Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington Commission on Sustainability met
on June 9th and reviewed new guidance for city boards and commissions. Deputy Clerk Jennifer Crossley
led a training session covering public communications, conflicts of interest, open door law requirements,
and expectations for commission members. We've never had that type of formal training. And so a lot
of things have been left
to your imagination and just kind of flying off the seat of your pants and the liaisons trying to figure
out all the things as well.
And so last month liaisons and went through their particular training. And then this week we will wrap
up the training for board members and commissioners as well. During staff reports, sustainability staff
announced plans for a series of public climate talks in 2027 funded through a state energy grant. Proposed
topics include climate change impacts in Bloomington, energy efficiency and solar power, forest and
ecosystem health and food security.
The grant will also help fund energy upgrades, solar panels, and battery storage at the Buskirk Chumlee
Theater. We received a grant for the Buskirk Chumlee Theater, and for the new commissioners, you might
not know about that. It's Empowering Energy Partnerships and Communities grant through the Indiana Office
of Energy Development. We're upgrading the HVAC system. We're installing solar and a battery backup system.
at the Busker Children's Theater, and part of that grant was to pay for four climate talks in 2027.
Commissioners also discussed a potential joint effort with the Environmental Commission on Light Pollution.
They also approved a resolution calling for Bloomington to phase out certain rodenticides and glue traps,
citing concerns about impacts on wildlife and pets. If our goal here is to reduce the rodent population,
what this is impacting the most are the animals that eat the rodents.
Those are the ones that are getting the highest impact. So we're creating a circular feedback loop where
you poison the rodents and the rodent population might briefly go down, but then you're also poisoning
the animals that eat the most rodents. So their population goes down, which creates more rodents, which
causes you to need more chemicals to begin with. The next meeting of the Bloomington Commission
on Sustainability is on July 14th.
The Bloomington Plan Commission met on June 8th and sent a North Dunn Street subdivision proposal to
second hearing on July 13th. The proposed development would create 11 residential lots near Matlock
Heights. Residents spent more than an hour raising concerns about flooding, traffic and environmental impacts.
Resident Ididra Sheets criticized the proposal. She said plans to remove trees, reduce permeable surfaces,
and rely on homeowners to maintain a detention pond ignored the realities of flooding in the neighborhood.
The plan to significantly reduce permeable surfaces, remove trees that naturally prevent or mitigate
erosion, and leave it up to the homeowners to manage a detention pond all upstream
from an area without storm drains and with already existing drainage and flooding issues, to pretend
that anything other than the obvious is going to happen is to participate in a fiction. And it feels
like, and I apologize for my language here, and it feels like giving the homeowners and residents of
Mattlock Heights a really big middle finger. Resident Robin Halpin-Young argued that the city
was prioritizing growth over neighborhood concerns. We good citizens.
come to these meetings with our carefully drafted five-minute speeches, hoping to share the expertise
of our experience and our firsthand knowledge of the situation. Despite our compelling arguments and
obvious strong community opposition, the city is moving forward with their support for this plan. I
believe because it supports their plan for density at any cost.
Residents also described the financial toll of flooding. Resident Julie Williams told commissioners
that neighbors have faced extensive property damage. This is what we're dealing with. This is the expense
that neighbors have been struggling with. This is anytime you have to do
this kind of damage control on your property, it's tens of thousands of dollars. The commission ultimately
voted to continue the petition to a second hearing where the stormwater management, environmental impacts
and utility concerns are expected to receive further review. The next meeting of the Bloomington Plan
Commission will be on July 13th.
The Bloomington City Council met on June 10th. The meeting began with a review of the city's 2025 tax
abatement compliance report. Part of the discussion focused on why Novo Nordisk, formerly Catalan, was
considered substantially compliant despite reporting far fewer employees than originally projected.
Council member Isabel Piedmont-Smith said that she's concerned about the decision. I don't understand
why they're considered substantially compliant when
The planned jobs in the SB1 were 4,212 and the actuals are 1,867. Staff said compliance is measured
in part by factors within a company's control and argued the decline was largely caused by the collapse
of the COVID era vaccine market. Council members approved the report without calling for additional
compliance hearings.
Next, Council considered Resolution 2026-10, which calls on the federal government to impose a moratorium
on artificial general intelligence development. The moratorium would last until the technology's alignment
with human values and well-being is guaranteed. The Council heard from several speakers, including Future
of Life Institute Director Anthony Aguirre. He urged local governments to participate in the national
discussion about AI governance.
path laid out by a few giant US AI companies is not the only possible one, and there are still opportunities
to switch to another that develops powerful, trustworthy AI tools that empower and complement people
rather than replacing them and robustly maintains human control and responsibility. Such tools would
still enable medical and scientific breakthroughs, huge productivity boosts, and products allowing people
to do things they never could.
We just need to give up the poorly chosen goal of replicating and then exceeding all human capability
and AI replacements. With such a seemingly obvious choice for what is best, why then is the current
dynamic happening? For AGI, it is because of the potential financial prize for companies, a large stake
of the $50 trillion human labor market. Their investors won't let them stop. For superintelligence,
it is about power. Each company feels the same way. If we don't do it, they will.
If companies can't stop themselves, it falls to the rest of us to do so in the common interest. This
will take urgent action at the US federal and international level. The AI companies and their lobbyists
have so far been able to block any meaningful regulation of AI. But recently, things have been changing.
The risk is becoming obvious. And pressure is building from everyday people and communities worried
about their futures. You have an opportunity today with this resolution to add to that pressure and
to take a stand on behalf of the human future. The resolution passed unanimously.
The meeting continued with extensive discussion on Ordinance 2026-12, which would establish a permanent,
seasonal, car-free Kirkwood Avenue. It would create a framework for future pedestrian-focused planning
downtown. Resident Zach Ammerman supported pedestrianizing Kirkwood. Bloomington has every structural
advantage research identifies for implementing a successful pedestrian program. The one ingredient we
are missing is political will and vision.
And that is one that can only be supplied by you here tonight Councilmember Hopi Stasberg expressed
concerns that additional planning and investment are needed before making the closure permanent I don't
think what we have right now on Kirkwood spells success for a closure to vehicular traffic Especially
one that requires closure as this ordinance does of five complete blocks for only part of the year
While I think it is possible to create a vibrant and exciting pedestrian street in Bloomington, perhaps
even on Kirkwood, it will take significant investment to get there. After public comment and council
debate, the ordinance passed on a 5-4 vote. It now heads to Mayor Kerry Thompson for consideration.
Council also discussed guidelines for future alcohol permit districts in Bloomington now authorized
under Indiana law.
Aubrey Williams, co-founder of Heartwork Brewing, spoke in support of the resolution expressing criticism
of the current system. These liquor license costs have become so prohibitive, sometimes at a quarter
million dollars or more, that only outside developers and larger conglomerates can realistically absorb
them. This resolution presents an opportunity for the city to level the playing field. Council postponed
the final vote to allow for additional revisions.
The next Bloomington City Council meeting will be on July 22nd. The Richland Township and Town of Ellitsville
Reorganization Committee met on June 10th. Senior consultant Brandon Scruggs presented the reorganization
fiscal impact analysis from Baker Tilly. The purpose of the reorganization, as all of you know, is to
improve efficiencies, enhance the services. We want to be
the town to be more flexible, improve the planning, and support future growth. Really, this
is a forward-looking approach that's supposed to make things easier and more collaborative. What's being
proposed is that Richland Township and the town of Ellitsville join to be one unified government. And
if this becomes effective through voter approval in November, then it would begin as of January 1 of 2027.
So as of today, right now there's two separate units, there's Ellisville Town and there's Richland Township.
These two units have separate budgets, separate administrations. They provide separate services for
the most part. What would be under the proposed structure is that Richland Township and Ellisville would
join as one government and they would have one budget and one governing body and limit administrative
duplication.
Scruggs said the government would be a seven member board with representation from the township and
the town. The area would be split into two districts, one urban covering Ellitsville city limits and
one rural covering outside the town. There would be expanded responsibility of the town because now
they have all the township roads to care for. They would be using town crews and potentially contracted
services until they can build up to where they will be able to cover it all on their own.
and this would be funded by revenues like MBH, DAS taxes, and wheel taxes. On to the other two services,
Township Services, which is referring to, again, that Township Assistance or Public Assistance. That
department within the newly organized town would provide the Township financial assistance, cemetery
maintenance, as well as community services, and it is anticipated that the staff
at the township level would transition into the town. Scruggs said that each entity will retain its
own debts. The estimated reorganized town budget would be $11.3 million. He moved on to the tax rate
changes. This is the initial estimated impact. So Richland Township would see almost a 7% increase while
Ellitsville is about a 4%. Now I say that with
The caveat being that some properties are going to be at the property tax caps. If you're already at
the property tax caps or if the increase gets you to the property tax cap, then you're not going to
see that full increase in your property tax bill. Scruggs said Richland Township will effectively cease
to exist. Town attorney Darla Brown said Richland Township will be absorbed by Ellitsville except for
a small corner, which will be annexed by Bloomington.
During public comment, Richland Township resident Harry Farris asked where the Bloomington annexation
would reach. Council member William Ellis said that it would only affect areas already in Bloomington
city limits. Richland Township resident Richard Dillman opposed the tax increase. We should be able
to go into the reorganization without a tax increase. I mean, let's live like we do with our own paychecks,
with our own checkbooks.
We got the money, we don't spend it. We are picking up more services, though. Ellis responded that the
tax increase is to support expanding services into the township. Ellisville resident Anna Bednarski
said that the combined town and township budgets currently sum to $8.4 million. She asked why the budget
would increase by nearly $3 million. That is, to me, a vast increase in spending. And a lot of it is
through almost doubling
the police force and increasing the fire department operating budget, which the fire department will
be, again, if I'm understanding this correctly, serving the same area that it does now. So I think we
need to ask ourselves as township and town residents about this increase
and why it doesn't apply to other areas like education or other local concerns that we have. Bednarski
said the reorganization plan does not include assurances against negative development like factory farming
and data centers, so she does not feel safer with a reorganized town compared to the current way.
Members of the Bloomington and Ellitsville Chambers of Commerce and the Monroe County Republican Party
spoke in support of the reorganization plan. If the plan is approved, it will be on the November ballot.
If it passes the ballot, the reorganization will take effect on New Year's Day 2027. The Richland Township
and the Town of Ellitsville Reorganization Committee will meet for the final public hearing on June 22nd.
The Bloomington Arts Commission met on June 11 and announced Paige Sharp as the new Assistant Director
for the Arts, replacing the position formerly held by Holly Warren. Commissioners noted Sharp started
on May 26. Sharp described her background.
I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I loved art. And when I graduated, I actually
went into nonprofit. Both my parents were nonprofit people. So I'd been volunteering since seven, and
apparently I was just indoctrinated. So I went into the museum field and ultimately continued on that
pathway. I ended up with the Indiana Arts Commission, which is our state's
Arts Agency and was there for about 11 years running all the programs for the state. Sharp said she
attended the unveiling of the Ryan White statue that was unveiled on Thursday at Alumni Hall. White
became a national symbol for HIV and AIDS awareness as a teenager after his school barred him from attending
classes. White died in 1990 at 18 years old. I was excited to go to the Ryan White public art unveiling today.
a Melanie's bronze sculpture. And so that was a great inauguration. It was very heart-rending and a
really beautiful experience. Sharp said she's excited to take on the position and looks forward to working
with the Arts Commission members. She described them as a miraculous team. Then the commission introduced
the Trades District Placemaking Task Force. This organization will help guide public art efforts through
2028. The expectation is we'd have either monthly or ad hoc meetings
I think after the first meeting or two, we'll have a better sense of what sort of rhythm we'll establish.
Those will be primarily virtual. We'll have some options to attend in person if that's beneficial. And
this group will operate through the end term of the grant, which is the end of 2028. And so general
goals for this group
is looking at vision strategies, you know, sort of looking at the thematic designs that are part of
individual public art elements, other elements that we're integrating into the built environment in
the district and providing feedback
It's our key moments as that plan develops. Next, the Arts Commission walked through upcoming public
arts projects, including the Convention Center, Hopewell, and traffic boxes. Public arts subcommittee
chair, Rebecca Kehoe, updated the commission on ongoing projects. The city had deliberated and they
chose that Benjamin Ball's connection piece for the Convention Center. So just continually noting that.
There are several, there are going to be several upcoming projects, um, and the public arc subcommittee
that are coming down the pipeline that I think Christina and Paige can talk to as I sort of like, if
anybody has questions as I'm like talking them out, um, they can dive deeper into it. Um, so there's
going to be a Hopewell project, um, with John Resick. Um, and I don't really have more details on that.
I just know.
that will be happening at some point in the near future. Another project will be with the Miller Showers.
So Parks has received a substantial amount in funding, and so that will be a project. And then there's
a DBI initiative, which involves traffic box murals. So there's still a couple, I think, that need to
be done. The next BAC meeting will take place on July 8.
And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.