Tag: City of Bloomington

Proposed ALM mural denied by Bloomington board of public works as conflicting with new art policy

Bloomington board of public works from left: Jennifer Lloyd, Elizabeth Karon, Kyla Cox Dexard.
From the Turning Point application to paint a street mural.

For now at least, a proposed mural that says “All Lives Matter” will not be painted on Kirkwood Avenue just west of Indiana Avenue in downtown Bloomington.

Bloomington’s three-member board of public works has unanimously denied a special events application from Turning Point USA at Indiana University, to paint such a mural on the weekend of April 7 and 8.

The denial came at the board’s regular Tuesday meeting, after about 20 minutes worth of public comment, all of it opposed to the approval of the application to paint the mural.

The public commentary in opposition was based mostly on the fact that the “All Lives Matter” slogan is associated with opposition to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

When it came time for a vote, the board didn’t deliberate on the question.

But when the item was put in front of the board, the basis for the denial was laid out by city attorney Mike Rouker: The proposed mural is for permanent or semi-permanent art (intended to last more than seven days), and it includes “speech.”

The inclusion of “words, letters, numbers, or universally recognized symbols, or logos of any kind” for a permanent art installation put the proposed ALM mural in conflict with the city’s new policy on art installations by private entities in the public right of way.

Bloomington’s policy was adopted by the board of public works at its Dec. 20, 2022 meeting.

The board’s action to adopt a new policy was taken because Bloomington was under a federal court order to develop and promulgate rules for private entities to install art in the public right-of-way. Continue reading “Proposed ALM mural denied by Bloomington board of public works as conflicting with new art policy” →

Street mural: Bloomington attorney says application should be denied, because it contains speech

From the maintenance of traffic plan in connection with the proposed mural painting.
From the Turning Point application to paint a street mural.

It looks like the table is now being set for the next phase in a pending federal lawsuit against the city of Bloomington.

An application to paint a mural on Kirkwood Avenue with the phrase “All Lives Matter” appears on the Bloomington board of public works agenda for Tuesday, March 14.

The application for the mural was made by Turning Point USA at Indiana University.

Bloomington’s city attorney, Mike Rouker, has recommended that the application be denied, because the design includes “speech” as defined by a new city policy on such art in the public right-of-way.

Bloomington’s policy was adopted by the board of public works at its Dec. 20, 2023 2022 meeting.

The board’s action to adopt a new policy was taken because Bloomington was under a federal court order to develop and promulgate rules for private entities to install art in the public right-of-way.

That order came in connection with a lawsuit that Turning Point and Indiana University student Kyle Reynolds filed, after being denied permission to paint their “All Lives Matter” mural in 2021. The court found that the city’s refusal in 2021 to allow Reynolds to paint his mural likely amounted to viewpoint discrimination, and issued a preliminary injunction. Continue reading “Street mural: Bloomington attorney says application should be denied, because it contains speech” →

Potential sludge now stirring for city-county cost sharing on waste-to-energy feasibility study

Monroe County solid waste district board meeting. From left: Geoff McKim, Dan Swafford, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, and Penny Githens.
Monroe County solid waste district board meeting (Jan. 12, 2023)
The aerial image of the city of Bloomington Blucher Poole waste water treatment plant northeast of Bloomington, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system
The aerial image of the city of Bloomington Blucher Poole waste water treatment plant northeast of Bloomington, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system

At Thursday’s regular meeting for the board of the Monroe County solid waste management district (MCSWMD), county commissioners Penny Githens and Julie Thomas raised concerns about the way that a waste-to-energy feasibility study has been approached so far.

An agreement to share the study’s $129,220 cost between MCSWMD and the city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) was adopted in the first part of 2022.

The study is being done by Energy Power Partners, and is supposed to be complete by the end of January or sometime in February, based on discussion at Thursday’s meeting.

EPP’s work is supposed to cover scenarios involving the generation of biogas by using anaerobic digestion of primary sludge from the Blucher Poole wastewater treatment plan, adding FOG (fats, oil and grease) and food waste as feedstock from various large waste generators, and the workability of private-sector partnerships for construction, operations and maintenance—among other possibilities.

But at Thursday’s meeting, Githens read aloud a statement that sketches out a number of objections, including the fact that the focus of the study has shifted from CBU’s Blucher Poole wastewater treatment plant to the Dillman Road facility. Continue reading “Potential sludge now stirring for city-county cost sharing on waste-to-energy feasibility study” →

AFSCME pay increases of 5% to 18% in first year OK’d by Bloomington city council in 2023 salary ordinance

AFSCME members in Bloomington city council chambers (Oct. 12, 2022)
AFSCME Local 2487 president Bradley Rushton addresses Bloomington city council (Oct. 12, 2022)

The recently approved four-year collective bargaining agreement between the city of Bloomington and its AFSCME union is now covered in the city’s salary ordinance.

At its final meeting of the year, on Dec. 21, Bloomington’s city council approved a change to the salary ordinance that sets pay for city employees next year.

The acronym for the union name stands for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union includes workers in utilities, the street and fleet divisions of public works, parks and recreation, sanitation, and the animal shelter, among others.

It’s AFSCME workers who plow the snow, salt the streets and empty the trash carts that residents set out every week.

Based on a comparison of the new AFSCME contract with the previous four-year agreement , in the first year of the new accord, there’s a pay increase for union members that ranges from 5 percent to about 18 percent, depending on the position. [2023-2026 AFSCME contract] [2019-2022 AFSCME contract]

In the second year of the new contract, the pay increase is 5 percent. In the final two years of the contract, which runs from 2023 through 2026, the pay increase is 3.1 percent.

The city council’s action came on a 9–0 vote taken at its Dec. 21 meeting.

The council’s action did not approve the contract—that step had already been completed through negotiations between the union and Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s administration. The council’s action just put the requirements of the contract into local law. Continue reading “AFSCME pay increases of 5% to 18% in first year OK’d by Bloomington city council in 2023 salary ordinance” →

Fuel from Marathon station leaks into Bloomington’s sewers, officials work to get plant back online

Overview map
Location of Marathon Station where gasoline leak originated.
Dillman Road wastewater treatment facility. The triangular shaped basin in the north corner of the map is the equalization basin.

If Bloomington residents smell gasoline inside their homes, they should ventilate the area by opening windows and avoid an open flame.

That’s the advice in a news release from the city of Bloomington issued in the early morning hours of Tuesday. According to the news release residents who have concerns can call (812) 269-6052.

Prompting the advice was a gasoline leak from the Marathon gas station at the southeast corner of 3rd Street and Patterson Drive.

Because the gasoline apparently made its way into the sanitary sewer system, the news release considered the possibility that gasoline fumes might intrude into people’s homes.

According to the news release, there is “currently no risk to residents and no cause for alarm.”

[Updated at 5:14 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2022: The Dillman Road wastewater treatment plant has been back online for a while now.] Continue reading “Fuel from Marathon station leaks into Bloomington’s sewers, officials work to get plant back online” →

Convention center notebook: What’s the deal with the food and beverage tax advisory commission?

With an announcement on Friday from the mayor’s office, Bloomington appears to be charting its own course, independent of any deal with Monroe County government, to “to expand the space available for conventions and other large gatherings in Bloomington.”

Key to the city’s effort—just as it would have been if a deal had been reached with Monroe County government—will be the use of food and beverage tax revenues.

Expenditures of food and beverage tax revenue, by either Bloomington or Monroe County, have to be approved by a seven-member local commission called the food and beverage advisory commission (FABTAC). There’s currently a vacancy for a “community representative” on the FABTAC.

Under state law, the appointment to “community representative” seats on the FABTAC is made “by the city and county executive.”

That means whatever path forward is taken on the question of adding convention center space, the mayor of Bloomington and the three-member board of county commissioners will have to agree on the appointment to the vacant FABTAC seat. Continue reading “Convention center notebook: What’s the deal with the food and beverage tax advisory commission?” →

Column: Bloomington botches accessibility of document about accessibility

In a news release issued on Monday evening,  the city of Bloomington announced that it is inviting feedback on its ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Transition Plan.

ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR DOCUMENTS ON THE CITY WEBSITE All files uploaded to the City website, or otherwise electronically distributed to the public, need to be fully accessible. Accessible includes, but is not limited to,readable by assistive technology, images have captions and/or alternative text descriptions, and the use of high color contrast when placing text over an image. ACCESSIBILITY CHECKLIST Before uploading your file, or distributing it electronically, complete this checklist to ensure the document is accessible. ADD DESCRIPTIVE CAPTIONS OR ALTERNATIVE TEXT FOR ANY IMAGE(S) IN THE DOCUMENT. In Word 2013: Add alt text Right click on image and select "Format Picture." Select the "Layout & Properties" icon and choose "Alt Text." Enter appropriate alt text only in the Description field (not the Title field). Add caption: Right click on image and select "Insert caption." Enter caption. In Google Docs: » Add alt text: Right click on image and select "Alt Text." Enter a title and description for the image. Click "Ok" USE AN ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER TOOL In Word 2013: Open file Click on "File" in the upper left-hand corner. On the Info page, click on the down arrow next to "Check for Issues" Select "Check Accessibility" Correct any issues found in "Inspection Results" In Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid version): Open file Click on "Tools" On the Tools page, locate and click on the Accessibility tool under"Protect & Standardize" Click on "Accessibility Check" on the right side of the screen. Click "Start Checking" on next screen. Correct any issues listed in the report.
This image, with no digital text included, is part of the city of Bloomington’s draft ADA Transition Plan.

But the city does not seem to be interested in feedback on the document from anyone except those who can see perfectly well.

The ADA is all about making the world accessible to everyone. Many accessibility efforts are familiar, like installation of sidewalk curb ramps at intersections or designation of parking spaces near building entrances.

But making the world accessible is supposed to include making electronic documents readable for those whose vision is not good enough to see the words.

That’s done by ensuring that any of the word images in a document have a digital counterpart that can be read by text-to-voice screen reading software.

One approach to making documents accessible is to use some kind of OCR (optical character recognition) software to add digital text to word images. Continue reading “Column: Bloomington botches accessibility of document about accessibility” →

Photos | Black y Brown Arts Festival 2022: “There are so many shades under the sun. We see black y brown when we gaze in the mirror, bruh. “

Alese Allen (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
Moodaxo (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
The African American Dance Company & Stafford C. Berry Jr. (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
The African American Dance Company & Stafford C. Berry Jr. (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
Matixando (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
The African American Dance Company & Stafford C. Berry Jr. (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
Xakilah Daniel (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
Dariel Woods (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)
PDVNCH (Black y Brown Arts Festival Sept. 10, 2022)

On Saturday, Switchyard Park served as the venue for the city of Bloomington’s annual Black y Brown Arts Festival. It’s described on the city of Bloomington’s website as “a celebration and showcase of African, African-American, Hispanic, Latinx, and Native American creative arts and artists…”

The quote in the headline is from a spoken-word performance delivered by PDVNCH, which he crafted for the occasion of this year’s festival. The two stages—one outside and the other inside the pavilion—also featured music and dance.

More photos below.
Continue reading “Photos | Black y Brown Arts Festival 2022: “There are so many shades under the sun. We see black y brown when we gaze in the mirror, bruh. “” →

$129M in 2023: Bloomington mayor asks city council to approve 21% bigger budget for next year

Bloomington city council (Aug. 29, 2022)
Bloomington mayor John Hamilton (Aug. 29, 2020)

The 2023 budget  that has been proposed by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton comes in at $129.2 million, which is about 21 percent more than last year.

That’s the figure in city controller Jeff Underwood’s memo, which was released on Monday at 2 p.m. A  news release came a few minutes later.

Hamilton delivered the proposal to the city council on Monday evening.

The budget reflects a 5-percent pay increase for non-union workers, plus a $250 quarterly bonus, for a total of $1,000 in bonuses.

Hamilton’s presentation was followed by a financial overview from city controller Jeff Underwood and an overview of compensation by human resources director Caroline Shaw.

After that, the council received departmental budget briefings from several departments: human resources; clerk’s office; legal department; information and technology services; city council; controller; and office of the mayor.

The departmental budget breakdowns were released last Friday.  The departmental budget presentations to the council will continue over the next three nights, all starting at 6 p.m.  The B Square will report reaction from councilmembers separately.

The $129 million reflects all of the city’s departments, but does not include city of Bloomington utilities, Bloomington Transit, or the Bloomington Housing Authority. Adding in the budgets for those three entities brings the total to about $229 million.

Changes residents will notice

Part of the budget proposal includes reductions in some city services, increased costs to residents, or changes to current practice.

Continue reading “$129M in 2023: Bloomington mayor asks city council to approve 21% bigger budget for next year” →

2023 Bloomington budget highlights: 24 new jobs, potential increases for trash fees, parking rates

A department-by-department breakdown of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s proposed 2023 budget was released on Friday.

Still missing from the release are memos from city controller Jeff Underwood and human resources department head Caroline Shaw, which are supposed to include an overview of city-wide finances and salary/benefits.

Those memos were described early Friday as forthcoming.

But responding around 9:15 p.m. on Friday to a B Square query, communications director Andrew Krebbs indicated the memos would not be issued that evening. Krebbs also could not give an estimated time when they would be produced.

[Updated at 2:23 p.m. on Aug. 29, 2022. The memos were released around 2 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29: controller/HR memos]

Based on a B Square parsing of all the relevant tables in the 346-page document, the proposed total expenditures for all the departments in the city amount to around $117 million, or at least $10 million more than last year. Those figures do not include the budgets for Bloomington Transit, city of Bloomington utilities, or Bloomington Housing Authority.

The $117 million is an unofficial total, not just because it can’t be confirmed against the controller’s memo. The figure does not include lost revenue due to circuit breakers (tax caps) or debt service.  For 2022,  the tax caps accounted for about $0.5 million, while debt service came in at about $2 million. Continue reading “2023 Bloomington budget highlights: 24 new jobs, potential increases for trash fees, parking rates” →