Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason says he and the city have accomplished everything they set out to do when he was hired six years ago — and then some.
Gleason is leaving for Decatur to become its city manager, the same job he had before coming to Bloomington in 2018.
Gleason said the Decatur post presents unique challenges.
“I’m wired in such a way that I need to be challenged and that is not suggesting that there is not more work to be done in Bloomington and there always will be,” Gleason said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
The Decatur City Council is expected to formally hire Gleason during its meeting on Monday.
Gleason said the city of Decatur approached him “unexpectedly” about coming back. Decatur’s current city manager, Scot Wrighton, is retiring in May. Gleason added he did pursue a job in the Phoenix, Arizona, area where he has family, but that fell through after he was named a finalist.
“I don’t think the community should see or feel any disrespect," said Gleason. "I feel that we’ve been very successful in the six years that I’ve been here.”
While some council members have been skeptical of funding several of the large projects Gleason has successfully pushed through in recent years [including the Bloomington Public Library expansion, O’Neil Pool renovation, the downtown streetscape plan], Gleason said that did not factor into his decision to leave Bloomington.
“Myself and this staff have put the councils that we have served on very firm ground to make the very tough decisions that they have,” he said, adding he’s worked for 24 city council members during his time in Bloomington.
Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe is the only member on the city council who hired Gleason in 2018.
Accomplishments
Gleason said city council members who hired him in 2018 stressed a lack of council preparation as one of his main responsibilities.
“They were embarrassed that their council meetings … it was a circus,” Gleason said he was told. “They were long. They didn’t accomplish the business of the city and they were frustrated with that.”
Gleason also cited the city’s takeover of Grossinger Motors Arena operations during the pandemic as another win during this tenure, following the criminal troubles that imperiled the private companies that first ran the downtown venue.
“There are a lot of decisions and investments that were made for us to get to a point where now we have an NHL affiliate that’s going to be playing hockey there,” Gleason said.
Streetscape
Gleason said he's confident the city's planned transformation of downtown — another one of the city’s major projects during his tenure — will continue after he leaves.
Gleason said the current council supports the nearly $60 million streetscape plan, and future phases will always depend on how much money is available.
“Whether I leave before the very first shovel goes into the ground on the first project or whether it would have been between project three or four, there was going to be a point where Tim Gleason is no longer the city manager in Bloomington,” he said.
The city council plans to vote next week on paying for designs for the first phase of the streetscape plan.
Parking changes
Gleason said the city council is not done addressing parking, after the council relaxed zoning rules on Monday to spur more housing development.
“Whether it’s downtown or it’s in the residential areas where we see opportunities, that larger conversation is coming,” he said.
Advocates of the parking changes say reducing parking minimums can help alleviate the housing shortage in Bloomington.
Mwilambwe said he prefers an incremental approach to parking changes to see what works before making big changes.
Gleason is expected to begin his new job in Decatur on May 6.
