm not sure of the structure this evening. I think that it's probably
- not a vote. It's just whoever wants to sign on unless somebody wants to call for a vote.
- So that is my report tonight. Excellent. Thank you so much, Councilmember. Any comments, additions,
- anything that are any responses to that? Councilmember Dailey. Yeah, I just want to thank Councilmember
- Piedmont-Smith for putting this letter together. I know there was a lot of work on it and several,
- you know, a few different versions that went out.
- Former version I did not sign on to because I did not think it went far enough. I think it has to be
- a full land swap in order for it to be valuable. So I'm thankful for putting that full land swap language
- back in there. So I support this and I'm happy to sign it. So thank you very much. I second that and
- I also think that we should vote on it to send as a full body. Any other thoughts.
- Folks, a hug. Council Member Flaherty. Thank you. First, can you hear me now? Yes, we can. Excellent.
- Hey. Yeah. I'll echo the thanks to Council Member Piedmont-Smith and also to Blue Mission Homes for
- All and the Blue Mission Democratic Socialists of America, who I think Isabelle, or sorry, Council Member
- Piedmont-Smith said it very well, that the vision here is really quite laudable and
- and something I'm excited to support. I think I want to speak a little bit to some of the reservations
- I've had in this conversation, which is, I think, not new. In general, my view for many, many years,
- since before we've been taking office, was that the food and beverage tax is the city's public subsidy
- and contribution for the convention center project, including all things like a host hotel. And we've,
- of course, talked about this in the past. And my concern here is that we're not just talking about
- public expenditure to preserve affordable housing, which, of course, is terrific and something I've
- wished that the RDC did more of, frankly. But we're also talking about public subsidy for convention
- center that's TIF revenues. And how much is a little bit unknown because the properties were bought
- at different times and, you know, we don't know, I don't think yet, their exact market values. But I've
- had some reservations about, let's say, the Bunker Robertson property, former Bunker Robertson property
- in College Square,
- which were considerably more than the Seminary Point property, that we would just be subsidizing not
- only the affordable housing, but also the convention center, which is something that I'm sort
- of philosophically opposed to, because I think we set boundaries and we've sort of exceeded them. I'm
- worried about future requests to exceed them. So all that said, again, I really support the vision.
- And something Pastor Robert Piedmont-Smith said at the very end, that this is the only way to make it happen.
- I'm not sure I fully agree with that notion. We had some really thoughtful emails from Bryce Green sharing
- his views on this and also his conversations with the, I guess what the CIB has stated, but also I take
- it with John Weikert, who is heading the CIB, essentially saying they're not interested in a half or
- partial parcel at College Square, which is something I had pitched as perhaps viable if those values
- were similar. In other words,
- pay to subsidize affordable housing, we should not pay twice. And all of the hotels in downtown Bloomington
- are on a half city block, totally viable in my mind. The CIB would still get the subsidy for land value
- they wanted, but they essentially said, no, we don't want that. We want twice the subsidy. And absent
- of a deliberative conversation and a negotiation of what's realistically on the table and what's fiscally
- prudent, I don't take that at face value. The idea that the CIB simply wouldn't accept
- a subsidy in the form of land of a half block rather than a full block. So that's the only thing that
- gave me pause with all this, that I still have some reservations about. I would urge the, you know,
- if deliberations and negotiations are entered into, I would just urge the RDC to be thoughtful about
- fiscal stewardship and not unnecessarily giving away additional subsidy to the Convention Center.
- But again, absent an actual conversation, which hasn't really been able to take place yet between the
- relevant parties and decision-makers, you know, who exactly knows what that is. So just to say my piece,
- those are the reservations still definitely opposed in general to us continuing to spend public dollars
- from the city of Bloomington on the Convention Center project. But again, very much support the vision.
- And without more details, you know, it's a little limited what we can really know at this time, and
- I'm happy to support the letter.
- Thank you. Thank you so much. Councilmember. Yes, thanks. I agree with my colleague, Councilmember Flaherty.
- I think that in spirit, I would like to see this negotiation happen in terms of the specifics. I think
- it's up to the RDC to negotiate that. And perhaps they can arrive in the middle somewhere, but
- I think that it's important to try to save seminary point and maintain it for affordability. So that's
- my main priority here and let the RDC you know negotiate from here. Thanks. Thank you so much. Councilman
- Rallo. Any others comments. Anything else. Any motions. I move to allow public comment on this issue. Second.
- There's a motion the second to have public comment on the letter to the Redevelopment Commission Any
- kind any discussion Please councilman just a reminder that it'll take two-thirds majority because it's
- a suspension of the rules In which case seeing no other discussion will the clerk please call the roll I
- Councilmember Flaherty. Yes. Stasberg. Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes. Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Daily. Yes.
- Rallo. Yes. Ruff. Yes. All right. That motion passes eight.
- Zero, so we'll now have a time of public comment. Can I just see a show of hands if people wanted to
- make public comment on this letter? Okay, fantastic. If it's okay with you, just so we can keep it going,
- you have the three minutes, but yield them back if you can. All right, so if you'll sign in, say your
- name or alias for the record, and if there's anybody online, you can raise your hands, and we'll acknowledge
- you shortly, first in chambers.
- Good to go? All right. Hi, I'm Bryce Green. I represent Bloomington DSA, and I work with Bloomington
- Homes for All. And I'd just like to thank everybody involved in getting this letter to where it is today,
- and I thank you all for being as concerned about the prospects of saving Seminary Point as I am and
- as these activists are. And I want to acknowledge the concerns that have been brought up throughout
- this process about the
- precedent it might set for boundary pushing of public subsidies for these major things. However, I think
- that this case is exceptional enough that no one can really claim that it's a precedent for anything
- that we can anticipate in the future. Unless there's some other grand bargain to save a bunch of units
- of affordable housing in the future, no one's really gonna be referring to this as an example of
- Why we should increase public subsidy to something like the convention senator. I just want to reiterate
- the You know why this Letter is important the RDC has made it clear that they took the earlier letters
- from City Council very seriously in determining whether or not to accept a land swap from the CIB in
- the past our plan
- our proposal of Homes for All and DSA is to have the CIB put an offer for College Square in which they
- would be sold College Square at a nominal fee in exchange for them, contingent on them, the CIB, selling
- Seminary Point to a mission-focused nonprofit for a nominal fee. Effectively doing the land transfer without
- actually transferring the land, because that would encounter a bunch of bureaucratic hurdles, and time,
- and time is something that we don't have right now. The leases for Seminary Point are set to be extended
- to August 31st, but that's coming at us very quickly. And every second that it's unclear that there's
- a solution on the table, more and more of the people and businesses in Seminary Point are making plans to leave.
- If they all leave, that imperils the entire project as a whole. And so that makes this time factor extremely
- important. We hope that in addition to this letter is excellent, and I know that you guys appointed
- the RDC members with full faith and confidence. But I mean, this isn't done. I don't necessarily know
- all of the RDC members' explicit positions, especially given this letter
- But I'm hoping that this conversation doesn't stop with the letter but that you know You poke and prod
- these people until we get what we need. Thank you so much next in chambers Yeah, go ahead hi, my name
- is Barry herbers I'm
- moved recently to the neighborhood near Seminary Square and the Seminary Point Apartments. And it's
- a really lovely neighborhood in a lot of ways, and it's a really troubled neighborhood in a lot of ways.
- And since I moved there, I've really fallen in love with the place. I walk to Friendly Beasts a lot,
- take my dogs around, folks around there, pet them and stuff. But it's such a relief to know that there's
- people in our government who
- are as hopeful about keeping that place thriving and beautiful and communally oriented for people of
- all different income brackets as I feel. So I just really want to say thank you guys for being in such
- great communication with the activists around here. And it's really wonderful to hear you read the letter
- out loud. Thank you.
- My name is Sarah Wolford and I'm the housing solutions director at habitat for humanity I'm also a member
- of Bloomington homes for all so housing is something that I'm very passionate about and I really appreciate
- all of your all support and work and all of the conversations that we've had thus far to try to figure
- out something that ends up being
- Winnable solution for for everyone I also wanted to kind of announce a save the date for a presentation
- Bloomington homes for all would like to give on Saturday June 20th Details to follow but just kind of
- wanted to give an announcement you all will be invited as well as members of the CIB and RDC just so I
- all of the decision makers and also people of the public can come and kind of have a presentation of
- what we hope to bring to the community in regards to this incredible property and how we envision improving
- it and kind of our hopes for the future. So thank you all so much for your support thus far and we continue,
- we look forward to continuing working with you all. Thanks.
- Next in chambers. Hi, I'm Matthew. I'm a therapist in town, but then also a part of Homes for All. Yeah,
- just want to say thank you for your kind of collaborative angle that you wanted to take, keeping in
- mind the RDC and kind of the ways that they're trying to think about it as well.
- So just as a reminder, the land that we're trying to save is considered super affordable land. We're
- talking 30% to 40% AMI being served just by this land alone, as well as four to five flourishing businesses,
- nonprofits, that really would love to stick around and stay there and keep their communities. We had
- an event a couple weeks ago.
- We had almost 100 people come to that event and a couple thousand dollars raised just off of a couple
- weeks and a couple flyers as well as Friendly Beasts hosting the space. It was a sight to see. It was
- incredibly beautiful to see a whole community knowing about this issue that's going on as well as then
- supporting it financially and bringing their friends and their colleagues to that.
- Well, yes, I do want to say, yeah, we'll be sending an invite to the public meeting. We'd love for any
- of y'all to be there. I do want to say, at least publicly, I don't think the RDC has spent a lot of
- time negotiating with the CIB. This is something that the CIB was hoping that they would get with that
- 30-day period, and then the RDC denied that. So I want negotiations to happen, too.
- I hope that John Weierkart is bluffing and saying that, oh, I don't want half, you know, half the land,
- but let's just, you know, that's where the negotiations need to happen to some extent. And I just think
- that that's not necessarily happening, at least publicly, right? I don't know exactly what's happening
- behind, but so please, I just, and it seems like y'all have already done so, but please encourage them,
- make phone calls, like to encourage that negotiation process to happen.
- because really the time is of the essence. Every day that we push this forward, the lease deadline comes,
- which means that the businesses are gonna need to find new places and the tenants are gonna need to
- find new places. Think about yourself if you had to find a new place in a matter of two months. You'd
- be looking for a new place, and that's definitely the case if you're a business owner too. So if we
- wanna keep and maintain the people on the land as well as the businesses, we have to act now.
- So thank you so much for your time and any sort of things you can pull as well as conversations that
- you can have to make this happen. But yes, appreciate you. Thank you so much. Is there anyone online
- who would like to comment? Fantastic. All right. Well, we'll come back then. Any other? Please, honorable
- clerk. No? OK. Any other comments or motions? I move that we vote on this. OK.
- There's a motion in a second will the clerk please call the roll on the motion I have a question. So
- please the motion is whether or not we vote or the motion is whether or not we approve the letter I'm
- happy to just call a vote. How about I think that sounds a whole lot. Yes, unless there's unless there's
- any objection
- All right, because there has been a request for us to have a vote and just so that it's clear who's
- who's saying yes to this Though I think it's already fairly clear But let's let's call a vote, please.
- Will the clerk through smaller role? Do we need a motion to approve the letter? Okay What would you
- like? Would you like a motion to approve the letter and then I'll just call what would be best? Well, I
- Just to clarify, I just want to know exactly what the motion is. You have a motion and a second to take
- a vote on the letter. It would be nice if it could just be clarified if you're making a vote to sign
- the letter or if you're taking a vote to vote about signing the letter. That's all I need to know. I
- will withdraw my motion and defer to President Asari. OK. Then will you make a motion to approve the
- letter? I move that we approve this letter. Second. All right. There's a motion and a second for us
- to approve this letter. Will the clerk please call the roll?
- Yes councilmember Stossberg. Yes Piedmont Smith. Yes, Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes daily. Yes Rallo. Yes Resume
- rough. Sorry. Yes and Flaherty Yes. All right. Thank you. That letter is approved 8-0 Thank you very
- much for your work and thank you all for your efforts. Are there any other councilmember reports? I
- Councilman Stossberg, thank you first I want to apologize just a second to Councilman repeat Matt Smith
- because I got up in the middle of her report and in case you were wondering what I was doing I was relocating
- a very small jumping spider that was crawling around on the desk and I I I like had a flashback to my
- nature education days and when I think I'm gonna move this little guy outside, so anyway
- My report though. I first wanted to say it is June and June is pride month. So happy pride to everybody
- and Highlighting the pride fest for Bloomington, which is not until August It's August 22nd because
- we wait until our student population has come back to town but there are lots of other local pride events
- if or not quite local pride events, but
- Regional pride events if anybody wants to attend those this month and in addition to that I wanted to
- highlight I was reading through the Bloomington Volunteer Network Weekly email this week and Bloomington
- pride is looking for board and committee members So if anybody out there is interested in being on the
- board of Bloomington pride, which is not It's it's not a city of Bloomington board, right? It is their
- own organization you can
- Contact them at info at Bloomington pride org or there is a little short URL that that you can go to
- it's it's HTTPS Semi-colon backslash backslash be town or bton dot in slash pride 26 So if anybody wants
- to get involved with that event and that organization, that would be a great thing to do in June and
- And then I also just wanted to highlight a couple of recent conversations I've had with constituents.
- I had constituent meetings last weekend and several people talked about need for affordable housing,
- which we just talked about in livable communities, which one of our other public commenters just mentioned
- And safe streets and then enforcement of traffic laws So I told them all that I would announce that
- those are some of the things that that some folks are concerned about over in district three And I think
- that is all. Thank you fantastic. I'm just gonna extend councilmember comment by Three more minutes
- council members like
- Thank you. I just want to say happy pride and a quick reminder that the first pride celebration was
- a riot. So keep making good trouble and thank you. Thank you so much. Any other comments? All right.
- We'll move then straight along and thank you all for your incredible work to a report from the Commission
- on Aging. Thank you so much for being here.
- Hello my name is Dana Thompson and I'm the chair of the Commission on Aging. I think our slides are
- going up there. You can see now I don't know how many of you have ever been to Commission on Aging meeting
- but we tend to be kind of a rowdy bunch and we have had a lot going on the past year. I guess. OK.
- So we've gone round and about with what we want to do as a commission, how we want to make impact, and
- how we have really focused on that the last couple of years is in a couple of ways. The biggest way
- has been advocacy and then some work on awareness, and we've done that in a number of ways. So we really
- tried to focus on, of course, things like health and wellness, but
- kind of the bigger picture of that, making sure that people know about the resources that are available
- to them, making sure that they are engaged in social and recreational things, as well as just those
- kind of senior needs that might come to mind for some people. So our mission really is to improve the
- public awareness of the senior and aging community. So again, not just what they need, but also what
- they are doing and contributing to our community.
- So we like to celebrate their accomplishments and encourage programming in that area. We also like to
- explore issues and concerns of older adults as opportunities for our community. So you can see all of
- our commissioners up there. We've had a little bit of turnover, but we had a really strong board and
- all of those commissioners were around for a few years at least.
- One of the big things that we've been working on is our senior resource guides. So this was our 2.0
- year for that. So we've heard from a lot of seniors in the community that, hey, we don't really know
- what's available to us. We don't know who to ask. We don't have anything where that's all in one place
- anymore. The things that people found online were not regularly updated. And so we worked really hard
- to get a senior health care guide together that had information about different services available in
- our community.
- And then what we found from that was that a piece was missing, that it wasn't just about healthcare,
- they also wanted to know what other opportunities were available for them. So we created what we call
- our senior resource guide. So you can see they're differently colored but look very, very similar. And
- these are on the commission page if anybody wants to share them or print them out for themselves. But
- the resource guide focuses more on non-medical stuff. So where are the senior centers in town?
- Where can I engage in lifelong learning? What transportation is available to me? Those kinds of things.
- Myself and Sandra McGow, who some of you may know, who I think did this last year, also did a seminar
- called Senior Living 101, which is something we will be doing regularly moving forward. So she and I
- have both worked with seniors for a long time, probably like 40 years between us, I guess, or more.
- And so this really is just one of those events where we help people tease apart all the mumbo jumbo
- that's out there. What is assisted living versus nursing home? What is the power of attorney versus
- a guardianship? Who the heck do I talk to when I wanna start with all that stuff? Woo, that's great.
- I thought I did something. So we will continue to do that as well. With one of my other hats, I also
- chair the,
- dementia friendly Bloomington committee that's here in town. So if you didn't know, we were the first
- dementia friendly community in Indiana. So go Bloomington. There's a slide before this slide. No, I
- don't think so. Maybe it's after the slide. But we are also dementia friendly commission and we are
- really interested in getting increased engagement in
- dementia awareness in our city. So we are really encouraging city offices, other city commissions, councils,
- whatever that are interested in that to take part in our dementia aware organization training.
- through Dementia Friendly Bloomington. So that's one of the big, big things you can do to support our
- mission. I think just collaborating with us. We really love to collaborate with other groups
- and organizations in town and then just share our resources and use us as a resource as well. Is this
- the one you thought was before? Okay. So these are, this is where we're going from here on out. So we
- will continue to do that Senior Living 101.
- session that I mentioned we will bring that dementia friendly training to folks at the city who might
- be interested in that. We are also working on a project to highlight older artists within our community.
- So I don't know if any of you have been to 50 plus expo over the last few years. There were some
- really cool art spaces highlighting older artisans in Bloomington. And then we'll continue supporting
- other efforts in the community and advocating for seniors in those spaces. So things like the Blue Zones,
- things like Dementia Friendly. Yeah. That's why you thought it was before, because it's in there twice.
- Any questions? I know I tend to talk fast. Yay, thank you. All right, Council Member Daley.
- Thank you so much for this. That was really lovely and kind of impressive and awesome. So thank you
- guys very much for all of that work. Can you tell me a little bit more about the dementia-friendly training?
- Do you have details, like when, how long? Sure. So when is whenever you want to schedule it with us.
- So we have several trained trainers that can deliver that. I think we're at around 40 in the Monroe
- County area, people that can provide that training.
- depending on conversation that happens in that training, it takes about an hour to an hour and a half.
- So it's not super lengthy. It goes through a lot of the basics about what is dementia and what isn't
- it, but also gives some tips on environment, communication, things like that. And when we schedule these
- with a group, we really try to kind of tailor the conversation to how might this come up for you?
- So yeah, we've been doing that training I think now a little over
- 10 years in one format or another. Yeah, and we just updated it too, so you'd get the newest version.
- Thank you. Yeah. Hi, thank you. I just want to say thank you for keeping the guides up to date, because
- they are resources that I've passed on to different folks who have different needs in different ways.
- And so I appreciate that they're updated. Thank you.
- Glad that you're using them Has your commission talked about the possible closure of Kirkwood Avenue
- We haven't actually that's That's an interesting topic of conversation for I think because we do talk
- about transportation and walkability and accessibility Quite a bit, but we haven't talked specifically
- about that
- Well, we'd love to hear some feedback on it. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions
- online? I had a quick question, then, with the way that our population is increasingly skewed toward
- older individuals. Obviously, the population is always older, I guess, getting older, but ours particularly.
- And I've long thought about how do we how do we make sure that we're centering a significant portion
- of our population and in our budget and and
- updates to our UDO and the things that we're doing as a city. And so I'm interested if you had Blue
- Sky and you could say, guys, do a thing just to sort of understand the sort of spaces where you feel
- that there's gaps. What type of things would? It's almost always the same ones that we'll keep bringing
- up. I think transportation is a big one. Not necessarily that it isn't available, but maybe that it
- isn't available
- Accessible in the right ways for older adults. I think that's one I think another is that when we think
- of aging well the conversation tends to go back to medically and we forget that a big part of wellness
- for all of us is Our ability to be around the people that we want to be around to to do the activities
- that we want to do, you know to go to
- to go eat on Kirkwood or to go to our place of worship or to see our grandkids or go to the mall and
- not just at the prescribed times of Monday to Friday, nine to five or whatever people work on. So I
- think considering when we're thinking of these big opportunities in Bloomington, whether it's housing,
- whether it's recreation, whether it's business,
- how that impacts seniors as well, because a lot of times when we give trainings, we hear back from the
- people in our audience, oh, this would just improve things for everyone. It's sort of like if we are
- making things more accessible for people with disabilities, we're probably making them more accessible
- for the rest of us. I think there's some similar thinking when it comes to the older adults
- in our population, is that if they are able to access these things, the rest of us most likely will be.
- Well, right building for one or a hundred That's really helpful. That was really helpful. Thank you
- so much, of course Thank you for listening. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time and thank you for
- the work that you've done. Thank you We'll now have a presentation from the Commission on the status
- of women Good evening
- Hi, my name is Cece's falling and I'm commissioner on the status of women and thank you for allowing
- us to present on the annual report for tonight So our Commission is comprised of nine volunteer members
- with appointments from both the mayor and City Council. I recognize some of you Since 1974 the Commission
- has been dedicated to advocating for equity and improving opportunities for everybody who identifies
- as a female and
- Our main focus area as we plan out our programs and initiatives for the year center around legislation,
- community partnerships, and communication. We do this by monitoring policies and legislation, building
- positive programming for the community and our youth, and maintaining strategic partnerships. All of
- these opportunities allow us to understand the needs of people who identify as female in our community
- and be advocates for them.
- Some of our highlights from 2025 included the 2025 Women's History Month Luncheon, the third annual
- Women's Market, and the largest Young Women's Leadership Summit yet. The Women's History Month Luncheon
- celebrated our three 2025 Women's Achievement Award winners and a powerful keynote address by the president
- of the Women's Fund of Central Indiana, Tamara Winfrey Harris. The Women's Market,
- Had 30 vendors this year hundred of attendees and of those who responded to our feedback survey many
- of them reported great sales for the day The young women's leadership summit was very special This year
- both in terms of the number of attendees and the impact of the three sessions that focused on overcoming
- barriers as we began looking into 2026 we identified several areas of growth and opportunity and
- The Cost of the Women's History Month luncheon continues to rise each year and is largely funded by
- sponsorships and ticket sales. We explored some grant opportunities for our luncheon this year in order
- to help offset the cost, which was a huge help. In order to draw even more people to the women's market
- later this summer, we will be ramping up our advertising and are also talking about new ways that we
- could allow more vendors to participate. In addition, we've extended the market hours to 3 p.m. this year.
- Based on the feedback and ideas we received from the students who attended the Young Women's Leadership
- Summit in 2025, we look forward to continuing to create an intentional and meaningful program in the
- fall of 2026. These are some of the ways in which the community can get involved and engage with the
- commission. We would like to invite anyone with any interest in our mission to attend our monthly commissions
- meetings and intend an event or program throughout the year.
- Thank you again for allowing us to present this evening. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you
- so much questions and from council Thank you, what kind of cooperation and collaboration do you have
- with MCC SC with the young women's summit I Think Marissa was better to handle that question Hi there
- Marissa Parscott city liaison for the Commission on the status of women um
- We coordinate with MCCSE, of course, and we lean on them to help get the word out to students to register.
- And then, of course, they also help coordinate the logistics of getting the students from all of the
- middle schools and both high schools here into council chambers. And they've been fantastic partners
- in that area.
- save us on transportation costs when they can by using some of their buses and teacher-driven buses
- versus some of their bigger modes of transportation. So we certainly lean on them for those sort of
- logistic purposes. And Lashondra McCoy, who is a resource officer with MCCSC
- has been a huge help, especially the past two years. And I believe she was extremely instrumental in
- getting all of the students, as many students as we had in 2025 in the room last year. So I'll give
- a public shout out to her for that. Thank you.
- On the question of legislation, and you said, I mean, I think maybe the federal one is maybe a little
- more obvious, but at the local level, are there particular things that are priorities that we can act
- on? I will have to probably get back to you a little bit on that, but I can tell you that that is our
- primary concern, frankly, is working with the state of Indiana on our legislation. Obviously, yes, we
- know that the federal government affects us as well, but one of our key
- Items this year in 2026 when our councils in session was to spend that time to read through as many
- of the Articles as we could regarding things that we felt would affect women disproportionately And
- so it's a lot of work that is done in a very short amount of time And as we know the things that go
- before them don't necessarily even make it to a vote and so
- I think strategically thinking forward is about how can we support Indiana women, particularly Bloomington
- women, when we have those state legislation come up and how can we support that way is honestly one
- of our most critical missions.
- Well, I certainly speak for myself only, but perhaps others feel this way as well. I love lists. And
- so if you all ever have a here's an agenda, like you all need to pass these type of things, it's really
- helpful because it gives us something to react to, something to work on. And so we welcome that type
- of engagement from the commission, all of the commissions for that matter. I'm on the legislation committee,
- and I'd be happy to send you lists. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other
- questions?
- All right, we will move swiftly along then. Do we have any reports from council committees? Seeing none,
- we'll now move to the first of the best parts, which is first period of public comment for things that
- are not on the agenda. If you'd like to comment.
- Anybody like to comment if you just raise your hands. I know Okay, fantastic. Okay, so you'll have three
- minutes Just sign in say your name or alias same thing online and you can take it away We'll start in
- chambers and then we'll go online
- Hi, my name's Kathy Berry, and one of my neighbors brought by an announcement of an exhibit of his artwork,
- which opens this Friday, June 5th, at the Eiffel Gallery's 415 West 4th Street. It's a retrospective
- called 60 Years of Art Making by Frank Young, and it's sculptures, prints, and paintings. And Mr. Young
- and I have been neighbors for a long time. I have seen the beautiful things he makes,
- And I know him to be a person who's contributed to the community in very many ways. He's very talented
- person. So I just would like to say that any time this month starting Friday till the 30th stop by the
- I fell gallery and I believe you'll get a treat. Thank you. Is there any comment or online. Anyone else
- in the room.
- Mr. M.G., I mean, we're disappointed. All right. Seeing none, we will move along. Are there any appointments
- to boards and commissions? All right. Seeing none, we're making great progress. This is great. We'll
- move on to legislation for first reading. Are there any motions? I move that ordinance 2026-13 be introduced
- and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only. Second. There is a motion and a second. Any discussion?
- Alright, will the clerk be calls the role in the motion? Yes, my apologies Councilmember Piedmont Smith
- Yes Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Daily. Yes, Rallo Yes, Ruff. Yes clarity Yes Stasberg. Yes, that motion
- carries eight zero. Oh
- I move to discuss ordinance 2026 dash. Wait, sorry. Will the clerk please read? Oh, I'm so sorry. I
- stepped on your toes. It's okay. They're sturdy. Um, so ordinance 2026 dash 13 to amend title two of
- the Bloomington municipal code regarding loans between utilities. The synopsis is as follows. This ordinance
- follows Indiana code section eight,
- Dash 1.5 dash 3 dash 11 and allows for the wastewater and water Utilities to issue loans to one another
- through the creation of a cash reserve fund in each utility Through which such loans can be funded Thank
- you very much, are there any motions I motion to discuss legislation Second, thank you There's a motion
- a second to discuss legislation 20 26 13 any discuss any discussion on motion and
- Seeing none will the clerk please calls the roll Do we don't I forget I don't know I'm sorry This is
- why we should have meetings every week. I get I get they get rusty All right, so there's a motion in
- the second for us to discuss. It's now on the table. Is there somebody to present? Hello Katherine Sager
- director utilities and I'm presenting I think that we do have to vote to discuss it Yeah, I think that
- that's what we've been doing
- Attorney Allen, would you like to? Clarify I Believe you introduce that you have the discussion and
- then you vote on the actual main motion is Is how it's if you give me just a moment. I'll give you a
- definitive answer. I'm sorry Kirk Bolden, do you have a thought about this? I
- I honestly don't because this is a recent change and how you actually operated by thought you actually
- did take a vote on whether or not to discuss it because you needed was it two-thirds people to agree
- to Discuss I cannot recall. I'm so sorry My recollection was that we have to vote on it because you
- know in case you don't want to discuss it on first reading Yeah in the the document procedures with
- discussion of ordinance at first reading. It does not say that a vote is needed
- Well, let's take a let me just call a vote just to just to make this go faster. So Well, there was a
- motion and can can the court we call the roll on that, please? Councilmember Zoellick. Yes, sorry. Yes,
- Daley. Yes, Rallo Yes, Ruff. Yes Flaherty Yes, Stasburg. Yes, and Piedmont Smith. Yes. Thank you. I
- All right. Thank you. That motion carries. Please take it away with a nice presentation. Yes. Catherine
- Zager director water utilities CBU. So I'm presenting ordinance twenty twenty six dash 13 to amend Title 2.
- the Bloomington municipal code regarding loans between utilities specifically this will add a new section
- to title to chapter 2.24 that follows Indiana code a dash 1.5 dash 3 dash 11 which will allow for municipally
- owned utilities us to make loans between ourselves essentially so that we may make a loan from our water
- cash reserve to our
- Sorry from our wastewater utility to our water utility If you recall last year's budget presentation,
- we reported a negative ENR indicating a deficit in our water and foreshadowed the need for a loan eventually
- now here we are we have the need for the loan and in order to make this loan we need to Pass this ordinance amendment
- to allow for the creation of a cash reserve fund in each utility in which such monies can be loaned
- between the utilities. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Do we have any council member questions.
- Council member Stasberg who decides the interest rate for these loans and like whose benefit is it to
- charge ourselves interest. There's no interest and we decide.
- Okay, so you guys decide and the intention is to have them be interest free Yes, but it's just because
- of like the legal bit of the documentation that you have to allow for the concept of interest Yes, okay.
- Great. Thanks Councilmember Piedmont Smith So Director Zager you went kind of quickly so there's a deficit
- in the water fund correct and you want to loan the water fund the water utility and
- Money from the wastewater utility correct very temporarily As you know, we brought a water rate case
- to council Between the water rate after that water rate case we should we will be able to pay back this
- loan. It will be The loan will be for less than 12 months Where does that water rate case stand currently
- We recently had our evidentiary hearing on Tuesday with the IORC
- So what does that mean in the process? How many more months do you expect it to go? Yeah You know we
- can still only estimate I don't have a firm date, but we are hope we are still on track to implement
- rates in the fall Thank you other councilmember questions Councilmember Piedmont Smith
- Okay. So since both the water and the wastewater utilities are rate payer funded how is it legal for
- one utility to loan money to the other because not all water customers are also wastewater customers.
- For example the wholesale water customers. So how is it okay to take the rate payer funds from one utility
- and loan those to another utility.
- So it is, in fact, a loan. We're not just moving the money. So because it's a loan, we must pay it back
- to true it up. It's legal through the Indiana code that we referenced, section 8-1.5-3-11, which allows
- us to create this cash reserve to take loans in and out of. It just increases flexibility in between
- rate cases. Yeah, it's not a transfer of funds.
- A loan that must be paid back. I understand that. Maybe I misspoke. It's a loan. And so I realized from
- what you said a few minutes ago there is no interest rate. Correct. That helps as well. Yes. Yes.
- Thank you. Council President sorry. Thank you so much. I was just curious about so. So I get as this
- is written.
- procedural, we're allowing something that's allowed in other places. But I'm curious about any risks
- and then particularly to what happens if let's say utilities gives it to water, CBU gives it to sewage
- or something like that and then one doesn't pay it back.
- Does that then essentially become a subsidy that, you know, so I'm trying to understand the risk associated
- with, because I mean, we're describing this like it is just money transferred between accounts, essentially,
- that have to be structured as loans. I get that. But is there any risk associated with this? Sure,
- of course. There's, you know, risk associated with this in that if there was not appropriate oversight,
- that you could lead to one
- Fund subsidizing the other I do believe that we have appropriate oversight between both this council
- here and our USB who also recommended This adoption. Okay, and then and then in terms of the oversight
- do all of those things come to the USB then when we create a new a new transfer between accounts or
- what what's the approval process for and yes all of
- All transfers and claims are approved through our USB. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Any other council questions.
- Council member Stasberg. Thank you. This is this might seem like kind of a weird question but I'm looking
- at the way this is actually supposed to be implemented in our code in terms of that language. And I
- mean this this is this is the sentence and I just
- want to say in preface, I feel like this sentence makes zero sense to me. So if I was reading the code,
- I would be like, what on earth does that mean? And so I don't know if that's my ignorance or if the
- sentence is just
- And kind of strange but anyway, it says a cash reserve fund is hereby created for each city-owned utility
- and the utilities service department by its Bloomington Utilities Service Board shall hereafter carry
- the same on the records of each city-owned utility by providing for monthly contributions or transfers
- to the cash reserve fund of surplus earnings of each utility and
- It's like the first part of the sentence seems like it doesn't go with the second part Like I have no
- idea what's going on there So can either you explain that or maybe an attorney in the room be like yes,
- this is the way the code language has to read Yes, I Do believe this is how it needs to read in order
- to align with the Indiana code I will I believe Chris Wheeler isn't online so he may be able to have
- a better explanation and
- That would be great just because I mean, I know that sometimes like legally is is not easily interpreted
- by non-legal people, but this seemed especially Duma best He's not Well, I mean I think this is the
- first reading and so it'll go to second reading So if we could maybe just like look into that between
- now and next week, that would be fantastic. I
- Thank you. Council President Azari. Just a quick follow-up question about what other cities have done.
- I think there was that reference to Columbus, for example. Is it normal to write into the code maybe
- like a cap of interest rates or anything? Again, I'm not questioning what it is that we're trying to
- do. I totally get that.
- understand why we need to do that we should do that I'm supportive of it I'm just trying to make sure
- that you know when we're all not here and you're not here and so many years that this is done in the
- in the best way so would you would you welcome like an amendment for example that capped
- let's say the percentage of loans that created a very clear, to Council Member Stasberg's view, a clearer
- set of guidelines for how it's governed, for who decides at what times, like those type of, that level
- of specificity? Or do you think that it's better at the level, I mean, maybe as a question for Attorney
- Wheeler, do you think it's better at the sort of very light level? So yeah, just curious there what
- your thoughts are.
- So I do think you know we're open to putting certain like basically guardrails I think is what you're
- saying you know regarding things like interest rates and caps. I do think that the way it's currently
- written does provide a fair amount of flexibility for us to be able to especially if this were utilized
- in order to fund potentially in a an emergency project.
- This could be used in this way and any guardrails that you would put on it may Inhibit that but I can't
- predict the future So, you know definitely be open to suggestions. Okay, fantastic. Thank you so much.
- Thank you councilmember Rallo Yes, I'm looking for the amount of the loan what what is the amount? So
- the amount of the loan is not in this ordinance. However, we have
- Anticipating that the loan will be capped at four million dollars So that is like not to exceed four
- million dollars and we anticipate that we will not need to use all of that Okay, thank you any other
- questions Okay, I believe we go to council comment now because we're discussing well because I think
- we do Any council comments
- In that case, we will go to public comment on this specific ordinance. If anyone would like to,
- thank you, Director Zager. If anyone would like to speak on this ordinance, please approach the podium.
- Looks like nobody. Anybody on Zoom? Oh. In that case, if you could state your name for the record, please.
- You'll have three minutes, and you'll be able to unmute shortly.
- Good evening, my name's Eric Ost, and I just had a quick question. If the loaned amount is not spent
- in its entirety, what happens to the balance of the loan? That's my question, or comment, comment.
- Thank you. Thank you. I think maybe just for next time. Thank you. Okay, it appears that there are no
- Other comments? Anybody else on Zoom? Chris said he was on Zoom. What's his name on Zoom? Maybe we're
- having some Zoom difficulties today. Maybe he's on there as like lawyers or something like that. Yes,
- I bet that's it. I bet that's it. Exactly.
- But what if a municipal lawyer? Is attorney Wheeler on Zoom? Yes, I'm on Zoom, but I wasn't able to
- unmute earlier when questions were being asked of me. I'm also unable to turn my video on, but that's
- all right. You guys don't need to see me. I don't have any public comment.
- But if the loan doesn't get used up and there's still a balance left, it's going to get used to pay
- back the remainder of the loan that needs, it'll be used as part of the payback of the loan back to
- the utility that it loaned from. It's not like the utility will keep the money. Great, thank you. Okay,
- Council Member Ruff.
- Yeah, I just had a question for I didn't realize we're gonna have attorney wheeler Accessible to us.
- So I didn't ask this question earlier and I don't know if he's the best person to ask the question to
- or But What what does one say as a representative like one of us is someone who might say the purpose
- of the utility is not for any of the separate utility funds and
- revenue streams to generate a large amount of excess That's not that's not the purpose of it it's just
- basically, you know deliver the service cover costs You should be looking at not raising rates rather
- than Just what what does one say to that? Argument I'm wondering
- Well, I understand what you're trying to say, Councilman. We're not in the business of making money.
- We're in the business of having the rate payers pay for the cost of the service provided. But in the
- way economics is working, when we get a rate case, it increases the amount of the, and we do it, as
- you recall, we do it staggered. So every other year, a different utility is before the board for a rate increase.
- When that rate increase comes in necessarily that utility starts to realize more money in its coffers
- than it is spending. And so it's got an opportunity to help the other one that's lagging behind. So
- we had a wastewater rate case increased its rates. The water rate has not yet increased and we are in
- a bind and would like to have a loan paid over from wastewater to water.
- This statute allows for that kind of flexibility. And so if somebody were concerned about whether this
- is legal, we would simply direct them to pay pay some mind to the fact that our state legislature felt
- it was necessary to allow municipalities and their utilities to have this flexibility when it's in between
- rate cases. Thank you. Thank you for that very clear answer. Thank you. Is there a motion.
- Would you like to make a comment? Just a brief one. I'll just say, generally, super supportive of this,
- I think. I mean, it makes sense. I mean, to colleagues, I don't know what the sort of feeling in the
- room is. I'd like to explore just doing a couple of just very minor cleanup clarifying things. But to
- be honest, we could also do that.
- later So I'd be happy to vote for it today if anybody else felt felt that way, but generally generally
- supportive Councilmember Piedmont Smith Since attorney Wheeler is online, maybe he could clarify the
- passage that councilmember Stossberg was puzzling over earlier that I also find puzzling and
- Yeah, what what you're reading there is basically lifting the language from the statute itself and putting
- it into this ordinance. It's merely following the actual language in the statute. It's trying to define
- the fact that this ordinance will allow the utilities to create these funds. Each one of them will have
- their own fund and it's trying to explain that those funds that those
- funds get populated by specific monies that each utility realizes. It's wordy, it's not easily understood,
- but that's the way the statute reads, and that's why we decided just simply to use the statute so that
- we don't find ourselves inadvertently crosswise with it. Thank you. Councilmember Stosberg.
- On that vein, since Mr. Wheeler's online now, it's like,
- Could that still align with the language of the statute and perhaps be two sentences instead of one
- long sentence? I don't see why we couldn't make two sentences if that were to end up making it read
- easier for everybody. I guess I think that there's the possibility that it could be easier if it was
- broken down into
- more sentences than one very long wordy one. And so to that end I guess I would make the motion to move
- this to second reading at our next meeting on June 10th. Second. OK. There's been a motion and a second
- to postpone this reading to June 10th our next regularly scheduled council meeting with the clerk. Please
- call the roll.
- Yes. Rallo? Yes. Ruff? Yes. Flaherty? Yes. Stosberg? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Zulek? Yes. Asari? Yes.
- Thank you. Thank you. With a vote of 8-0, that passes, and I will give control back over to our president.
- Thank you so much. All right. We'll keep moving on. Any motions?
- I move that ordinance twenty twenty six dash fourteen be introduced and read by the clerk by title and
- synopsis only second. There's a motion and a second any discussion. Seeing none. And the clerk recalls
- the roll. Yes. Councilmember Rallo. Yes. Ruff. Flaherty. Yes. Stossberg.
- Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes, Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Bailey Yes, thank you Any of them I'm sorry. Will
- the clerk please read? Eventually, yes ordinance 2026 dash 14
- to amend Title 2 of the Bloomington Municipal Code entitled Administration and Personnel to require
- Councilmember sponsorship of legislation under Chapter 2.04. The synopsis is as follows. This ordinance,
- sponsored by Councilmember Piedmont-Smith, adds a new paragraph to the Bloomington Municipal Code,
- Section 2.04.270, to require Councilmember sponsorship of each item of legislation except for the annual
- budget legislation and appropriation ordinances.
- Thank you so much. Any motions. I move to discuss ordinance twenty twenty six dash fourteen Second,
- there's a motion in a second with a clerk. We call the roll Yes councilmember rough, yes Flaherty Yes,
- Stasberg Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes, Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Daly. Yes, Rallo Yes
- Thank you. All right. Who would like to present on this? I assume customer Smith. Go ahead. Yes.
- Thank you. So this ordinance would add a paragraph in Bloomington Municipal Code that reads as follows.
- No proposed ordinance or resolution shall be considered by the council unless sponsored by a member
- of the council. Exceptions no council member sponsorship shall be required for the annual budget related
- legislation.
- nor for appropriation ordinances brought forward outside the annual budget process. So currently the
- mayor's administration can bring forward legislation. It doesn't have to have any council member sponsor
- it. They present it and that's it. This idea of having a council member sponsor was discussed by the
- committee on council processes actually I have to think
- Last year's member of that committee council member Flaherty for bringing it forward and then we discussed
- it this year with the committee and unanimously approved this ordinance on May 21st. The reasoning is
- that it it can help prevent misunderstanding and lack of clarity.
- of legislation if at least one council member has read it first and advise if there's more context needed
- to understand it or more late laypeople's terms to understand it or if there was some some aspect that
- the administration from the executive branch perspective did not consider and should have considered
- before it comes to the legislative branch. So we think that this will this will improve communication.
- At least one member of council will have their name put on the legislation. It shouldn't change anything
- as far as who presents the legislation. The sponsor isn't even necessarily committing to vote for it.
- It would be odd if they didn't but you never know. And in my memo I have more details as to the
- of many other communities do things this way. Either something comes through a city council committee
- or a sponsor council members required to sponsor. They kind of just make sense as a legislative body
- that somebody on this body would sponsor like it's done in the state house and and in the in Washington.
- And then I.
- Put a couple of examples from last year in in my memo of items that I think would have benefited from
- having a council sponsor council member look at them before they came to us because there was some context
- missing and some some other language that was not clear and that came forward and got messy. So that
- is the legislation. Happy to take any questions any questions.
- Councilmember Rallo. Well, yes, I mean, this is kind of more of a comment, Councilmember Piedmont-Smith,
- but, you know, sponsorship, you know, does generally imply support. However, in this case, that is an
- adoption of whatever the legislation is.
- It seems to me another thing to sponsor it for deliberation. So it's, it's rare for me not to vote in
- the affirmative to introduce an item because I think that in most cases, everything should, you know,
- even if I don't support it, you know, we're, we're a legislative body and it deserves debate. So.
- My question is is it really should it should it be considered rare as you were saying not to support
- what you would sponsor in this case. I don't know if it'll be rare or not. I don't think that's really
- relevant to whether we pass this legislation or not. I guess time will tell. I mean we can maybe ask.
- members of or the deputy mayor who's here. But it seems to me that it would make sense that the mayor's
- administration would approach a council member whom they thought would support the legislation. They
- have choice of nine people. They probably wouldn't go to somebody who would just grudgingly sponsor
- it so that it would got discussion. They would probably go to somebody who likes it in some way. But
- whether it's rare or not for a sponsor to vote against doesn't seem relevant to whether we pass this.
- Yes. And so you could imagine cases where it fails just because there is no sponsor. So it never comes
- before the body. I have trouble imagining that but I suppose it could happen. Are there examples of
- legislation that have been voted down unanimously.
- Yes and one of them is in my memo that was the city of Bloomington utilities septic disposal rates that
- all of us voted against largely in my view because it was so confusing and there were outdated and in
- outdated assumptions were made and the septic haulers were not fully consulted and
- Other things so I mean that to me that was an instance where it would have been better to have a sponsor
- Which probably would have delayed it coming to us, but it would have more thoroughly vetted that legislation
- So are you saying is your concern that something won't even get discussed because there's no sponsor
- You know, I've always believed that the council should be controlling its own schedule so I'm favorable
- to this but
- I guess what I'm thinking is that if there's confusion that one is a sponsor of legislation and yet
- votes against it, I just wanted to clarify that because I think it might be confusing for, say, just
- citizens watching it, you know, because it is a departure from what we have been doing in the past.
- But anyway, unfavorable. So thank you for answering the questions.
- Thank you so much. Other questions. All right. Any council comment. Seeing none and we'll go to public
- comment. You'll get another chance. Anybody like to comment on ordinance 20 26 14. Take it away. Hi.
- I'm speaking as a member of the public.
- express my concern for the logic and reasoning provided by Councilmember Piedmont-Smith to support the
- passage of Ordinance 2026-14. I can concede that legislation sponsorship may have its merits in the
- broader context of governing Class II cities in Indiana and in governing the U.S. Congress and Indiana
- General Assembly. However, I disagree that sponsorship operates in these contexts as a mechanism for
- increasing the transparency of information to the general public
- I disagree that sponsorship procedurally guarantees fewer amendments that will be made on a piece of
- legislation. I disagree that sponsorship would improve communication between the mayor's administration
- and members of the council. And I disagree that the sponsorship will benefit the public at large. I
- also take issue with this assessment that this ordinance is not expected to have a major impact on existing
- city finances. Without a respect for time, I'm going to limit the depth of my remarks to my
- first disagreement, because I think it's easily
- the easiest claim to challenge quickly. I'm skeptical that many people here think that the U.S. Congress
- utilizes a sponsorship policy to maximize or ensure the transparency of information around their process.
- Sponsorship mechanically operates as a form of permission. It's a simple logic gate.
- In context where legislators must make priority decisions about how to spend their time wisely, they
- rely on sponsorship to discriminate against legislation that no member is willing to champion. So it's
- a simple strategy for ensuring popular legislation is heard first, if at all. Especially as the ordinance
- is written, sponsorship is prefigured as a non-standardized black box with no warrants or guidelines.
- Council members are allowed to fill in the blank and self-determine their own unique standards for allowing
- proposals on the legislative agenda.
- As such, before legislation can become official business, it must be discussed behind closed doors where
- the standards for the public release and organization of information differ from those enshrined by
- open door law. While council members may experience discomfort when asking questions for the public
- record, it is conceivable that legislative proponents rely on the function of public discourse
- for educational purposes.
- asking fewer questions about legislation because council members have a privileged perspective of it
- will only diminish the resulting discussion for their constituents. Council members want to demonstrate
- a good faith effort to increase transparency behind the legislative process. They could do better,
- I think, by following the example laid out by the Transportation Commission, where their council
- commissioners hold staff and staff hold each other to a minimum standard of preparation before presenting
- cases for hearing.
- Staff maintain a standard reporting structure to ensure that when commissioners take action their fulfilling
- requirements explicitly outlined in BMC title to section 2 subsection 100 paragraph D item 2 The end
- result is more documented material relevant to the legislative process for public review and not less
- As a closing remark, I want to observe that the materials for this ordinance have not demonstrated I
- think a good faith engagement with city staff to clarify the particular details of the stated burden
- that the proposal
- Ordinance would lay upon them. That's your time. Thank you so much. Thank you If you want to also send
- your comments to us by email, though, that would be very helpful. Thank you Good evening council Dave
- Askins with a B square bulletin. I have seven questions tonight question one the City Council rules
- in Terre Haute Carmel and Fishers have been cited as examples of what Bloomington is now considering
- but on their face the rules in those three cities appear to be
- Counter-examples could we get a breakdown of why rules in those three cities are analyzed in support
- of this proposal? Question two is there anything currently written in Bloomington City code or elsewhere
- that would prohibit a rank-and-file resident from draft drafting and ordinance Submitting it to the
- council president who would then place it on the agenda sponsored by the named resident if not
- Then doesn't this proposed legislation on sponsorship erect a new barrier to council agenda access by
- the public? Question three last year the administration chose not to bring the routine annual interlocal
- agreements with Monroe County on animal care and building code enforcement before the City Council Instead
- the administration sent them directly to the Indiana Attorney General's office which is one option for
- the administration under state law and
- Does the council sponsorship requirement affect those situations in a positive way under this proposal?
- Oh, sorry question four
- Under this proposal, suppose four councilmembers agree to sponsor a piece of legislation, but when it
- appears on the agenda for a meeting, at that meeting, five members vote against the motion to read it
- by title and synopsis. In that case, the legislation would still not be considered. So the council already
- has a much higher threshold than the sponsorship of a single councilmember for the council to consider
- legislation. Why isn't that higher threshold already sufficient? Question five.
- Controlling whether legislation gets considered is a different concept than controlling access to the
- council's agenda. If the idea is to control access to the agenda, why does the proposal not mention
- the word agenda? Question six. Two examples from last year were described as problematic in the committee
- chair's memo. The villain in those two stories was the administration and its failure to make things
- clear. A different approach from fighting the villain would have been to give
- an advantage to the potential civic heroes, the public. That approach would recruit the public's
- participation earlier, just after the required materials are filed in the council office 10 days before
- a meeting by posting the materials online 10 days before the meeting and providing a way for the public
- to submit written questions. Did the rules committee consider this approach to solving the identified
- problem? Question seven.
- Did the rules committee consider as a solution to the identified problem a return to one previous function
- of City Council work sessions now called deliberation sessions which was to allow council members to
- get an oral briefing from city staff about upcoming Legislation a month or two in advance of formal
- presentation on the agenda Well perfectly timed. Thank you
- Hi there, Zach Ammerman. I wasn't planning on speaking on this, but to me it seems incredibly uncontroversial
- that a member of the body should sponsor legislation that it's being considered in favor of. I would
- be in favor of this. I think this is a good idea. I also think that council should be asserting its
- authority more and flexing its muscle more with the mayor and the administration. For that reason, I
- think this is a good thing. You should control your own agenda and what comes before your body. To me,
- it seems incredibly uncontroversial.
- Thank you. Is there anyone online? No one online. We'll come back to council. Any other comments?
- Seeing none, any motions? I motion to move ordinance 2026-14 to June 10th. Second. There's a motion
- in the second. Any discussion? All right, seeing none.
- Will the clerk please call the roll? Councilmember Flaherty. Yes. Stasberg. Yes. Piedmont Smith. Yes.
- Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Daily. Yes. Rollo. No. No.
- And Rosenberger. I'm not voting on that. Sorry about that. I just I just popped on. I don't know what
- you guys are doing. Okay. Abstain. I abstain. Thanks. Okay.
- But that is thank you six six to one with with one. So six to with one abstention That motion carries
- that will be on our agenda for the 10th of June. Thank you so much We'll now move on to legislation
- for second readings and resolutions I move that ordinance 2026-12 be introduced and read by the clerk
- by title and synopsis only Second there's a motion a second any discussion Council member Stasberg
- That's not what the agenda says in the packet addendum that was released. Oh, yeah, that's right.
- I mean, that's fine if we want to do that one. It's up to you. That may be the thing you want to do.
- All right. I withdraw my motion. Would you like.
- Move that resolution 2026-09 be read introduced and read by the clerk by title and synopsis only second
- There's a there's a motion and a second is there a discussion councilmember Stossberg
- Sorry, I just wanna say that this resolution got added to our packet yesterday and it included like
- 120 pages almost of reading material. And I find it extremely frustrating. It's really clear when something
- like this gets added as an addendum that it did not get given to our council staff and our council office
- according to the timelines in our code. So I'm gonna vote no on introduction for this, thank you.
- All right. There's there's there's any other discussion. All right. We'll record please call the roll.
- Yes. Council. Council member Stasberg. No Piedmont Smith. No. Zulek. Yes. Sorry. No. Daily. Yes. Rollo. No.
- No Rosenberger no Flaherty That motion does not carry so you have somebody else to ask sorry where he
- said no But did you say did it you said no, correct? I said no. Thank you. Thank you That motion does
- not carry are there any other motions I
- I move that ordinance 2026 dash 12 be introduced in red by the clerk by title and synopsis only second
- There's a motion to second any discussion Seeing none will the clerk we call the roll Councilmember
- Piedmont Smith. Yes Zulek. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Daley. Yes Rallo Yes Ruff yes
- Rosenberger Yes clarity, yes Stasberg yes. Thank you. All right that motion carries Will the clerk please
- read Ordinance 20 26-12 to amend title 15 of the Bloomington Municipal Code entitled vehicles and traffic
- to seasonally provide a carless
- Kirkwood the synopsis is as follows this ordinance seeks to codify streets and alleys in Bloomington
- that disallow vehicular traffic specifically this ordinance codifies the seasonal carless schedule of
- specific blocks incur of Kirkwood Avenue with this ordinance businesses and residents can expect a permanent
- seasonal carless Kirkwood allowing businesses the predictability to invest in outdoor infrastructure
- for guests.
- The city administration has provided valuable operational feedback in its 2026 a memorandum identifying
- important challenges regarding regarding infrastructure sanitation public safety and accessibility That
- naturally arise as temporary programs transition toward permanent city fixtures With that this ordinance
- aims to provide the necessary legal and budgetary certainty for the city to move beyond
- Incomplete solutions and invest in more permanent infrastructure such as more ADA compliant features
- and high quality seating recommended by staff Thank you very much any motions I move that ordinance
- 20 26-12 be adopted second. There's a motion in a second. Oh, we don't this is yeah, there you go All
- right Who would like to talk about this councilmember? I
- Rosenberger point point of order vote for this. Sorry. No President Asari at the start of this meeting
- today. You said that we're not allowed to vote on this to adopt this tonight because of some statutory.
- That is my understanding. And so we have a motion but I guess we can postpone. Correct. Correct. Yeah.
- And I'll just clarify, in case you weren't here at the beginning of the meeting, and Attorney Allen,
- please correct me if I'm wrong, but because this is a change to Title 15, we're statutorily required
- to have a statement from the Transportation Commission. And so we do not have that yet. They're meeting,
- I think, next week. And so we cannot vote on this until we have that. Or this week. I don't know when
- they're meeting. Next Monday. Next Monday. So they'll meet before our next meeting.
- So with that, Council Member Daley. All right, I'll kick it off. Thank you. So yeah, we talked about
- this last week, the idea of making it a fixture where everybody can expect and understand that it's
- just going to happen every summer, that Kirkwood will be pedestrian only. We're not closing Kirkwood.
- We're just closing it to cars for a few months to make it very pedestrian friendly.
- One thing that we didn't talk about last time that I think is worth bringing into the conversation is
- that we're looking at economics of this as well. We have a $71 million convention center expansion that
- will be finishing early in 2027. It's projected to bring in up to $18 million annually, as well as 50,000
- annual hotel room nights in our city core.
- So that is a huge advantage that could really draw more people downtown to hang out in a nice pedestrian
- walkway area in those warmer months. On top of that, a single IU Athletics sellout home game can pump
- $7 million into our local economy, and it can push downtown hotel occupancy to 95%. So Kirkwood is the
- literal front porch.
- to all of this. So I think this is just a wonderful opportunity to help centralize a destination area
- for Bloomingtonians and visitors to our beautiful town. Thank you so much. Council member Rosenberg
- would you like to add. I will. I just wanted to say to sort of also kick it off that
- We do have to also hear this at the next meeting. So for me, I was thinking here to answer questions
- and do some discussion and then potentially like the meat and potatoes can also be on our June 10th
- meeting potentially because like that is when we do have the opportunity to vote on it. Just so, and
- this kind of feels to me like an opportunity to discuss
- Whatever and like any questions that we might need to get answered prior to June 10th Thank you so much
- council members any comments or questions, please councilman Sasberg Thank you. Um, I noticed in The
- ordinance that is in the packet this week that there are three blocks of
- Listed as being closed but in the ordinance from two weeks ago, there were five So we we already read
- it into the record last week So I don't I don't know why we can change that without having an official
- amendment on it But I'm I just wanted to bring that to somebody's attention the sponsors perhaps or
- and or the attorney Just I mean
- I guess as sponsors if you've decided to potentially alter the blocks that you're interested in having
- read in then it needs to have an amendment I think as opposed to just changing it, but I Was a little
- bit confused Councilmember Stossberg. I don't think that was an intentional amendment I believe there
- were two different versions of the previous one. It was updated to include all five blocks This was
- unfortunately a previous version that was included in this packet. So it was a mistake and
- It should have the schedule X should have all five blocks listed as it was last week as that was the
- amended version But of course the sponsors can correct me if I'm mistaken on that Okay, is that correct?
- Council members Rosenberger daily Yeah, yeah, okay. Thank you So I hope the public hears that because
- I did hear from somebody earlier this week who thought that it was only then three blocks because they
- were reading this
- This ordinance and I was like wait, I'm confused now. So Yeah, I don't know if if we need to make sure
- to issue some kind of a public statement or if this is enough But that definitely made things a little
- confusing Councilmember Zulek. Yes. Thank you. Well, I am blessed to serve on the downtown Bloomington
- incorporated board and our president is in the audience tonight I know he plans to speak but
- Just to give you the feedback from the downtown businesses, they're pretty overwhelmingly against this.
- And so I just want to raise that a lot of the at least on the for the businesses that are a part of
- downtown Bloomington. The majority of the feedback that I hear is that they are not in favor of this.
- There are a couple just
- I guess details that I'd like to see hammered out if this is the route that people want to go down,
- one of which is the library block, which is not very easily activatable because there's no shade during
- the summertime, but also feedback that I've gotten from organizations like Stone Belt who transfer a
- lot of people at the same time with maybe different disabilities or different needs. They can't use
- the library when
- Kirkwood is shut down because their buses can't get into the north-facing parking lot. And when the
- street is shut down, there is no way for them to take advantage of the library services. And so that's
- just one of the things that I would like, I guess, in the record when we're making this decision. The
- other thing is when we think about pedestrianizing Kirkwood,
- I would like to see that happen, but I also know how much money needs to be invested in Kirkwood to
- make it the beautiful pedestrian street that we'd all like to see it. And I'm not sure that right now
- in a time that we're not exactly like overflowing with money that this is the right moment to make that
- investment. And those are my comments. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments or questions?
- Seeing none, Council Member Flaherty, go ahead, sorry. Thank you, I had a comment. I thought, so by
- way of additional input from businesses, Council Member Rosenberger circulated the memo, gotten articles
- here from the Kirkwood Business Association, which is in support of this permanent conversion to pedestrian
- and all other users except cars use.
- And I think it had some good things to say, including that there's a lot of valid questions and concerns,
- which Councilmember Zulich has raised a couple, and we hear them from constituents as well. And I think
- they're all really good questions, and they can all be figured out. That, to me, is an important piece
- of this. And I guess in looking to what's possible, we should look to what's already been done, specifically
- in lots of other
- liberal, wonderful communities like ours that have had this vision from 50 years ago to more recently
- solving all the challenges that we're raising. And so I think it's just really important for us all
- to look to those communities that are doing this successfully and they're throughout the country because
- it's like the vision piece that we need. And I guess just one more element of that, which is this kind
- of like cart horse question. I believe Mr. MG raised it when he spoke about this a few weeks ago. And
- I kind of said something similar then, which is that,
- Theoretically, yes, lining up the budget first, all these other things would be nice, but that kind
- of requires a level of leadership from the executive that we just aren't seeing or won't see. If the
- mayor wanted to do this, she would have done it already. And so the question is whether or not the council
- wants to use its legislative authority and budget authority to direct a visionary and transformative
- change to our downtown. And we certainly have the power to do so.
- Again, taking all the questions and concerns very seriously, it's not to suggest they aren't meaningful.
- They don't need to be figured out. They do. But really, it's up to us to do that. And again, it's not
- like we're trying something that's never been done. We're trying something that's been done very, very
- well in lots of places where, honestly, the pedestrian malls they have, again, I named a number of places
- last week, Ithaca, Charlottesville, Boulder, et cetera, really make the town. I think we have that kind
- of opportunity here. So I'm excited for that. And it's a comment, not a question. Thank you.
- Thank you so much. Which I think was invited. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Council Member Piedmont-Smith. Yes.
- So in principle, I'm in favor of Carlos Kirkwood. I think that we could, it's already a great space,
- but it could certainly be improved if there's a lot of investment of,
- events and infrastructure like to provide shade and to provide places to sit where you don't have to
- buy something at the restaurant, but you can sit and And I you know buskers and people selling flowers
- out of baskets and I have these great visions And I think we do need to take a step in that direction
- Probably this body
- would need to push it up on the agenda of the mayor's budget and use of staff time. However, I think
- that the way it's written now, it seems to implement these closures immediately. And I don't think that
- is feasible. I don't think it's feasible to do this before 2027.
- The city has already invested money to activate some blocks of Kirkwood to have they've already scheduled
- events. They had a consultant in as to how to, you know, do these things. There are plans, you know,
- the restaurants that wanted to already have their parklets operating. I just think it's not feasible
- to start to implement this before next year. Also,
- Yeah, it is a car before the horse. I'm not sure. It's a tricky situation, because what do you do first?
- Say, we shall do this, and then hope that the mayor's budget proposal has the funds needed to pay for
- the activation and the public infrastructure next year? Or do we wait and see when we will have money?
- Remember, we have SCA WAN to deal with.
- when we will have money to spend on the staff and infrastructure to activate the space and only then
- put this in Title 15, which is permanent. So I definitely would not support this being activated right
- away or being in effect right away. And I'm a little bit hesitant to vote for this without any kind
- of funding commitment to go with it as well.
- So that's where I am. Thank you, Councilman Borrello. Well, I had similar question about the effective
- date. I think we discussed that a little bit last time. The memo from Deputy Mayor Knapp had that as
- a concern or a request that the effective date be 2027.
- I wondered how the sponsors felt about that. Were you intending it for the remainder of the summer,
- or is this acceptable for a later date? Would you like to take that then, Councilmember Daley,
- or Councilmember Spicer? I mean, I know I would love to see it open. It was supposed to be open this year.
- flexible on Talking about not doing it this year I think I know councilmember Rosenberger really had
- had strong feelings wanting to get it open this year I'm more Agnostic on that myself councilmember
- Rosenberger. Did you want to weigh in on that? Yeah first I would say we did anticipate an amendment for
- for a different start date. And that's why the ordinance, I mean, I think unless they say it, they are
- effective immediately. But so we did anticipate setting a start date with all of you. So I think that
- would happen next week. With some of the downtown businesses, I talked about, I floated in August one
- start date to have the summer to sort of prepare, re-prepare, recalibrate.
- I think I took a look at the activations that the consultant did with ESD. And those can happen in a
- street as opposed to just on the sidewalk. So I think they're not wasted. They can still get used. When
- I met with some of the business owners, too, they talked about a hybrid option that was closing for
- major Bloomington dates.
- every home football game, all the festivals, of course, that happen. And at that time, this was a lot
- earlier. So we're talking about graduation and, like, Little Five. So a lot of closures. And there are
- so many home football games this upcoming year. I think we have an extra, obviously, national champion.
- So I think it's sold out every game already. If we were to do that, that would look like, I think, like 12.
- Weekends, it would be closed. So it's probably easier to look at the full closure. I know no one was
- asking this exact question, but just talking about other options that we have discussed with some people.
- So I like the idea of trying to get it done for this fall or late summer and fall. And it's just, yeah,
- debatable.
- Yes, thank you. Well, this is primarily executed by the Department of Public Works And so I'm just going
- to say this in the meeting that I will be following up with them to find out what projects would need
- to be Deprioritized if we did go through with this because obviously we have limited staff and limited
- time and if We're doing this something is going to be sacrificed. And so I'm curious What that might be?
- Any other comments or questions? Okay, in which case I'll go ahead I need to find it. I'm sorry In which
- case I'll say what I'll say and then I'll pass to you. I think very similarly to to counselor Piedmont
- Smith First let me say this that You know if we've really And maybe I'll be a little provocative which
- is I think we spend a lot of time
- Trying to be a city that we're not and not leaning into the city that we really are and we are a university
- town really great one and if you look I think to councilmember Flaherty's point at awesome university
- towns that across the country, I mean they have these type of Things that they've invested in that they've
- leveraged heavily for their
- plan all across economic development for their plan for tourism. And I think that as the sponsors have
- said very clearly, we're making all of these investments in other spaces around this. And if we do this
- right, this really could be a thing that we could leverage to continue to make Bloomington everything
- that it can be. And I share Council Member Piedmont-Smith's view. I've been sending Council
- Member Rosenberger and Daley pictures of fountains that I would really like to be able to bring my kids
- downtown for example I mean I don't know we also a lot of the times there's there's a lot of people
- who get left out of a lot of our conversations I'll tell you one group of people that we hardly ever
- talk about in our city which is like people with kids and This city sucks to have small kids in because
- there's nowhere to go with them
- And there's all these parks, and none of them have any fences. So there's no place for us to just go
- and be with our kids that isn't a full-time job. And I would love to be able to go downtown after we
- go out to eat and just stay downtown. I love the fact that if we had more Jacob students performing
- downtown, I would love the fact that we had more places for public art, and so on and so forth. I really
- think that this is a great opportunity to connect city
- with university, there's just so many reasons why I think we should do this, but we have to do it right.
- And so I think that the way that we did it in the past sort of resulted in it often being empty and
- it being under-leveraged and it being under-taken care of. And so my feeling is much like Council Member
- Piedmont-Smith's that I think that we set a really good target. We say we want this, this will be closed
- permanently
- in 2027 and then that way all of the things that are about to happen, these corridor studies, the engagement
- of consultants, the thinking about activation are all happening knowing that it's going to be closed
- rather than sort of trying to catch up to the fact that it's already closed.
- And then the other thing that I will say just to maybe balance out these comments is that, you know,
- we are the, you know, budgetary branch of our government. And if we as a body really want to prioritize
- that being done, then I mean,
- We could push for that to be in the budget. I think, though, the rub, again, is not only SEA 1, but
- what we're not talking about is where this fits in amongst all of our other priorities. And when we
- thought about our list of priorities for this year's budget, economic development has sort of emerged
- as one of them. And I just think that it'll be really good for us to have a very solid idea about where
- we're wanting to put
- You know our weight if that's something that we say. Hey, this is what we as a council really want I
- think that we should push for that but we're gonna have to do that in some type of unified a fashion
- because I think that a big failure state would be that you close the road and it basically just turns
- into a sort of under leveraged ghost town in the center of town, so Councilmember P wants it that I
- give you enough time to find your comment. I'll pass to you Thank you, and then we'll go to public comment So
- In the whereas clauses for this ordinance, it does talk about the public's desire for a Carlos Kirkwood.
- And I think that we should be careful about making statements like that because, I mean, has there been
- a referendum? Has there been a survey? Which public are we talking about? I think I can't, I don't think
- anybody here can say a majority of the public in Bloomington wants
- cars not to go on Kirkwood. I don't think anybody has the data to say that. So we just need to be careful
- when we say broad make broad statements of that sort. The other thing I wanted to mention is and council
- member Zulek might not like this but I represent district one and we have I said that about council
- member Zulek because she represents
- the Kirkwood corridor district. But I mean South Walnut Street is in my court in my district and it's
- much more bleak than Kirkwood. I mean it's nobody wants to walk there. Kirkwood is already pretty good.
- I mean yeah it can be better and I'm not. And I think that you know as I said at the outset I think
- this is a good idea. Let's work towards it. But there are other quarters in Bloomington
- that are awful for it. I mean, I wouldn't want to walk on South Walnut. I wouldn't want to bike on South
- Walnut. It's, it's, you know, five lanes of asphalt, no separation between the sidewalk and the street,
- very little shade. So if we're going to prioritize where to spend money, there might be other parts
- of the city that need that have a greater need for improvement.
- Thank you so much, Councilmember Zulek, and then we are going to go to public comment after this comment.
- I'll just second everything that Councilmember Piedmont-Smith said, and the feedback that I have gotten
- from staff at Public Works is very similar, in that we invest a lot of money in Kirkwood, and there
- are a lot of other streets that need some TLC, too.
- Councilmember Piedmont Smith, I would love to go into your district and invest in South Walnut Bravo,
- okay, and we'll go now to public comment same rules as always so I won't recite them please take it
- away and And people I will just say one comment. I know there's lots of city staff here We actually
- should have given you some time So don't feel like you need to use public comment if you'd like to say
- something you can also I'll be really quick. Go ahead
- So Jim, my name is Jim during I'm a business owner downtown Bloomington and and I am the current board
- president of downtown Bloomington. So, you guys brought up a whole lot of points. We, we were a poor
- opposed to this, this Kirk was Kirkard Carlos.
- So yeah, I don't know what else to say because you've just you've you brought it all to point to the
- point here So yeah, we are there are other things we can be doing we are working with city the city
- right now with a with a plan to Regenerate a four-year plan to to get Kirkwood back up and going again
- That's what we're working out with them right now as well. So yeah, just I'm not wasting your time but
- We're not in favor of that. So Yeah, that's all I got for you. Thank you so much next in chamber council
- chambers Hello again, my name is Zach Ammerman I'm here as vice chair of the Commission on sustainability
- and resilience we passed a resolution during our last meeting and
- About Kirkwood that I authored as a sponsor and I just wanted to read the recommendations to you You
- should already have a copy of it as well. I have physical copies if you'd like I can give it to you
- But basically we basically said our recommendations There's a whole bunch of whereas clauses before
- and they go in the background I don't need to rehash all that but the recommendations are the meat of
- it Number one at a minimum continue the seasonal closure of Kirkwood Avenue That's the bare minimum
- number two is I think what we're more passionate about and more excited about this possibility of permanently
- year-round closure to Kirkwood Avenue, like they have in, like the cities that Councilmember Flaherty
- mentioned, Charlottesville, Virginia, Boulder, Colorado, Burlington, Vermont, that have really successful
- streets like this, that are the center of their civic life, that they spent a lot of time and effort
- and commitment on, and it takes a vision and commitment to get there. And so we need to make that commitment
- a vision. So that's number two. Number three is to study those cities.
- to see what they've done and quit trying to reinvent the wheel, just copy and paste. They have already
- solved a lot of the questions that people are bringing up. Just copy and paste. Quit trying to redo
- things our own special way. They've already answered the questions. Look at what they've done and just
- repeat them. Prioritize investment in permanent streetscape improvements. Like some of you mentioned,
- I know that's gonna cost money, but I think it's worth it. This is the center of our civic life. It's
- worth the money. Next, move administration of the Kirkwood pedestrianization.
- pedestrian program from the Department of Economic and Sustainable Development to the Department of
- Planning and Transportation, which is better equipped to handle questions of public space and sustainable
- transportation. And that follows directly into the next one, which is reframe the program from one of
- outdoor dining and economic development exclusively, which I think was a mistake to frame it that way
- from the beginning, instead to one of public space and sustainable transportation, which is what it
- is about. It's not about economic development, although that's important. That's not what it's about.
- It's about sustainable transportation and public space.
- The next one is already in this resolution, but it's repealing the ability of the city administration
- to unilaterally end the program. The council should have to have a say. And finally, cease framing the
- Kirkwood program in terms of parking revenue versus dining permit revenue, which was one of the city
- examples. And that was, I calculated, we're talking 0.0004% of the city's 2025 budget that they were
- talking about. There was a difference between the parking revenue lost versus the dining permit revenue
- gained. We're talking pennies, it's nothing, it's silly.
- And finally ending with a statement of values, which I'm just gonna read verbatim and I'll end The Commission
- affirms that sustainable cities prioritize people over cars Especially in their most central public
- spaces and that Bloomington's identity as a walkable bikeable community should be reflected in the design
- If it was the most prominent and iconic pedestrian quarter. Thank you Thank you so much. I'm next in
- chambers and then we'll go online
- My name is Hillary Martel my husband and I own Hartzell's ice cream that's located at 107 North Dunn
- and we are here in opposition of having Kirkwood closed to vehicle traffic I Understand the vision and
- I've been to those cities that do have that but what we saw last year was nothing compared to what those
- cities have putting up ballards and putting picnic tables in Kirkwood and eating up a
- Incredible amount of parking spaces isn't going to create what those cities have that create that success
- When the students like when students are in session It's so frustrating the lack of parking downtown
- to begin with between employees of restaurants and business downtown and then I use students that are
- coming to Park to attend class on campus
- at 9 a.m. You can go downtown and you can't find a metered parking space because and none of the businesses
- are even open yet and When you take away all that parking on Kirkwood your customers people that are
- going to breakfast people are they're going to build jelly They're going to so much they can't even
- find parking spaces to run in and give you know grab and go coffee or meet a friend for breakfast because
- all that parking is occupied by people that are
- Either are attending classes at campus or their employees that are working in those restaurants and
- that is extremely frustrating at all hours of the day when IU is in session
- To go to my business in the middle of the day is the biggest nuisance and to drive around and see no
- one in Kirkwood Sitting and I think it honestly really only benefits a handful of restaurants the way
- it operates now I see the vision and I think that could bring a lot of people downtown But last summer
- I saw picnic tables that were unoccupied I saw teenagers on electric bikes popping wheelies and I don't
- know who that benefits I mean it's just as a small business owner the lack of parking and
- It's really really frustrating and that's my biggest issue with it I think it has a lot of potential
- but the way it's structured now I mean you need shade you need seating, you know What makes bolder bolder
- is that there are those people selling flowers in the street their street performers There's artists
- there's musicians like that's what you have to have to make this a success And if you don't have that
- it's nothing except taking up parking spaces for people to shop at their local businesses and I don't
- understand
- Why you know, I feel like it's a cart before the horse if there's not funding in place to do those things
- What's the point of closing the street like in summer? It's it's struggle downtown. I mean just driving
- here. There's no one downtown right now really I mean, it's it's if you have those parking spaces taken
- We really depend on people that are coming into Bloomington for campus tours for orientation for sports camps
- They don't know downtown. There's a bunch of one-way streets It's confusing as it is and then you're
- gonna block off the main thorough way to get from one into town to the other They want to be able to
- find a parking space quickly to get an ice cream or get a coffee or get a sandwich or whatever And I
- think that the way it's structured now, it really only benefits a very small Handful of people it's
- it has potential but you have to have that funding. Thank you so much Is there anybody online? All right,
- there's two people online You're next
- And then we'll come back to chambers. Chris, Chris Sturbom here. Go ahead. We can hear you.
- Can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we can. Okay. Boulder, Colorado, Pearl street. They just had this very same
- discussion about extending West Pearl two more blocks. The businesses all opposed.
- closing off the next two blocks of Pearl Street. And the original designers, the geniuses who started
- this in 1977, also opposed closing another two blocks of Pearl. They got lucky. Pearl Street worked.
- But since 1977, 400 municipalities have done this. There are only a dozen left.
- Muncie failed twice, closing their downtown. They almost killed it. Evansville failed. These are historic
- facts. There was a desire when businesses were going to the suburbs to try and make the downtown more
- active. And they tried all kinds of things. And a handful of them have succeeded. They need a certain
- level of parking. They need a certain level of density.
- The idea of the Paris street, those are eight-story apartments. Nobody drives. They walk down and they
- go to their coffee. But everyone drives into town. And in the summer, one, we don't have sports with
- IU, so people aren't coming then. In the summer, we don't have students, so it's almost a ghost town.
- And the woman who spoke before described exactly what I see when I go down Saturday with my grandson.
- bare tables in the sun. It's not a pleasant sight. So we have this myth that the cool towns are doing
- it. The truth is this has failed and failed again and failed again. And the people who actually designed
- West Pearl spoke against closing off more streets because it was harming the businesses who were almost
- unanimously against this. And I'm afraid you're seeing that here too. They know.
- the value of a parking spot that turns over and turns over and turns over. And new urbanists have actually
- calculated the value of those parking spots. And it's kind of phenomenal. Without those, the place dies.
- And people come to town from out of town, and they get here not on bicycles. They get here in cars.
- They want to come downtown. And it's true that one-way streets make it even harder to find how do you
- park close enough to walk
- onto Kirkwood and enjoy that myth. So it's a pleasant dream, but I'm afraid it's a myth for this community.
- We don't have the density, and let's do it right. Let's leave it open. Thank you so much. Next person
- online, and then we'll come to Mr. MG. Am I up already? Hello? OK.
- I thought I was third. Paul Russo. The way I see it is the primary reason to restrict Kirkwood to pedestrians
- and bicycles for even part of the summer is momentum. There's momentum, currently momentum for seasonal
- car-free Kirkwood. I don't think the street needs to get back to anything, especially not the 20th century.
- Kirkwood needs to fully embrace the 21st century
- of urban design that gets people back on their feet. I don't understand why the ordinance would require
- any significant funding above what was spent last summer, but I did join the meeting a little bit late.
- I don't understand why the ordinance would interfere with street events because it seems to me that
- maintaining the momentum for a car-free Kirkwood would enable street events. I'm also baffled by all
- the talk about the importance of parking, especially for students.
- This is a section of street that is right next to the iconic entrance to campus. There are probably
- tens of thousands of IU students within a mile of the street, living within a mile of the street. And
- walking a mile when you're 19 is nothing. And one final comment is that I once worked for an ice cream
- store several years ago, for several years actually.
- So I'm very familiar with that product and serving it and how it's used and all the ins and outs. And
- I saw over and over in my years, people prefer to walk with their ice cream cones, not sit in a car
- with them. So I'm a little bit baffled by some of the earlier comments. I encourage you to have vision
- and I encourage you to keep the momentum because it's right now going in the right direction. Thank you.
- Thank you so much. Now I understand there's one more commenter online. No, that's it. Okay. Well, then
- we'll come back to council change. Yes. Good evening, Mr. President. This is Krister mg representing
- the greater Bloomington chamber of commerce on a personal note. I have never worked in an ice cream
- shop, but the chamber does support downtown. We've been really active with the planners, the cleanup,
- And the amazing job they've done with the sidewalks. I mean, it's important for the day-to-day operations
- for that street to look. It's a vital part of our community. But a seasonal closure that's April 1 and
- November 15th is not a short pilot nor a special event. It's a seven and a half month operating model.
- And the change is the burden proved quite a bit. Before the council codifies this permanently, the city
- should look what the cost benefit analysis is, how it's funded, evaluated, managed.
- Street closure is not the same as public space. Courier closing does not automatically create a successful
- pedestrian district. We've heard this a lot today. A successful public space needs two things, daily
- management and clear accountability. This means someone has to own the experience, not just put up barricades
- and make the space work, but make the space work for everyone. Without that structure, this risk is
- becoming what it has last summer, which is under management street closure rather than a downtown asset.
- It became a pedestrian asphalt desert, as we've heard very well from
- tool business owners and This is just adding another public space space when existing assets and need
- attention. I think Councilmember Piedmont Smith brought that up Bloomington already has a large public
- space system a lot of great parks. Many of those need serious Investment Brian Park pool requires major
- innovations Frank Southern ice arena might be on its last winner Winslow Sports Park needs basic upgrades and
- These are not side issue, but core quality of life for a lot of people. Before creating long-term space
- to maintain, the city should ask whether it's fully caring for its public assets its own. And if you've
- toured the restrooms at Winslow Sports Park, you would know it is not. It's been mentioned as well by
- Councilmember Piedmont-Smith. Corkwood's kind of working. It's one of Bloomington's most recognizable
- and successful streets, and it's improved over the last few years. That doesn't mean we should ignore it,
- but it does mean that we need to look at where our resources are best met. Other corridors, North College
- and Walnut, near the stadium district, have greater redevelopment potential and stronger case for public
- attention. The city shouldn't prioritize investments where public action can unlock private investment
- and long-term economic growth. And we support practical downtown measures like downtown Bloomington
- Inks propose a free parking after four o'clock during July.
- This kind of targeted support is more useful to downtown businesses than codifying a long-term closure
- before an operating plan is in place. The chamber is not asking the city to abandon correctly, no, but
- we ask the city to sequence this correctly. Bring forward a measure of funding, a plan, identify how
- this is going to work. Until then, we should not codify this. Thank you for your time. Thank you so
- much. Is there anybody else in chambers who would like to make comment? Anyone else online?
- Would Heart Souls like to do a rebuttal on, oh no, I'm joking. Okay, so I'm joking. Nobody else online
- will come back to council. I saw Council Member Rallo had his hand up. Thank you. So I just had a question
- I should have asked before, President. Sorry, I wanted to circle back on this because you had said that
- We were not holding a vote on this tonight. I'm not certainly in favor of holding a vote on this tonight,
- but I think the reasons that you stated were that it was required to have a deliberation by the Traffic
- Commission. Is that the case? I think it's not required. I think the Traffic Commission is an advisory body.
- Sorry, I misspoke, it was the Transportation Commission, but Council Attorney Allen, could you speak
- to this a little bit? I'm sorry, can you restate the question just for me? I think his question was
- clarification on why we can't vote on it tonight. I see. Yes, so I was referring to the Transportation
- Commission in code 2.02.100 under purpose.
- States that the commission shall provide recommendations and guidance to the mayor and common council
- In the pursuit of developing and implementing citywide policy, etc It's not a requirement Yeah, so under
- under bloomington municipal code 2.0 to 100 subsection d2 It does provide that the commission shall
- essentially review all
- Transportation projects proposed changes to title 15 vehicles and traffic relevant proposed changes
- to title 12 Etc, etc to make sure that those are consistent with the comprehensive plan and other city
- adopted plans to make sure they're consistent with best practices That they're consistent with advancing
- sustainable transportation system and equitable access to all transportation facility users
- while prioritizing non automotive modes
- and has adequately conducted public engagement and considered community-centric design tied to targeted outcomes.
- My specific advice here was that originally this was not actually on the agenda is my understanding
- of the Transportation Commission for their previous meeting. It was raised to them through public comment
- by the council members the sponsoring council members. However I did suggest because you all have passed
- that portion subsection D2 of the municipal code it would be wise to have them formally review it in
- accordance with how the municipal code is going since it is a proposed change to Title 15.
- Um, I- I- I don't have a trouble in, uh, in receiving the recommendation for proceeding, but I- I'm
- not sure I follow that this is a requirement. That the council is required to re- to receive
- a recommendation. Am I wrong? I mean, I guess it depends what you mean by requirement. I think the-
- the danger that you run, of course,
- The council can choose to ignore my advice and go forward as they wish The danger you run is that that
- review would essentially be meaningless, right? Because you essentially would pass a rule already and
- then the review happens after the fact which doesn't allow for For instance if the transportation Commission
- did recommend further public engagement then it wouldn't allow for further public engagement because
- the rules already adopted and we've moved on and
- That's why I was just trying to give effect to all of the language and into the council's prior language
- now Let me let me just clarify really quickly. I don't mean to be overly verbose But if the council
- wanted to make an amendment to this legislation to say suspend the requirement Under Bloomington Municipal
- Code, then you could also do that Thank you so much. I'm a councilman Flaherty. Can I just
- So, okay, yeah, go ahead, Councilor Morello, and then we'll go to Councilor Flaherty. Yeah,
- just to say, I think, you know, I don't have the Environmental Commission purpose to enabling language
- in front of me, but I think that it also states that it is it develops recommendations for the Planning
- Commission. Would it be true that the Planning Commission should always wait on a matter before,
- you know, to to allow the Environmental Commission to come to a
- a conclusion about, you know. Yeah. And I'm happy to review that particular part of code council member
- and give you advice on that as well. I think in this, in this case, for certain this code, anytime there's
- going to be a proposed change to title 12, title 15 or transportation project, it should be reviewed
- by the transportation commission. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Council member
- Flaherty. Yeah. Just a question for the sponsors and what
- I got fuzzy on the details here. I was on a work trip and had to miss the transportation commission
- meeting. I'm a representative on that commission. I had to miss the meeting where this was brought up,
- but my recollection is, I guess, did the sponsors request that it be added to the agenda at some point?
- And could you tell me more about that, please? Yes. So we wanted to get it,
- to transportation commission for the previous meeting that was when you were gone, but materials needed
- to be received two weeks before that meeting to be on the agenda. So the chair decided to add it as
- a discussion item at last month's meeting. And then from their schedule, if need be a special session to,
- to hear it on the agenda and make a recommendation before our last meeting, before recess. Got it. And
- the two week timeline, was that a staff request? Is it in the commission's bylaws? Do you know, I could
- look it up, look into it, but. I think it's in the bylaws. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Thank you.
- I'll go to council member Zulek and then council member Rosemar. Do you have a further point beyond that?
- I did just want to clarify what happened at the Transportation Commission right and just explain why
- it wasn't on wasn't an agenda item last time. Okay tremendous. Thank you so much. I Just think this
- part of the conversation is a little bit redundant based on the feedback that we've heard from other
- council members I don't think that anyone plans on Casting a vote tonight on the way that the current
- ordinance is written
- I'm happy to take feedback from sponsors, but that's what I'm getting. So I do suggest at this time
- that we figure out what questions need to be answered by June 10th, get our response from the mayor's
- administration if they would like to give their piece and move this to next meeting. I think that sounds
- great. I think council member Raul was making a point about plan commission and not trying to vote on
- it tonight,
- I don't think that was happening. I did want to also just reiterate or clarify that the Transportation
- Commission, they have created a special session and that is June 8th at 7 p.m. if anyone would like
- to come watch and or participate. Thank you very much. Are there any motions? Deputy Mayor Knapp would
- like to make some comments. So unless there's any opposed, all right.
- Deputy mayor Matt Knapp First of all, I'm I want to be sure everybody understands that the administration
- including the mayor's office Really wants to have a vibrant exciting Kirkwood and we are all very much
- looking forward to the corridor study next year Which I think is going to provide a really exciting
- beautiful vision and I think there are a lot of ways to make Kirkwood be a
- Exciting and accessible to everyone pedestrians bicyclists people with limited mobility people who need
- to park That run between the gamut of fully closed to fully open that I think there are a lot
- of possibilities there and it will Most likely require a significant infrastructure investment to make
- the street look and feel different in places I guess one of the things that I wanted to ask this group
- to think about is there been a lot of
- Comparisons made to the really beautiful pedestrian malls and some other cities and often what I hear
- is well, that's a college city, too So why can't we be like them? So what I ask you to do is when you
- talk about? Boulder Charlottesville Burlington, whatever the place is I'd ask you to Google.
- What is the MSA? what are what is the average income and house price and What is the city budget and
- how many police officers do they have because I can tell you?
- All of those cities are considerably larger MSAs than ours, two times. Charlottesville is a suburb of
- DC, essentially. It is incredibly wealthy. They have a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's, and as all of
- us who've lived here a long time know, Bloomington has never succeeded in attracting those. We have
- never succeeded in attracting high-end retail, which is what is all along Pearl Street. That's what's
- along Burlington. Boulder's budget is three times the size bars.
- Charlotte has a hundred million dollars more a year to spend they all have many more officers per capita
- than Bloomington does we're authorized for 1.2. I think Boulder is around two officers per thousand
- people Charlottesville even though it's a smaller city has the same amount of police officers that we
- do Burlington authorized for the same amount that we have even though it's half the size look at the
- proportion of
- When you look at the population of the city, what proportion is students versus residents? We have a
- much larger proportion of students. So I'm not saying that these dreams are impossible at all, but I'm
- saying our situation is not the same. And the vision we need to develop needs to take all of that into
- account. We can't copy and paste because we are not the same community. What worked there won't work
- here. And just as a final note, it's important to do it right because historically,
- 89% of pedestrian malls fail There's a study on that you can google it. It's not a secret So it can
- work but it has to be very carefully done and we don't have a careful plan and the corridor study is
- the right Opportunity to create that vision not legislation right now. Thanks Thank you so much. I'm
- the director seaborne
- Good evening, Andrew Seaborg. Just wanted to share a few things for reference and future consideration
- of this group and anybody watching. I mostly came to help answer questions, didn't hear any questions,
- appreciate some of the questions to clarify what the ordinance is, because as I was writing a report
- for the Transportation Commission, I thought it only included two and a half blocks. I verified that
- it is five blocks, so just appreciate that and the lack
- on what was intended here. Appreciate the intent of this body to wait for the Transportation Commission
- to advise and provide their recommendation. I hope that this body listens to that body. I don't know
- how they will act. I don't know what they will say. I think they may already have an impression of how
- some of you may feel about it, but hope that they just, everybody comes to this with an open and curious mind.
- As I'm preparing for the Transportation Commission meeting next Monday at 7 p.m There's there's a couple
- of framings of the topic. I just wanted to share so there's there's one question We're all looking at
- it. It's a single ordinance, but there's really two questions within it The way I'm seeing it. The first
- question is should Kirkwood be closed for some period of time to motor vehicle traffic and
- We've got opinions. Yes or no, the Commission has very strict criteria that they should be evaluating
- these kinds of things on And just the reports being drafted But there are some of those criteria I think
- are not met Is likely what the staff report will share? We'll see how that if the Commission agrees
- or not But that that's one of the fundamental questions. The other fundamental question is if it is
- to be closed is
- Is this the right way to do it? Is this the right ordinance? Is it a traffic ordinance or is it a use
- of a street that belongs in title 12? Like other uses of streets and I think that is would be my suggestion
- is if it is to be closed Is there is this the right ordinance or is there a more appropriate way to
- write an ordinance to do that?
- So those are the main questions in my mind looking forward to the Transportation Commission's discussion
- and Hopeful recommendation to help aid in your discussion. So just wanted to share that. Thank you so
- much Are there any further comments motions? councilmember rough I Appreciate hearing from everybody
- tonight staff the members of public council, there's a lot to think about here, but I also share
- view that comparisons with I Generally don't like comparisons with other communities for bulletin in
- any circumstance But this one Particular particularly As has been pointed out, they're not the same
- as these other communities in terms of where we are and what we are now, but furthermore those small
- those pedestrian I went to school and
- University of Colorado in Boulder. I Went to school in Ithaca, New York Which actually I'll tell I mentioned
- in the deputy mayor is actually a smaller community that Bloomington and they have a Pedestrian mall,
- but those were created in the mid 70s in the mid 1970s Things were very different students didn't have
- cars anywhere near at the rate they do now Not even close I
- In the mid-1970s when those were created, I was at school in those places in the 80s, but in the mid-1970s,
- my family would come downtown Bloomington, the square in Kirkwood, to basically do all of our shopping.
- Our hardware stores were down here, the drugs, everything we needed was here. And that was the time
- when they were establishing these pedestrian closed streets in these other towns.
- I just don't think we can really compare we need to listen to We need to pay attention what the experience
- and what the reality is now we need to listen to our current mix of merchants and businesses downtown
- For for for their input And The other thing I'll say real quick is I'm a little bit concerned about
- the tenth and
- We just forwarded the utilities loan issued at the 10th. We're moving this to the 10th. We have the
- AI resolution that Councilmember Rollins bring forward on the 10th It started to look like a Problematic
- meeting potentially to me. Anyway, thank you Thank you so much councilmember Zulek, I move that ordinance
- 20 26-12 be postponed to the next regular scheduled council meeting on June 10th and
- There's a motion a second a discussion But councilmember Stossberg I have a comment before that motion
- about the general ordinance I think that one thing that we kind of danced around a little bit tonight
- But didn't specify was the fiscal impact and there is a fiscal impact statement Attached to this which
- basically is there's no fiscal impact But I think to do it right there is a fiscal impact and so I guess
- I just want that to be Thought about a little bit next week and at the Transportation Commission meeting things
- Councilmember Rosenbacher Sorry, yes, I sometimes the mic goes away So this is it I just there are some
- things I would just kind of like to respond to you as a co-sponsor before we postpone it. Okay?
- Parliamentarian I'm okay with it, but I think we
- there's a motion and we should discuss the motion yeah but but are you so that's my discussion of the
- motion okay well that's do I yes go for it go for it
- So there's an ordinance for the outdoor dining program that is separate than this. So the outdoor dining
- program can cost money. And doing Kirkwood like a pedestrian mall can also cost money. But this is a
- Title 15 change that says vehicle travel is not allowed on Kirkwood. So the fiscal impact of that is
- zero. I mean, it's putting up bollards. So that is what this ordinance would do.
- I did a quick Google. Ithaca, New York has a smaller MSA. It has a smaller budget. It has a very successful
- pedestrian mall. So it is doable in communities that have the same metrics as ours. It does happen.
- I was going to respond more to the administration's memo, but I can just do it next time. I
- had a conversation today with
- Council Attorney Allen about whether or not this should be in title 12 or title 15. It should be in
- title 15 because this is about streets. We are the legislative body. We have the authority to do that.
- Doesn't need to go before Board of Public Works. Another point in there was that would council have
- to approve every street closure for construction projects or anything like that?
- Uh, the administration called it a street closure multiple times. We are not closing a street. We are
- restricting. We are attempting to restrict vehicle traffic. So, um, the board of public works would
- still be responsible for, uh, closing streets to everyone, restricting a hundred percent of access except
- for the person
- or the people or the company working on something like a construction project where they're putting
- up fences and they're blocking access. So I just want to say, if you have read the memo or if you haven't,
- those things are different. I guess that's most of my notes for right now. Thank you so much. Any other comments?
- Okay, there's a motion on table. Will the did I miss? Did I miss hands online or was that just motion?
- Okay. Good. Will the clerk please call the roll? Councilmember Zula. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Daily. Yes. Rallo.
- Yes. No. Rosenberger. Yes. Clarity.
- Yes, Stasberg. Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. That motion carries. We'll now move on
- to the last period of public comment for things that were not on the agenda. Would anybody like to make
- a public comment? Seeing none. Is there anyone online? Fantastic.
- There's almost still sunshine in terms of notes on council schedule. I'm just just a quick one with
- clerk and Just for everybody's awareness and there's a couple of things sort of
- We do need to probably schedule a hiring committee before we break next week. So I'll send around a
- survey for that tonight. And then there's as you all saw, some of you still haven't responded about
- possible availability for a joint session with county council.
- There's some other dynamics there. But but if you have not yet responded with your availability, if
- you could just let me know, that would be fantastic. All right. Any other things for council schedule?
- I'm councilor Sasberg.
- I'll go ahead and announce even though it's kind of a week early that the next fiscal committee meeting
- is the 12th of June which is not two days from now but the Friday after that and one of the reasons
- why I'm announcing it now is the last fiscal committee meeting before summer recess and we are going to have
- Adam Weiss and sanitation presentation about sanitation rates and so that might be of interest to the
- public Also may be of interest to other council members and so that's something that you can check out
- the packet He's gonna just kind of be be floating some possibilities that they've considered if you
- recall we had to transfer about one and a half million of general fund money to make sanitation solvent
- this year Thanks anyone else comments for schedule?
- Going once, going twice, we sit adjourned. Thank you very much.