Bloomington mayor rebukes city council for lack of public deliberations on HPC appointment

This past Wednesday, at Bloomington’s city council meeting, mayor Kerry Thomson used her time at the mic to make a clarion call for applications to serve on the city’s historic preservation commission (HPC).

Appointments to positions on the HPC are somewhat unusual, because they are the mayor’s to make, but are subject to approval by the city council.

Thomson also used her time to report to the council that Alyson Baer—who was Thomson’s appointment to the HPC that she had previously asked the council to approve—had withdrawn herself from consideration.

Here’s how the mayor put it, speaking to the council on Wednesday:

I selected as my appointment the only non white-male that had applied to the HPC. And unfortunately, my original appointment, and the only candidate of any diversity, no longer wishes to be considered for this volunteer position, as the initial appointment process was unwelcoming.

The “unwelcoming” process that the mayor described included an under-the-radar rebuff of Thomson’s appointment, which took place at the council’s Oct. 16 meeting. That’s when the council did not consider Baer’s appointment, during the time on the standard council agenda that is labeled “Appointments to boards and commissions”

That’s despite the fact that Baer’s selection by the mayor to be appointed to the HPC was reflected in the clerk’s memo about the appointments, which was included in the meeting information packet.

Three days after the Oct. 16 meeting, Thomson emailed city councilmembers  with a full-throated condemnation of the council’s failure to give public consideration to Baer’s appointment. In her email message, she describes the approach the council took as “behind-the-scenes” lobbying.

Thomson also described it as “a breach of public accountability.”

Oct. 16, 2024: Silent snub of appointment

Alyson Baer’s last name could be recognizable—her husband, Jay Baer, is a member of the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB). Alyson Baer handled scheduling for Kerry Thomson during her mayoral campaign and worked briefly in that capacity in the mayor’s office after Thomson was elected.

At its Oct. 16 meeting Bloomington’s city council could have voted on the appointment of Baer to Bloomington’s historic preservation commission (HPC). Her selection by the mayor to be appointed to the HPC was reflected in the clerk’s memo about the appointments, which was included in the meeting information packet.

But Baer’s name was not mentioned at the meeting. The historic preservation commission also did not get a mention during the meeting, until the very end.

That’s when Taylor Brown, who is the legislative affairs specialist in the mayor’s office, used the public mic to ask about the HPC appointment. There’s time at the end of the meeting for public comment on items that are not on the agenda.

Brown was taking advantage of the fact that there’s just a general category listed on the agenda for appointments to board and commissions—without any specific appointments listed. That is, Baer’s appointment was not technically “on the agenda.”

Not placing on the agenda explicitly the specific names and commission appointments is a city council custom that Thomson criticizes in her Oct. 19 message. From the message:

Crafting the agenda to reflect only a broad topic, rather than specifying the boards and commissions to be addressed, lacks transparency to our residents, community members, and City staff, all of whom rely on our open and clear communication. Failing to raise the mayoral appointment for the HPC, intentionally avoiding public discussion, is a breach of public accountability.

But the custom meant that when Brown went to the public mic at the end of the Oct. 16 meeting, he was within the rules to ask about the non-vote on the HPC appointment.

Brown wanted some clarification about what had happened. Council president Piedmont-Smith told Brown: “I would just say that for any vote of council, somebody has to make a motion, and nobody wanted to make that motion.” Piedmont-Smith added, “So we will confer with the mayor’s office after the meeting. Or, you know, in the coming days.”

Oct. 19, 2024: Mayoral condemnation

Thomson’s email message leads off by establishing that she doesn’t think the council’s failure to consider Baer’s appointment publicly is an isolated event.

I write to you today challenged by the pattern which seems to be common practice within our legislative branch of government, and which is in direct conflict with one of the values I would like to believe we all share: transparent and open government.

Thomson describes how she received a phone call from an unnamed councilmember 10 minutes before the start of the Oct. 16 meeting, “asking to table the issue so council could confer prior to the vote, which he commented was likely to end unfavorably for the appointment.”

The pronoun indicates that the councilmember who made the call was one of the following: Andy Ruff, Dave Rollo, Isak Asare, or Matt Flaherty.

Thomson’s email continues by describing subsequent conversations she had with some councilmembers, who said she should have sought “private meetings to lobby for the candidate I intended to appoint.”

About such private meetings, Thomson writes:

The expectation of nine lobbying meetings in advance of any single appointment to a commission is not only a violation of the spirit if not the law of open-door policy but also an unrealistic and irresponsible use of my time, especially given my administration’s focus on critical community priorities like increasing housing, driving economic development, and eliminating homelessness—issues that directly impact the quality of life for all residents.

Thomson wraps up her message with a look to the future:

Nonetheless, I am writing to you in the spirit of open dialogue—hoping we can, once again, have difficult conversations in order to produce a result that is the absolute best for the Bloomington we all know and love.

Nov. 6, 2024: Getting time at the mic

At this past Wednesday’s meeting, for the mayor to get any time at the mic, to talk about HPC appointments, proved to be a hurdle that she had to clear.

That’s even though there’s an item on the standard agenda in the “Reports” section  for “The mayor and city offices”

The council had invited a nonprofit called CANOPYBloomington to give a presentation during the mayor’s agenda slot. The council had already moved well past that section on the agenda, when councilmember Isak Asare, who was joining the meeting on the Zoom video conferencing platform, asked about the possibility of a mayoral report.

Asare asked, “Do we have mayoral report time?” He added, “I can’t see what’s happ- it’s quite weird being online, by the way. I’m glad to have tried it. I can’t see who’s in the room or what’s going on.”

Thomson was seated in the audience in city council chambers.

Piedmont-Smith reviewed how the mayor’s report time had been taken up with the presentation from CANOPYBloomington, adding, “If the mayor wants to make a report, she knows that that’s something that should be notified to us ahead of time.”

From the screen on the wall, Asare added: “I was just lost because I thought we…I thought there was an appointment thing, but maybe I…missed an email or something.”

From the audience, Thomson chimed in: “I would like to give a brief report.”

Asare added: “I don’t mean to cause disruption. Sorry, I was just, I was confused.”

Piedmont-Smith then acknowledged there had been some email exchanges about appointments to boards and commissions, but pointed out that the council had not yet reached that part of the agenda.

Piedmont-Smith noted that Thompson had indicated from the audience that she wanted to make a comment.

Piedmont-Smith pointed out that the allotted time for mayoral reports had been exceeded (20 minutes) and that the council had moved past that section on the agenda to hear reports from council committees.

Piedmont-Smith stated, “I don’t know if somebody wants to make a motion to make an exception, but at this point…”

That’s when councilmember Courtney Daily offered: “I make a motion to extend the time.”

Councilmember Hopi Stosberg observed that because the council had moved past the agenda item for mayoral reports, the motion should be to add an agenda item, not extend the time.

After a vote on adding a agenda item, Thomson was finally allowed to take the mic.

Here’s how she started her turn, which lasted under a minute:

Thank you. I apologize, if the request was not clear, when I asked to give a report tonight, did not mean to interrupt the meeting. I wanted to give you an update on the historic preservation commission appointment.

Terms on the historic preservation commission (HPC) last three years. The spot on the HPC that Thomson is looking to fill is Seat M-5.  It is vacant after the resignation of Ashley Johnson, who was appointed to succeed Matthew Seddon, whose term lasted through the end of 2023. Seddon had been appointed in late August 2021 to finish out Deborah Hutton’s term.