The mayor of Bloomington said the loss of 100 jobs at a downtown Bloomington employer will not be a long-term setback to revitalizing the area.
Keplr Vision recently announced layoffs. During an interview on WGLT's Sound Ideas, Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe called that "unfortunate" but said the streetscape plan and downtown tax increment financing district will stimulate business activity to replace those jobs.
"There is quite a bit of interest that this has generated. So, I'm feeling pretty confident. Of course, though, we have to work out details," said Mwilambwe.
Keplr Vision has its headquarters in the old State Farm headquarters in downtown Bloomington. Mwilambwe said he's confident the building owner, Urban Equity Properties, will eventually bring the building to "full capacity."
He also said the layoffs do not impact ongoing robust efforts by the city economic development department to draw in more businesses to the downtown.
Behavioral Health Coordinating Council
Mwilambwe said he's happy about how the reorganization of the county Behavioral Health Coordinating Council turned out. He said the new streamlined priorities announced are appropriate.
"Especially in an area where people might change, you know committees. Members might change. It's important to pick small, short manageable goals so that you are able to achieve them. And as you achieve them you build on that success," said Mwilambwe.
The new approach includes five key areas in mental health and substance abuse that need to be addressed in the community, such as education on where to find resources, more temporary shelters, and an expanded behavioral health workforce.
Iverson Group
The mayor said he favors hiring a consultant to look over city operations — a plan that's on Monday's city council agenda.
Mwilambwe acknowledged city staff can and do internal reviews of efficiency, but an outside perspective is valuable.
"Otherwise, I think you may have a tendency to be satisfied with the status quo and how things are going. I think it's important," said Mwilambwe.
Mwilambwe said that's also why the city does benchmarking comparisons with other municipalities on how they do things.
The Iverson group will do an initial study of city operations and make some recommendations. That could lead to a longer-term development of what's called a "continuous improvement process."
Politics
One of the candidates in the Normal mayoral race, council member Kathleen Lorenz, has said she wants a more collaborative and closer working relationship with the City of Bloomington and top elected officials there.
Mwilambwe said that relationship already exists. Mwilambwe said he meets monthly with Mayor Chris Koos of Normal, and the two often talk over issues when they are at the same events.
"And how do you think we should approach it. For example, issues of migrants. We've talked about behavioral health council and sales tax," said Mwilambwe.
Mwilambwe sad he recently spent most of three days with Koos at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, going to the same sessions and chatting about issues.
