City Council - Regular Meeting

Mhm.

meeting of April the 13th and if we're ready to get started we are then we will go ahead and uh ask that if everyone would please stand for the pledge of allegiance and remain standing for a moment of silence. Next we'll ask the clerk to uh please go ahead and take the roll. Council member Curran? Here. Council member Mosley? Here. Council member Matney? Here. Council member Danenberger? Here. Council member Shaza? Here. Council member Hendrick? Here. Council member Ward? Here. Council member Lee? Here. Council member Scott? Here. And Mayor Brady? Here. Thank you. Next we'll move to um recognition and appointments and I think first we have a presentation of the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation program, tier two accreditation to the Bloomington Police Department and our city manager, Mr. Jurgens, I think has some comments to open up with. Yes, uh Um our presenter is not here yet.

Oh, our presenter is not here yet, so that's okay. Why don't we then move to um the um [clears throat]

next is the recognition and proclamation of uh April 24th for Arbor Day as requested by the Parks and Recreation Department and I believe that Dave Lan- Lamb and his park staff are [snorts] here tonight. If they'd like to come forward and to receive the proclamation and whereas in 19 1872 the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for planting of trees. This holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska and Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. Trees can be a solution to combat climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-giving oxygen and providing habitat for wildlife. Trees are renewable resource giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires and countless other wood products. Trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community. Wherever they are planted are source of joy and spiritual renewal. Therefore, I, Dan Brady, mayor of the city of Bloomington, do hereby proclaim as Arbor Day April 24th of 2026 in the city of Bloomington and urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and support efforts efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. And now Mr. Lamb. Thank you very much. Uh Mayor Brady, City Manager Mr. Jurgens, Council member, thank you for having us a couple minutes here tonight. Uh Arbor Day this year is April 24th. Uh as the mayor just said, it's a tree We have a tree planting ceremony at Benjamin School at 10:00 a.m. I'd like to invite everybody to come to that. The public's welcome to that as well. Uh the Arbor Day recognition and proclamation is part of Bloomington

being nationally recognized as a Tree City USA. This is our 40th consecutive year receiving this designation and our ninth consecutive year receiving the growth award for excellence and leadership in the industry. We'd like to thank administration, council, beautification committee members and all the city departments for the consistent support of our forestry program. I do want to recognize Jeff Hinman here. He's our superintendent of parks and we have two International Society of Arboriculture certified arborists on our staff, Union 699 members Greg Wennerland and Ryan Johnson. These guys, along with the other 699 members, are the guys that are going out in the storms, power lines, take trees off the houses and stuff like that. So, that that's the hard work. Uh Tree City USA and Arbor Day are community programs that we all can be very proud of. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much. If you'd like to step forward, we'll present to you the proclamation. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen, very much. All right, next we'll move back to the uh presentation of the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation program um and Mr. Jurgens. Thank you very much, uh Mayor and Council. We're very excited tonight. I'm going to ask Chief Simington to come forward um as uh the city of Bloomington is going to be presented tonight with its tier two accreditation and recognized for it. This is something that obviously not every police department within the city of within the state of Illinois has, but it goes to our top tier department and what they have been able to accomplish and really some of the great things that they provide for our community. So, with that, I I'll turn it over to Chief Simington. Yes, good evening, Mayor and Council. We appreciate this opportunity um to be before you as a proud moment in law enforcement as the Bloomington Police

Department receives its tier two accreditation. I'll turn this over to Chief Eric Echevarria from Peoria Police Department to make the presentation. Thank you. I apologize for a little bit of my tardiness. As you know, I'm an active working chief and uh in Peoria, there's some things that happen before I walk out the building, unfortunately. So, good evening, Mayor, Council, City Manager and our distinguished guest. My name is Eric Echevarria, just like your chief said, and I'm here today on behalf of the Board of Officers, which serves as the Board of Directors for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. Early in the 21st century, police leaders across Illinois recognized the need for a formal process to ensure departments meet the highest professional standards. From that vision, the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation program, otherwise known as ILEAP, was created. ILEAP is a is built on strong partnerships with key organizations across our state including the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Northwestern University Center for Public Safety and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. Together, these partners form the ILEAP Accreditation Council. Today, ILEAP stands as the premier accreditation authority for law enforcement agencies in the state of Illinois. I'm here today to recognize and congratulate the Bloomington Police Department on achieving that accreditation. As a statewide association, it is critical that we publicly acknowledge agencies that embrace best practices and demonstrate a commitment to excellence. ILEAP has often been described as an administrative bulletproof vest. Believe me, you want that.

It reduces risk, strengths strengthens accountability and professionalizes our profession ensuring agencies are prepared even under scrutiny. This program evaluates departments against established standards reviewing policies, procedures, and operations all independently verified by the ILEAP Council. This achievement is significant for the police department, the university, the community, and all of us across Illinois. The Bloomington Police Department has achieved Tier 2 accreditation, meeting or exceeding 181 critical standards across administration, training, operations, and personnel. Independent assessors review key areas such as use of force, pursuit policy, records management, and community policing practices. This is not a simple process. Accreditation and re-accreditation requires months of rigorous work to demonstrate full compliance. To date, only 67 agencies statewide, that's 5%, have achieved this distinction. Let that stand there for a second. So, today, you can be confident that the Bloomington Police Department operates at a high level of professionalism, where policies align to modern best practices. So, on behalf of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, I am proud and we are proud of Chief Jamal Simington and his team of men and women of the Bloomington Police Department. And we believe you should all, as well, be as proud as them. Thank you.

And I want to go ahead and present this beautiful plaque to the camera. Congratulations, uh Chief, and and maybe all your officers could come forward and we can extend a handshake if we wish, or at least a thank you to all of you for our deep appreciation of the duty and service that you give every day to our community. Thank you. Well, you know what? I'm here, too, right? Call Chief Simington back to the microphone. Chief, thank you. Safe travels back to Peoria, sir. Tell Mayor Ali we said hello. And council, thank you. Uh all right, Chief. Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor and council, I have a quick um acknowledgment. So, with without the efforts, the leadership, the vision um of Lieutenant James Clesson, this opportunity would not have occurred. As you heard the Chief say, it's very

rigorous and takes a lot of um time, energy, and certainly focus to make sure that we are able to receive this accreditation. So, tonight I would like to acknowledge that Lieutenant Jim Clesson is being recognized with the Meritorious Service Award for his exemplary leadership, diligence, and unwavering commitment in serving as the Bloomington Police Department's accreditation manager for the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. Lieutenant? Sir? Uh Mayor, councilman, uh Deputy City Manager, thank you very much. I'm not a public speaker, so I won't scare you too much, but I'm humbled here for the opportunity to to have been in some way part of this process. And I just remind you that we've got some amazing uh men and women that make up this department, and through their actions uphold these policies, they actually put it into play every day. So, very fortunate to be here, and um thank you very much. Thank you and congratulations. Thank you all again for your service, and congratulations, Chief, to you and your department. Thank you. Next, I believe we will move to um recognition of boards and commissions and appointments. Um and I think we might have in the audience either Jeff Brown or Megan Hawkins. I don't know if they are here. Please stand up if you would, Jeff. And if Megan is here, we simply want to acknowledge you and say thank you for your service now getting ready to start, and the Bloomington Housing Authority Board. Thank you very much for your service and your future service here,

and Megan as well. Thank you very much for coming and your service. Next, I believe we'll move to public comment. And I think we have an individual for public comment tonight. We do. Um just for the record, uh we received one emailed public comment. It was from Donna Boland, and it was provided to council earlier today. And uh then I just have two people to speak. After your statement, we'll start with Joe Blaney, and then to follow, CEO Eddins. Thank you. Nice to hear from former member Boland um in her comments. Uh in regards to public comments, uh the individuals and [clears throat] it gives an opportunity for speakers to provide their views and feedback to the City Council. It's also an opportunity for the City Council to listen and hear diverse points of view. To maximize the impact of public comment and show respect for the expression of all views, speakers should maintain civility and focus on city issues. Speakers must identify themselves for the record, but are not required to give their addresses. Um each speaker will have 3 minutes, and I believe Mr. Blaney is first. Mr. Blaney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh greetings. My name is Joe Blaney. I live at 11 Deerfield Court in Bloomington, one of 18 homeowners who live on the city-owned retention pond in Eagle View. Tonight, I ask you to address a serious problem for our neighborhood, which for my family has created what must be described as a nuisance, and which is preventing the use and enjoyment of our property, leading to the cancellation of barbecues, Bible studies, ordinary nightly enjoyment of our back deck, and playing catch in the backyard with my grandchildren. The heart of the issue is threefold. First, water which is prone to algae blooms, resulting in floating dead fish, a hor- a horrible odor, and canceled plants. Second, lack of a concrete and/or rocks

barrier found at found at other city-owned retention ponds, leading to wildlife eroding the pond bank and creating dangerous ruts where unsuspecting neighborhood kids have tripped on, and at least twice falling into the pond, just twice that I've seen. And third, failure to adequately maintain the grass around the pond, leaving us to mow city property, in fact, park district property, ourselves, and it's now on a dangerous steep and degraded bank uh that would prevent um us from doing this much further ourselves. Let me be clear that the nuisance withstood by my family and my neighbors is not the only problem here. On any given day, many children and their parents will enjoy fishing on this pond. It could be legitimately considered a great park if the city could maintain it. The solution is simple. An installed rocks, gravel, or concrete bank barrier, a modest aeration system, and some neighbors uh you know, have already built their own barriers, but they should not have had to had to do that. I will not do so because the city property is is not my responsibility, and anything that I might do to the pond could be removed for no reason, or even considered vandalism or littering of city property. So, as a matter of safety, basic use of our homes, and justice for homeowners whose their tax at a much higher rate than comparable homes not on that pond, I ask you to address this with variance funds from this fiscal year, and dedicated funds for this purpose in the next fiscal year. And I ask that that solution be comprehensive rather than piecemeal as this threatens the properties on that lake. And I thank Alderwoman Scott for meeting with our neighborhood association, and Mayor Brady for hearing me out on this, and thank you all for your time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Blaney. Next? Next up, we have Theo Eddins. All right. Theo doesn't seem to be present, so there's no further public comment. Thank you. Next, we'll move on to uh the consent agenda, and under number seven, uh from A through T, are the items listed on the consent agenda for this evening's meeting. Uh is there any member of the council that would like to have an item pulled from that consent agenda and discuss uh or ask further questions regarding one of the items on consent agenda. If not, is there a member who would make a motion? I'll move approval.

That would work and a second. Second. By member Ward and member Hendricks and if the clerk then would please record the vote electronically. The item passes. No nays to announce. Thank you. Next we will move then to our regular agenda item under 8A which will be the presentation of the Bloomington Police Department's 2025 annual report and I believe Mr. Jurgens will have some opening comments with the chief. Thank you Mayor and Council. Again tonight there's a kind of a a police department focus as you may see. Uh we I have invited our police chief and the department to come forward with its 25 uh calendar year annual report where they provide us with some of the statistics and talk about some of their priorities and what's going on with the department. With that uh Chief Simington. Thanks again. It's um an honor and privilege to be before you tonight. I do appreciate this time to give the credit to the men and women who serve the police department every day. Um it is my greatest honor and privilege of my career to serve as the Bloomington police chief. Thanks to Mr. Jack McQueen and our public information officer Mr. Jansen for their contributions to this report. In this 175th year of selfless service, continuous improvement and professionalism those are the things that drives our desires to work in this city in the most noble of professions. The livability of this community is a high priority for our team and I am glad

to report the city remains a very safe place to live, work, worship, play and learn in. The theme of this year's report is Bloomington is a safe city. Next. Our mission statement, it is the mission of the Bloomington Police Department to work honorably and steadfastly with members of this community to enhance livability through servant leadership strong partnerships and continuous innovation. The department values are also listed there of which we live by every single day. Next slide, please. Thanks to the executive teammates and my senior leadership who are service minded and forward thinking as well as intellectual public servants. This team collectively has served in law enforcement for over 262 years. Those are the lieutenants and above of this organization. As of this upcoming summer, six of these leaders will have their master's degrees. Two will have graduated from the FBI National Academy and several have completed other executive level training in public safety. Next, please. Goals and objectives for this strategic plan are listed there. Employee development, inclusion and wellness, number one. Um next crime prevent prevention and traffic safety, planning and problem solving, community engagement, transparency and enhancement of our infrastructure. Next, please. The patrol division, they're the most visible. They're the core and the most visible in our city every single day, 365 days a year 24 hours a day. Last year they served and responded to 70,770 calls for service. That's a 3 and 1/2% increase from 2024. There was a 4% increase in traffic stops and the officers made 55 more DUI arrests last year than they did the

previous year. Our top crash causations were speed, intersection related collisions, distracted driving and driving under the influence. Next, please. The emergency communication center, today is National Public Safety Communications Telecommunications um week for this nation. This professional team continues to meet accreditation standards to preserve accreditation in EMS, fire and police dispatching. The team supports the police department and fire department of course but also provides services to public works and water after hours. They answered 30,859 911 calls and of those 97% were answered within 10 seconds. The state mandate is 90%. Next, please. Criminal Investigations Division. This is a highly trained team with advanced training in criminal investigations, violent crimes, cybercrimes and sex crimes including advanced training in the National Integrated Ballistics Network. They handled 1,403 felony cases and of those they made 387 arrests. Our NIBIN entries and the examination of those recovered weapons and shell casings linked weapons to 53 other weapons violations violent crimes, etc. in the state of Illinois including in the Twin Cities. One examination led to a homicide investigation in another jurisdiction. Next, please. The Real Time Information and Crime Center last year they handled 2,797 requests. That is an increase of 35% because we're able to add another staff member to that team. This is an absolute force multiplier for supporting criminal and significant traffic crash investigations in the city. The analysts are highly skilled in

contemporary and constitutional policing methods. Because of their successes, over 10 other police agencies have been to our center to visit and learn some best practices to take back to their communities in an effort to drive down crime. Next, please. The Neighborhood Focus Team. This team is a team that works extremely well with our community impact and enhancement team and they assist with numerous community engagement events that occur throughout the year. Next. School Resource Officers. Our school resource officers are certified by the National Association of School Resource Officers allowing them to employ best practices around from around the country. This is essential for building lasting relationships with school staff and students who desire to have a safe place to learn as they grow and prepare for the future. This past year this team along with um normal police department's SROs received an award for the NASRO triad model saying that they're a a designated um model agency for school resource officers in the nation. Next, please. Our Community Engagement Unit is the hallmark program. It's more than a program. It is effectively a philosophy applying relationships throughout the entire city. Engaging with community members accentuates trust and we understand that there is significant value in our opportunities to engage with our community. Next, please. Accountability. This is a big piece that led to our ability to receive the accreditation tonight. Out of the 6,000, I'm sorry, 66,672 calls for service the complaints

ended up being 30 for the year. That's 0.04% of the calls for service that resulted in an employee receiving a complaint. Furthermore, use of force was only used in 239 of those incidents. That's 0.35% 0.35% of those calls for service. If you go down to the bottom, you will see we had re we had ended the year from this survey from our community members. Community members are sent a post contact survey to take and in each of those categories we scored 90 plus percent. 96% of contacts reported being treated fairly by the officers. 95% reported that they had their questions answered and that they were being treated with respect. 95% understood what they were being told by the officers and 94% of those thought that we were listening to their issue. That is again an A on our report card. Next, please. Department efficiencies. Every year the senior leadership team and others in the agency look at opportunities so we can um make some vast improvements on how we operate and administer the police department. We had several success stories in 2025. Not only was the Real Time Information and Crime Center added which led to civilians working cases that uh freed up sworn officers to do their work but we also added an Axon language assist feature. You will see on our social media today that that was posted demonstrating um our officers' ability to interact with those that do not speak English and be able to carry on a conversation, a trust building feature. In addition to that Axon redaction allowed us to immediately have efficiency from FOIAs. This reduction in time was amounted amounted to approximately 590 hours alone.

The other key piece is the AI assistant report writing. It reduces officers time spent documenting reports approximately 10 to 20 minutes each depending on the complexity and the length of the report. In totality that in general saves about 2,509 hours to 5,000 hours annually with that software. So we are very proud of our opportunity to be able to free officers up to handle other tasks and certainly be more visible in the community. Next, please. The crime overview. You'll see distinctively that there were reductions in burglaries 30%, vehicle theft 26%, our gun seizures were down a tad bit, but the assaults and shootings is the shootings alone were down 46%. Those are highlights for what occurred throughout the community. Crimes against persons decreased by 3%, crimes against society decreased by 1%. Next, please. It is important that we on a regular basis award and recognize good work that are being that's being done by the men and women of the Bloomington Police Department. In 2025 we awarded and recognized members of the Police Department that went above and beyond throughout the year. They either received awards for bravery, life-saving, a unit citation, or letters of commendation. Next. The annual report can be found on our website. It is listed under the public information tab. There you go to the annual report tab and then the 2025 annual report. That is forward facing so we can make sure that we're transparent about the things that have occurred in the Police Department. Next, please.

Are there any comments or questions? Questions or comments from from members? Member Scott. Yeah, yeah, I've got a couple questions about some of the trends that we've seen and then some some other general general comments, but I saw there was an increase in sex crimes and is that partly because folks are either feeling more comfortable to report those or is there increase in our abilities to to find those folks with cyber crimes, etc. Yes, ma'am. That is a very good question. I think it's a combination of a lot of those things. Certainly we we want to value and make available ourselves to investigate those kinds of crimes and be approachable. That is a course a trust component. In addition to that the ability to analyze phones and other databases we do receive leads from ICAC which is a a proactive investigative group that looks for these types of of crimes that are occurring on the internet through the exchange of pictures, videos, and things of that nature. So we're finding that that's trending up the proactive reporting to us so we can follow up on those those kinds of unfortunate crimes. So that would be part of that increase. And then how about drug offenses? I did see that there was a big spike there. Do you have any any knowledge or Yes, ma'am. So our police officers have been receiving training and and proactively addressing drugs either possession or delivery and manufacturing of those those illegal substances. I'm very proud of the patrol officers and the street crimes unit that are out there progressively and I I say progressively working those those cases. So we do have

a anonymous tip opportunity from for for the public to report those things. We do of course follow up on those measures as well as communicating with our task force officers that are at the Illinois State Police Task Force. So you know, is that a measurement that drugs are more available than they ever were? I I can't necessarily say that, but we are addressing it appropriately through proactive and reactive means in the midst of these investigations. Gotcha. Well, in general I'm just I'm I'm grateful for the numbers and grateful for the work that you've done collecting surveys and and providing metrics. In general I have learned that that we do have a for lack of a better word a luxury police department and I don't mean that as in as expensive. I mean that is that we get a lot out of our return for this. Just for the from the tier two commitment to to standards to and I cannot say enough good things about the outreach that that your department and you have done. I go to a lot of community events and see you there. There's been outreach to marginalized communities. We have a PSCRB in this community which a lot of communities don't have. I've learned about our SROs and their training in restorative justice. Not there you know to put kids in handcuffs, but instead to to create you know bonds for the community for safety. And this department has a reputation that I've heard from media of being transparent. And I just want to say more of that, please. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Other members? Member Ward. Yes, thank you. Thank you for this report. It's it's always a a pleasure to to hear the good stuff that's going on. I I did have a couple of questions. I'm I was particularly interested in the slide about the um about accountability and trust where you were sharing the results of the survey. And

I was curious to know how the post-contact surveys are distributed to people. Yes, ma'am. So we in working with the company the best practice is not to send those types of surveys to victims of crime. Let me take that back. To to those that have been victimized through violence. So other types of calls certainly those callers are sent a text message from Axon my 90. And then you know, that happens usually within an hour or a few hours after a call, but it's supposed to go out within 24 hours at the latest. And so those folks have the opportunity to answer those calls. So each and every one of those survey measurements are from people who have been delivered a service from the Police Department. That could be from a stolen vehicle to a burglary to a report of a missing person or or some other situation as long as it's not violent. We do not want to revictimize victims of violent crimes.

[clears throat]

That's interesting. I um Yeah, I I would like to to hear more about that at some point. This probably isn't the moment, but I I wonder about that thinking as someone who has been the victim of violent crime and has called the Bloomington Police Department and has had other venues in which to voice my experience. And so I I wonder if if Yeah, I just wonder about that. Um I'm also curious about you mentioned in the the last 30 days of 2025 um that um you had gotten the results that were are understandably very high. I'm curious about what the end number for that is. What what the end is. How many responses did you get in in December of 25? And you might not have that at hand, so I'd love to get that later. No problem. I I will share that with with the council. And then a question that I have on the crime overview. It's great to see the number of shootings down by 46% and I was curious, does that number include um shootings of people, of property, shots fired, all of the above, something different? Can you just help me understand that? Yes, ma'am. So those numbers reflect any shooting. So someone could have been hit, a person, which that number is down also for the number of people that were struck by gunfire last year, or it could have been property or some evidence that a shooting had occurred at a location that we were able to confirm. Okay, so there were were and the 20 on the on the slide it had 20 in parentheses. Is that it's down by 20 or that's the total number?

Can you go to slide 14, please? Yeah, right under the the shootings then it says in parentheses 20. I was just trying to Yes, so that was the total count of the year. For 2025.

Yes, ma'am. Okay, and that would be people shot, property shot, instances of people shot, property shot, and shots fired. Yes, ma'am. Correct. All all apply. That's all I have. Thank you. [snorts]

Other members? If not, Chief, thank you again for the presentation. Thank you to all of your staff that present and not present that are out working as we speak. We thank you very much and thank you for uh your continued service and congratulations to all, once again. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Next, we'll move to uh item 8A, I'm sorry, 8B, which is consideration and action of an ordinance authorizing the approval and [clears throat] execution of a purchase and sale agreement between the City of Bloomington and the Bloomington Normal Public Transit System as it pertains to property located 202 West Market Street. And I know our city manager, Mr. Jurgens, and Deputy City Manager, Mr. Tiyus, are both willing to discuss this. Thank you very much, again, Mayor and Council. This again is a a very exciting exciting item for us tonight. When I started as city manager a couple of years ago, one of the first things that I was working with was this project and at the same time we were looking at a deficit budget and then we were being provided with numbers as to how much our our cost of participation was going to be with this project and the numbers just kept multiplying by the 12 and I think ended at the 12-plus million-dollar number and and we had said at that point and and we were even there before then, this wasn't just going to be this just wasn't going to be feasible for the city. So, we went back with Connect Transit and and renegotiated and I think we came up with an even better project for the community that is a a whole lot less of an investment for the city. So, I want to thank Connect Transit for that, Grady Lang, their interim executive director, and Billy Tiyus, our senior deputy city manager, who really helped with those negotiations and put all of this

together and I'm going to turn it over to him to walk through it. Uh City Manager, uh Mayor and City Council, thank you for this opportunity. Um honestly, after years and years of conversation and planning, um you're going to see two documents tonight for your consideration that actually would move this project forward if if approved. Um as the manager said, this this thing language for a while and and just, you know, I with I do want to say were it not for the city manager stepping in, I don't know that we get to this point and I think that's an honest statement to be made. So, I appreciate your efforts in all of this and it's it's it's deserved. Um this project, again, is approved, um replaces the Front Street, what is really a bus stop, with a facility that purposely takes into account the downtown's history, but also it is a nod to the modern elements um that we all want to see. If you see the the most recent designs on the bottom of the screen, uh you can see the arches that uh are a really a nod to the history. The brick, that's a nod to the history of downtown, uh but also more modern elements as part of the proposed uh design. Uh you're going to be considering tonight uh two agreements. There's a there's a purchase and sale agreement, which is before you now, and then if that's approved, uh a lease agreement outlining the operating terms, uh parking among other things. Um the um with the purchase agreement, we would sell the garage for a nominal fee to Connect Transit sale for $10. Um Connect's cost would be to they would demo the garage and they would build a new combination transfer facility and parking facility. Um as you know, demolitions are not cheap and so I know that a couple years ago it was $700,000 plus to demo and that was a couple years

ago. So, those numbers have only gone up, as have construction costs. Uh designs the designs that you see here and then the the other slides coming forward are they represent 60% designs. As part of this purchase agreement, we would also agree to pay another $176,000 towards design, which when you pair it with what we've already paid, it's still less than what this council approved back in August 2014 2024, I apologize. So, we'd be paying less for the design. Uh Connect and the city in partnership have done regular public outreach with with with the public, but also to uh a very devoted uh stakeholder group who have had input in this process all along the way and that will continue. Um one of the things I also would would like to to state is that one of the things that continues to come out of these conversations is a desire to move the the bus traffic out of the core of downtown and Connect is is continuing to work on that as part of this process. And I would be remiss if I didn't also say obviously this council and their support of all of this has been critical to getting us to this point. It's been very very critical. This is an exciting project and another piece in a lot of things that are happening downtown. Uh next slide, please. Uh so, if the purchase and sale agreement is approved, we would move on to a lease agreement as an agenda item, uh which would provide, as you can see, 85 to 95 parking spaces with some designated for Connect. We would control the parking. Uh we would do part we would do the maintenance on the parking part of the structure. Connect would do maintenance on the the transfer station portion. We would do snow removal and all those things would be outlined in a separate document. Excuse me. Um you may some may say, you know, that the current garage has more parking spaces than 85 to 95. This is part of a parking puzzle that we've been able to work through over the last

several months to year to year, whereby we would locate some parking here. You approved an agreement several months ago at Lifelong Access, where we would get another part of the parking at uh on their site, catty-corner to this building. And again, you approved another agreement to demolish the Front and Center facility. Um and that that is currently being designed and and built towards parking as well. So, those three areas, we believe, get us to the parking number that we need versus having to build it on one site and it will accommodate the parking in the area and in part of the downtown as well. The other thing we're doing is that uh we have done is to move to all-day parking on the side streets as well and people are using it. Um next slide slide, please. So, timeline. Again, we've been talking about this for a long time. Um if this these items are approved, demo and construction would take place would start in Q1 Q2 2027 and that would take 18 months. So, what we're looking at at this point is really a summer/fall 2028 opening if all things align. One of the things that would need to happen is that IDOT would need to approve some of our planning and documents some of Connect's documents as well as we go forward. Um and again, you can see the rest of the timeline in the upper right-hand corner of the slide. Next slide, please. The only thing other thing I we want to say is that there's a lot going on in downtown Bloomington right now and it's it's inconvenient to people. It's a it's a hassle to people to some degree. Um and I I got to say that downtown businesses have been great through it all. Um we think there's value in pulling back and looking at what these things really are. These are major transformational projects for our downtown and you know it. You've been a part of it. You've done the approvals, etc., etc. Um our downtown is not going to look like it did 2 3 years ago.

And all these things are are happening and this isn't even all of it. I just I think that in the midst of all of this, as we have projects, it's worth saying that to the public and for you all, again, because you have had to approve these things, to to also I don't know what the word is, celebrate it, if you if you will, if you can, if you will. So, uh with that, we'll take any questions that you may have. Questions from members? Number 9. I do have some questions that, you know, were brought to our attention in the public comment um that we received the written public comment. I don't know if you've had a chance to see that. Um specifically, question one was um has Connect Transit complied with the obligations laid out in our current intergovernmental agreement for the fiscal years 25 and 26? I would say that they I know that they have for some of the some of the items. There's still time to comply with the other things as well. So, as an example, there's an opportunity to make a presentation, which I don't know where they stand in their budget um cycle now, but there's still opportunities to comply with the rest of the things that they have not. So, with new leadership coming in, it would seem that that would be a time where the level set on expectations for compliance with the IGA, you know, should be a part of that discussion and onboarding. Um this the second piece that I would pull out from the um input from the public comment relates to what do we mean when we say maintenance and I know we may be coming into the next um section of this, but I I did want to at least just bring that up in that as we move forward, it would probably be a really good idea to have a formal service level agreement so that all

parties understand what each party is going to be providing with terms like maintenance being left for subjective um definition by each party. It's a phenomenal point. This agreement act I believe it's this one, says there will be a separate document, service level document, that will outline specifically what maintenance looks like. Thank you. Other members? If not Oh, I'm sorry. Member Hendricks.

Yeah, no questions, just really exciting uh moving forward on this. Thank you all for sticking with it and you know, there is a lot happening downtown and in Ward 6. I'm a little biased uh that I'm excited about all this but also the fact that this transfer station, you know, is going to help all of our residents that use uh Connect Transit through all of our wards. And so, um excited that we're at this step and I would make a motion to approve. I'll second. Motion by member Hendricks and seconded by member um Ward and if the clerk would call the electronic vote, please. The item passes, no nays to announce. Thank you. Next, we'll move to letter C under our regular agenda for this evening and this is the consideration and action of the ordinance approving a lease as was just referred to uh between the city Bloomington and Connect Transit uh and city manager Jurgens or Yeah, Deputy Tyas will go ahead and explain. I don't think we have anything more on this but we're happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the lease.

[clears throat]

With that, are there any questions from any of the members? I would make a motion to approve as presented. So, member by uh excuse me, motion by member Hendricks and seconded by member Ward. Member Ward. And with that will the clerk take the roll, please, electronically. And the item passed, no nays to announce. Thank you very much. Next, we'll move to letter D under our regular agenda, which is consideration and action on the adoption of the fiscal year 2027 budget and appropriation ordinances requested uh by our city manager and finance department. With that, uh city manager Jurgens. Thank you very much. Again, uh I we are going to do a just a quick overview of the budget. We've been talking about this since early February, had several meetings, a public hearing on it. So, I think the council is very familiar with it at this point as is the public but just highlight a couple of things before the vote and and happy to answer any questions. Next slide. This is just the standard we've kind of been leading with, just kind of a quick snapshot overview of the proposed general fund, the capital projects that are almost 112 million dollars and then the total budget at 370.5 million. Next slide. Just a a few key highlights that we've talked about with this budget. The first is this is a historic budget and it is driven by the water capital needs that we have and that we have proposed to spend about 82 million dollars in water capital projects. These are are primarily state and federally mandated projects. We knew this was coming. We planned for this. We put a rate structure in place to pay for these projects and it is now coming to fruition. So, this is part of the 10-year plan and and part of what we

expected but is a major driver of this budget. Also, this budget has a heavy focus on public safety. There's a 6% increase and over half of the general fund is going to the fire and police departments with two new firefighters being added. Also, very excited about the neighborhood revitalization component of this budget with nearly a million dollars proposed to help with housing for the community. New resources added to economic development. Again, very excited about the infrastructure components of this. Not just a 25% increase in asphalt and concrete spending but we are proposing to add a crew of four to operate the paver as seasonally allows with a total expenditure on streets and sidewalks almost 17 million dollars. And then finally, from the back end side of it, um the supporting departments, admin, IT, HR, the clerk, legal and finance, all of those departments make up just 4.2% of the entire citywide budget. So, again, just pointing out that we are really trying to put the dollars where the community sees them and where we we think the priorities of this council are. Next slide. This is a number we've talked a little bit about. If we had if we did not have to do these water projects, our budget would actually be decreasing from last uh fiscal year and I would say again that that is still with maintaining some of the council priorities like the neighborhood revitalization, like the economic development and some of those programs. So, just want to point out that again, we are trying to be very strong stewards of the taxpayers' dollars. Next slide. I want to talk just a second about the tie into the property tax. This is something that finance director Scott Rathman and I talked a lot about and thought it might just be a good reminder for the community. So, when we approved the taxpayer excuse me, when the council approved the tax levy last December, uh there was a 3

million dollar increase for three specific areas. Uh they went to police safety, the police department, they went to fire safety, the fire department, and they went to parks. And as as you can see on the pies up there, the blue portion of all of those different departments is the tax levy, the red being funded by everything else. So, we were we were trying to improve that balance a little bit and get a little bit more levity with those. And if you go to the next slide also trying to adjust the rate back up a little bit as we had had uh some very distinct decreases down in the rate yet very high inflationary costs over the years. So, the goal with the with the tax levy was really to help fund those departments more that needed it like the police, the fire and the parks and hopefully put us in a position to do um you know, other address other needs that the city had. And again, what we talked about with bonding was even with the the 3 million dollar increase in the tax levy, the finance department is recommending we do not go out for bonding this year. So, that's why you do not see a a bonding in the proposed budget as instead of that, we'll take a look at how the sales tax and how the other revenues come in and we will evaluate that over the course of the next year. In lieu of that, we obviously we still have a lot of needs. We are spending that revenue that we've been able to utilize for some of our one-time needs uh like the parking uh that we talked about with lifelong access. That's going to address the downtown parking and with some of the other equipment purchases that we had fallen behind on. Next slide. Again, we tried very hard throughout this whole budget process to tie the spending uh to the strategic priorities of the council that that you recently adopted which include infrastructure, public safety, housing and economic vitality. Next slide.

And then finally, just a an overview again, this is a historic budget uh as a result of the mandated water requirements. Uh we we are investing uh substantially in road work. We are continuing to prioritize public safety and we are excited about the new investments for neighborhood revitalization. Next slide. All of this information and more can be found on our website. We've I've been very excited this throughout this process to have a dedicated spot on the website that's easy for people to find. They can look at all the presentations. They can find the the proposed budget books and all of the uh budget information on there. That will remain on there. The budget books, if the budget is adopted tonight, they will be finalized at the end of May and then they will be on this site as well. And then finally next slide, next steps. We have uh two action items. So, the first is the approval of the budget that does not include the contribution to the McLean County Museum. Uh that's so that uh one of our council members can recuse themselves for the second item, which is the amending the budget to add that uh that financing back in there. And with that, uh and just uh director Rathman, anything I missed there that or that you need to clean up, feel free to do so. No, sir, I think you handled it well. Appreciate that. Thank you. All right, so we're happy to answer any questions. Members of the council with questions, please. Member Matney. I I have comments. Just comments.

not not any questions. I appreciate all the time that you've spent answering the questions that I've had. Um first of all, um there are three things specifically that I'd like to talk about and just for framing in 2021 when I joined the council, our budget was 230 million. This year, 370 million, an increase of over 60% and over that same time period, inflation was less than half of that. So, I think that's important for context. Um my first statement is with regard to the request that I've made for several years to document our deferred maintenance, identify the inventory of all that deferred maintenance and cost it out. Um I worry that we may be sitting on other substantial needs for investment in the future that we would have the opportunity to um get ahead up if we completed that exercise. Um when we met at our offsite for Council retreat in November on November the 17th, we we included this comment, "Complete an inventory of the current maintenance backlog including deferred maintenance to define the service level and assess the backlog need backlog need and also then have staff determine dollar amounts for each of these projects." The reason that I want to bring that up is because the language in the budget book concerning the Council priorities has that much softer as it's written. So, I do think that is a very important exercise that needs to be completed. The other thing that I would like to draw attention to is the increase in the property tax levy over the last few years. In the last 3 years, I believe that increase has been 20 28%. I'm talking about now the

assessed valuations. So, what that feels like to a person who is living in a house that they bought for whatever amount, they are now paying taxes on an amount on average 28% higher than that and for some people substantially more than that. I know and I hear from people regularly the stress that that is putting on them. We've had public commenters talk about that. I'm putting this out there now as we in just a few months will be talking about property tax levy again. And I'm advocating that we come forward to keep that flat. As we look back on all of the numbers that we had assumed in the fiscal year 2026 budget and particularly the taxes from other sources sales tax etc. were substantially higher than what we actually expected and they substantially exceeded the amount of our property tax increase that we took in the December vote which as I understand it is for the fiscal year 2027 projected revenues. So, just looking ahead, those are very important to me. Thank you for that. I appreciate all the hard work on this. And um you know, those are just my comments. It's not sustainable for us to continue to do this. Those are the takeaways. We need that documentation of all the deferred maintenance. It's been about 5 months and and it's been probably years since I've been asking for it. So, I would really appreciate the follow through on that. Thank you. Any other members from Council have question or comments?

[clears throat] I have a question um regarding the water capital side of things and roughly 82 million [clears throat] that the increase is is in this budget. Um where will this put us for the future budgets? The next budget behind it. Meaning is the 82 million that's been put in on the water capital side of things, is that going to be what's needed? Is that going to bring us back down in the next next budget cycle or is there more heavy lifting coming from the water capital?

so I'll I'll give the short answer to that which is you're not going to like this answer because over the 10 years it's a 400 million dollar in in capital that we need to do. And so, this is just one component of that obviously, but I'm going to let I know that Director Rathman has some more details on that. Thank you, City Manager Jurgens. It will kind of stabilize or reset itself after next fiscal year. So, two fiscal years out. So, we have 81 81.99 million that's budgeted for FY27 and then the current projection that we're capturing as part of our 5-year budget right now is 61.4 million for FY28 then down to 15 million. So, you're looking at a 45 million dollar decrease then down to 12 million and so it's it's going to stay kind of high addressing that's the plan right now some of those lead line replacements out for the next 10 15 years, but it won't be anywhere near this front loaded 80 plus million dollars that we're looking at right now. So, the the future then uh in particular in the water capital side of things while there's a big chunk of that being put into this budget, there's still foreseeable future budgets that may not as heavy lifting with the water capital side of things, but certainly significant that the taxpayer is going to notice. Yeah, well the the rates are are built in right now. So, the taxpayer is being impacted now. So, we're just utilizing those dollars to address these capital needs. So, it's it shouldn't be additional. These capital projects should not be additional burdens on the taxpayer. So, for the next couple budgets water capital is going to be significant. Yes, sir. Any other members of Council have a question or comment? Thank you. If not we can go ahead and take a vote, please.

Electronic with clerk. I'm sorry. I'll move to adopt. I'd like to make a motion. Thank you. Second. Seconded by Member Straza and the motion is made by Member Scott. The item passes. No nays to announce. Thank you. Next we'll move on to I believe letter E of our regular agenda which is the consideration action of an ordinance amending the budget of the fiscal year ending April 30th, 2027 related to the Museum of History McLean County Museum History. Member Hendricks has recused himself and excuse me, City Manager Jurgens if you'd like to go ahead and explain any further. I would happy to answer any questions, but this is a technicality that we've been doing the last few years. So And are there any members that have any questions? Is there a member that would like to make a motion? I'll move approval. That would be from Member Ward and is there a second? Seconded from Member Danenberger. And if we go ahead and take the vote, please. The item passes. There's no nays to announce and I have Council Member Hendricks recused at 7:03. Thank you. Somebody can wave their Member Hendricks come back in.

Thank you. Member Hendricks, okay. Next we'll move to the City Manager's discussion. Um City Manager Jurgens.

thank you and um just before I start if you could go ahead and pull my report up, but I want I want to thank I overlooked thanking Chris Tamlyn our budget manager who's sitting back there who works he'll start tomorrow morning working on the FY28 budget. So, there is no rest for him unfortunately and he does a great job and he has got all of this memorized a walking encyclopedia, but we rely on him so much and and truly appreciate all his effort and expertise. So, thank you very much, Chris. As well as Scott and the entire financial team that it takes a lot to put these budgets together and and truly appreciate all the support of the directors and the staff. Also, to Council Member Matheny's point, we are working on the deferred maintenance report a dozen pages of it drafted so far. Needs a little bit more work, but we will be getting that. I I concur. I think that's an important document for us to put together and just wanted to give that update that we are we are working on that and we'll have that to the Council. Finally, before I begin my manager report, also just want to I think the gentleman that was here from Eagle View has left, but that is projected to take place the detention basin will take place the first quarter of FY27. So, we will be getting that addressed. Do also appreciate Council Member Scott for working with staff on that and and we will certainly get that issue taken care of. With all of that, we'll go ahead and start my report. Next slide, please. Very excited about this first uh first slide. This this is the first time since we've been doing this I've been able to show the national drought map which shows Illinois and there is no red on it. So, we're we're still yellow. That's abnormally dry, but as you can see from the chart, we are almost full in both lakes. Lake Bloomington actually is full and we're about 4 in down in Lake Evergreen. What did you say?

0.4 4 in not 4 ft. So, at a height of 11 ft. So, have dramatically improved that. If you go to the next slide, Lance, you can see this is the spillway and water is actually started falling over the spillway. So, this is something that really appreciate Water Director Brett Lucean Deputy City Manager Sue McLaughlin for helping with all of the information and the monitoring of this. Again, really appreciate the work of the residents and for water conservation efforts and for the council working through these issues with us as well and we're continuing to look at we can't you know, you can't control a drought but we're looking to see what additional things we might be able to do to to help avoid these situations in the future. Uh next slide. Also just want to give a quick update on the streetscape. A lot of progress going on here. By the end of um uh April Stark should have its work completed in the 600 block. Uh the painting is is being completed and and Stark will finish the rest of the above ground infrastructure work there again. Once that's done the lighting will be completed and then once that's done the landscaping will be done by our own parks crews. So truly we anticipate having the 600 block uh sign sealed and delivered hopefully by May at the late end of May by the latest. So great progress there. The 500 block is going very well, very quickly. Um they've they're working on the curbing and and the sidewalks are down. So we are making good progress on that block as well. So a lot of stuff as Deputy City Manager Billy Tice said a lot of stuff going on in our downtown but we're finding our way and figuring it out and it's going to look a whole lot better once we get done here. Next slide. Also uh want to highlight some of the

road work that's going on by the state on Empire Street or Route 9. The pinkish purple that is up there is from Carnahan Drive to Towanda. That's a complete redo of that road adding a 10-ft wide multi-use path. That should be done I think it's by the end of November of 2027. That work is underway now. The rest of it of that blue portion up there should be under construction soon and that should be finished by June of 2028. So a lot of road work going on a lot of it by the state. Our engineering department is working on putting together some more information on a kind of a specialized website where people can get more updates about what's going on with the state work but in the interim you can always go to bloomingtonstreets.com and you can see all of the different road work infrastructure work that's going on throughout the city. Next slide. That might be it. That is it. So that's all I have. Thank you Mayor and Council. Thank you. Uh next we'll move to council members discussion and we will start with member Kearns if she has anything she would like to share. Sure, very quickly kind of an impromptu I guess thinking about our Arbor Day celebration and the agreement that we approved with Ecology Action Center and then the lovely email I got from a community member today about Anglers Lake Nature Preserve that's in Ward 1. Just you know, wanted to express my gratitude for the committed community members, the city of Bloomington, our our parks department and forestry staff and I guess that they're I don't know they're not here anymore. Um I think Michael Brown was here from the EAC earlier. So anyway, just wanted to to highlight that great partnership because I know that there's a lot of stewardship going on and it takes a lot of partnerships to make our city beautiful and so I'm grateful for that. Thank you. Thank you. Member Mosley. Nope.

Member Matney. I do. I had the pleasure of spending time with the Bloomington Police Department this past Monday for the community walk in Ward 3 in East Washington neighborhood. It was wonderful. It was time well spent and I just wanted to thank you all for inviting me. Thanks. Member Danberger. I got nothing. Thank you. Member Straus. Sure. Yeah, I just want to again say thank you to the public works group. We've there's been several things in Ward 5 recently that just come up with the rain and all the other things that go on. Great response have been very it's been great to talk to the people in the community and people in my ward that have been asking questions calling me up and asking for help and the response time from public works has been amazing for getting their answers and so thank you again for that. Member Ward. Yeah, um I know that this sort of came to its conclusion in the town of Normal. Um but there was a quite a bit of drama last week that anybody who saw social media with an oversized load getting stuck in a neighborhood. And it's my understanding I could be wrong on this that that oversized load made its way through Bloomington as well as Normal. And so I am asking for some kind of um just information on what we are doing, what we should be doing to prevent that sort of thing from ever happening again. Because it was fairly obnoxious um where it ended up but I think it it most of the time it spent I think was in Bloomington. It it was just barely it across Division Street when it came to a stop. So thanks.

We'll see what we can find out. Member Hendrix. Member Lee. Yeah, um I just want to say that I enjoyed um looking at the special equipment that the police department has. Um what what's I forgot what that's called again? Uh So you got the mobile command center and the Bearcat. Or also known as the special vehicle. Yeah, something. I just want to say that it was neat to see um and kind of showcases um what we have here in the city and um I just want to say that it was really neat and um a quick question. Do you need a CDL to drive one of those things? Thank you. Member Scott. I think. Um thank you all and I have just a comment or two or maybe a slide but I uh had the pleasure of of uh starting off the Easter egg hunt on Eggs on the Square actually on last Saturday. It was a enjoyable experience. The rain held off and I think close to 15,000 eggs were ordered and it was a kind of a flashback to the general assembly with lots of people running around not knowing exactly what was going on. But um it is something that the kids thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed and their families. And so thank you to our department that was so helpful in that and I all the workers that were there and volunteers that were there. Um and I also want to thank the public as Mr. Jurgens indicated with the water situation why we have um averted a situation. We all know that that planning is key and we will continue to have discussions about that

but I also remember I think it was January and February both times where we went to the public and we asked the public for their help and there was noticeable uh conservation that occurred after those pleas to the public and thank you to the media for for helping us get that message out. So that is something that we're grateful for and we're also grateful for as everyone's alluded to here all the dedication that we have from the different departments especially the the police that were uh singled out tonight. Thank you again for your service and all of you and the work will continue now with a new budget soon. So with that I need a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded by Danberger and member Hendrix. And with that everybody in favor? Aye. Thank you. Have a nice evening.

Mhm.