Welcome to our October town hall in district five. Council member Daley is on her way and is excited
to join this town hall. I'll sort of walk through the map of how we do these town halls. And the first
thing you need to know is that this is participatory and I'm sorry for the setup being way up on the stage.
We try to have these be very conversational, especially when we have an intimate group like this. So
I will be inviting you to offer questions, comments, et cetera. I usually start with a big picture of
what's going on in the city and what we're doing lately.
That is not meant to guide or put parameters on what we're talking about tonight. That's just what's
top of mind for me. And Councilmember Daley will do the same thing. So you'll hear from her and then
we'll take questions and you're welcome to ask about things that we have talked about, more detail that you want.
or just things you're curious about or things you don't like that we're doing or things that you love
that we're doing. We love hearing that too. Shockingly, it's always good to know if we're on the right
track every once in a while. So welcome. I want to first note that you all have
crossed a major banner moment in civic engagement just by showing up to a town hall. It's more than
many people do and whether you're here to be informed or to participate and help us do government better,
thank you for being here. The next great thing you can do to participate in your community is to vote.
Voting starts tomorrow. Early voting is at our
at our vote center, which is not the name of it. It's called Election Central, actually. We would love
to have a vote center here, but we don't have one. Election Central is at the north end of the Showers
building. So you walk all the way. If you're parking on the street, you're going to walk north of where
City Hall is, but it looks like and is the same building, just a different entrance. And you go into
the very northern entrance there.
That starts tomorrow and will be available mostly every Monday through Saturday until actual election
day, with some exception for holidays. Let me offer some good news first. One thing that I am incredibly
proud of, because our team has been working really hard on it, is that we were just named a best place
to work in Bloomington.
I'm really proud of that we have. When I, when I started I knew we could not be a great city government
if we were not a great place to work. And so achieving that milestone.
was a really big deal and it took a lot of us pulling in the same direction. So my gratitude to council
for approving the salary ordinance changes that we had proposed and some other HR policies and also
to our whole team for really pulling to be a great place to work. It's a significant milestone for us. We are,
Parks and Recreation is planning its investment priorities right now. And I want to make you aware of
that because the comments, we're taking comments on that through October 18th. And this is all based
on the master planning that we did just last year. The master plan tells us where we would like to go.
The investment plan tells us what we're actually going to spend money on.
And so it's really important. We, of course, have award-winning parks. We also are facing major budget
cuts with SEA 1. There is, thanks to the Lilly Endowment, a significant parks grant coming out, $400
million available throughout the state. So we'll be applying for some of that funding with this and
then also prioritizing the
the other capital investments that we'd like to do. Another piece of good news, we submitted and were
approved for three different opportunity zones here in Bloomington. Those are going to happen in Trades
District West, the Hopewell area, and Seminary Park. You may say,
What is an opportunity zone and why should I care? This is a way that investors can essentially get
more bang for their buck in an opportunity zone. So we don't put any money into the opportunity zone
as the city, but we also don't lose any tax revenue. So the incentives that are received by the investors
are solely based on
forgiveness of capital gains tax. So anyone at all could invest in an opportunity zone. And if you have
capital, I would encourage you to do that. To receive capital gains benefits, you have to be in a qualified
opportunity fund. And those funds can be local or national. So you could get together with other investors.
Jane Coopersmith, our Director of Economic and Sustainable Development was supposed to be here tonight
and she couldn't make it, but she has much more information about those opportunity zones and she would
be a great person to get in touch with. The important thing to know is these are areas that are right
now in low census tracts, so low-income census tracts, and we're targeting investment in those zones to really
help bring those neighborhoods into some vitality. Also, another great piece of news is that our utility
just received a $2.3 million EPA grant that is aimed at the very things, alleviating the very things
that cause things like the boil water
order that we just had a week and a half ago. So I want you to remember if you haven't already signed
up for CBU contacts and alerts, that is the way that you will get these alerts straight to your phone.
If you don't have a CBU bill coming straight to your name or to your address, you can still get our
alerts. So if you rent and the water meter is in somebody else's name,
you can still get our alerts. You also want to sign up for the Monroe County alert system,
which is separate, and we can connect you with both of those things. The last piece of good news that
I'm going to share, although there's many other good pieces of news, is that to date we have filled
over 9,500 potholes this season. So the asphalt plant is probably going to close before too long. That
is more potholes than we have filled in a very long time, and we are really excited with that progress.
We know potholes seem like a small deal, but they're actually a really big deal. When they don't get
fixed, everybody is mad. So we're working hard to be a city where you don't even notice your streets.
You just drive on them happily. Budget. If you're tracking city council, you may know that we are in
the middle of our budget hearings.
We will be back on Wednesday night for what could be the final budget hearing, may not be. The council
and the administration are working hard to make some difficult decisions. The council has suggested
many cuts to the budget and we are
listening and we are working on some practical solutions to get to a place where we have a budget that
actually works for the city and where all of the needs are getting met and all of the priorities that
we can address get addressed well. So welcome Council Member Daley. You don't have to run. I'm still
just blabbering on. Your turn is next. Relax, it's okay.
You didn't have to listen to all the stuff you already know about. So that's right, that's right. Ladies
and gentlemen, council member Daley has arrived and she'll update. I already told them that you had
important things to do and you were on your way. So we have, in that budget, we have some proposed funding
for studies of immediate planning priorities.
And some of those are on the docket for possibly being cut from the council budget. The important thing
to know about these studies is that, and I am one to say, I don't want any studies that sit on a shelf.
I only wanna study if we're gonna do something. These studies are necessary in order for us to even
plan, even to apply for federal funding. And so the process, and I know it seems a little
antiquated to say the least, is that we have to make a plan to figure out how much something is going
to cost and how we might fund it. And then we can apply for the federal dollars. And when those federal
dollars come available, you have to already have the plan in your hand. And so those plans include the
Kirkwood corridor, which was a hot topic at council this year,
Without a plan and without a good implementation process, we need to be sure that everybody can get
where they're going when they need to get there and closing a street like Kirkwood without a plan to
really make sure businesses can thrive and emergency services can get through and everybody else who
wants to get there can.
does not make a lot of practical sense. So we do need that Kirkwood area plan and the downtown plan
in order to get that through. We also have a couple of safe routes to school on the agenda for those
plans this year. So important stuff. I'm going to just sort of zip through some other things just in
the interest of time. We have some state and federal grants that
are going to routinely require those studies, and we simply cannot apply for them, nor can we be competitive
without those plans being done. I want to talk for a minute about a new initiative that you may or may
not have heard about called Streets to Stability, and this is part of our work with Heading Home on
addressing unsheltered homelessness.
we are working zone by zone in the downtown with caseworkers to identify a by name list of people who
are sleeping outside routinely in those zones. As they're identified, caseworkers begin to work with
them and identify housing that will meet their needs. Then the target is within a month's time, we house
those people.
To date, I don't actually know if heading home is publicizing numbers yet, so I'm not gonna share those
numbers here because it's very public, but there has been a significant success very quickly, and one
of those zones is now closed to sleeping. There are a couple of people from that zone that were very
complex cases, so they have multiple needs to be addressed.
Those two are still not housed, but everybody else is housed. And those two are actively working with
caseworkers. We are working through the rest of downtown and will complete the main downtown Kirkwood
area by the end of the year. And so we were really excited about that. Heading home has been great with
the structure and
and the case workers and then the city is doing a lot of cleanup. We are doing backup outreach and then
we have a lot of folks letting people know that the area is now closed for sleeping but there are other
places to go and then connecting them to resources. So really proud of that work and really hoping that
we are gonna make a significant impact in
unsheltered homelessness this year. Let's see, we are also related, you may not be seeing a direct impact
of the streets to stability work yet because the city is really absorbing the influx of the closure
of the power line encampments. There were a significant number of people who were living there.
And when the county closed that, there was not a timetable of significant outreach and case management
that went into the power lines. And so it was a disruption of a large number of people, many of them
very complex cases. We are grateful to the county for closing the encampment. Thank you, President Crossley.
And because it had become very unsafe and unsafe for people living there and unsafe for people living
around the area. And we have seen the disruption that's caused when you unhoused or
when you disrupt an encampment that is so large all at once without the outreach and case management
needed. So we are still working with those folks. They are moving around, mostly moving around the city
right now. So we're trying in partnership with Heading Home and others to get them the resources that
they need. And speaking of resources,
We have completed a permitting audit. If we want to have great housing, we need to be really cognizant
of how much it costs to get to the point that you could pull a permit. And right now it costs too much
partially because we have a lot of red tape and a lot of uncertainty in our zoning process. So we did
a permitting audit and we are
our team is already really removing a lot of obstacles to getting those permits. So we're doing the
administrative work. Council, in the meantime, are passing UDO changes in partnership with the Plan
Commission. And so together, this is an effort to make our planning very transparent, very clear, and
hopefully much more predictable.
So nobody's planning a development or even a house before they know whether or not it can pass our code.
So I'm really proud of that work and I hope it's going to make housing a little more attainable and
housing production more predictable in town. A quick update on Hopewell, the 724,
714, I always get the numbers mixed up. 714 South Rogers, our old convalescent center, if you're old
like me and have been here a while. The old brutalist building, we have our eyes on that for our new
police headquarters. And we're moving forward with the due diligence on that. I'll be at
the McDowell Gardens neighborhood meeting tomorrow to talk to them about those plans and other plans
in Hopewell. But the plan is to renovate part of that building and likely to build on an addition to
that building to relocate dispatch there. We don't have any category three buildings in Bloomington
right now. And that is a building that is, sorry,
the city of Bloomington doesn't own any. And that is a building that is rated for a significant seismic
event, a significant tornado, et cetera. And it really is best practice to have dispatch and emergency
operations center in a category three building. And so we, because we don't have anything with
the appropriate foundation structure yet, we'll be building an addition onto 714.
to house that part of our operations so that no matter the natural disaster, we still can have emergency
operations up and running. We have also gotten into the final stages of the Hopewell Neighborhood Plan.
This is just the first phase, Hopewell South,
That will have 98 homes they are compact lots, very modest sized houses all the way up to 2800 square
foot house. And we also have some multifamily homes going in there, all targeted at owner occupancy
so condo model, etc.
And then we have the core building, which is being operated by Bloomington Housing Authority. And so
that is soon to open. And so we're really proud of that work, proud of the partnership with city council
to get that finalized, almost finalized and moving forward. And I am going to stop talking and let council
member Daley give any updates or things she's thinking about before we take questions.
Here we go, I got it. Oh, hey, thanks. Thank you very much. I didn't prepare anything. I didn't think
ahead about what I was going to talk about, but thank you for that comprehensive update. It's always
good to hear about that. It's exciting that we finally have Hopewell moving forward. Right now, super
focused on just trying to get through budget season. Tomorrow night is gonna, no, not tomorrow night.
Wednesday night, it's gonna be a long night going over the budget. There are a lot of amendments that
have been brought forward, so we're gonna be
Spending a lot of time talking about those. I want to be really mindful as we're going through each
of them. I don't want to cut just for the sake of cutting, but I also want to make sure that we are
doing our best to try to be as fiscally responsible and reasonable as possible. We had a work session
last Wednesday night to go over a lot of those amendments that were brought forward, and it was incredibly
helpful for me to hear
why my colleagues were thinking the way that they were and to hear the arguments back and forth. How
I work really well is having those conversations and those debates live and in person together. So I
loved that work session. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out Wednesday night. So hopefully we
can put the budget to bed soon and move ahead after that. I'm working on a piece of legislation right
now. I guess I can share.
All of you, I've been getting a lot of outreach about those motorized bikes that are almost like motorcycles.
They're not actually motorcycles, but they're not just your standard low-speed e-bike. Many of you have
maybe noticed it, maybe you've even reached out to me to complain about them on the paths, the trails,
the walking paths, just going really, really fast. So I'm working on a piece of legislation right now
that will hopefully help
maybe calm some of that and address that. We're being really, really mindful about how we're wording
it and putting it together so that we can try to get it passed. We're looking at a lot of other, because
this is a new issue too, right? These are new devices and we're trying to even just figure out how to
define them and then how we can actually regulate them in a way that will be effective. Not as easy
as you might think.
We've involved legal, we're involving engineering, we're involving many, many different teams looking
at that. We were hoping to have it on the docket or on the calendar for this fall. It doesn't look like
we're gonna have that opportunity because we do need to take it to the Transportation Commission first.
That will hopefully happen this month. We're thinking maybe early next year we'll be able to get it
on the calendar. So if you have any feedback on that or thoughts,
You know, if you have had experiences too that you wanna share about that, please by all means, feel
free to reach out, let me know. But after that, otherwise what I'm just really gonna be focused on for
the next little while is really just supporting the boards and commissions. You know, we do have liaisons,
you know, the city council liaisons to certain boards and commissions.
So my intent in the new year is to really focus on how I can best support a lot of the boards
and commissions, looking at those, seeing where are we lacking representation, what areas might benefit
from having a little bit more of a say or advisory role within our community. So that's going to be
where I'm heading in the new year, I think, unless somebody drops a really big idea in my lap. But that's
it for me. I don't have much in the way of updates
Mayor Thompson is a much busier and more important person than I am. I just hold down the fort as best
I can. All right, so let's take some questions. I just wanna thank you for picking up the complicated
legislation on these high-speed e-bikes. It's a complicated potential ordinance to pass because obviously
we don't want police chasing kids on bikes.
kids who may be unpredictable in their choices. It creates a dangerous situation for everyone. And we
also need to recognize that these e-bikes are also causing dangerous situations. So we're cognizant
of the many challenges of writing that legislation and appreciate your leadership on it.
So we'll take questions, some sort of agreements that we ask for during the question time or comment
time. You can just be aware that there are a lot of people here, not 600, but there are plenty of people
here who may want an opportunity to have a question addressed or want to make a comment.
So we don't limit your time at the mic. But if you can be concise, especially if you're asking a question,
so that we can give the information that you want, that would be helpful. And Jennifer, did you pass
out any note cards? OK. If anybody is more comfortable submitting a note card rather than speaking at
a mic, we bring them. So you can just flag.
Jennifer down and she'll hand you one. But I think we have few enough people here that we have time
for people to stand up and ask their questions. So how about if I ask Jennifer to person this mic and
we'll share this one. You do need to speak into the mic even if you have a loud voice because Katz is
recording and the people at home won't be able to hear you if you don't use the mic.
Okay, I got a couple things, but I'll just ask one to start with. Yeah, I can't get my phone back on.
Okay, what's the status of the bridge replacement repair at Lower Cascades Park? I haven't heard anything
about that one for quite a while. So, and I forgot to ask you all to introduce yourself before you speak,
if you're willing. Can I? Steve Lehman.
Thanks, Steve Lehman. So the status of the bridge at Cascades Park, I actually need to check on that.
I'm not totally sure what the status is. The city's not responsible for that bridge. The responsibility
has been taken, and I know there are plans happening for repairing that bridge, but I don't know the
status of it right now, but we are happy to get back to you about that, Steve. Thanks for asking.
Thank you. Yeah. There's one back here, Jennifer. Hi, this Dave Burnworth. Did I understand you right
to say the unhoused population would probably decrease in concept at least? The unsheltered population,
yes. That's what we're shooting for. We could reasonably expect
less visitors to Seminary Park? So the park is a public park. And so we actually love visitors in Seminary
Park. And anybody has the right to be in Seminary Park. I think what you're alluding to is maybe some
behaviors that you're seeing in Seminary Park that don't feel welcoming to other people.
And so a couple of pieces on that. First, I just wanna share that we do know that not everybody in Seminary
Park is unhoused, first of all. And the police have been working really hard to work on any predatory
behavior that's happening, especially there right now.
And so they've made a couple of very significant drug busts lately. And they did that about a little
over a year ago and we saw behaviors in the park really improve at that point. And it was really time
that we do that as well. My goal as mayor is to make Bloomington unwelcoming to anybody who's a predator
and get people help
if they have substance use disorder or another mental health disorder. So that's what we're working
on. That's the approach we're working with. And we do have outreach workers that go out to Seminary
Park and elsewhere. And honestly, we do want every park to be welcoming to everyone. You are welcomed, if you,
would like to follow up with me and have a more private conversation, I would welcome that, yeah. Hi,
my name is Rowan Morse. I'm a lifelong Bloomingtonian. In the past, your administration has stated that
you are interested in finding a new ALPR vendor for the city after one of the city's four contracts
lapsed this year. On October 14th, the city council is voting on ordinance 2026-22
banning all ALPR technology like Flock and Axon. Are you in opposition to this ordinance and will you
veto it if it is passed? So the question about ALPRs is that we don't plan to replace ALPRs. Security
cameras are another issue altogether. So we're asking for those things to be separated and to have some
more careful thought put into the security cameras.
Hi, Norm Crampton. I'm here with Mary Alice. We live near the traffic circle at Serre and High. And
I've noticed the recent posting of something like recognition of commercial service. Could you explain
what that's about? Sorry, the Serre and High intersect. Sorry, Rogers and High.
By the park. Rogers and High, okay. Yes, and there's recognition of commercial service. Do they tend
to the middle of that roundabout? Is that? Yeah, we don't know why commercial is being recognized there
for something. I see. Jennifer is going to answer your question.
Actually, there was another constituent that asked about this because they were concerned about the
state of the care of those roundabouts throughout the city. Some of them belong to Public Works, some
of them belong to the Parks Department. Traditionally, a business has adopted those to maintain them,
but that kind of care was maybe a little inconsistent. They have revamped that program
So now a business can adopt one of those roundabouts and instead of actually physically maintaining
them, they are funding the maintenance of that roundabout. So we're hoping for some more consistent
care. So Norm, was your question about why that advertising is there or just
I see. I see, okay, great. I'm Mary Alice Crampton, and thank you for your service, both of you, for
the community. My question is, at least three years, when I go down Sarah Road, every time I have to
go to the grocery store, et cetera, on that side, the roundabout has a place where somebody has knocked
into the middle section
and has made a mess. And it's been there for at least three years. And I find it very embarrassing because
people come off Tap Road and they come into the city to go to the basketball games, the football games
and whatnot. And they see it looks run down. And I don't know why it hasn't been replaced and fixed.
Thank you for letting me know about that. I will look at it on my way home tonight. We don't want a
city that looks rundown. Yeah. Thank you for your service, Mayor and Mr. Councilman. I've been a resident
of Bloomington for over 26 years, and I also lived in four other countries and three cities in the United
States like Boston,
Erie, Pennsylvania, and in Hackettstown, New Jersey. And then I moved here after that. So my question
is, in the last few years, we have gotten a lot of panhandlers at every corner. And recently, I had
my son's wedding here. And a lot of people had come from international, like Australia, and Europe, and Asia.
And I was showing them around in Bloomington. And every corner, there is somebody asking for some money
standing there. So it was embarrassing because they considered me as an American. And they said, hey,
what happened to your American? Why are there so many people asking for money? It's like it's becoming
a bigger country or what? I had told them that Bloomington is the best place in the United States in
terms of living conditions. And there are very little crime and no panhandlers.
but I was proven wrong. So that's number one comment. Second comment that you talk about is the high-speed
e-bikes. It is very dangerous. I have seen three accidents on the trail. I walk every day on the Jackson
Creek Trail. And actually, one guy was so hurt so badly because these kids that are going in at 30 miles
per hour sometimes. And they wish past you. And if you are just slightly in the wrong lane,
They're coming from behind. You don't know whether they're going to go right or left. And when they
hit you, it's going to be a lot of casualties. So that's a good initiative that you guys have. So I'll
address the panhandling question, and then I'm going to let Councilwoman Daley talk about her expertise
and e-bikes. And I have one more very important issue that I came here for. OK.
The issue is that there is a, I live right behind the Brookdale nursing home. Sorry, the hotel. Brookdale
nursing home. It's been going on for three years. The bamboo plantation has been growing in the back
of the Brookdale nursing home. I live right behind it. Me and other three neighbors are affected because
the bamboo, once it starts growing, you can't stop it. Because it becomes very hard. And a bamboo that's
half inch or thicker
is difficult to cut. I will tell you, I have tried it and it takes almost, it's impossible to cut with
handsaw. So I know what is the reason the bamboos have started coming in because it's an invasive species
for the United States. And I can tell you the reason, but I don't want to bring it up here. I actually
know what the prime cause is. But I had gone to the hand department.
H-A-N-D department. And for three years, I've been telling them to get rid of this somehow, because
I don't know, nobody has a solution to that. And I came to bring this issue up because I had written
to the mayor last year, but the mayor said that we don't have enough resources. So the honorable mayor
is again requested to take some action because three, four of my neighbors are also affected by this,
and they said,
They wanted to come, but they couldn't come. So they said, you are going to be our mouthpiece, and please
have mayor commit to getting rid of these bamboos. And OK, by the way, I met also the Brookdale management.
The management changed in the last, I think, to one year or so. Before, it used to be Brookdale nursing
home. And the Brookdale nursing home, people came, and they saw, and they said, OK, we are going to
clean it up, because it's on their property.
So they are going to clean it up. There was a lady by the name of Chloe Parr, and she came in. She said,
we are sorry that this is going on here. We are going to clean it up for you. But in the last one year,
that management has been sold to study else, and the nursing home is no longer Brookdale. It is something
else. Yes. OK, I'm going to take bamboo and handlers, and you'll take e-bikes, unless you want bamboo.
I don't know anything. OK.
So the council passed an ordinance against several species of invasive bamboo several years ago. So
there is an ordinance against it. And we can notify people that they need to remove it. But there's
actually, we just don't have enough inspectors or enough enforcement bandwidth to do everything that
we need to do in hand.
And so hand is enforcing life safety issues, sort of top priority. And frankly, even the fines that
we might be able to impose on people for these kinds of invasive species are minimal compared to the
cost of eradicating them, as you know, because it's troubling you.
I am happy to come out and talk to the management along with the neighbors and see if we can come up
with a solution that actually works because we do have an ordinance against it. But unfortunately, and
this is an important thing to sort of keep in mind as we're going through budget season, if I could
hire five more inspectors and compliance officers for hand, I would. They are busy, they're overworked,
they're doing,
a great job with what they can handle, but these are the very things that we just, they were unable
to actually enforce regularly. It is a significant financial burden to eradicate bamboo like that because
it has to be completely dug up and the root systems have to be totally removed. So I know quite a bit
about this bamboo.
not your bamboo in particular, but if it would be helpful, I'm happy to help facilitate a meeting and
see if we can come to some agreement. On panhandling, we do not have a city ordinance against panhandling.
The council took it up a number of years ago and decided not to do anything. The administration did
have signs posted
essentially encouraging people to give to the organizations that serve people instead of giving directly
to people. Those signs were taken down, not by the administration. They were just removed. So we put
them up higher, but they were completely unnoticeable. So without an ordinance against panhandling,
there's really not much that
we can do as a government. You can talk to your city council about putting an ordinance together. But
my encouragement to people is obviously do what you're called to do, but it does a lot more good to
give to organizations frequently that are helping people structurally and that provide wraparound support
services and can really help them.
than to offer direct funding. That's my experience. It's what I've told my children ever since they
were little and said, should we give them some money? And I consistently say, we give to the organizations
that help people. And so, whatever you're called to do, but that's the only way I know to sort
of structurally address this because people have needs.
Just piggybacking, piggybacking? Yeah, that's the word. Right off of what Mayor Thompson was saying.
I know it's really, really difficult to see members of our community out there on the corners who are
clearly in need and looking for anything that we can give them. It is something that I think breaks
all of our hearts and we don't want to see. It's difficult. I think you're right. I think we are seeing
more these days.
The economy being in the state that it's in is probably not helping. I mean, I see just even in my day
job, the effects of a poor economy coming into student supplying to IU and how it's impacting everybody.
But hopefully now, maybe with our new shelter program through heading home, I always want to call it
something else, so I just have to stop.
Hopefully that can help and make a big difference in what we're seeing on our streets. And then we can
turn our attention to supporting the shelters and the other outreach organizations is my hope. So thank
you for bringing that up. And then in terms of the motorbikes, the e-motos is what we're referring to
them as in this ordinance.
Yes, it is scary when we see them on the trails and when we're walking. I go down and I walk by Sherwood
Oaks Park and in between to Olcott and around there, and I've encountered several of them myself. It
is frightening when you hear them coming up behind you. You don't know which way to jump. You think,
do I have to jump? That's actually something that we do address in the ordinance is the behavior that
we expect on
bicycles, scooters, motorized vehicles, and we define them. Again, the enforcement is going to be difficult
because Mayor Thompson is right. You know, Chief DeKoff has said, we're not gonna have officers chasing
these kids down because that will end in disaster. That is then when they will get a little bit more
reckless, they'll get scared, they'll try to run, and that's when they will hit somebody or crash into
something. So we are considering the deterrent alternatives.
How can we figure out maybe who's riding these bikes if we're not able to catch them right there in
that moment and give them the reprimand or the fine. But there will be a fine system and a possibility
of repossession of the bike. So hopefully then the parents will be hearing about this. And hopefully
then they will be much more inclined to enforce the good behavior from their
miners who are pretty much the ones who are doing most of the reckless behavior on these bikes. And
I do just want to also make one quick note, too, in terms of this ordinance working on it. I've said
we've consulted with a lot of different departments within the city. I want to give a huge, huge shout
out to Director Tim Street from the Parks Department and Julius Mitchell from the legal team. The two
of them have been the real powerhouse in putting this together for us. In fact, it was Director Street's
idea. He came to me.
last spring and said he's been getting a lot more complaints about this and would I be interested in
helping to do something as his city council representative. So I've been delighted to work with the
two of them because they have really done the bulk of this. So I want them to get all the applause and
the credit for putting it together. But he's legal, what's his legislative seat, okay.
I got the title wrong. He's the legislative assistant, right? Thank you. It always makes me think legal.
Hello. Hi. Thank you. Just waiting. Thank you both for taking questions. It's really appreciated. I'm
really excited to hear that you are aligned, it sounds like, with the council in regards to FLOC and
the upcoming vote on Wednesday. I just had a quick question for you
about what happened at the county level. My understanding is the county decided to remove the cameras
despite there being a fine associated with that. I think it was a pretty moderate fine. And then you
said that the contracts were not gonna be renewed or they were not renewed. I think one just was canceled
a couple of weeks ago. But the camera on my block is still up. And so I was just wondering if you were
committed to removing them despite a potential fine just so we can be
done with that in light of the vote on Wednesday. And also if you had a commitment to not picking up
any new vendors that are out there and are probably going to replace Flock as that company kind of takes
a nosedive. Thank you. So you have an ALPR on your block? Is it an ALPR?
On Kirkwood, okay. So those are not ALPRs, and the ALPR contract expired and we did not renew it. And
we have security cameras, so I don't know if you were here when I answered the last question, but we
are not supportive of taking all the security cameras down, but they will not be FLOC. So we are still
talking to council members about that, but I'm not supportive
of that part of the legislation. They are, but we're not gonna renew those contracts. Yeah. That's correct.
We have made very good use of those cameras in solving two shootings now.
they are a safety risk to remove those. Other questions? Just to clarify, those Condor cameras do use
the same ALPR technology. They are built into the surveillance cameras. That contract for those four
Condor cameras was over, I think, two weeks ago
by the time that based off of the two year contract, I think it was September 25th of 2024. So it should
be over by now. And I was wondering if your office has taken any steps to make sure that those cameras
actually do get taken down in a timely manner. And then also there are still two other contracts that
have not been canceled. They automatically renew. Those are for the trailers, which use both the Condor
and the ALPR Falcon cameras. I think there are two each, or two trailers that have Falcon cameras and
two trailers that have the Condor surveillance. All of this has AI technology built into it. And I was
wondering if you have put in the word with Flock, with the company,
as required by the contract to actually make sure that these contracts get canceled. The due date to
do that was two months ago. Yeah, so we have a little misinformation here, so I'm just gonna clarify.
This is from information that you personally sent me, actually. Yeah. If I can clarify. Yeah. I mean,
you just interrupted me before I finished my sentence. I'm sorry. Why don't you finish what you're saying,
and then Jennifer can take the mic. Yeah. There were two different contracts to make sure that they
weren't gonna be automatically renewed
to cancel them, you had to get in contact with the company multiple months ago. I think a couple of
people have asked you at this point if that has been done, and nobody's really gotten a clear answer
on that. Let me provide a clear answer. And we have in the past, just to clarify, we have communicated
with Flock that we are not renewing any contracts with them. So when these expire, they are expired.
We have done that in writing within the timeframe that we committed to. That was done in the spring.
That was done a long time ago. We have not changed our position at all on it. Hi, I'll try to be somewhat
concise on this. My question is about the high-speed fiber network. I know that there are details that
are outside of people's control, but about four years ago when that was announced, I was very excited,
both for the better service that it would provide, but also because I don't love supporting either AT&T
or Comcast as companies. In at least three of the years since then, whether it was someone in the city
or someone with Gigabit Now that I spoke to,
told me that their expectation was I would have it by the end of the year. That hasn't happened in any
of those years. I guess I'm just looking for a commitment to the project because at the moment, if I
knew it was going to take a long time, I could do a multi-year agreement with Xfinity and save 30 bucks
a month. But if I keep going month by month waiting for it to happen any moment,
There's actually a big financial loss on my part as well. Mostly I want to know that we're still trying
to go full speed ahead with this and if there's any updates of any kind about potential timelines. Yes.
I am so sorry. That has been a train wreck of a project and we are committed to following through on
it. I did issue a stop work order last
bring though because the subcontractor on that project was causing so much property damage that they
were not repairing, including hitting a gas line under a major street. It was a huge safety issue. I
did put a stop work order on it. That's on me. We couldn't have that contractor working in Bloomington anymore.
numerous properties that a sewer line would get cut. They didn't report it to the property owner when
they did it, and the sewage was just going in the, I mean, it was just a disaster. So I'm very sorry
that this has caused you not to be able to sign an appropriate contract. And the Meridian is committed to
They committed to coming through and making all of the repairs that needed to happen before they started
any new work, and that has happened now. We are now moving forward. It did take them some time to do
that. We could have pulled the plug on the whole thing. I have been supportive. The quality of the service,
the speed of the connection, and the accessibility to all neighborhoods in Bloomington,
is really important, as we all know. So we're moving forward. That's the commitment I can make. In terms
of timeline, I would need to know your address and then get in touch with Rick Dietz, our IT director,
who knows which neighborhoods are going when, and then we can give you a better timeline on that. But
that's what I can tell you. We're working towards it, and sorry.
Yes, and I lost my watch this weekend. It's getting close. You mentioned 714 South Rogers earlier. Yes.
One question I have, which I think is a great place to move the police station to, and the neighborhood
does too. I've been to their meetings, but was that part of the hospital purchase?
for the city, so the city does own it at this point, and it was part of that? Yes. Same as the core
building, right? Yes. Okay. What is the plan for the core building? You mentioned that one earlier,
too. Yeah, the core building is all low-income apartments. It's beautiful. They had an open house a
couple months ago. Excuse me. Bloomington Housing Authority owns it, so we'll be doing the rentals through
through BHA and those top floor apartments have some of the best view in the city. It's like a remarkable
building. So we're really proud of that partnership and that project and it has had, as with any historic
building renovation, it's had its share of hiccups, but they're close to finishing and moving in.
And one comment on some of the things that were said earlier about e-bikes. It's not kids necessarily.
I ride on the trail south of town on my non-electric bicycle. And here a week or so ago, literally six
people came flying up behind me all over the trail, flew by. I know there's speed limits are marked
on that trail. Okay.
And they were not kids. They weren't teenagers. They were 50 and 60 years old. And when I got up to
the next parking lot, they're all sitting there smoking cigarettes. So I think it's kind of a weird
thing. Thank you for your comments, Steve. Everyone's got to have something to do. I'll be really quick.
So good evening Mayor Carey and Councilmember Daly. I'm Jennifer Crossley. I am a constituent
of Councilmember Daly and I also have the pleasure of serving in a different capacity as County Council
as well. And so one thing that I want to say is thank you very, very much because the Southside really
appreciates our street being paved. I know earlier in the summer it was getting, it looked like it was
getting done and then it didn't. And then a couple of weeks ago we just got it done
and it is shiny and it is so nice and potholes are clear. So I appreciate that because every year I
put in a new report to replace the potholes because of the inclement weather. So I just want to say
major kudos. I don't know if you want to talk about this or not, but oftentimes we talk about, you know,
what is the city and the county doing as a collaboration? And so you had spoken in light of SEA 1 and
we definitely are filling it as well.
and we just implemented something. So I don't know if either of you wanted to talk about and educate
the folks if they don't know already about the MUST Task Force. Yes, President Crossley, thank you for
that. I won't even begin to pretend that I remember what MUST stands for, municipal blah, blah, blah.
But the MUST Task Force is city, county, Ellitsville, there's representatives of
all of the fiscal bodies. And that is a necessary task force to address how we will address local income
tax in the future once the changes are made as a result of SEA 1. And the long and short of it is that
more of your money is going to the state. It was under the guise of property tax
rollbacks, but really very, very few people and very small results in terms of how much property tax
was saved. It's mostly a redirect to the state, which means your municipalities are getting less. They
also stepped in and started controlling what we could do with local income tax. Our county, city, Ellisville,
partnership is really our first must meeting went very, very well and I don't want to color the waters,
but I think that we all sort of agree based on the numbers. If we don't work on this together, not only
will you be paying more taxes, but each of the entities will be getting less.
If we do work on it together, in the end, most of the entities can be made whole as a result and the
various taxes don't have to go up so significantly. So I'm really proud of that collaboration. My thanks
to the county because the county really is in the control seat here and they've been
hugely collaborative and really appreciate them hosting that meeting and the first meeting went very,
very well. So if anybody tells you government officials can't collaborate, it's not true. We're also
collaborating on the Heading Homework. We did some great jail collaboration. There's lots of
great collaboration happening. So thank you for your work and for your openness to partner so we can
all do better together.
Are we about out of time? Okay, so we try to commit to also ending on time. I will be here. I have at
least one person to catch up with afterwards, so I don't know if you have a few. Okay, so Council Member
Daley will as well. Thank you, Council Member Daley, for showing up tonight and talking to your constituents,
our constituents.
Thank each of you for your involvement in government. You make us better. And we don't have to agree
on everything. You still make us better because you help us think and really appreciate this engagement.
And I hope that you will head to the polls. And if you don't know this already, as soon as you early
vote, you get taken off all the lists for door knocking and for phone calls and all of those other lists.
If you're tired of answering your door and your phone, go vote. Thank you very much for inviting me
and thank you all for being here and I'll stick around and answer any questions too. Always happy for a combo.