Tag: interview

Bloomington fire chief resigns days after being tapped for service by mayor-elect: Next steps?

Last week on Friday (Dec. 1), Bloomington mayor-elect Kerry Thomson announced several of her picks for the department heads who would be a part of her administration, after she is sworn into office on Jan. 1.

Among Thomson’s announced choices was Jason Moore as fire chief—which meant he would continue to head up the city’s fire department as he has since mid-2016, after being appointed by then-mayor John Hamilton.

But early this week, Moore sent his resignation letter to Hamilton, who just over three weeks from now will be wrapping up two four-year terms. Both Hamilton and Thomson are Democrats. Hamilton did not seek re-election.

Moore sent a separate message about his resignation to firefighters and staff in the fire department.

What happens next? Responding to an emailed question from The B Square, Thomson wrote: “I will be naming an interim chief and conducting a search for our next chief.”

[Updated on Dec. 7, 2023 at 12:15 p.m. In a news release around noon on Thursday (Dec. 7), Thomson has announced her pick as interim fire chief: Roger Kerr. He is described in the news release like this: “Kerr, who has been with the department since 1988, previously served as its chief from 2008 to 2014. A current battalion chief, Kerr has held the rank of fire fighter, engineer, ariel technician and captain over his career. He will assume the position on January 1, 2024.” ]

Continue reading “Bloomington fire chief resigns days after being tapped for service by mayor-elect: Next steps?” →

Bloomington city council committee sets group interviews for two public bus board appointments, excludes applicant who’s currently suing the city

Looking southeast at the corner of Walnut and 4th streets in downtown Bloomington at Bloomington Transit’s downtown transit center, on Nov. 18, 2020. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

Two seats on the five-member board of the Bloomington Transit board of directors have been listed as vacant on the city’s board and commission website since Aug. 1.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the city council’s four-member standing committee on transportation, they decided to use a couple of group interviews to consider just seven of eight applicants for the two vacant BT board positions.

Not in the mix for the committee’s group interviews will be Republican Andrew Guenther, who ran for the District 2 city council seat in 2019 that was won by Democrat Sue Sgambelluri.

Committee member Isabel Piedmont-Smith objected to the inclusion of Guenther, because he is currently a party to a lawsuit against the city of Bloomington over his appointment to a plan commission seat.

Supporting Piedmont-Smith’s position were the three other members of the committee: Steve Volan, Ron Smith, and chair Kate Rosenbarger.

The committee will make a recommendation to the city council, which will make a final decision. The city council appoints three of the five seats. The mayor appoints the other two.

The two incumbents for the seats on the BT board now listed as vacant are Nancy Obermeyer and Alex Cartwright. They will be part of the set of seven who are being invited to sign up for slots for the group interviews. At the same time the transportation committee met on Tuesday, Obermeyer and Cartwright were handling the business of the board at its regular monthly meeting.

Under the state statute on public transportation corporations, the BT board is required to be balanced for affiliation with political parties.

Obermeyer is a Democrat and Cartwright is a Republican, assuming that this June they both participated in the same party’s primary as in 2019. Participation in the most recent primary of a party is one way the state statute defines party affiliation. Continue reading “Bloomington city council committee sets group interviews for two public bus board appointments, excludes applicant who’s currently suing the city” →