2 change votes, Bloomington city council overrides mayoral veto of anti-pipeline resolution

Bloomington city council meeting on April 17, 2024. Andy Ruff attended on the Zoom video platform. Matt Flaherty was absent.

Map of area of focus for water study: https://www.in.gov/ifa/regional-water-studies/north-central-indiana-water-study/

Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. (March 27, 2024)

Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s veto of a resolution opposing a potential water pipeline, from the aquifers of the Wabash River to Lebanon in Boone County, has been overridden by the city council.

Wednesday’s vote tally was 7–0 with one abstention, by Kate Rosenbarger. Matt Flaherty did not attend the meeting.

Lebanon is about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. From Lebanon, it’s another 35 miles, northwest along I-65, to West Lafayette.

The pipeline is part of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s eventual plan to provide resources to its LEAP (Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace) District near Lebanon in Boone County.

On March 27, when the council voted for the first time on the anti-pipeline resolution, it had just five votes of support, with four abstentions. Continue reading “2 change votes, Bloomington city council overrides mayoral veto of anti-pipeline resolution” →

MCCSC board wants public to mull elementary school merger, meant to balance socio-economic status

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1FGkzX6Tfk0hSpxK-djsz6oJBQ2kxAfo&usp=sharing

Data used to build the chart is available here: https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/MCCSC-SES-data-by-elementary-school.tsv

Responding to a request from the Monroe County Community School Corporation board, this week district superintendent Jeff Hauswald presented a possible plan to merge the attendance areas for two pairs of elementary schools.

The idea would be to divide the grades for the bigger attendance areas between the two existing buildings for each pair of schools.

The purpose of merging the schools would be to improve the balance of socio-economic status (SES) among students in different elementary school buildings.

The key metric for SES of students is defined by the Indiana Department of Education—as the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, based on income eligibility guidelines.

One merger would involve consolidating the attendance areas for Childs Elementary and Templeton Elementary. At the end of a three-year transition period, Childs would serve the combined attendance areas for pre-kindergarten through grade 2. Templeton would serve grade 3 through grade 6.

A second merger, which could be implemented by itself or combined with the first one, would consolidate the attendance areas for University Elementary and Fairview Elementary. At the end of a three-year transition period, University would serve the combined attendance areas for pre-kindergarten through grade 3. Fairview would serve grade 4 to grade 6. Continue reading “MCCSC board wants public to mull elementary school merger, meant to balance socio-economic status” →

Bloomington council cuts public commenter’s mic for refusing to state his name, relents after short recess

Bloomington city council president Sue Sgambelluri presided over the June 21, 2023 meeting. The image is a screengrab from the CATS recording.

Dareal Ruble gives public comment at the June 21, 2023 city council meeting. The image is a screengrab from the CATS recording.

During its meeting last Wednesday, Bloomington’s city council cut off the mic of a public commenter, recessed the meeting, retreated from its chambers to the council’s office suite, then emerged about 10 minutes later to resume the meeting.

When council president Sue Sgambelluri reconvened the meeting, Dareal Ruble was still waiting at the public mic—like he said he would when councilmembers were filing out of the chambers.

What provoked Sgambelluri to take the unusual step of recessing the meeting in the middle of a public commenter’s remarks?

Ruble had offended the council’s convention that speakers at the public mic give their names before starting their commentary.

When the meeting resumed, Sgambelluri restarted the 5-minute clock, and allowed Ruble to complete his commentary without stating his name. Continue reading “Bloomington council cuts public commenter’s mic for refusing to state his name, relents after short recess” →

Talk deemed off-topic, ill-tempered: Backdrop for Bloomington’s resolution on embargo against Cuba

Bloomington city councilmember Susan Sandberg (Jan. 18, 2023)

Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo (Jan. 18, 2023)

Bess Lee, CUBAmistad.

Frank Marshalek, CUBAmistad.

Dareal Ruble, Bloomington resident.

Outline of Bloomington in blue, superimposed (to scale) on map with Santa Clara, Cuba.

“Who the hell do you people think you are? You’re not the White House!”

That was Dareal Ruble speaking from the public mic at last Wednesday’s meeting of the city council.

He was reacting to a resolution on the meeting agenda that called for an immediate end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.

The resolution was not controversial for councilmembers—it passed unanimously.

The vote came almost an hour after the resolution was introduced by Dave Rollo, who co-sponsored it with Susan Sandberg.

Rubel was interrupted twice during his allotted five minutes by council president Sue Sgambelluri, who admonished him—for speaking off the topic of the resolution, not for any particular choice of words.

But questions about the kind of tone and demeanor that councilmembers consider acceptable were swimming just under the surface of Wednesday’s meeting—in connection with an earlier agenda item.

Neither Rollo nor Sandberg supported a raft of resident re-appointments to boards and commissions that were approved early on the agenda.

After Wednesday’s meeting, Rollo confirmed to The B Square that he voted no, because the list included Greg Alexander’s reappointment to the city’s traffic commission.

Based on Alexander’s social media interactions, which Rollo described as “aggressive,” Rollo said he think’s Alexander’s temperament is “ill-suited” to serving on a city board or commission.

Continue reading “Talk deemed off-topic, ill-tempered: Backdrop for Bloomington’s resolution on embargo against Cuba” →

Bloomington city council adopts resolution on electronic meetings policy, frustrated by lack of timing device for speakers

Screen shot of plan commission Zoom meeting from April 5, 2021 as the time counts down for public speaker Jeff Richardson.

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At a special session on Wednesday, Bloomington’s city council adopted a resolution on a policy that will allow a subset of councilmembers to continue to attend meetings using electronic communication, instead of attending in person.

The policy adopted by the city council comes as Indiana governor Eric Holcomb’s current emergency health order is set to expire on May 31. It’s the governor’s emergency order that has allowed governing bodies that are otherwise required under Indiana’s Open Door Law to meet in person, to meet instead on electronic video platforms like Zoom.

What makes local policies on electronic meeting participation possible is a new state statute enacted by the state legislature during this year’s session. Under HEA 1437, members of a governing body can, in a more limited way, still participate in meetings from a distance, by using electronic platforms.

The ability to conduct “hybrid” meetings—where some city council members participate remotely, and some appear in person in council chambers at city hall—relies on some upgrades to the technology deployed in the chambers.

The upgrades to council chambers don’t include a way for the president of the council and the parliamentarian to manage a visible and audible time clock for public speakers and for councilmembers.

That’s something that drew some complaint from councilmember Steve Volan, which was echoed by councilmembers Ron Smith and Sue Sgambelluri. Continue reading “Bloomington city council adopts resolution on electronic meetings policy, frustrated by lack of timing device for speakers” →

Public’s work continues in Bloomington under COVID-19 protocols

Bloomington’s city council held a work session on Friday, March 13, 2020. Joining remotely via a Google Meet were four concilmembers and director of utilities Vic Kelson, who’s on-screen in this shot. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

new inset cropped 2020-03-13 work session IMG_8973

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has caused cancellation of several public meetings, Bloomington’s city council now has an additional, special meeting on its calendar set for March 25th.

The extra meeting was added so that the council can act to approve the re-funding of some waterworks bonds. The utilities services board approved the bond re-funding this past week. And the council’s action will set up the city to save about $2.3 million in interest.

Even if that kind of public business continues to get done, it’s not business as usual.

The city council chambers have been configured to reflect the most common precaution against spreading the COVID-19 virus: social distancing. About 60 audience chairs have been stacked to the sides of the chambers, leaving four rows in the center with at least a chair-wide gap between each seat. Continue reading “Public’s work continues in Bloomington under COVID-19 protocols” →