Normal Town Council

The town council on Monday approved a license agreement with the Illinois State University Board of Trustees for the Main Street water tower.

After more than eight years of trying, the Town of Normal may be able to move ahead with the Trail East and West developments on Uptown Circle. And if council members balk at a price increase for the Uptown Underpass, the town could have to repay millions in grant funding.

The Normal Town Council approved four measures related to the Uptown Normal TIF District at its meeting Monday night.

The new version of the proposed Trail East and West development project in Uptown Normal would be primarily residential housing on the north side of the traffic circle straddling Constitution Trail. And a controversial mural on a building in the project footprint would likely be torn down.

The Normal Town Council has a new code of ethics, and though it’s mostly symbolic, the resident who proposed the idea says it is needed in today’s political climate.

There are still a lot of details to work through with a prospective contractor on the Uptown Normal underpass project for another revised bid, and with state, federal, and railroad partners. City Manager Pam Reece has more to say in a WGLT interview.

The Normal Town Council approved a new operating and capital investment budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year. The $233.5 million budget represents a 10% increase over last year.

There are further signs of a thaw in the shared sales tax dispute between the City of Bloomington and Town of Normal on one side and McLean County government on the other. The county board has approved a three month suspension of paying sales tax money from the city and town.

The updated tentative price to build the Uptown underpass project in Normal is about $33.7 million. That is above the roughly $32 million bid approved in November. The previous winning bidder withdrew over concerns about timing and its ability to meet the cost.

The decade-old Underpass project in Uptown Normal has had another hitch. The contractor, Millstone-Weber, said it can't meet the requirements and construction timeline and has pulled out.