Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. On October 6, Mayor Carrie Thompson had a traveling
town hall at Jackson Creek Middle School. Thompson began by discussing the city's response to homelessness,
saying they hope to tackle the root causes such as affordable housing and a lack of mental health treatment.
She said if there's any city that could successfully address homelessness, Bloomington is the place.
and my administration really committed to working on the root causes of homelessness.
a lack of affordable housing, so we're working hard on that. We also are looking to county, state, and
federal partners to help on the untreated mental illness. There is a real deficit in mental health treatment
in our community and across the nation, and if you have read the president's
executive order related to homelessness. You'll note that he orders mental health treatment. Unfortunately,
that order cannot be fulfilled at this point because there's no funding and service providers available
to fulfill that part of the mission. Otherwise, I agree, we need to increase mental health provision.
While this is not unique to Bloomington,
I am firm in my belief that if there is any city in this country that can solve homelessness, it is
Bloomington, Indiana. Our numbers are relatively low compared to many other cities. We only have just
over 300 people who are experiencing homelessness, and what that means
in a city as innovative and compassionate as Bloomington is that we really have an opportunity to create
solutions that others have not tried and try them and work on them together until we actually figure
out what is dissolving the problem.
During the town hall, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development, Anna Killian Hanson, outlined
the city's housing ecosystem. She said the demand for housing has outpaced our growth and new housing
development. One thing is for certain in the housing world, housing is an ecosystem. Your housing needs
change over time. The first place that you live after leaving the nest is likely not the same place
that will fit your needs over time.
space needs change, what you can afford changes, physical needs change, how you live your life changes.
The progression of needs through different stages of life is often referred to as a housing ladder.
Unfortunately, right now, Bloomington is the most housing cost burdened metro area in the state.
High cost, low wage.
60% of our households are cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their monthly income on housing costs.
The demand for our housing has outpaced our growth of housing development. And 72% of our workforce
do not live in Bloomington. A lot want to, but they can't.
I don't know if any of you have bought or sold a house since 2020 or experienced what the market was
like. But if you did, you likely understood that if you wanted to buy a house, you had to compete with
at least eight other buyers. You had to likely waive inspections. You had to bid well over asking price.
And oftentimes, you had to ask for an appraisal gap. At that time, interest rates were so low that
It really was tolerable. The payments were tolerable. But right now, we are experiencing something called
the golden handcuffs. Folks are restricted from moving or buying a new home due to the low interest
rate on a current mortgage.
The golden handcuff effect occurs because refinancing or selling to buy a new home with current higher
interest rates would significantly increase monthly payments, making it financially difficult to move
even if other opportunities arose. Killian Hansen explained the city's focus on revising the unified
development ordinance, adding affordable housing units in the Hopewell neighborhood, and implementing
multifaceted strategies to promote diverse attainable housing.
We need to make it easier to build more types of housing in more places for more people without compromising
unique neighborhood character. We want a UDO that supports a thriving, diverse housing market, not one
that inadvertently makes it affordability harder to reach. We're currently performing an analysis of
our permitting process to identify obstacles to faster and more efficient approvals, and we're evaluating the UDO.
Hopewell is the former hospital site. It's one of the few areas within city limits that could potentially
put a dent in our housing needs. We currently have a project going with the housing authority who's
working on an adaptive reuse of the former, the original hospital site, the core building. It's a limestone
facing Rogers, limestone building facing Rogers. If you've driven by lately, you'd see the construction ongoing.
But Hopewell is also an interesting case study where the city is now a passenger to what developers
go through as they try to navigate our own red tape. Our community has been incredibly vocal. Residents
have asked for real options for first-time homebuyers, working families, long-term neighbors, not just
more of the same.
In June, the Redevelopment Commission took a new approach that uses pre-approved home designs on platted
lots to save time and money, welcome local builders to the table, and supports a healthy mix of attainable
and market rate homes. This course correction reflects a more realistic, community-centered strategy
that gets us where we want to go.
This new path is geared towards providing a diverse mix of housing types at a range of price points,
creating options for first-time home buyers, the local workforce, and families, not just luxury apartments
or student rentals. This pilot will demonstrate innovative solutions. We are also piloting an interest
rate buy-down program to help incentivize folks to unlock those golden handcuffs.
and climb up or down in that housing ladder influencing the overall market. Our community needs attainable
housing for the residents that work here. This administration is prioritizing just that. The mayor said
that the city needs to rethink the geography of the housing market. She described her vision for the
future of College Mall and the east side of the city, including redeveloping the east side into a mixed
use area for housing.
One of my ultimate visions for Bloomington is that we stop thinking in this way of we only have one
downtown because Bloomington has a city center, but then we have
economic centers, commercial centers, both east and west, and we have a good little pod developing south,
and even some new interest north. And that's the way, as we grow population, grow wages, we really need
to think of ourselves that way, that you can go to many different places and have a great experience
in Bloomington, dining or shopping,
going to a hardware store, etc. So my ultimate vision for College Mall would be that it becomes vibrant
again, that that piece of real estate becomes vibrant again. I think we know that for
For many, a traditional mall is no longer how people want to spend their time. And so we've seen lots
of great redevelopment of mall properties in many different ways throughout the country. And so ultimately,
if we could activate that area, I think we'd have a lot more vibrancy throughout that east side.
I will say that I think the stores that are facing outward, that little section that faces College Mall
Road at the intersection of 3rd and College Mall,
That does pretty well, so that should tell us something. But we've seen malls get redeveloped into housing,
get redeveloped into mixed use, and really thrive. And so we have a real opportunity there should the
owners of College Mall want to do something really fun in Bloomington, which we would love it if they
did. Thompson closed the hour-long session by inviting residents to share input on housing
initiatives through the city's website and future town hall meetings. The Monroe County Board
of Commissioners met on October 9th. The meeting began with an update from Monroe County Health Administrator
Lori Kelly. The update included insight into emergency visits for COVID and wastewater concentrations.
According to the Indiana Department of Health dashboard, emergency department visits for COVID-like
illness have decreased and wastewater concentrations are decreasing as well. Flu activity across the
state is minimal. The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccine for all people six months and older. And
the community health clinic at 333 East Miller Drive has vaccines available.
You can call 812-353-3244 for more information or for an appointment. Then resident of Steinsville,
Molly Radecki thanked Commissioner Jody Madeira for helping with the sewage and stormwater issue in
her home. Radecki stated that thanks to Madeira's help, she has the tools to keep her home from flooding.
She also explained her efforts to reach out to certain groups for a developmental plan towards Steinsville's
sewage issues.
I just wanted to publicly thank Commissioner Maderas for helping me with my stormwater issue and sewage
issue. We've come to an agreement with South Central Sewage District in Binyamfanyam. We have the tools
that will work now, which is a backflow device and a backflow valve that will keep me from flooding.
With that said, Steinsville has a unique infrastructure and needs help. And so I have reached out to
the Center for Rural Engagement. I did put in a grant. It's not a grant application, but an application
for partnership.
for the sustainable Hoosier communities. I don't know if we'll get it or not, but it's a step in the
right direction. They also have tremendous resources and one of the resources they recently gave me
was the Regional Development Authority and I will be writing them a
a letter of inquiry for a development plan and the person we really need to get involved in this is
Bruce Payton who works for Hanson Professional Services. It's a civil engineering service and I just
want to put that name in your head, Bruce Payton. He was born in Steinsville. He remembers when there
was a train coming through and he can give us the right plan for Steinsville. Commissioner Julie Thomas
responded saying she was glad things were resolved and agreed that Steinsville's sewage system is unique
I'm glad things worked out. I know we did it some ARPA funding related to the
to the sewage issue, septic issue, and I know it is unique. Then county assessor Judy Sharp presented
a request for funding for master services agreement to have three flights take new aerial imaging of
the county over a six year period. The total funding would be $450,000 and six cents. The imaging called
pictometry is aligned with Beacon GIS. Sharp outlined the request and her excitement for the new imaging
which will have one-inch pixels. What's happened, and since we started this, you know what's happened
in this county as well as I do. Look at the development. And this pictometry is another tool in our
toolbox and everybody else's that works in the county.
And the public, they use this tool like you cannot believe every appeal I have. They've used the tools
that we have, which is fine, that's why we do this. But I think this one inch is gonna be so exciting
when it finally comes in. Commissioner Thomas pointed out the lack of accurate property lines on GIS.
Sharp said the issue is a matter of cost and emphasized that the service is not perfect. So that's why
the taxpayers, the customers out there need to understand
This is a phenomenal tool, but it's not perfect. It's not a survey. And you and somebody that's on the
planning commission and all of that kind of stuff really understands that. The Monroe County Board of
Commissioners will meet again on October 3rd.
The Bloomington Board of Park Commissioners met on October 8. Operations and Development Division Director
Rebecca Swift opened the discussion by talking about the proposed milestone rail trail improvements.
The total is not to exceed $212,000 or $212,280,000.
Speak right now, sorry, words, numbers. Anyway, milestone provide all necessary material labor equipment
to complete the Bloomington ranch arrive to frosting. Mostly this is to realign the frosting to improve
pedestrian safety. We're going to be putting in a new street light as well as an rapid flashing beacon.
That's going to be pedestrian controlled.
We are planning to pave each side of the road a certain section of the rail trail, but just to clarify,
the rail trail will remain an unpaved trail for the most part. This is just to improve the apron on
each side of the Rockham Street. There was a little bit of grading needed and some site restoration,
but other than that, it's a pretty straightforward project. The motion to approve passed unanimously
and without any questions.
In order to move forward with the rail trail improvements, Swift also pushed for the approval of the
temporary closure of the rail trail. In order to do the project I just presented to you, we do need
to close temporarily, but full closure of the rail trail in this corridor. We're estimating less than
30 days. I put in here an estimated start date of October 15th, knowing that we had a delay a little
bit for this special session, probably be more closer to October 20th.
The contractor is estimating 21 days. It will not require a full trail closure that entire time, but
it's better to assume the full construction schedule with. And there will be some temporary road closures,
but obviously that is outside of this application. I am just requesting park board's approval of the
temporary full trail closure of the rail trail. That motion also passed unanimously. The Bloomington
board of park commissioners will meet again on October 21st.
The Bloomington Utilities Service Board met on October 6. Environmental Division Manager Kelsey Thetonia
requested approval of an amendment to a service agreement with McAllister Machinery. This is an amendment
to an existing contract we have, and it is just to correct a small scrivener's error in the way the
contract was first written. It is meant to renew for two extra years after year one. We are currently
in year two.
and it is just to clarify the amounts that year two and three are not the same as year one and that
is due to the fact that the work in the contract, the inspection and maintenance on these generators
varies from year to year as outlined in the scope. The board approved the amendment unanimously. Next,
Assistant Director of Operations Hector Ortiz requested approval for an amendment to the service agreement
with Potomac Electrical Services. This is to amend
the contract, extending the expiration of the contract for three years instead of three months.
It was. Next, utilities director Catherine Zager presented another resolution which included settling
the 2026 salaries of appointed officers, non-union and AFSCME employees within the utilities department.
We are not proposing any new positions. However, we are proposing quite a few changes to current positions.
This is kind of added up after a couple of years as the new administration and new HR
department had made adjustments using the crow salary study. We wanted to wait until after that had
been implemented to propose our changes. So this is has, I suppose, piled up after a couple of years.
So we will be changing a total of I believe 10 positions for a total of nine requests.
to Council and we would like for your review and recommendation of these changes. The resolution was
approved and will move forward to the Bloomington City Council for final consideration. The next Bloomington
Utilities Board meeting will take place on October 20th.
The Bloomington City Council met on October 8th to discuss approval of the 2026 budget. This followed
weeks of scrutiny and growing tension between the council and Mayor Kerry Thompson's administration.
The 2026 budget for the City of Bloomington totals over $65 million, with a $9 million deficit in the
general fund. Councilmember Sydney Zulik walked through the three appropriation ordinances pertaining
to the city budget.
The committee of the whole considered the three budget ordinances appropriation ordinance 2025 dash
11 appropriation ordinance 2025 dash 12 and appropriation ordinance 2025 dash 13 during the committee
of the whole meeting on September 24th 2025 and makes the following recommendations number one the committee
of the whole recommends to the council the adoption of appropriation ordinance 2025 dash 11 number two
The committee of the whole recommends to the council the adoption of appropriation ordinance 2025 12
and number three the committee of the whole recommends to the council the adoption of appropriation
ordinance 2025 dash 13.
City Controller Jessica McClellan told the council that the proposed budget would reduce the projected
deficit but would leave some cushion. McClellan said that the city would end up with an estimated $26
million cash balance and a $9 million planned deficit. This is just a little bit more information for
you about the deficit spending
for next year, which is about $9 million. And that is purely from the revenues that we're receiving
next year versus the spending that we have planned for next year. And I'm gonna update you one more
time about the planned, the planned cash balance on the general fund at the end of 2026 is 26,161,215.
So that $26 million is 40% of the operating budget. So we would have 40% reserves of our total operating
budget. During public comment, local resident Eric Ost called for stronger transparency when it comes
to the city's debt. Transparency, as the Thomson administration has said, is a value means more than
posting data. It means understandable, making it understandable and accessible.
The controller's goal to meet the public where they are is a great start. It's commendable. To truly
be co-creators, council and administration should actively invite public input on budget engagement,
making trade-offs visible and using modern tools such as Notebook LM to foster ongoing informed dialogue.
Perhaps we could formalize public participation by inviting residents to join
the fiscal committee or the budget task force. Leveraging community expertise will strengthen our shared
path towards fiscal health. Thank you for your service to our community and for all of your good work.
Also during public comment, retired financial auditor, Kevin Kehoe urged the council to delay passage
of the budget, citing unresolved accounting errors. I'm concerned that the administration still is not provided
a clear documented explanation for the so-called macro errors that reduce the projected budget deficit
by $2.3 million, a material and significant error. When errors of that size appear between the accounting
system and the budget document, the cause and impact should be fully reconciled and shared with the
public before this council votes. Anything less
leaves both the council and the community in the dark, whether the budget numbers are reliable. I understand
that mistakes can happen in data transfers or spreadsheets. What's troubling is the lack of transparency.
There has been no reconciliation, no errata sheet, and no technical explanation of how the macros failed
or which accounts were affected. From a professional auditing perspective,
I would urge the council not to approve the 2026 budget until those explanations can be made public
and the corrected figures verified. And I would also add, since I have some more time than I thought
I'd have, today's Herald Times, the front page. The mayor and city needs to cut spending. Thompson plans
to use, and this is the figure, today's paper, $11 million in reserves to balance the budget.
directly conflicts with what the controller said this evening. So anyway, I thank you for this opportunity
to provide public input. Council member Matt Flaherty said that he would not vote to approve the budget,
citing trust issues with the Thompson administration. I'm not going to be voting in favor of this year's
civil city budget because I don't feel like I can in good conscience. Not a decision I make lightly,
but it's a vote that's consistent with my values and what I think is right. And I'll do my best to explain.
I probably will be a little short on time.
It's also a bit about accountability for me, and I think the budget is a very poor accountability mechanism.
There are much better avenues through conversation and collaboration, negotiation and agreements, things
that have largely proven ineffective in my experience with this administration for 20 months. And I
think without real accountability, we won't see real change, and so that's really the motivating factor.
First, I think we are very much failing to meaningfully center our operationalized equity in city government,
which is central for me as an elected official.
Second, in ways that I think are harming our community, I believe this administration is failing to
prioritize and pursue the outcomes we've set through community-driven legislative processes. And, third,
quite sadly, really, I no longer consistently trust what this administration tells us based on their
past actions and a pattern of behavior exhibited throughout their time in office. Also not in favor
of the budget was Councilmember Kate Rosenberger, who says that she's lost trust with the mayor's office.
It's hard that
This is just one example of a place that like all honesty it just feels blown to pieces and I I do follow
councilmember Flaherty in that like the lack of trust is so extreme for me. I want to use a no vote
to show that.
Other council members, including Dave Rollo, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, and Andy Ruff supported the budget.
However, they urged fiscal caution amid state-imposed revenue limits. They praised the administration's
move to provide a 2.7% cost of living adjustment for city employees. The council passed the 2026 budget
with a vote of seven to two. The next Bloomington City Council meeting will take place on October 15th.
And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.