By: Diane Benjamin
It is going to take more than 1 story to cover the Bloomington Council/Township meeting last night.
In case you missed the update, the room in the Government Center will not be done as scheduled. It won’t be ready until October.
Can the camera be any farther away from the stage? None of the slides can be read AND unless you know the voices it’s hard to tell who is talking. The posted video is slightly clearer but has lots of room to pull in closer. Speakers not on stage are never on camera.
At 49:00 the Township assessor talks about the 2023 EAV, it isn’t final yet. Property values are still rising.
Bloomington Police hired a police officer a year ago who has now completed finished his probation period – Jacob Shepard. He was formerly a County and ISU officer. His hiring by Bloomington is proof of what County sheriffs have said for years: They train people and then they leave for more money with other departments. The County has difficulty keeping officers because of the pay. This trend will continue if pay isn’t competitive, training expense lands on the County without much benefit since those trained leave.
This item was obviously discussed before the meeting by the aldermen. Tom Crumpler moved to table it, his motion passed 5-4 :
The Zoning Board of Appeals had approved it unanimously. Kern’s, Dannenberger, Henricks, and Ward voted against tabling. Crumpler claimed he didn’t know enough to vote and an HOA may be involved. We didn’t hear the entire story on this one!
The Public Works reorganization was approved unanimously. Talks occured with the employees without any complaints according to Deputy City Manager Jeff Jurgens. The Water Department is happy to be their own department again. See 1:42:00. Tim Gleason mentions a coming $350-$400 million Water Master Improvement Plan.
The Council held part 2 of their “personnel” Executive Session. Since they only have one employee – the City Manager – they are discussing his performance and salary increase. Last night’s secret meeting lasted almost 2 hours.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – Lively Public Comment!
Since the audio/visual is so poor, it was Kent Lee who made the motion to table the item for a special use permit for chicken keeping at a property in his ward.
Thanks for clarifying, more on that story tomorrow