State of the City: Mayor says Bloomington 'ready to soar' after first year of team building

Thursday night’s State of the City event, held at the Waldron Arts Center on South Walnut Street in downtown Bloomington, departed from the traditional template, which makes an address from the mayor the one big focus.

Even if she also put some others on stage, Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson did deliver remarks of her own on Thursday. One of the big themes that Thomson stressed was: Her first year in office, which started in 2024, has been focussed on building her administration’s team. She put it like this: “[My] top priority was to build the cabinet and the team to meet this moment of opportunity for the city of Bloomington.”

When Thomson wrapped up the night, she said, “Reflecting on this past year, I'm reminded of the ground we've covered, progress made, challenges faced, and the discoveries made along the way.” She added, “We can truly say it's been a team building year, and we really are ready to soar.”

Thomson’s talk also served to introduce presentations from two key members of her administration—Sharr Pechac, who heads human resources, and Jane Kupersmith, who is director of economic and sustainable development.

Also given a place in the spotlight were police and fire services—with time at the mic for police chief Mike Diekhoff and fire chief Roger Kerr, before the honor guard posted the flags to start the event.

Diekhoff and Kerr both highlighted the improvements in facilities. That included the already completed renovations for fire stations, and the planned conversion of the now vacant former Bloomington Convalescent Center (714 S. Rogers Street) to a new police station. The building is owned by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC). It sits in the area of the planned new Hopewell neighborhood, near the site of the former IU Health hospital at 2nd and Rogers streets. Just a year ago Bloomington’s redevelopment commission was still mulling the possibility of demolishing the building.

Pechac’s remarks covered the general investments the city was making in its workforce, which included a resetting of salary grades, which mostly meant pay increases for non-union workers. Those general investments included reviewing the city’s personnel manual, which had not been updated in over a decade, Pechac said.

Pechac highlighted police and fire services as a place where strides had been made, getting staffing up to budgeted levels. She noted that the new contracts that had been negotiated for police and fire had the unanimous support of both unions. Pechac reported that the fire department will be fully staffed in September.

Pechac reported that after the city of Bloomington announced the higher salaries, and the fact that police officers would now be allowed to take their patrol vehicles home, the department saw the largest applicant pool in years. There are 11 strong applicants who are now in the hiring process, which will make it the department’s biggest onboarding class in two decades, Pechac said.

In her initial remarks, after praising the work of first responders the previous day as they dealt with the the storm that blew though, Thomson took the chance to denounce the vandalism of Trades District buildings, including The Forge, during the storm. Thomson said, “This was really senseless destruction of places built by and for our community.” She continued, “I want to be clear: Destruction has no place in Bloomington. In Bloomington, we protect the spaces where inclusion, innovation and opportunity take root.” Thomson added, “We're investigating, we are responding, and we are moving forward.”

In her turn at the mic, Kupersmith also mentioned the technology center that is branded as The Forge—a 22,000-square-foot office building supported by a federal grant, which was completed last fall.

Kupersmith also noted the partnership between Indiana University and The Mill on a $16 million Lilly Endowment grant, to expand development of the Trades District and improve campus-community connections. Another win in the Trades District cited by Kupersmith was the fact that commercial tenants have moved into finished space in the ground floor of the Trades District parking garage.

Kupersmith also mentioned the installation Stefan Reiss’s O.T. 987 sculpture at 10th and Madison, which is something like the entrance to the Trades District. Kupersmith described a partnership with Secretly Group to create a 10,000-square-foot arts incubator, offering affordable studio space and support for local artists. The incubator will formally open this fall, she said.

Kupersmith mentioned some other big projects where the city is making headway, including the Hopewell redevelopment area, and the convention center expansion.

On the topic of climate action, Kupersmith described a partnership with NOAA and CAPA Strategies to conduct an air quality mapping study. Kupersmith also described an expansion of the city’s Stay Cool program to help residents cope with high heat. She reported that the city had helped and helped 32 low-income residents get new e-bikes. Kupersmith reported that Bloomington is also continuing to lead Project 46, which she described as a regional climate alliance with Columbus and Nashville and partners like Cummins, IU Health, and the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University.

Thursday’s State of the City event was framed as a meeting of the Bloomington city council. When the roll was called at the start, all city councilmembers were present except for Matt Flaherty and Kate Rosenbarger.

[Added at 11:29 a.m. April 4, 2025. Here's a link: full script of the 2025 State of the City event]