Tag: board of park commissioners

Bloomington parks board holds firm on percentage fee for food and beverage artisans at farmers market

From left: Israel Herrera, Jim Whitlatch, Kathleen Mills, and Ellen Rodkey.
Paula McDevitt, Bloomington’s director of parks and recreation.
Clarence Boone, farmers market coordinator and Leslie Brinson, community events manager
Eric Schedler of Muddy Fork Farm & Bakery.
Robert Fischman speaks in favor of lowering the fee for food artisan vendors to 5 percent.
Attendance dropped sharply in 2019 due to controversy at the market over one vendor’s ties to white supremacist organizatons.
Rachel Beyer speaks in favor of lowering the fee for food artisan vendors to 5 percent.

When the city of Bloomington’s farmers market opens for business on the first Saturday of April, the food and artisan vendors will pay 6.5 percent of their gross sales to the city of Bloomington.

That’s in contrast to farmers at the market, who pay a set fee for their stalls, not a percentage of their gross sales.

A request to lower the percentage to 5 percent for food and artisan vendors was heard at the board of park commissioners at its meeting this past Tuesday, as well as at its January meeting.

Speaking at the public mic at both recent board meetings in support of a fee reduction was Eric Schedler of Muddy Fork Farm & Bakery, as well as several others.

But on Tuesday, the board voted 4–0 to adopt contract templates for the food and artisan vendors that require a 6.5-percent fee. The board had approved the 6.5-percent fee last year, at its Nov. 18 meeting last year. Continue reading “Bloomington parks board holds firm on percentage fee for food and beverage artisans at farmers market” →

Bloomington trail closures, detours to be decided “in collaboration” with engineering department

Signage for closure of The B Line during the recent removal of some callery pear trees. (From slide presented by parks operation director Tim Streets at the board of park commissioners Jan. 24, 2023 meeting.)
The signage for the closure of The B-Line Trail in 2022 near the Johnson’s Creamery smokestack came in the form of an 8.5 x 11 laminated sheet, which is barely visible on the chain link fence.

Under a new policy, when multi-use trails in Bloomington are closed—because of work by contractors or a dangerous situation—a detour has to be provided that gives trail users a convenient alternate route.

The policy was adopted by Bloomington’s board of park commissioners at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

Under the new policy, the closure has to be marked with signage that’s compliant with the Indiana Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

The policy also says that the decisions by the board about trail closures and detours have to be made “in collaboration” with the city engineer.

The development of the policy came after complaints about the city’s implementation last year of a detour and signage for a B-Line closure. That closure was made in connection with the unsafe building order issued by the city for the Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. Continue reading “Bloomington trail closures, detours to be decided “in collaboration” with engineering department” →

Parks board, city engineer: Collaboration, consultation, or supervision on trail closures?

Bloomington park commissioner Jim Whitlach (Nov. 15, 2022)
Bloomington park commissioner Ellen Rodkey (Nov. 15, 2022).
Bloomington’s director of park operations Tim Street. In the foreground is Bloomington resident Greg Alexander (Nov. 15, 2022).

As currently drafted, a proposed new Bloomington parks policy would spell out how temporary and emergency closures of trails are implemented by the board of park commissioners—in “collaboration” with the city engineer.

On Tuesday, at its regular monthly meeting, the adoption of that policy was tabled by the board.

The presentation of the proposed new policy came from Tim Street, who is director of park operations. He described the policy as stemming from the closure of The B-Line early in the year, due to the hazard posed by the Johnson’s Creamery smokestack. The smokestack has now been partially demolished.

The board tabled the adoption of the new policy after park commissioner Jim Whitlach, who’s an attorney, questioned the use of the word “collaboration” to describe the activity to be undertaken between the board of park commissioners and the city engineer.

Whitlach said he would prefer that the policy make clear that it’s the board that makes the decision. So Whitlach said the policy should say the board decides not in “collaboration” with, but in “consultation” with the city engineer.

A counterpoint to Whitlach’s position came during public commentary from Bloomington resident Greg Alexander, who has, in his capacity as a member of the city’s traffic commission, for the last few months pushed the issue of the engineer’s role in making decisions about public right-of-way like The B-Line Trail. Continue reading “Parks board, city engineer: Collaboration, consultation, or supervision on trail closures?” →

11 Callery pear trees to get axed, Bloomington’s park board OKs $17K contract

All 1,246 the Callery pear trees on public right-of-way in Blooomington
Vicinity map of Callery pear trees to be removed and replaced under Bluestone Tree’s contract.

By mid-November, nine of Bloomington’s Callery pear trees will be cut down, along the B-Line Trail, north of the 3rd Street bridge and south of 4th Street.

Their stumps will be ground down six inches below the surface. Eight of the trees are eventually to be replaced with a native species.

Another two Callery pears on the west side of the B-Line just south of Kirkwood Avenue will also be removed and replaced as a part of the contracted work.

The removal of the trees is part of Bloomington’s 15-year plan to eradicate all of the Callery pears in the public right-of-way. They’re considered to be an invasive species, and are prohibited as street trees under city code.  Based on the city’s online tree inventory, Bloomington now has 1,246 public Callery pears.

A $17,523 contract with Bluestone Tree for the Callery pear removal and replacement was approved by the four-member board of park commissioners at its regular Tuesday meeting. Continue reading “11 Callery pear trees to get axed, Bloomington’s park board OKs $17K contract” →

Two Bloomington gateway projects get restart: Miller-Showers Park, pedestrian bridge

Aerial image of Miller-Showers Park from Monroe County online property lookup system.
Arial image of Arlington pedestrian bridge from Monroe County online property lookup system.

Funding for design of two projects that are meant to establish “gateways” to Bloomington got approval from the board of park commissioners at its regular Tuesday meeting.

One of the sites where a gateway is to be constructed is the northern tip of Miller-Showers Park. The other is the SR 45/46 bypass pedestrian bridge, which connects to the Arlington Heights Elementary School.

What the board approved on Tuesday was a $133,925 contract with Rundell Ernstberger & Associates (REA) for the design work on the two projects. Continue reading “Two Bloomington gateway projects get restart: Miller-Showers Park, pedestrian bridge” →

Bloomington park commissioners give final OK to $5.8 million in GO bonds

On Monday afternoon, Bloomington’s board of park commissioners convened a special meeting to approve $5.8 million in parks general obligation bonds, to pay for some multi-use trail and protected bicycle lane projects.

The bonds were a part of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s new revenue package, which was recently approved by the city council. The whole package included another $5.8 million in public works bonds,  and a 0.69-point increase in the countywide local income tax, which is expected to generate about $14.5 million annually for the city of Bloomington.

The bond projects approved by the board of park commissioners on Monday included: replacement of missing sidewalk on Rogers St. by Switchyard Park; addition of protected bicycle lanes along Covenanter Drive (from College Mall to Clarizz Blvd); construction design for a North Dunn Street multi-use path (from the SR 45/46 Bypass to Old SR 37); the Griffy Loop Trail dam crossing and community access\ improvements; and modernization of West 2nd Street modernization, including protected bicycle lanes (from Walker Street to BLine trail).

No one spoke during the public commentary period at Monday’s meeting.

Given initial approval by park commissioners in April were two bond projects that the city council later struck from the list: replacement of gas-powered equipment with electric equipment; and a non-motorized connection from Lower Cascades Park to Miller-Showers Park.

So those two projects were not among those approved on Monday by the board of park commissioners.

The final approval of the bonds was previously on the agenda for a late-April meeting of the park commissioners. But they could not take a vote on the item. That’s because under Indiana’s Open Door Law, all members who are voting on a tax increase have to be physically present—not participating through electronic communication. Only two of the four park commissioners were physically present at the late April meeting.

That’s why a special meeting of the park commissioners had to be called. Continue reading “Bloomington park commissioners give final OK to $5.8 million in GO bonds” →

Electronic meetings statute stops vote on $5.8M bond issuance by Bloomington parks board

The final approval of $5.8-million in general obligation bonds appeared on Tuesday’s agenda for Bloomington’s board of park commissioners.

view of city council chambers with two park commissioners seated at dais with numeral "1" and "2" labeling them and a third park commission appearing on screen.
Tues. April 26, 2022 meeting of Bloomington’s board of park commissioners. Two were present in-person. One was present on the Zoom platform.

It did not get a vote, because only two of the four park commissioners were attending the meeting in person.

A special meeting will be scheduled so that a vote can be taken.

A third commissioner attended Tuesday’s meeting by using the Zoom video-conferencing platform—which allowed the board to achieve its quorum of three members to transact other items on its agenda.

Under Indiana’s Open Door Law (ODL), an attendee who participates by electronic communication counts towards satisfying a quorum.

And under ordinary circumstances a remote attendee’s votes count towards whatever majority is needed for a particular item to be approved.

But under the ODL, there are some circumstances that preclude a member’s participation in a meeting using electronic communication. Among them are meetings when the governing body is taking final action to “establish, raise, or renew a tax.”

Issuing general obligation bonds has the impact of raising property taxes. Continue reading “Electronic meetings statute stops vote on $5.8M bond issuance by Bloomington parks board” →

Bloomington park commissioners give initial OK to issue $5.8M in bonds for transportation projects

At a special meeting on Wednesday, Bloomington’s board of park commissioners kicked off a process to issue $5.8 million worth of bonds to fund several projects.

map of the city of Bloomington with green highlights showing proposed bond projects
The dotted line for the Dunn Street project indicates the portion of the proposed path that has challenging terrain. The rest is relatively flat.

Most of them are non-motorized transportation projects. The one clear exception is a $25,000 project to replace gasoline-powered with electric-powered equipment.

At Wednesday’s meeting, director of park operations Tim Street gave some examples of the type of hand-held equipment that could be replaced: weed eaters; mowers; backpack blowers; hedge trimmers; and chainsaws.

Street also said the department is looking to buy some battery-powered riding lawn mowers and to test them out by giving them heavy use.

The parks bonds are half of a general obligation bond package that Bloomington mayor John Hamilton unveiled two weeks ago, along with $17 million worth of projects that could be funded with a local income tax increase.

The resolution adopted by the park commissioners includes the projects in Exhibit A. About those projects, the resolution states: “The Board preliminarily finds that it is necessary for the public health and welfare and will be of public utility and benefit to proceed with the Projects.”

Final approval by the board of park commissioners is expected on April 26. That’s when Wednesday’s resolution says a public hearing will take place.

Between now and April 26, the parks bonds are supposed to be introduced at the city council’s April 6 meeting, discussed at the city council’s April 13 committee meeting and voted up or down on April 20. Continue reading “Bloomington park commissioners give initial OK to issue $5.8M in bonds for transportation projects” →

$279K for private security patrols in public parks OK’d by Bloomington

In 2022, unarmed officers employed by Marshall Security will continue to patrol Switchyard Park overnight, as well as through the day in a half dozen more parks in Bloomington.

The $278,821 contract with Marshall, which runs through the end of 2022, was approved by the four-member board of park commissioners at its regular meeting on Tuesday night.

In June last year, the board had approved overnight patrols for Switchyard, as a response to increased incidents of vandalism.  In July, daytime patrols for the other parks  were approved. A contract to bridge from the end of 2021 through the end of January was approved by the board in mid-December.

Based on the number of reports filed by Marshall officers, the number of incidents in the areas patrolled decreased significantly, starting in July: July (126); August (99); September (38); October (28); and November (5).

Other parks covered in the contract besides Switchyard include: RCA Park, Seminary Park, B-Line Trail, Building Trades Park, Rev. Ernest D. Butler Park, Crestmont Park, Miller-Showers Park, and Waldron Hill Buskirk Park.

At Tuesday’s meeting, board members had questions about the source of funds and expressed concerns about the amount. Continue reading “$279K for private security patrols in public parks OK’d by Bloomington” →

Bloomington expands private security to 7 more parks across city, including B-Line Trail

final bordered fresh annotated R Map Parks for PatrolYYYxxxx
corrected FOR NEW CONTRACT Switchard-aerial-Screen-Shot-2021-06-25-at-9.04.07-AM
final bordered for close up annotated R Map Parks for PatrolYYYxxxx

Private unarmed security patrols will now be checking a total of eight parks in Bloomington, a collection that extends a bit farther, north-to-south, than the extent of the B-Line Trail.

The $52,500 contract addendum with Marshall Security, to cover the additional parks, was approved by Bloomington’s board of park commissioners at its Tuesday afternoon meeting.

That brings the total amount of the contract with Marshall to $113,000. The money is being drawn from CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funds.

At their June meeting, park commissioners approved the initial $60,588 contract, which included just Switchyard Park, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day of the week. The reason given for the Switchyard Park security was an increase in after-hours vandalism and substance use, and overnight camping.

For the additional parks and the trail, the additional private security is needed because of “a number of incidents that have occurred lately on both the B-Line trail and in several other…core corridor parks around the downtown area,” according to Tim Street, who’s operations and development division director for Bloomington parks and recreation.

The list of parks to be patrolled by Marshall is now: Switchyard Park, RCA Park, Seminary Park, B-Line Trail, Building Trades Park, Rev Ernest D. Butler Park, Crestmont Park, Miller-Showers Park, and Waldron Hill Buskirk Park. Continue reading “Bloomington expands private security to 7 more parks across city, including B-Line Trail” →