Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady is trying to reassure citizens concerned about potential changes in zoning, after a troop of residents told the city council Monday night about their fears that text amendments and a report on other potential changes will alter the character of their neighborhoods.
Brady said during a WGLT interview on Sound Ideas the text amendments are limited in scope and the report is not one size fits all.
"This report is not aimed at or will be allowed to go into subdivisions and make significant changes that would hamper not only that subdivision, but would reduce property value and make something dangerous on the side of parking," said Brady. “I also don't see the report taking any foothold anywhere without additional council action.”
He said potential zoning overlays, areas that may become zoned R2, need to have walking appeal and other functionality to be successful.
“It only may have potential in certain areas … primarily downtown, on the outskirts of the downtown area, but not into subdivisions,” said Brady.
The mayor also said he thinks approval of so-called accessory dwelling units, small houses on the same lot as bigger dwellings, will have "minimal" impact on the cityscape.
Brady said the city cannot address many of the underlying causes of the housing crisis, the national economy, material cost, interest rates, and so on. He said the measures approved by the council allow more flexibility if builders feel they can enter the marketplace again.
Axon purchase
There could be implications for the city’s relationship with McLean County government from the council approving the purchase of a number of software and hardware products by Axon, including tasers, body-worn cameras, and a new record management system [RMS].
The contract approved will save the city $11 million over the cost of buying services a la carte, Police Chief Jamal Simington said at the council meeting. The cost of the 12-year agreement is $13.6 million.
McLean County is replacing a 30-year-old RMS with one that has not found favor with all stakeholders. Implementation of the replacement that went live in late July is considered temporary, while a new procurement process takes place.
Brady does not think the Axon contract necessarily puts pressure on the county to choose Axon, saying, “I don't know that it puts pressure on. It shows another avenue.”
He said it does make it easier for the city go it alone on an RMS, apart from the county, because Axon’s system is supposed to be interoperable with other record management software.
“If the county product is not adequate, it allows that flexibility," said Brady. "That was one of the benefits in moving forward in the way that we did, having a greater ability with the department to do many things, not just equipment, but the future of the system itself, and integrated justice part of the systems."
Brady implied having the option to continue with its own purchased software does not automatically mean the city will bolt — any more than the city’s initial participation in MetCom was a harbinger of its eventual decision two decades ago to operate its own emergency dispatching system.
“And then certain things were not able to meet the needs of Bloomington because of a variety of things, from size and the interaction and interface of things and that dispatching side of things,” he said.
The decision to approve a contract with Axon, he said, was coincidental to the situation with the county RMS because the city had a closing window of time to decide whether to continue with existing Axon services, or pay much more.
“From the standpoint of the company, saying, OK, we've been with you now for this period of time, no charge in all the things you've been getting from us. Now it's time to either move forward or not. Do we fit your specifications? The answer appears to be yes,” said Brady.
The purchase of a new county record management system also is tied up in the current dispute between the city and Town of Normal with the county over a shared sales tax agreement.
Town and county chilly letters
Last week, WGLT published a story about dueling letters between Normal Mayor Chris Koos and McLean County Board chair Elizabeth Johnston that included hot phrasing and accusations of negotiating in bad faith.
The exchange indicated the city and town and the county are still far apart in trying to renegotiate the intergovernmental agreement [IGA] for shared sales tax money — with Johnston calling for a mediator to be involved in future talks.
“I would not oppose that, but I don't know that we need that. We're all right here in town. We can sit down at any time and communicate, and that's what I'm going to continue to push for,” said Brady.
He termed a necessary change in the process “continued enhanced communication,” to assure the public tax dollars involved are being and will be spent wisely.
“Then you have at least something going. You're keeping the talks going. When groups start to peel off and government bodies do things without those that are part of, in this case, an initial contract, that's concerning to me,” said Brady.
Johnston has objected to the town and city calling a proposed suspension of payments to the county under the shared sales tax agreement a “pause.” She said a more accurate word is “cut” since the county would not ever get the money from the tax that is set aside.
Brady said that is not the city’s understanding. He said the city thinks of it as, in a way, creating an escrow account.
“Specifically in our vote, a little different from Normal’s, but specifically in ours, was staying within the focus and the intent of the entire intergovernment agreement back in 2016, taking that money and pausing and making sure that money, yes, can go back at the end of these negotiations to what it was originally intended for. And so that safeguard is there,” said Brady.
Bloomington contributes about $3.5 million per year to the county for jail construction debt payments, mental health program funding, and new RMS technology for the three stakeholders.
One of the issues in dispute is the interest generated by the more than $20 million in unspent money that has accumulated over the last decade. The county maintains a variety of short-term investments that generate income from 59 funds, according to county treasurer Rebecca McNeil. She said the intergovernmental agreement does not contemplate interest.
“Thus, a special interest-bearing account was not established ... solely for the fund. Any interest generated from the money would not be able to be deposited back to the fund per the terms of the IGA,” said McNeil.
She relied on a section of the agreement as a reason interest generated has remained in the county general fund and not the Mental Health and Public Safety Fund that holds the shared sales tax money.
“[The county] may not deposit any other monies from any source other than the Pledged Revenue [sales tax dollars] into the Fund,” McNeil quoted from the document.
Brady said he does not know how much money the unspent sales tax revenue has generated in interest over the last decade, though it adds urgency to proceeding with an agreed-upon audit.
“I believe that people can speculate upwards to $3 million worth of interest or more,” said Brady. “I think it's all the more reason to review the intergovernmental agreement and potentially make those changes by contract, by adding something dealing with the interest,” he said.
One possible explanation for the lack of a mention of interest in the agreement is that the parties originally intended the money be spent on programs and needs authorized by the agreement as it came in, without large sums accumulating. That is not the way the last decade played out.
“Unless a law or agreement states otherwise, interest is directed to the General Fund,” McNeil wrote to WGLT. “The long-standing process of crediting the interest earned to the General Fund offsets a wide variety of operational expenses the General Fund absorbs for the entire organization. The General Fund does not pass along every direct and indirect cost to every fund/department.”
While the county held unspent shared sales tax money separate without interest growth over a period of years, inflation occurred. Inflation reduces buying power of unspent funds — in this case, money the town, city, and county had intended for programs and services under the joint agreement.
“The current IGA continues through May 31, 2036. The community need, goals, objectives, and collaboration will likely go well beyond that. Fund equity is necessary to sustain such a vital program,” wrote McNeil.
Brady also said he disagreed with Johnston’s choice to name members of the committee from the Bloomington and Normal councils that will help shape the scope of the audit without consulting himself or Koos.
“I think the longer that we don't have a sit-down, face-to-face communication, the more these types of things are talked about on radio shows such as yours, instead of amongst the people that need to be sitting at the table making the decisions,” said Brady.
