Welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annaliese Poorman. The Bloomington City Council met on December 3rd and discussed
amending Title 10 of the Bloomington Municipal Code, a change that would raise septic hauler rates by
nearly 300 percent. The adjustment is intended to align rates more closely with the actual cost of treating
wastewater.
Utilities Service Pre-Treatment Program Coordinator Stephen Stanford noted that Bloomington's comparatively
low wastewater treatment rates attract haulers from as far away as Indianapolis and Ohio, and that the
rates have not been updated in more than 25 years. Now what is the, what does the effect look like for
a typical customer who has a septic system?
The EPA tells us that a system like that should be inspected every three years and that the tank should
be pumped every three to five years. If I own a thousand gallon tank and I pump it every three years
because I wanna keep it working well, CBU's charge to the waste hauler is gonna increase from $20.60
all the way up to $80. That's the large percent increase that I've seen in print. On an annual basis, however,
As the septic system owner, I'm only paying $19 and 80 cents more a year So it's a large percentage
increase for CBU that really in the end doesn't add up to much for a typical septic customer
Councilmember Dave Rollo questioned why out-of-county rates would not be set higher, noting that the
relatively low cost could continue to incentivize haulers from outside the county to bring wastewater
to Bloomington. Zager responded that Lake Monroe, which supplies water for Bloomington's wastewater
treatment plant, is located partly outside the county. She said Bloomington Utilities does not want
to raise rates so high that it discourages residents within the watershed from properly
maintaining and pumping their septic systems. Well one of the things that our proposed rate change would
do was to would discourage haulers from coming so far away. So eight cents a gallon would be relatively
competitive in the region and so may discourage folks from taking a very long drive to come dump their
septic waste at Dilman.
During public comment, Courtney Medley from Medley Septic Service highlighted that out-of-county haulers
are often in-county haulers bringing waste from surrounding counties. She says Bloomington is the local
dump site. But I think it kind of got made to be more of a haulers are coming from so far away to dump
more so as it is
Yes you are the city of Bloomington but we are also Monroe County and servicing those surrounding counties.
So I just kind of wanted to clarify that for you as far as the amendment goes that it's not just haulers
coming out it is still your local haulers that are bringing in from the surrounding counties. Council
member Andy rough says the motion is implementing too high of an increase.
You know, we've we've built an expectation maybe inadvertently But by not by allowed by have charging
two cents or have a long span for so long We've sort of built a reasonable expectation amongst property
and business owners that this is what the cost is and They're making business decisions and home investment
decisions based on the assumption that
You know, it may go up some. Yeah, sure, things go up. Things cost more. But nobody could have reasonably,
I don't think, expected this. The council decided the motion needs more work to distinguish between
the different services and the motion failed. The next Bloomington City Council meeting will be held
on December 17th.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on December 2nd. During the meeting, Public Works Director
Adam Wason introduced a 2026 contract with Zephyr, a payment portal for monthly parking garage customers.
He said the startup fee would be $4,000, which would cover monthly subscription and credit card transaction
fees. Wason said that there would be no changes to the card readers in the garages, and system updates
should not cause problems.
Yes, we've been doing this more manually lately with the square type payment processing. This will be
a little bit more automated, something that we can be a little more efficient with. It was probably
a year or so we had to make a go. We had to make a switch over to the square for some I can't remember
the exact reason that they had at that time. But so this will be something that replaces that. The contract
was approved unanimously.
Next, Wason introduced multiple contracts for paving streets in Bloomington and additionally asked for
approval to repair parts of the brick sidewalks on Kirkwood Avenue. He explained that the board is planning
to replace the original bricks in the sections of the sidewalks that have eroded from tree roots and
usage. Wason said some areas won't be replaced because they are in good shape and the work will be done
with respect to pedestrians and property owners.
They're definitely gonna stage and work with the property owners on timing and things like that But
it's not necessarily that they're gonna do a whole like There are some areas that they're not gonna
really do much any work at all. There's no hazards. It's in good shape What we've really what we did
was go block by block and identify areas that Excuse me new needed a trip hazard removed. So it's not
necessarily that they'll be doing big sections on each side of the road and
The other thing we would make sure is that any time they're working on the south side of the street
in a block that they're not working on the north side of the street for pedestrian access. So if they
have to close a section we're going to need to detour them somewhere. So we'll be coordination on this
one will be quite quite busy and we'll make sure we work with all those property owners. Wilson said
the board's original plan changed after realizing the importance of the brick sidewalks on Kirkwood Avenue.
We were gonna move to more of a stamped concrete look with a herringbone design brick, like make it
look like real brick. But then as we even thought about it more, those bricks are pretty iconic and
what people think about with Kirkwood a lot. So this is a good project to maintain and continue forward,
remove the trip hazards and then over time with the community really decide what we wanna do with Kirkwood.
The board approved the request. The Bloomington Board of Public Works will meet again on December 16th.
Bloomington Mayor Carrie Thompson hosted a traveling town hall on December 1st at the Monroe County
History Center. At the town hall, she answered residents' questions about housing priorities in the
Hopewell neighborhood. City Council Member Sydney Zulek and Planning Transportation Director David Hittle
joined Thompson on the main stage to address residents' concerns.
I think one of the most exciting things about Hopewell is that we really believe we really are targeting
trying to get these homes to be attainable for our young professionals, which we're trying to keep in
town. And that is, you know, both Councilmember Zulek and I have
focus on economic development that we really have a missing segment of our population. And those are
the young professionals who they'll stay maybe for a couple years after they
get out of IU, but then if we haven't kept them then, we can only hope to get them as bloomerangs usually
after they've raised a family. And so what we really want is to keep them and to make sure that there
is opportunity and potential here for them not only to be housed, there's a place that they can afford
to live and a place, hopefully, that is a neighborhood that really calls them into belonging and it's
a cool place to be right on
the beeline and walking distance to all of the downtown things and an asset like a grocery store right
across the trail, but also just really cultivate a culture of belonging there. And so Hopewall is not
exclusively for young professionals. We just want to make sure it's attainable for them. And on the
other side of that, we're working on jobs and how to grow our economic picture
so that our wages also grow in Bloomington. Because of course, there are two sides of affordability.
One is how much your housing costs, right? And the other is how much do you make in order to be able
to afford that? And so we're really working on both ends of that. During the question and answer portion
of the town hall, local resident Liz Peck asked the mayor about her concerns surrounding senior housing
affordability.
Can everybody hear me? My name is Liz Peck and I have lived in Bloomington for 25 years. I believe there's
also another group of people in Bloomington that are struggling for housing and that is the group of
retirees that will never be able to afford
to live at Meadow Wood and really won't qualify for public housing. So what they're doing mostly now
is living in apartments that nobody can afford here. And it's really taking a toll, even for people
that have had houses and have sold them. And that money can dwindle really quickly.
when you're paying a couple thousand dollars a month for rent. So hope well, my hope for hope well,
that it will be an intentional community, which it is, that will have people at all income levels, people
at all ages and professions. My ideal is to have one community after the other like that.
in a city where you can get everything you need within a walking distance of maybe a mile and have your
people that you're close with in the community. So I hope that happens at Hopewell and possibly other
places. But I'd also like to know, are there any plans? I know you're doing very ambitious things, but
are there any plans for nice
livable, affordable housing for seniors. Thompson addressed senior housing needs within the Hopewell
plan. There will be no discrimination at Hopewell for who can buy those and on the rental units who
can rent them. And really, I mean, I think that we have a great mix there. There are
There are some multi-unit buildings that probably will be condos, not $2 million condos, more like $150,000
condos. And that's a ballpark. It depends on the trim and things like that. The anticipated construction
cost on the smallest owner-occupied home, which is a very modest-sized house,
The anticipated construction cost, last I heard, and David can correct me, is $125,000.
and that's a studio. It's a 600 square foot studio, but you could buy it. And so this would be a good
option. It's all on one floor. It's a good option for a senior, but it's also a great option for a younger
person who wants to enter the ownership market but can't possibly afford to save for a down payment
for a $250,000 house, right? And so as David said earlier,
What we know about who actually lives in houses is that most of them are one and two person households.
But we really don't have anything on the market that is speaking to that size household. And while many
people love to have a guest room or something like that,
Most people really, ultimately, want to live close to work. And they want to live close to the resources.
And so building a more modest sized home that people can actually get into and stay in is more of our
goal. So that's been the target at Hopewell. I think we probably will attract a lot of seniors there.
I hope we also attract a lot of young professionals. And that it's a place that everybody in between gets
to live to. One local resident asked about the time frame for the opening of the Bloomington Convention
Center. Zulick said that the expansion should open that stores in June of 2027. So the time frame question
is I believe we should have
doors open in June of 2027. So at that point there will be a 60,000 square foot expansion across the
street where the former early voting site used to be and then a 40,000
square foot, which is where the current convention center currently sits. And that will the remaining
money will go towards repairs that are needed in that building. Mayor Thompson said that she's looking
forward to the end result of the project, saying the city is currently losing tourism income now that
the construction is underway.
I'm really excited about the convention center because we have been turning down a lot of convention
business. And many of the organizations here in town have actually outgrown the convention center for
their own events. And so it's something that we both need here in town for our own organizations, nonprofits,
and businesses alike that are holding meetings or fundraisers.
are really losing some tourist income. And we're the number two choice in the state of Indiana
for conventions. So people come into Indianapolis. They have a huge convention center. You want something
very different from that experience than you would Bloomington. But Bloomington has
so many reasons to come visit. And that's really attractive for conventions. And so we think of ourselves
as many different things. But I think sometimes those of us who live here forget that we are a favorite
place to visit for many people in Indiana. And people love to have a reason to come here and spend several
days. So we want to capture their imaginations and invite them to hang out here.
To view the full Town Hall, you can visit catstv.net. The next traveling Town Hall will take place next
year. The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission met on December 1st and discussed the Convention Centre
Host Hotel. The selected developer, Dora Hospitality, says they cannot build the required hotel without
City incentives.
Sustainable Development Director Jane Cooper-Smith says the host hotel is necessary because it is aligned
with Bloomington's redevelopment plan. The staff and ultimately redevelopment commissioners are not
entertaining this project simply because a hotelier asked us
to use this property for a hotel. It's because the convention center is a pillar of our community's
economic development. It will drive our economic development, much of it going forward, and a proper
host hotel is critical to the success of that convention center. It was understood from the beginning
that the convention center was, or the host hotel would be needed and that it
would have to happen separately from the development of the Convention Center proper. But this is very
much aligned with everything that we're doing in our downtown core from Switchyard Park through Trades
District up to the area surrounding Miller Showers Park.
In October, the Capital Improvement Board said that there is a large funding gap in the project. To
help with the funding, the Redevelopment Commission considered supporting a resolution to provide the
hotel land at lower than market value. Commissioner Dana Kerr explained that the resolution could ensure
desired hotel quality. Because of the gap in the quality of what is wanted by the CIB,
And the community for the Host Hotel, I would say, is you're not going to get that quality unless there
is some incentives available. Because the developer can't make up that kind of expenditure in the amount
of time that they'd be running in red for a long period of time.
then you're not going to find a hotel your network's run into, right? Executive Director Anna Killian
Hansen explained that unlike Posh or the Trades District Hotel, the Host Hotel must be larger,
more regulated, and less profitable because it is designed to support the Convention Center. This presents
a financial gap that the private market cannot cover on its own. There is still a substantial gap that
we can't fill.
We have looked to other partners to see if anything else is on the table. We have explored every option
possible and we're hitting dead ends. So would you be able to maybe just briefly illustrate if possible
and this might be for Director Cooper-Smith as well in terms of there are other hotels that are in progress
in the community and you know just from a general public point of view what's the differences between let's say
hotel or the trades district hotel and what's needed for the convention center hotel that in terms of
what the market can support and where subsidies needed just might help illustrate the difference and
I'm trying not to get into really you know granular numbers but just the real estate picture of why
this gap exists and why subsidy is needed. Well construction right now is expensive period and it's
only going up so let's just that's
just the market the way that it is. But I think one of the bigger differences between both of those
hotels has to do with no parking garage. So yeah, the trades district hotel is going in without subsidy,
but there'll be leasing spaces from the trades district garage where there is availability. And so that's
saving $20 million of investment. So it's not a direct subsidy, but it's
it's effectively supporting the project. During public comment, City Councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith
said that the council does not want any taxpayer money other than the food and beverage tax going towards
the hotel. Because there are many more important and urgent community needs than a hotel for the convention center.
That's eight out of nine council members. The commission voted to table the resolution to allow more
public transparency. It will be voted on the next meeting on December 15th.
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners met on December 4th. During the meeting, advocates for the
unhoused expressed outrage over the county's recent evictions of at least two encampments in the winter
cold. Local resident Shelby Porteroff criticized the county's decision to close encampments and urged
the commissioners to hold off evictions until the spring.
I'm here today to talk about the evictions that are happening at several of the unhoused encampments
around Bloomington set for Monday, December 8th, which is, as I'm sure you all are familiar, right in
the dead of winter. So I first wanted to just say that I really appreciated some of the lines in your
statement where you affirmed your commitment to protect all citizens and for all folks in Bloomington
and Monroe County to live peacefully and without fear. And so it's with those lines that I ask you,
although this is not on the agenda,
to use the Monroe County Code 2571 to consider staying these evictions until the spring. I understand
that this is a complicated and nuanced issue, and however, I encourage all of you who I'm sure have
been in Bloomington for a long time to recall what happened in 2020 when Mayor Hamilton's administration,
without any correspondence to communities outside of Bloomington Police Department and the mayor's office,
despite CDC encouragement to leave encampments in place,
Evicted the communities of seminary square and on Christmas Eve one of our long-term unhoused community
members froze to death the folks who are in these encampments have their materials in place and Solidified
in place for them to survive the winter right now We do not have enough volunteers for our emergency
shelters to open overnight and the few shelters that we have their year-round are completely full the folks who
are here today, go out to these community members regularly to support them and check in on them. And
if you have not been to an unhoused encampment in the woods on your own, it's not what you expect. Yeah,
there's trash. I'm not going to lie and pretend that there isn't. There are also not resources for these
folks to clean up their messes. Dumping is illegal. If they throw things in dumpsters, they get in trouble.
They don't have cars. They don't have trash cans. They don't have municipal services to pick up their
waste. But what's also out there is an attempt to make a home. If you have ever been to an encampment
in the woods, what you will see is community spaces. You will see areas that are sequestered off specifically
for restroom use. And you won't find needles loosely scattered like you think that you will. Any of
those preconceived notions that you have are not the reality on the ground. They're humans too. They're not evil.
They're people who are having a really hard time. And as community members, it's our responsibility
to step up and care for those closest to us. Resident Ed Doss made an emotional plea to the commissioners
to pause evictions during the cold weather. The majority of us in this room see this for what it is.
If this policy passes, we see it as state-sanctioned murder.
What you are choosing to do is force people to uproot their livelihoods, leave whatever comfort that
they have been able to build for themselves, whatever warmth that they have been able to gather through
the most adverse conditions, and either reset up, which is going to cause people to die in the process,
as well as cause people to die when they get evicted over and over and over again through winter as
we see. So once again, we implore you to add this to the agenda and to put a stay on this until the spring.
Commissioner's administrator, Angela Purdy, explained the process behind these types of evictions. We
have a process in which once we are made noticed of an encampment, we reach out to the sheriff's office,
we reach out to Health Net, and we reach out to the, in this instance, as this is in the city,
the city SROs. And when
staff went out on December 1st to give notice of the requirement to leave. They were provided
with information. Health Net and the SROs have been going out daily and meeting with these people, trying
to get them into shelter. There is shelter available. We have confirmed that. Health Net has confirmed
that. They advised that they
don't want to take that particular option. So that's where we're at at this point in time. We give them,
we take personal belongings that are left when we do go for the cleanup and we hold on to those for
one week's time. And then they can come and make arrangements to pick those up. That information was
also provided to the people who are on the property.
Resident Maria Bull warned the commissioners that evicting people experiencing homelessness in the cold
weather only exacerbates the issue. I think that this council should
move the eviction date into the spring when it is warmer out, because it is the dead of winter. It is
very cold. Even I, as an IU student, am freezing out there. And these people that have less of resources
than I do and don't have an option to go into a warm building when they need it need help and should
be evicted in the spring. Honestly, I don't think they should be evicted at all.
We will compromise on that. Commissioner Julie Thomas thanked the public commenters for attending, but
added that this is a complex issue with many factors to consider. The next commissioner's meeting will
take place on December 11th. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB,
I'm Annalise Poorman.