Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington City Council met on November 4th.
During council reports, council member Courtney Daly addressed the weekend shooting on Kirkwood during
homecoming, which left seven people injured. She thanked police for their response, expressed sympathy
for those affected, and said that state restrictions limit what Bloomington can do locally to improve
gun safety.
No one should ever go out for a night with friends and end up in a trauma unit. The grief and anxiety
left behind in our community doesn't just disappear when the police tape comes down. So we are mourning
with everybody who was involved, and you deserve so much more than just our sympathy. And frankly, my
sorrow is mixed with pure unadulterated rage. Because as a local leader, the most infuriating part of
this job is knowing that when our community cries out for protection,
Our hands are legally tied. The state legislature in Indianapolis has systematically stripped cities
like Bloomington of the power to protect our own streets. Under Indiana's strict pre-exemption laws,
local municipalities are explicitly forbidden from passing basic common sense gun safety measures. Council
member Isabel Piedmont-Smith also commented on racist flyers reportedly distributed in Park Ridge East.
These two incidents, the shooting and
The racist flyers tell us that we are unfortunately not an exception to the hatred that spread sometimes
in this country and the violence that is facilitated by lax gun laws in this country. So my heart goes
out to anybody who received those flyers and I
I say to anybody who was involved with distributing them that you're not welcome here. The Council then
considered whether to remove Raynard Cross from the Historic Preservation Commission. Interim Council
Attorney Larry Allen gave background and explained why he was recommending removal.
I want to be very clear that this removal action did not take into consideration any viewpoints that
were expressed, any expressive statements about any particular issue before the HPC. This really has
to do with conduct as it relates to the Code of Conduct, the Indiana Open Door Law, but more specifically,
the inhibition of
doing business before the HPC. And the HPC was unable for that time period that the meeting was delayed
to hear their regular petitions. And so one of the requirements under due process, not only that we
give notice and opportunity to be heard for Mr. Cross and as I stated, we had sent him notice and he
has submitted materials and I believe we're going to give him an opportunity to speak as well today.
Cross defended himself disputing the process and saying he had not received enough detail about the
allegations.
I've been told that I have breached the code of conduct, but I have not been told what specific statements,
actions, or omissions on my part constitutes that breach, which sections of the code of conduct was
breached, how that action breached that section, what evidence was relied on, who was the complainant,
and whether or not that breach rises to the level of precluding me from continued service.
At no point have I received any information. Mr. Allen says constantly that I responded. But if you
read the contents of my response, it was that I was not given any information to respond to. I have
not been given an opportunity to speak, call witnesses, cross-examine witnesses. I don't even know what
the basis of the complaint is. It could not be Ms. Crossley's email, because on the 21st, I received notice
But Miss Crossley's document was not sent until the 15th of September. So it could not have been the
basis of the notice. There was no motion made by any committee members, which certainly, with the other
cases of removal, was what initiated the process.
Council members also raised concerns about the conduct at commission meetings and the process. Council
member Hopi Stasberg said that the extended exchanges had taken time away from other business and raised
concerns about Cross's ability to serve through contentious issues. Okay, if you're going to get upset
about things and then not participate, then maybe in fact you're not fit to serve. And that's the question
that's going through my head right now in terms of fitness to serve.
even if it was political, there's political things that happen up here all the time. And I think that
my constituents would and should vote any of us out of office if we can't manage to sit up here and
take all the bolarchy, right? Piedmont Smith expressed concerns about every part of the process. I think
this has been mishandled in countless ways, both on our end and to some extent,
on the HPC members and even on Mr. Cross, I think there have been mistakes up and down the line. And
even though I am a member of interview committee C that voted unanimously to recommend removal, I think
that this is foobar and we just can't follow. I don't think we should add
I don't think we're in a position to make a good decision here. We just the process has been so flawed
that I think we need to dismiss this now. Come up with a policy make that policy known to everybody
involved to all the commissions and then follow through with it. Thank you. The council voted unanimously
to dismiss the matter with prejudice meaning the same charges based on these meetings cannot be brought again.
The council then advanced a proposal for a 2.7% cost of living increase in elected officials' 2027 salaries.
Members discussed other approaches, including keeping salaries at 2026 levels or distributing the increase
differently. Councilmember Stosberg proposed keeping salaries at 2026 levels. One of the things about
elected officials' salaries, for those of you who don't know, they can't go down.
Once they go up, they can't go down. And so that's honestly like one of my, by leaving it at 2026 values,
it kind of goes, well, if we can't decide how they should go up, then maybe they should just stay where
they are. And so that's why I like, I don't even know which of those amendments I like the best. I just
was throwing them all out there. The ordinance was sent to a second reading. No final salary decision was made.
The council also advanced housing-related changes to the Unified Development Ordinance. The proposal
would update rules for accessory dwelling units and cottage home developments and remove some restrictions
on duplexes. Public commenter Jamie Scholl raised concerns about increasing density. Whenever we're
considering density, there's some questions that come to mind, some points, basically.
every time we talk about this. And one is, do we have the appropriate infrastructure to support this
development? Do we have enough support for BPD, for fire? I watch these meetings and maybe not everyone,
But when hearing about we need a new ladder truck for fire, was that not considered when approving all
these very tall buildings? Another one is green space. Green space is absolutely necessary for positive
mental health and to help those to, to help stay out of a depressive state.
It has many benefits. There's many scientific studies that show it's beneficial. I don't know if that's
been planned in. And lastly, is this kind of development, is this going to support home ownership or
will this be more, mostly largely wealth creation for developers and the rentier class?
I'm concerned that we have so many renting and we have a lot of people who want to own homes and they
don't have a way to do that. So whenever hearing about more density, those are the points that come
to mind and I hope those are something that I'll consider. Thank you.
fire-related ordinances passed. They also designated fire personnel to issue certain fire code violations,
replace Bloomington's outdated 1997 Fire Prevention Code with updated rules, and establish a dedicated
fund for community education and prevention programs. Deputy Fire Chief Max Litwin said that the goal
is compliance and safety, not generating revenue from fines and fees.
Ultimately, we hope that we don't have to collect fees and that every situation we encounter is already
safe. However, if we do encounter something that requires mitigation through a fine or a fee, what better
purpose than to direct that towards something that would make the community even safer via causes like
community outreach, public education, and fire prevention? Some examples of some of those efforts could
consist of smoke detectors installs, fire extinguisher training, youth education, things along those lines.
In reality, it's unlikely that we're going to incur a substantial amount of money into this fund through
fines and fees. But we would like the means to spend it on something that would benefit the community
regardless. The council then passed an ordinance prohibiting the distribution and deployment of artificial
intelligence in Bloomington. Council member Dave Rollo, the sponsor of the ordinance, cited concerns
about safety and loss of control. Ordinance 2026-29 prohibits the distribution
deployment of artificial superintelligence ASI within the city of Bloomington It fills a regulatory
void. This is extremely dangerous technology and it is currently unregulated So this serves in the interim
as a public safety measure to protect the city of Bloomington only during the period of state and federal
legislative inaction on omission And so we are jurisdictionally allowed to do this the city the violations
may result in civil penalties and
Injective relief and more appropriate referral to the Monroe County prosecutor for any potential state
criminal level criminal charges and This ordinance is directed as I said to the developers and deployers
not the residents of Bloomington Council president Isa Kasari described the ordinance as a first step
Intended to encourage broader action. I think the theory of change that's sort of implicit and everything
that's being said here is that you can
through local action create a sort of network effect. And we saw this during the Cold War, for example,
with nuclear-free zones. Lots of local governments adopted ordinances that might have seemed the way
that this one seems. It's like, OK, it's largely symbolic. You can't really enforce it, so on and so
forth. But you can look sort of throughout.
in history that there are actually examples, like for example in New Zealand, that local ordinances
became national law. And they had a huge impact, I think, in the United States of galvanizing and organizing
people. And I think we're sort of at a very similar moment, right, where the goal here is to say, well,
as a local government, we're trying to make steps towards this. I think there's a lot of other work
that we really need to do if we're particularly interested in the concerns. And we've already started
some of that work, thinking about a broader
sort of risk approach to surveillance technologies and other types of things as well in our
cyber infrastructure. And certainly, so this won't be the end of it. Finally, the council debated a
$6.868 million general obligation bond for city capital projects. Discussion focused on street safety
designs, public oversight of projects, and the bond's potential impact on taxpayers.
Councilmember Andy rough proposed cutting the bond amount in half and limiting the proceeds to selected
projects He argued that some roadway projects intended to improve safety are not delivering on that
promise. I Don't feel like these two general major project Proposals a two and a half million dollar
needed fire emergency vehicle with roadway
projects that include, you know curb bump outs Whatever changes to the roadway that we're seeing a lot
all over town that I know are well intended and meant to Intended to promote safety for all users, but
in my experience They're not doing that discussion of traffic calming efforts and cycling safety continued
Public commenter Paul Rousseau argued that street design alone cannot address unsafe driving. I think
the fundamental problem here with what's been discussed about the trade-off between pedestrian safety
and bicycling safety is that we're fundamentally asking engineering to do something that's really difficult
to do, that should be done by enforcement. And that's underlying so many things that
in Bloomington these days, unfortunately. Mr. Seaborg is suggesting that if there are bump outs, then
the bicyclist, the safe way to proceed down the street is to what's called take the lane. And that becomes
a more tenable proposition if the driver of the car does not have an expectation to go down that street
faster than the speed limit, which they do. Thank you.
The amendment to cut the bond in half failed one to six. The bond ordinance passed five to two. The
next City Council deliberation session will be held on November 10th with a focus on public safety and
with time set aside for a discussion about housing. The next regular City Council meeting will be held
on November 18th.
On November 4th, the Monroe County Commissioners met to discuss re-approving a grant agreement, as well
as funding for the maintenance of several government buildings, including the Showers Building and the
Justice Building. Beth Hamlin, Executive Director of the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office, shared details
about the grant. It's an agreement between Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and your body, along with
our office.
to fund our STOP grant from October 1st of 2026 through September 30th of 2027. The STOP grant funds
approximately 50% of the salary FICA and PERF for our dedicated sex crime deputy prosecutor and our
dedicated domestic violence felony deputy prosecutor. Commissioner Leigh Jones voiced her support for
the grant.
So glad that this continues. This is a really important, vital part of all the work that the prosecutor's
office does and so grateful that this is there. The commissioners approved the grant two to
zero. Commissioner Lee Jones also thanked poll workers for a smooth election day on Tuesday.
you. Thank you so much. I'm a big thank you for a smooth election yesterday to, um, all of our poll
workers, all the candidates who ran. It's not easy, but it's important. Um and we're grateful for everyone
that was involved in, um. In the election from the clerk's office right on down to the
That helped a lot. And we had a pretty good turnout, like 47%, which is good. It's not 100%, but it's
better than it has been in the past. So good work on that. The next Monroe County Commissioner's meeting
will be held on November 12th. The Richland Bean Blossom School Board met on November 4th and approved
the 2026-2027 Teacher's Collective Bargaining Agreement.
This agreement sets teacher salaries between $48,000 and $84,000. It also provides additional raises
for 21 teachers whose pay had fallen behind colleagues with the same experience and education. Moreover,
Superintendent Dr. Jerry Sanders said that the agreement means that all teachers in the RBB School District
will get a $1,000 increase in base pay.
to the base for every teacher. And so the new salary range is from 48,000 for a year for new teachers
and 84,200 for teachers at the top of the scale. We also negotiated an agreement. It's just a natural
occurrence
that over the years, teachers come in under different contracts. And as a result, over the years, some
teachers could get off mode, not be at the same level of salary of their colleagues who had the same
years of experience and same education. And so,
We worked with the association. I came up with a process to be able to catch up those teachers who were
not on the mode. And so we agreed on 21 teachers who will be getting a catch up increase to their base.
anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000. To help afford the salary adjustments, the district removed a provision
that covered all but $1 of insurance costs for eight teachers. Dr. Sanders said that the negotiations
required balancing teacher pay priorities with the district budget. We have a common care, and that
is we want to be able to take care of our teachers.
Now we also want to be fiscally responsible for the school corporation. But we work, I think we work
well to do as much as we can for our teachers given our current economic situation. And I told the teachers
when, after we came to a tentative agreement, I told them, I complimented them and said that I thought
they came up
We came up with a contract that is fair or fair to more people Okay, and And I think anytime you do
that. It's a good. It's a good contract trying to think of everybody And that was that was the intent
Following the approval of the collective bargaining agreement, school district leaders are turning their
attention to potential raises for other employees. Sanders explained. In the next couple days, we're
going to be talking about, and I need to get on the phone with Paul, talking about any possible increases
for support staff and administrators. We want to try to get that before the board for the November meeting.
and then be able to determine which pay the retro would go out to the staffs. School board members say
they plan to bring forward possible pay increases for support staff and administrators for their November
meeting. Board members also said that teachers will receive their salary adjustments before Christmas.
The RBB school board will meet again on November 17th. The city opened a new fire department operation
center at 3182 South Walnut Street on November 6th. For Chief Roger Kerr, this concludes a years long
effort to store equipment in one place. Thank you for coming. This is an exciting day for our department.
The chance to open up this building that we've got here
It's been a long time coming and pretty excited just to have the chance to get all of our stuff and
all of our equipment under one roof and it was pretty neat. I want to thank the mayor. She gave us this
opportunity about three and a half years ago to spend this bond money to get where we're at today. We
want to thank her. We want to thank the council for their support. Weddle brothers who have been the
contractors on all three of these projects. Martin Riley who has designed them.
done a great job. Chief Limlin, who has been driving for us on our side as far as keeping track of the
funding. Mayor Carrie Thompson says the investment supports the work that residents do not often see,
such as the preparation that happens before someone calls for help. It's a big day for public safety
in Bloomington and a great moment for the city. I want to start by acknowledging
that doesn't always get acknowledged and we don't always get to say in city government, this project
was done on time. And in local government, that is sometimes remarkable. It's a big, big deal. And when
we talk about public safety, we frequently think about the moment that we each call 9-1-1.
We don't always see the moments that come before that, that allow our people to be ready to respond
to that call. The training, the preparation, adequate equipment, countless hours that make those moments
of response possible. Last year alone, our firefighters
Inside the building, Kerr says crews now have room to be able to repair fire trucks indoors rather than
working outside in unpredictable weather.
The department has a built-in backup plan. After flooding forced crews out of Station 1, officials included
four dorm rooms in the new facility, says Kerr. What I wanted to point out, as we built it, thinking
about what happened at Station 1 with the flood and then we had to find a building, we actually built
four dorm rooms in here. So if something happens to another station, we can actually bring a crew down
here and they have a living facility. They can operate out of this station in an emergency.
In addition, the building will give future recruits their own classroom and access to a training engine
near the department's tower. Mayor Thompson said work is now underway to secure a new space for the
police department headquarters. And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and
WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.