By: Diane Benjamin

Future council are NOT bound by the actions of this council. If they were this plan from 2013 would have already been a reality:

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If you want people elected who actually care about the roads, start voting for them!

A few things in that plan were done, like Way Finding signs, but most was never enacted. A string of big spenders at Public Comment who think downtown is all that matters lamented dead past plans while celebrating this plan and urging completion of everything in it. Your severely decaying roads are immaterial.

The plan was passed unanimously, Sheila Montney was the only no vote on implementing the first project. She voted no because it was dropped on the council on Friday without adequate time to process and discuss. See the first project here: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/ae249c36694dbaf9d826bee11fee94b70.pdf

The budget that passed had zero dollars for downtown. Tim Gleason has stated in the past they have cash available instead.

I continue to find it hilarious that time limits are put on discussions of spending your money. Obviously Administration doesn’t want in-depth public discourse. The downtown plan got 10 minutes, the first project got 15.

One interesting comment came from Billy Tyus. He said separating sewers isn’t mandatory but they are doing it downtown to eliminate flooding issues. Bloomington has been separating sewers for many years and flooding has been blamed on them not being separated. All of that is likely true but I seem to remember statements in the past saying separation is mandatory and it would be very expensive.

The council had an executive session to discuss naming Tim Gleason’s replacement. I predict it won’t be who people expect because that person doesn’t want the job.

Watch these discussions and votes here: