A measure to remove the requirement for two youth members on Bloomington’s Public Safety and Community Relations Board failed Monday in a split vote of the city council.
Ward 7 council member Mollie Ward made the motion to deny the requested change, saying the fault is not with finding young members for the board, but rather with the application process.
“It's not a question of needing to change the makeup of the committee or the board,” said Ward. “As a city, we need to tighten up that application process because for years now we have had many, many boards and commissions that have gone lacking membership. And that's a problem not just with the PSCRB, it's been a problem across the city.”
Ward was joined by Jenna Kearns, John Danenberger, Cody Hendricks and Tom Crumpler in the 5-4 majority vote to reject the proposed change.
The proposed one-word change to the ordinance about the makeup of the PSCRB would’ve read that “two of the nine members ‘may’ be youth members [between the ages of 16 and 21], who shall serve a one-year term.”
The unchanged wording related to the two spots states that two members “shall” be within that age range.
Ward said she was aware of one prospective young member whose December application “slipped through the cracks” and had been overlooked until Monday.
Hendricks added that as a high school social studies teacher, he sees many kids that are “active and engaged” in wanting to have a role in the community.
“I think we have such an opportunity here to bring in these voices,” said Hendricks. “And again, if it's on us to try and fight and advocate for that, I will take full responsibility and work to do that.”
PSCRB chair Rachel McFarland explained that a difficulty in getting enough participation led to the board's request to remove the youth member requirement and give the board some optional flexibility.
“We try and get everyone to the meetings that we can, and it's hard to get a quorum sometimes,” said McFarland. “Having said that, our two youth members that we did have on our board a couple years ago stayed with us for about a year, and they didn't come to a lot of meetings, and we haven't been able to get any other youth members to join our board.”
Michael Hurt, the city’s staff liaison for the PSCRB, said the board was against Ward’s previous suggestion to increase the size of the board by two seats while keeping the requirement for two young members. Hurt said they’ve made numerous attempts to try and find individuals to fill the two seats.
“We had already gone to resource officers, we’ve gone to the youth group at the NAACP. So our outreach efforts have been substantial,” he said in response to Ward’s comments regarding a December applicant. “It's great you got somebody there after the first month, but we've been doing this for 2 1/2 years with no luck, and I don't see that changing.”
Mosley appointment approved
Following the roll call at the meeting’s outset, the council voted unanimously to approve the appointment of Micheal Mosley to the Ward 2 vacancy. Mosley was immediately sworn in and participated in the meeting.
“I'm going to try my best to learn from you guys and serve this ward well, and contribute like you all to our city,” Mosley told his new colleagues shortly before the meeting moved into an executive session.
Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said Mosley emerged during the interview process as a clear consensus choice to replace Donna Boelen, who resigned in late December.
“When council member Boelen stepped down, of course, I thought she was leaving a pretty big void; she's been a wonderful member of the council. And of course, when someone steps down, you start to think about trying to find someone who could fill those shoes,” said Mwilambwe.
He said the feedback he received about Mosley touted his character, integrity and passion for community service.
“One thing that I also noted, while he comes across as a very thoughtful individual, he can also be firm,” Mwilambwe said of Mosley, an information security manager at State Farm who also coaches the Bloomington High School boys basketball team. “That is my impression of him, and that's something that I think is necessary and certainly an important asset when coaching young people.”
East Empire housing project
A proposed 180-unit housing development planned for a long-vacant property in Bloomington was granted a special use permit by the city council to move forward with the project.
The current plan set forth by Indiana-based developer Holladay Properties calls for 94 one-bedroom and 86 two-bedroom units across seven buildings on about 7.5 acres at the former Verizon site at 1312 E. Empire Street.
The council approved the special use as part of its consent agenda Monday night. The permit for multi-family dwellings was necessary because the site is currently zoned as an office district.
The approval was previously recommended by a unanimous vote of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
The apartment complex would help address Bloomington’s critical need for housing. Holladay hopes to begin construction on the project later this year.
Other business
The council conducted a public hearing on the city’s Community Development Block Grant [CDBG] consolidated plan for 2025-29 and the annual action plan for this year, with expected total revenue of $667,000. That includes an entitlement allocation of almost $561,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD].
Among other action items, the council approved nearly $764,000 in John M. Scott Health Care Trust grant awards for the 2026 fiscal year, and a $164,000 purchase of a gas chromatograph machine from Midwest Lab Solutions to upgrade the water filtration system.
