- The I'm gonna call to order the first-ever transferred to City of Bloomington Transportation Commission I am Ryan Roebling staff and We're gonna get right into the agenda which was sent out in the packet and mr. Rollin has it I'll bring it up here in one moment. The first thing we need to do is go out of order. We have a member virtual
- And they are currently unable to participate until we have rules according to the state rules established that allow that member to participate. So those present will need to adopt article one of the rules and procedures in order to get Mr. Flaherty able to participate in this meeting. So if someone could quickly do that, I can even call the role.
- You oh we can't call of role, but mr. Flody won't count until the meeting. Okay. Well, we can do Yes, good call. Sorry Trying to get everything right statewide forgot about roll call. Okay. We'll start with Connell McKinney Boland here drumming Davis Stossburg. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I
- Okay. Now I will need someone to make a motion to adopt article one of the rules and procedures Thank you and a second. I'll second. Okay. Thank you. And then I'll call role. We can could we at least oh, yeah, sorry have a characterization of what the I'll just pull them up. Sorry I wasn't prepared for this part of the evening. So forgive me. I
- Sorry about that, okay. So in the hardest to read possible way on the TVs behind you and small screen for some reason, I'm not sure why, is article one, also this is in the way, great. Everything's going great. Oh, how do I make this larger? I don't know. Is there a full screen option?
- Okay, sorry about this Okay, so Article one is general provisions the big things that covers are Establishing that this commission will follow Roberts rules of order Unless dictated otherwise in other rules and or state or state code. It'll say that Transportation Commission shall hold meetings that Corresponded to the anticipated schedule
- And that this Commission will coordinate with staff in order to have a schedule that meets both the staff and Commission's needs it Establishes a strict 930 deadline unless it is unanimously approved to extend by the Commission a majority of members present will constitute quorum which we have it'll also
- Require that a summary of minutes be provided and then most importantly for this one. It'll will adopt IC 514 1.5, which is the open door policy and that will allow Members to participate virtually since we'll be fully and compliant with that as adopted it'll also It also have Rules for mending
- The rules in the future. So it will immediately allow us to amend rules as we see fit but or as you see fit I should say but But that will be able you'll be able to do that at any meeting by a majority vote. So That's the big chunk of it the most important one for this and then we'll jump into the actual rules and procedures which we can discuss later is that we need to adopt the number specifically number or letter F, which will
- Allow electronic communications and meet meetings as permitted in accordance to IC 514 1.5. So we have that moved and seconded and I will call roll All right, McKinney Bowen I drumming Davis Stasper hi, okay
- That passes six to zero and now Commissioner Flaherty should be able to join And We'll get him logged in as virtual for this meeting Okay. Thank you for your participation in that and sorry. It was awkward. Give me one more second and we'll be ready to go
- so the first item on the agenda is election of officers, but if the Commission will allow a slight change of plans will jump into the the historical context and goals and Future plans for this Commission if everyone is amenable to that if not I can go into officers Not seeing any nose. Okay, perfect
- Okay, so Okay, so sorry about this so we'll do welcomes and introductions first and foremost I'm gonna introduce Andrew Andrew Seaborg the city engineer he is technically the staff liaison for any regular hearings of the Transportation Commission and I'll get into what that means later and
- But if you're I believe you're all familiar with him, but I'll allow him to introduce himself City engineer happy to be here happy to have all of you here. Thanks for showing interest in this Commission Thanks for bearing with us. Thank you to planning and transportation for helping to staff this Commission This is the first Commission of the engineering department that we're responsible to manage So we there is a slight learning curve and we're very appreciative of plannings assistance
- Just as we get going look forward to working with you and being a resource and engaging in dialogue. Thanks Okay, next I'll introduce Iris bull and allow them to introduce themselves Hi Iris bull, I'm the administrative assistant for engineering and I'm really pleased to be supporting this commission and
- Most of your contact will probably be through Iris, just as a heads up. You've already received emails from them. Ryan Roebling, I think I'm familiar with all of you now. I am from planning and transportation. You'll see me at every meeting, but you'll get more familiar with me for steering committee meetings, which we'll have occasionally for this body, as they are the standing steering committee for any transportation-related plans and projects.
- Also mentioned Adam Wason is here director of Public Works. He's welcome to introduce himself, but you don't have to Adam Wason Public Works director been serving for about the last nine years Happy to be a support agent for this commission You know Public Works does a lot of the maintenance on all of the things transportation related will have staff with
- The street division that will be invited on a regular basis Joe Van Dievander our director of street operations Probably Freddie love on occasion. He's our manager of our traffic manager in the street division So when we're talking about traffic management and we'll bring in those experts and be here to help as well. So Excited for the Commission to take to begin their work
- Andrew and Ryan and David Hittle the planning director and We've all been talking about this from the perspective of how can we best utilize this Commission to improve transportation in the community? And I know Ryan will talk a lot about the chartering and such but really looking forward that opportunity to work with all of you on all of that So, thank you Okay, I'm gonna hand it off to
- We also have Rick Coppock that is in the audience this evening Rick will be considered by the Board of Public Works for appointment to this Commission Rick's a former city engineer staff member and such and then
- Andrew reminded me of course parking will be a big part of this parking services with the Public Works Department Will utilize their expertise or in the middle of a master planning process with them right now So we'll have a lot of information come into the Commission over the next several months with in regards to that as well. So, thank you Okay for this portion I'm gonna hand it off to you all for two reasons one just so we're all familiar with each other and
- Two or three reasons I should say so we get your name pronunciation, correct? I'm not sure that I know most of you so I'm pretty confident I said all of your names right, but just to make sure for future and this commission is unique in that some of the members are direct from or appointed by
- Various commissions. So if you could identify if you are being appointed on behalf of a commission, that would be great Those will be relevant to future decisions that this body makes so I'll hand it off I'll start with mr. Drumme because he's closest to me
- Sorry Hopefully you don't make me repeat all that but I'm happy to if you need to so anyway happy to serve looking forward to learning more about how the city works and helping to Continue to improve this place. We all live Mark Stossberg Appointed by the planned Commission. I previously served on the bicycle pedestrian safety Commission including as president for a while and I've also done independent
- Spatial analysis looking at patterns of crashes and how to best address those I'm Steve Olin. I'm sure that the reason I'm here is because of my affiliation with the Parking Commission I've been preaching You know more attention be paid to parking as an integral part of transportation
- And I'm concerned about parking not just as a I mean, it's primarily it was not a safety issue for us in Commission It was an economic issue. How much do we charge? Are we making sure that space is turnover? What is the capacity of our parking system? Do we need more or less parking? Are we thinking about parking of? non-automotive vehicles as well and
- All those sorts of things were talked about at the Commission and I think my the reason that I'm here is to make sure that we give As much time to parking as anything else as is appropriate for a Transportation Commission. Thank you I
- Hi, I'm Barbara McKinney. I worked for the city for 34 years in the city legal department mainly working on human rights and human resources, but I also dealt a lot with the ADA and with Parking and dealt with some transportation issues as well. So I'm pretty deep familiarity with it with different city departments I'm pointed by the City Council. So I forgot to say that and I'm also somebody who mainly walks. So that's a big concern of mine. Thank you Council
- Hi there, I'm Leslie Davis. I am representing, I guess, the Council for Community Accessibility. I am the chair of the CCA. In my other life, I work as the vice president for North American Partnerships for a company called Access Able that provides detailed accessibility information on the built environment.
- I'm here to make sure that the Needs and concerns of people with disabilities are taken into consideration With everything we do John Connell general manager of Bloomington Transit. I'm appointed by the Bloomington Transit Board of Directors look forward to working with all of you and I hope to bring a public transportation Perspective some of the issues. Thank you. I
- Mr. Flaherty, you are next. Terrific. Thank you. Great to be joining this brand new commission with you all. I'm Matt Flaherty. I am an at-large representative on the Bloomington Common Council. I am our designated appointment to this commission and also served as our appointment to the parking commission, which is now no more along with the traffic and bicycle pedestrian safety commissions. I've been an advocate for safe and sustainable and equitable transportation most of my adult life. It's definitely part of
- motivating set of values and priorities and running for office initially in 2019 and in my service. So looking forward, I think the city of Bloomington's done a really great job over the past decade, especially developing strong goals and targets in these areas. And so looking forward to this commission and its ability to help drive those forward. And yeah, just looking forward to it. Thank you all. And sorry to not be joining you in person. We're on council recess and I happen to be on vacation, but I didn't want to miss this. So here I am.
- Okay, thank you Okay, so I'm gonna give a little bit of background the how we got here as you heard and or experienced we had formerly three transportation commissions that were All in charge of various aspects of the transportation system there was the traffic Commission the bicycle pedestrian safety Commission and the parking Commission and
- so they were all in charge of the practical transportation matters as well as policy matters specifically for bike or excusing a traffic Commission and Parking Commission, so they did everything from advocate for bicycle pedestrian safety to mitigating traffic concerns and
- Coordinating parking activities and policy updates. So the Transportation Commission was created based on the guidance received from two unrelated Consultant reviews of our practices. The first was the Novak report which was published in 2022 it identified that there was a large overlap between scope of these three commissions and that They were often a drain on staff resources And then
- The thing that they pointed out, which was it essentially needed 16 people in order, or excuse me, almost 21 people in order to have enough people to have a meeting. And so the number of vacancies was causing issues where particularly with the Traffic Commission, they failed to meet quorum for several months while they got a larger set of people to join their meetings.
- So that's what the Novak report identified and then again The safe streets and roads for all safety action plan, which was just recently adopted identified that The three commissions created a lack of transparency accountability and most importantly did not Achieve or was it were not actively pursuing the achieving the safety goals that the city had created for itself So that's kind of how we got there here from there
- But a little bit more about the challenges those commissions faced. They all did great work. We're really proud of all of them especially bike ped and parking did a lot of great work to really see some policy and implement or infrastructure changes through the city, but two of the best examples for why the
- Previous system was showing signs of weakness where the seven line and the adoption of no right turn on reds at pedestrian focused intersections so the seven line Proposal featured elements that would affect motor vehicle traffic bike ped traffic and parking so Presentation and resolution was brought to each of the three commissions in order to seek their approval many of the conversations were repetitive but worse some of the ideas were only brought up at one of the three commissions and
- And we're not heard by the other the experts of the other bodies. So it led to a lack of holistic planning consideration and In theory could have made the project works. We largely think the seven line is a success. That's
- open for debate but At least from our point of view. It's been a great success The second example is the addition of no right turn on red legislation legislation signage in 2001 the bicycle pedestrian safety Commission Heard or brought up to the city I should say that they would like to see no right turn on red signage at high pedestrian intersections
- It was unable to gain any traction for a number of reasons one the people Decision-makers weren't in the room with the bicycle pedestrian safety commission. The city traffic engineer was not in that meeting a City council member who also could have changed the rule was not in that meeting It was being heard by the bicycle pedestrian safety or bicycle pedestrian Coordinator who is an entry-level position with very little Gravitas in the city So it took 22 years after that October meeting for an ordinance to be finally passed
- installing signage at prioritized intersections from a person who never served on the bicycle pedestrian budget Commission and had no idea that they talked about it 22 years earlier and frankly that we can't do that anymore we have to prioritize safety now and make our streets and roadways safer, so Okay, so that's a bit of background now for purpose the Transportation Commission has a clearly defined purpose
- My window closed there. So It's the goal or the purpose is to guide the city through a comprehensive and visionary framework which provides adequate Which will provide adequate and safe access to all right away users So this commission will serve as a sounding bird board for all transportation decisions It will also serve as a policy and project review body. That's essentially its most important responsibility
- So the focus on all transportation Decisions that this body will make will need to focus on equity equitable access Sustainability the economics of transportation and most importantly safety now we all you have heard safety First or safety is number one for a long time The goal of this Commission is to make sure we mean that so keep that in mind and
- So the Commission has eight identified powers and duties. These include supervision of transportation related studies programs plans and projects Providing a form for members of the public to air transportation related testimonials Making recommendations on city transportation policies. This could mean ordinances plan changes plan adoptions and recommendations on capital planning so it's a little bit of everything but it's actually everything because
- Again, the idea of this commission was to solidify that one body would review all transportation decisions So the Transportation Commission will also have a major hand in parking policy This can include everything from making recommendations on pricing hours of operation location of parking spaces and enforcement procedures and
- The Commission is also tasked with overseeing the completion of an annual parking report This report will include everything from cost and revenues to utilization of parking meters and neighborhood parking zones These reports will add the Commission and see These reports will add to the Commission and cities in charge of parking policy to ensure that we're achieving the goals Set out in the comprehensive plan and other adopted goals. So if
- I like to think of parking has a little bit of the digestive system It's not the thing that comes up first, but it is arguably the the most important thing to keeping everything going so It we might not talk about it as much as safety which I am aware of But it will come up probably as frequently as any other transportation decision So you'll be seeing a lot of parking in the future as mr. Wason pointed out so
- The Commission's most important duty will be to review transportation projects and propose changes to the city municipal code What exactly that means? We're going to work on together. We spoke to most of you in private meetings just a
- Get familiar with everyone, but we really mean this the Commission and staff have to work together in order to create the best system We are trying to get the most out of this and we don't know what that means. So we need your all's help So we'll talk about that in this meeting and every meeting from now until forever About what that means. So keep that in mind for any decision if something doesn't seem right to speak up We're happy to make this better
- So the Yeah, so the Transportation Commission was based off the city's Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals They asked a planner to do this. So a planner looked at what they knew which is Planning Commission and BZA So one thing that they'll do it differently than most any other committee differently than almost any other commission is make decisions based on explicit criteria those are outlined in title two of the Bloomington Municipal Code and
- These criteria are laid out with the goal of ensuring that whatever is being reviewed is working towards achieving the city's goals the four Criteria are listed here a is consistent with the comprehensive plan and other applicable City adopted plans is consistent with the best practices for eliminating all transportation related fatalities and serious injuries within the city and
- is consistent with advancing a sustainable transportation system and equitable access to all transportation facility users while priority while prioritizing non-automotive modes and Has adequately conducted public engagement and considered community centric design tied to targeted outcomes So what that means it for those who aren't familiar with how the Board of Zoning Appeals works is for any decision that this body will vote on
- related to a project or municipal code adoption or change is They will have to make a finding that is clearly identifying that yes, this meets a no This meat doesn't meet B. Yes, this meets C Etc. So you will work staff will offer proposed findings You don't have to think that we're coming out of the blue and putting all this work on you but if you disagree with staff and
- Findings then this is the time when you'll write your own findings and we'll discuss what that means when that time comes actually we'll discuss it a little later, but That's a constant conversation. We'll be having Okay, so I Don't know that was a duplicate. Okay, so staff you met some of us today This body also has a unique
- power given to it in Title II, which is that it can essentially ask any department to send a representative to help make a decision on a transportation question. So if a policy comes up and you think it involves
- Matters then we can ask that Public works send someone from parking services to answer any questions that you may have It's similar to how City Council works that where they can ask staff member who helped write something to come to that meeting I suspect oftentimes that staff member will already be here, but we don't always know everything so if you need Jeff Jackson the transportation demand manager to help make a decision you can absolutely
- Put something off for a month and ask him to come to the next meeting and you can do that for anyone Planning and engineering will be at every meeting. So you don't have to worry about that. But for everybody else It's a little bit more Based on needs. So that's a unique power that I want you to all remember Okay, and then I talked about it a little bit this commission is a lot of the authority is just granted to this emission Commission in title two
- The first is establishing its rules and procedures, which you had to adopt some already So we'll be looking at those constantly and then also the Commission doesn't have a set schedule So we're gonna work with you all to kind of formulate a schedule We have a proposed one for the rest of the year because this is a kind of wonky Start to the year where you're already halfway through and we know that we have some dates that we would like to target so we'll work with you but We'll get to that when we get there. I think
- I'm gonna double-check with my staff members that we're good on everything. Okay Okay, so if you have any questions Now's the time. Oh Yeah, there's no chair so sorry I I'm gonna have to remember to look up. Yeah, mr. Olen Yeah, sorry Yeah, I got a few questions first of all Are any members of this commission eligible to be
- represented by proxies for whatever reason I Don't have the exact answer to that yet. I'm going to work with legal to get the definitive answer I believe that certain members will be based on the language of title to you, right? Because I mean I'm assuming that for example members appointed by the mayor or the council do not have that ability but ex officio members may have that and so I'd like to know if there's any conventional wisdom among the among the staff about this and
- But it's something we should settle before the next meeting. Yes I will absolutely try to have an answer before next meeting from legal I've got other questions, but I'm happy to defer to other members All right How frequently does staff expect that Title 12 or title 15 changes will be brought to the Commission for their deliberation and
- Rather maybe I should say how many projects on average of how many a month maybe Okay, it's like clarifying question projects and municipal code amendments might be different so all of the above Okay, so I suspect you'll see fewer municipal code amendments than anything else
- But they will come up and then projects it depends so part of the reason we gave this body authority to make its own schedule or work with staff to make a schedule is Projects kind of come in groups. They don't all they're not evenly spaced throughout the year So we might not have any meetings in the winter time for example and have a bunch in the summer when projects are triggering and then
- Discussing exactly what then Andrew or mr. Seaborg will probably want to answer this but discussing what this body reviews in what would like to review more importantly Is kind of up in the air. So the language is all transportation projects But what constitutes as a transportation project that this body wants to see really depends So I'll hand it off to Andrew or mr. Seaborg and he can give a better answer Good question and I this is a
- Question where I think just as time goes on as we engage and work together to figure out Like an example of a project at what point to engage this commission. So I've got a couple notes as an example But we have a project on West Kirkwood that we just advertised a public meeting for so just this is a chance I want to highlight that but we have a project a public meeting here in this room on June 25th from 530 to 630 and
- So that projects already been selected. It's happening We're gonna have public engagement at what point in a project. Do we come here? We sent another email out to stakeholders that live or in the vicinity of North Dunn Street We had a public meeting on a proposed path a couple months ago We're gonna have another public meeting in a couple months, but this was an update essentially responding to the feedback we received and the direction that we're going
- So so when in a project development is it most appropriate to come to this commission and to what level of detail do we engage? So so certainly open to feedback recognizing everybody's time the on title 15 just a traffic commission That was largely what the traffic commission looked at and it almost seemed like every meeting there was something But it's not all the time so the follow-up question of that would be
- To whom is the Commission making recommendations to staff to plan Commission to City Council? I can see All those cases being possible, but what's your expectation of to whom we're recommending? Another great question. I think it Depending on the question before you it could be to any of those entities it could be ultimately a code update that goes to City Council and
- It could be a decision that generally is an administrative process that that we move forward to staff Do you assume that the Traffic Commission or sorry the Transportation Commission? I'll get used to it is going to be a natural step in the development process for like will Plan Commission expect to hear a report from the Transportation Commission before they weigh in
- Certainly on some projects. Absolutely Specifically corridor studies and other related plans. Yes, those have to be adopted by Planning Commission So we will bring it to this body first as it acts as a steering committee and they'll make a you'll make a Recommendation to Planning Commission will send that recommendation on and then yeah, that's another great question some private development questions might come here that they often did for Traffic Commission and now this body has slightly more authority to review those in which case
- We'll try to bring them here first and then bring them to Plank Commission with this body's recommendation You had mentioned invite Reaching out to stakeholders like for the downstream project. I think you said It would be possible when you're having that kind of discussion with stakeholders
- On a project that's going to come to us to let us know about those meetings as well So we could maybe at least attend virtually and see what the public input is on that kind of thing I would expect that as we have public meetings on various projects that we would we've got a stakeholder list this Commission and members of it I think would be a logical point of contact that we'd help share that with and then at what point do we Bring those projects to this Commission in relation to that is something that we still need to honestly figure out sure. Thank you
- Committee were you referring to a particular subset of this group? No, so title two gives this body authority to be the standing steering committee for all future transportation related plans, so If you're familiar, we've been working on a college and walnut corridor study that had that project has a steering committee It was incredibly hard to fill out and then on top of that we had the safe streets and roads for all safety action plans steering committee which further
- Was hard to fill out so we had like 30 something members representing to to transportation projects that had a lot of overlap it would be much easier for this body to do that in the future and so you'll see that Currently in the works hasn't nothing's been finalized yet, but we're in the contract negotiation phase for a Rogers Madison or
- Yeah, uh kins or pike corridor study. So this body will jump right into that the second we get Contract approval from the board of public works. So you'll be seeing some of that what that exactly means fairly soon Just to follow up on his question so you're saying that This commission is becoming the de facto steering committee for all such projects instead of you having to Form a new steering committee for each project. Is that right?
- Correct. It also the that's part of the idea is that there will be a ready-to-go steering committee, but also I'm sorry I say that it's slower. I don't understand you Yes, that's correct. Part of the idea is that this body will be a ready-to-go steering committee for whenever we jump into plans Which we expect to do more often than we had historically It'll also have a it'll be a body familiar with transportation related projects in the city so that they can steer in the way that they see fit rather than An ad hoc group trying to make it up as they go
- Thank you. I've got one more. What does staff anticipate will be sufficient advanced notice for agendas and packets prepared for the commission? What is your idea of how far in advance is appropriate? Staff is, we're committed to trying for aiming for one week in advance for packets. However, if that is not enough,
- You were looking to you for guidance. So if you need more than a week, it turns out Let us know and we can aim for to do better than that. I personally was not worried about it being Too long. I was worried about it being 48 hours as opposed to I mean it five days is acceptable Seven days is fine with me, but I just didn't want it to be the state minimum No, yeah that that's what I was aiming to correct. We historically We're aiming for 48 hours. We're going to aim for roughly a week
- Not just business days, but the whole an actual week. So Saturday and Sunday included I've got one more. This is a thick one. You said safety first Can you define it? Define safety. Well, I mean because we talk a lot about non-automotive uses. Can we be more specific? Somewhere down the road because I think that some people who drive cars
- Will say well, they've made it unsafe for me to drive and i'm not sure that is Exactly the meaning behind safety first. So I wonder if staff collectively or if you and in particular know of a More specific definition that we'll be working with Yeah, so we do city council adopted a resolution. I can't remember the number off the top of my head, but
- But it called for the complete elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes on city roadways Within 15 years and that was last year. So we have 14 years left So that is what we mean by safety Any project should be designed in a way that it will eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes Thank you You can see how easily a phrase like that might make people might assume that it's actually what we mean what we mean is what you just said Thank you
- Can I also just say that when for example, we started the Parking Commission eight years ago We didn't know who should run the place and so we just had interim officers for a couple three months while we Set bylaws and figured out our agenda and I see that that's missing. We don't really have a standing agenda yet You know like we not sure how we want to do business are we going to talk tonight about I
- Setting a schedule But those things maybe might take a I mean, I hope they don't take that long but Yes, I'll say that we have to get to work right away and our next meeting will have several items on the agenda So we hope to have a formalized agenda. So I
- This is a great segue. If you don't mind me taking this lead We sent out in the packet a list of rules and procedures of which you've adopted article one So part of that is what staff is aiming to have our meetings look like obviously again This is collaborative and we are open to discussing what that means and what that looks like But part of that is agenda setting so we have a
- Things that we know we have to review those are plans. Those are resolutions which will detail Sorry Plans, I just realized how there's two things that are plans so infrastructure plans and planning plans So planning plans will be in resolutions along with ordinances those will come up less frequently but
- Infrastructure plans will come up frequently. I think we have a backlog of several I'm looking to mr. Seaboard to confirm but we also have some transportation inquiries which are members of the public who would like to report to this body about safety concerns parking concerns What have you and look to this body for guidance? And staff will also look to this body for guidance with those so
- So that's why we kind of proposed a set of rules that we think will work They're based again off of Planning Commission. So you got to stop asking a planner to do jobs But the they have great rules. They their meetings run incredibly efficiently They're out by 930 most meetings unless it's something incredibly large like a full UDO rewrite so that's kind of why we pitch those rules and
- Now that we've adopted article one, you're fully able to amend any rules, but we would like to pitch those I don't know. I'm not pulling them up. I'm so sorry You you like to what? Sorry, that was a thought. I don't know. I didn't pull them up. I'm pulling up the proposed meeting rules Where I thought they were
- Okay back to this incredibly hard to see document on these screens The proposed rules were hyperlinked on the agenda So if you received the agenda notice you click through that And scroll down a little there should be a link to the proposed rules that will open up a new page
- Google Doc. OK. More stuff's happening.
- we are sending it to, and yes, we'll do just that. So yeah, while Iris is sending a link, a direct link to the proposed rules, and again, we don't have to adopt these tonight, that's not necessarily the goal, it's just to get the conversation going, Article 1, which is adopted and establishes some rules,
- Article two is officers and employees it outlines the role of staff at these meetings Specifically, there are two types of meetings as we've as we've discussed We're proposing to call them Regular hearing which will be led by the city engineer and designated engineering staff those will be infrastructure plans and ordinance reviews and so those will be led by the engineering department and
- And then the other meetings the steering committee meetings are proposed to be called Transportation planning meetings, so that will be when this body is acting as a steering committee. It'll be That will be run by myself and anyone from planning and transportation specifically David Hiddle is identified as the secretary and meeting runner I
- So it also identifies that the city engineer or the designee and a member of the planning and transportation staff will appear at every meeting and then it'll also reaffirm the rule written in title to which allows this body to call in any other staff that it seems fit deems fit. It'll also point or allow for the creation of a chair and vice chair. So the chair once appointed will run the meeting
- as they see fit under Robert's rules and these rules and procedures. So that's article two, article three. Those are regular hearings. That is the type of meeting that will be run by the engineering department. So this will be a discussion on petitions, resolutions, and transportation inquiries. It also sets forth rules for note taking and document saving. So that will save it for one year.
- Easy-to-find location and then we'll backlog it in an equally easy to find location. Thanks to Iris Bull Is dedication to making sure that everything is easily easy to find? so it also Says that any decision has to be made this meeting or specifically continued to a future meeting within one month and
- It'll also set forth the filings. So this is a thing that's unique transport or traffic Commission Bicycle pedestrian safety Commission and Parking Commission Did not have formal rules for what items could be on the agenda? And so that led to haphazard agendas occasionally Parking Commission was better at this than most but bike ped it was particularly susceptible to kind of just Going off the rails for agenda. So this will not only
- Agenda but it'll also create the Particular items that are up for review. So petitions that's an infrastructure plan site plan things like that it'll have resolutions which are planning plans and
- municipal code Amendments and then transportation inquiries if you're familiar with the Traffic Commission, they had traffic inquiries, which the original goal was to be like hey There's a lot of cars in my way when I drive to work. Can we make this better? Over time a kind of shifted to I have a general transportation complaint and then more recently we focused on there is a specific item that
- Is causing safety or harm to roadway users and we would like to see that alleviated Parking Commission had something similar in that they allowed members of the public to come and air their Concerns about parking asking for future parking changes policy changes neighborhood zones things like that So we're combining those into the transportation inquiry process So anyone is eligible to bring that forward?
- members of the public, members of the commission, sorry, petitions, which are the transportation plan, or the infrastructure plans, those will generally come from staff, but occasionally outside bodies, they'll have to go through the engineering department first, so they will be reviewed. Resolutions, similar thing, but those can only come from staff and from the commission themselves. So those are changes to municipal code.
- Changes to this body's rules. Those will come forward as a real resolution and you'll have to file that with the engineer just so that we have a formulated predictable Packet is the idea here So and then most importantly here it will create a hearing format for these regular meetings in which we'll do roll call and
- Approval of minutes reports and communications cases, which are the petitions and resolutions transportation inquiries and then general discussion and Staff proposals those will be about future things that we expect to be on the agenda that we would like to hear your input on before they appear on an agenda and then general public comment it also sets forth rules on giving testimony from the public it is a format for hearing a petition which is staff report and
- presentation by petitioner if it's different than staff Questions for staff. It'll go back to the body to review to ask questions or make concerns known it'll go to public comment prior to a vote and then it'll come back to the Commission for vote and Then yeah, so that's mostly it. It also talks about the findings which are very important we'll talk about those more and more as Petitions come up but those are the four items that you have to find for every case and
- Make sure that they are compliant with the comprehensive plan Acting in the best interest of safety acting in the best interest is sustainability and that they that staff conducted adequate public outreach And so that is that portion Transportation planning meetings will be similar those meetings Those are the standing steering committee meetings are a little bit more loosey-goosey in that they don't need to have a formalized
- Schedule because one thing will be on the agenda It will often have a consultant or a staff member presenting a plan or a portion of a plan or a Direction on a plan and we'll get feedback from you. It'll be an open discussion During the presentation is the idea there there is no
- First steering committees. There is no public comment as a standing item But the it gives the authority to the Commission to always change that rule So it has public comment rules established, but it's not an item necessarily on the agenda from the get and then Maybe most importantly is article 5 which is public comment provisions. It'll set forth some rules for public comment and
- There have been meetings where things go off the rails if if we don't have standard rules So we want to make sure that this body has standard rules and that we're following them it'll also give the chair the ability to or the Yeah, the ability to terrain things and In accordance with Robert's rules, so that's the general idea again, I realize you didn't all get it ahead of time So you have plenty of time to review it before next month, but I can answer any questions in the meantime
- I mean the one that we ask all the questions, but is there provision it so this is a duplication really of the plan Commission's Rules of order or is it based on it? I would say based on it's a homage Did staff contemplate the idea that perhaps the Commission might itself want to originate a resolution with a change in policy that would originate policy or is it simply a reactive body that is only receiving cases and
- Yes, you can absolutely do that within the proposed rules obviously within the sorry within the proposed rules There is a written idea that that could happen So the spotty could propose its own resolution the idea just being that for formalized future agenda items We could formalize that by having you go through engineering the this body would have the right to make a resolution on the fly so I think by Commissioner McKinney's motion and my second
- These articles are on the agenda or do we only just approve article one and that's been approved. You've only approved article one I didn't want to lock you into any rules Okay, so we're gonna propose the rest as the first order of business at the next meeting You could do that. You could do it tonight if you're comfortable, but yes first thing Next meeting would be perfectly acceptable. Okay. Thank you. Yeah I would suggest maybe adopting them tonight and then it's people have more time to review them for the next meeting We could make amendments of necessary. I've assumed
- Yes, you've adopted rules that allow you to amend them at any time now So it would be helpful to staff to know what the future holds. Like I said, we have a lot we've been without a commission for six months now and there's a lot to review so We would like to get going but it's up to this body. We have I thought they were excellent a good start I move we approve the draft administrative procedures and rules as presented and
- Second I'll second Okay Boland Yes, draw me yes Flaherty Yes Davis yes Stossburg yes
- Yes Okay, those rules have been adopted and so we have those rules will prepare those For next month or we'll have the the docket set as proposed next month and you'll see a lot of exciting stuff, hopefully Which this is another good segue so
- We could adopt a chair if we want to get to that and we now have a rule that says we should have a chair So if anyone would like to propose that we do that, I'll I'll give myself a quick breather and let you decide Nobody wants to go forward maybe we could be that happy the
- First-order a business and then consider amendments to the bylaws at the at the next meeting Perfectly. Okay with me. Okay, so then we get to our kind of last item, which is Future agendas. So this is a draft form. I didn't send it out to you. We Mostly because we don't know yet, but I have a rough draft of what we're proposing We've reserved this
- Council chambers for future meetings for all of these dates So you're not beholden to those but those are dates when this room is available and staff is available and commission members are Council members are also mostly available. There's one date that might be a problem, but you'll see how well
- So there's a like I said a couple dates on here The next one that we would like to lock in if you're all open to that is the June 21st meeting. That is a Monday Sorry, yeah, don't come here June 21st, July 21st, which is Monday. All of these meetings are Programmed to be on a Monday. That's just when we know council chambers will be open and you don't have to vote on this tonight or any of the other Dates on this tonight, but if you would please pick a
- For our second meeting we would be ecstatic to have that second meeting Can I just pull the members to ask yeah, of course is the third Monday of the month a Date that's good for everyone or do people prefer something else. Should we do a doodle poll? What what do you people think? There's my chair work for me
- Any better worse than any other day as long as I know and the further I know in advance the but more I can protect against it So yeah, I'm fine with a third Monday of the month that works everybody Mostly good there I also service the City Council's ex officio member of the utility service board Although that is a non-voting role and they have meetings at the same time Monday. Well overlapping on Mondays starting at 5 But it's every other Monday typically
- So essentially we'll end up with sometimes a conflict, sometimes not a conflict. But I think mostly I can probably just navigate that appropriately and or ask a colleague to attend a utility service board. Since again, it's a non-voting role in that board and it's also okay to catch up via meeting minutes and that kind of thing from time to time. So I think I'm good, sorry, just noting that conflict.
- Works for me as well And one of the many good things about being retired is my schedule. It's very flexible. It works for me as well It's not terrible for me I was just wondering if About the December meetings. Do you not have a lot of business in December? Could first or second Monday of the month be more advantageous since it's earlier in the month and that's likely to run into holidays and
- I would say that I have never seen a meeting in December be productive So that's why we pre-cancelled it But we are well, I mean we're happy to have it and again This agenda is not does not have to be set in stone at this meeting. We can do an ad hoc Kind of agenda setting if you'd like Could I also ask that we inquire of a certain member of the public who's in the audience tonight who may be named? the eighth member of the Commission if he could let us know and
- I see that he says thumbs up. He's pretty good with third month state Monday. It looks like most people are okay with it Okay, I move that we hold our next meeting July 21st at 530 Okay, thank you
- Okay Flaherty Yes Davis, yes Stossburg. Yes, Connell McKinney. Yes and rolling. Yes and You didn't ask me but yes, I thought I started with you my apologies I think I supposed to
- Okay, so I think that is all we had but There's plenty of time open for discussion If you have any further questions or if you would like to go to public comment, there are three members of the public here I'll leave that up to you. That would be traditionally that would be the last item on the agenda. So If there are any members, oh there's also online I'm so sorry. I Forgot I was running this meeting on zoom, too
- Okay, so there are members online if any member of the public in council chambers would like to come speak they can come up to the podium and Speak if you are online you can message the meeting host Ryan Roebling or you can raise your hand and I will call on you If you'd like to speak Not seeing anyone online if we would like to
- And then, if you would, please state your name and sign in when you get a chance. Hi, I'm Paul Russo, Bloomington resident. I really just have one question. Do the rules that you just adopted allow for public comment on modifying those rules? Because I read the draft rules and I have a lot of problems with them. But if I can come back and speak to it later, then that's no... I don't have to talk about it right now.
- Yes or no, I guess because it's kind of unclear about public comment and the draft rules We don't have rules so he might as well We actually do have a rule so hang on no, sorry the Specifically adopted a rule that would not allow open discourse of the public but a member of the Commission can adopt or take on that question themselves and ask staff to
- Which I assume that you all want to do. Okay. Yes You can definitely give comment if you would like to send the comment ahead of time We can have that and kind of prepare a response or if you would like to make the comment at the next meeting totally fine Thank you very much I Don't I don't follow did you not want to comment on the rules I Thought I was just given the opportunity to send comments for your next meeting and
- That would be better We would like to hear you as well as read from you. So if you'd like to say something now, okay off the top of my head article one section I Seems very broad about non-financial bias Like you could drive a truck through it You could say that somebody who has a bias about bicycling shouldn't be considered for this Bicycling proposal or someone who has mobility impairment shouldn't be
- considered for this access proposal because they have an inherent bias in how they see things, but we all have bias. I would recommend getting rid of that part of the section I, but leaving the financial intact. I would also like to see more public opportunity for public input in the rules. I remember a year ago before the Common Council
- Changed their rules. It used to be five minutes per person at common council meetings Your rules that you just adopted allow only three minutes. I would like to see five and I'm hoping that the Requirements for submitting an inquiry don't become too onerous. They seem like They seem prodigious the way I read it that might become a an impediment for people participating if they have to
- Jumped through too many hoops off the top of my head. That's all I have Thank you The staff have in response to his comments we're open to discussion these the Article 1 I section I is I believe lifted from planning Commission's rules So that is a standard rule, but we're open to changing it most commissions don't have the same
- What's that? Where was the rule from? I didn't hear what you said. Oh, sorry I believe that rule was lifted mostly unchanged from planned Commission's rules. So we're open to changing it Most commissions don't have a similar rule. It was just kind of where we started the template from
- As somebody who did a lot of ethics work for the city. I don't read the death the term bias It's quite the same way. I think somebody with a disability can participate in these meetings They're not they can still be impartial. I I don't have a concern about that myself Could I just ask that Staff send out a link to or a copy of the current working bylaws of the Plan Commission since this was adopted from
- Those laws and we can get a sense of how practically speaking. I mean those rules work Great idea and absolutely They'll be useful Okay, we have two members online with the hands raised I'll first go to Wendy if you could state your first and last name and then I'll give you a few off three minutes to speak and
- do Eric first? Sure. Thank you. Okay. Eric, state your first and last name and then you'll have three minutes to speak. Good evening, everyone. My name is Eric Ost and I'm pleased that you're taking input on the rules and procedures. I wish you would have done so before approving them.
- of course you can amend them in the future. But I think that this points out one thing that I wanted to highlight is that I think some of the points of, I don't know, Mr. Roebling referred to prior meetings. I think that,
- Accountability and transparency are important. And I hope that this commission can highlight, prioritize those goals, make those a priority. Speaking specifically to the rules and procedures, I noticed one of them says, as soon as possible, a summary of minutes of the proceeding shall be made available to each member of the commission.
- I would have proposed that that just say shall be made available, which would include both members of the commission, but also the public. I trust that minutes will be produced and made public, but this particular item says as soon as possible, a summary will be provided to members of the commission or to each member of the commission, excuse me. So I would just add into the public to that or
- just publish them, make them available as soon as possible. The other thing I would request, I looked and it was not clear to me whether these meetings were going to be added as a routine matter to the Community Access Television Services meeting archive. Traffic commission meetings were, I believe, added to the archive and covered and I would request that
- given the importance of the proceedings of this body, that it be elevated to a similar status as the plan commission, so that ideally they could be covered live, but certainly that recordings would be added to the CATS archive as soon as possible, ideally by the next day. I may have other comments
- and I can provide those in writing and during future meetings. But I appreciate all your service, thank you. Okay, Wendy, you should be able to unmute. If you could state your first and last name, you'll have three minutes to speak. Okay, yes. My name is Wendy Brisht,
- I read the rules, not in great depth, but I did go through them. And I just, I found them a little stiff as far as, a little discouraging as far as public input, as far as inquiries. There's a lot of people, I mean, we are experts in our own experiences of the transportation that we, you know,
- that we experience every day. And I think that it's an important input and I wish it weren't so difficult. It looks extremely difficult and I think it will discourage very many people who do need consideration. And I'm wondering if that could be greatly simplified for people to bring up issues and problems. Let's see.
- And also three minutes is rarely long enough, I've found. And we have a very educated public. We have people that are experts in transportation. We have people with things to say, and it would be nice to have a little bit longer to say them. It really is a short time, especially for people who aren't used to speaking in public. And also just for the relationship between the government
- and the residents, I think there has been some difficulty and frustration. And I would love to see residents whose lives will be impacted by the decisions that you're making be included early on so that you understand how they feel about things. And instead of hearing, well, the money is spent, the decision's already made, now you can have your public comment, but it won't really be taken
- nothing will be done about it, which is I think people get very discouraged. And I think you have a really good opportunity here to involve people in planning that really will impact their lives. And I hope that you take that seriously. I just, I think that's a big deal is for just the residents that I have spoken to.
- Anyway, and so yeah, if the rules could be made less rigid and maybe so that there is maybe more time, I've probably taken way more than three minutes for people and to include the public as a good resource and not as kind of an obstacle to be overcome. That would be great. Anyway, it's nice to hear you all and meet you all and looking forward to
- You're doing a great job for Bloomington and its drivers as well as everybody else, we hope. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We have one new hand, Betty Rose Nagel. I will call on you if you could state your name and unmute and then you'll have three minutes to speak. Hello. My name is Betty Rose Nagel.
- As I listen to this and the principle of uniting all the various transportation related commissions in one, it reminds me of DOGE. It reminds me of DOGE in that it prioritizes efficiency. And I don't think efficiency is always as effective as it might sound like it is. For example, the Hawthorne Weatherstone Greenway.
- was imposed on us. Lots of input we weren't really listened to, I don't think, and I would dare anyone to take a walk on Hawthorne South, starting at first and walking south, maybe even at second and walking at south, and be able to say that what I have said repeatedly, namely that, the traffic on that stretch of road
- typically at any given moment, on any given day, season, whatever, is zero cars going zero miles an hour. I do not see how the fairly efficient way of getting that done was an effective use of money. I think it was a waste of money. I think it was a way of ramrodding an ideological idea
- that really didn't suit that particular stretch of road. And if that is going to be done even more easily than when there was a bike ped commission, which I will say was not a bike ped commission, it was a bike commission. If there was a way to use pedestrians to leverage something that cyclists wanted, we were just fine. But I never felt, even for the brief period of time I was on the commission,
- that pedestrians really mattered for very much. The money that was spent on the Hawthorne Weatherstone Greenway could have been spent on, well, some of the dangerous intersections that Greg Alexander talks about, or given that I walk a lot in my neighborhoods, on repairing and adding sidewalks. They are a mess. And I will just end on that note.
- Please, whether you're going to be efficient, whether you're going to be one, you are obviously going to be one commission. If you are going to be one commission, do, in addition to parking and safety for one and all, do give consideration to sidewalks. Thank you for your time.
- Okay, thank you. If anyone else in chambers or online would like to speak, make your presence known. Online, if you raise your virtual hand, I will call on you. In chambers, just come on up to the podium. Okay, I am not seeing any. If anyone else on the commission has anything else to add, now's the time. Oh, go ahead.
- I keep forgetting the mic. Could you give the email again? If members of public want to send comments about the rules how they can reach you and make those suggestions? Yes, absolutely First I will say that the Transportation Commission has a website online. We will this gave me an idea. We'll make a form That's an open access form. So you'll just be able to fill it out there But also if you want to email me directly robling are at Bloomington dot i n dot gov. That is our OB l ing
- At blueington.in.gov. I'll get that and make sure that the commission members receive those I'd just like to say that since several of us didn't really have a chance to study the proposed rules we I for one voted for them for the sake of I
- Convenience knowing that we could amend them. I plan to study the rules and submit Proposed amendments in order to perhaps expedite those amendments if anybody else I Would like to ask every other member to study the bylaws we just adopted and let's let's Amend them in one fell swoop at the beginning of the next meeting happy to receive any proposals from other
- members and frankly from members of the public I was encouraged by the ideas I heard tonight in public comment about the rules and would like to Get the rules, right? I also think that maybe Our rules are not going to be quite the same as planned Commission, even though I see that we're This is the vision for this Commission among staff is clearly modeled on planned Commission and I don't discourage that
- But I think that we may need to consider Doing things a little bit differently than them. And so I one size doesn't fit all in we really should adopt rules that work for this Commission so with that if I would encourage everyone to send suggestions to mr. Roebling and they can forward them to me until I can figure out which email it is that y'all are sending stuff to because
- Like I said, I didn't get it before, and it took a while to receive the link that was sent to me tonight, so I think there's problem with my email. Anyway, thank you for that, and I look forward to hearing from other members about how we should conduct our business. Thank you.
- Okay, if there is nothing else, I'll give my email one more time just in case Roebling are our OB lin g are at bloomington.in Gov send any thoughts and comments about the rules or the Commission in general and I'll make sure the Commission members get that will also on the Transportation Commission webpage
- Form that you can complete so you don't have to email me directly and we'll make sure that the commission members get that And with that we don't have any other agenda items unless anyone has any questions. I'll give a brief pause First want to thank everybody and I move we adjourn Okay, and this one can oh no, I
- We have a member virtual. I think it's just adjourned. We don't have any more agenda item. So we're done We'll see you July 21st right here in council chambers at 530. Thank you