Common Council Committee/Deliberation Meeting

Bloomington Common Council-Deliberative Session Minutes Bloomington City Hall, Council Chambers, 401 N. Morton Street, Bloomington, Indiana Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:30pm CALL TO ORDER [6:31pm] Council President Stosberg called the meeting to order. 1. ROLL CALL (*Indicates participation via Zoom) [6:32pm] Councilmembers present: Isak Nti Asare At-Large Courtney Daily (absent) District 5, Council Parliamentarian Matt Flaherty At-Large Isabel Piedmont-Smith (absent) District 1, Council Vice President Dave Rollo* District 4 Kate Rosenbarger District 2 Andy Ruff (absent) At-Large Hopi Stosberg District 3, Council President Sydney Zulich District 6 City staff, officials, and guests present: Nicole Bolden City Clerk Lisa Lehner Council Attorney Christine Chang Temporary Council Researcher Hank Duncan Planning & Transportation Department, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Neil Kopper Engineering Department, Senior Project Engineer Ryan Robling Planning & Transportation Department, Planning Services Manager 2. AGENDA SUMMATION [6:33pm] Stosberg summarized the agenda. 3. COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS [6:34pm] Stosberg expressed her disappointment that the federal government planned to use Camp Atterbury as an immigrant detention facility. She commented on the Monroe County Convention Center demolition. 4. COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON SIDEWALK COMMITTEE [6:36PM] Stosberg began the discussion by introducing three key questions about the sidewalk committee: whether it should exist, what its purpose was, and what it should fund. She gave an overview of past funding and use of the Sidewalk Committee. Rosenbarger spoke about the history of the committee and projects undertaken. Hank Duncan, Neil Kopper, and Ryan Robling introduced themselves and briefly discussed their roles and their challenges using sidewalk committee funds. The funds did not fit with large capital projects, which were often very expensive for sidewalks. Money was being allocated inefficiently. Current committee approval processes resulted in funding being allocated at varying times. Increasing funding flexibility helped mitigate these problems. Councilmembers discussed why the committee funds were kept under the council as opposed to other city departments. Rollo gave a history of the committee and its purposes. He supported keeping the funding with the council rather than ceding power to the administration. Council discussion on the future of the sidewalk committee ensued. Flaherty expressed support for implementing structures to eventually eliminate the need for the committee in the future, but until then, the sidewalk committee provided accountability on  Meeting Date: July 23, 2025 spending. Asare and Zulich agreed. Councilmembers and staff discussed ways to increase the effectiveness of committee funds. Suggestions included redesigning/renaming the committee, increasing funding, allocating funds earlier in the year, and providing more flexibility. Councilmembers discussed specific infrastructure for pedestrian safety. Funding can be used for projects other than just sidewalks to increase pedestrian safety. A holistic infrastructure plan is needed to move forward in the future. Stosberg recessed the meeting for five minutes from 7:31pm-7:36pm. 5. PUBLIC COMMENT RELATED TO SIDEWALK COMMITTEE [7:48pm] Clerk Nicole Bolden stated that the council had Sidewalk Committee records containing information pertinent to the council discussion, and offered councilmembers help in finding those records. Paul Rousseau spoke about his experience in accessing safe sidewalks as a pedestrian and supported extra enforcement and safety measures. 6. COUNCIL SCHEDULE [7:53pm] Stosberg reviewed the upcoming council schedule and noted the next meeting of the council would be Wednesday, July 30, 2025 7. ADJOURMENT [7:54pm] Stosberg adjourned the meeting at 7:54pm. APPROVED by the Common Council of the City of Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana, upon this 19 _______ November day of __________________________________________, 2025. APPROVE: ATTEST: ____________________________________________ ______________________________________ Hopi Stosberg, COUNCIL PRESIDENT City Clerk Nicole Bolden Clerk’s Note: The above minutes summarize the motions passed and issues discussed rather than providing a verbatim account of every word spoken. Bloomington City Council meetings can be watched on the following websites:  Community Action Television Services (CATS) – https://catvstv.net  YouTube – https://youtube.com/@citybloomington Background materials and packets are available at https://bloomington.in.gov/council 2