A little more than two years after its creation, a Bloomington city commission has presented a final report of recommendations for improving community safety and reducing gun violence.
“We looked specifically at prevention: How are we going to try to prevent gun violence? Once a trigger is pulled or someone is shot, we consider that a failure,” said Scott Denton, chair of the Special Commission on Safe Communities.
“So we did not go into that; that is a criminal justice issue, and there are other councils in the county and the city that deal with that.”
Denton’s presentation during the Bloomington City Council’s 70-minute meeting Monday looked at gun violence data in Bloomington over the past two years.
“As of today, we’ve had 21 confirmed shots fired in 2025,” he said. “Nine people have been shot and five killed by gunfire, which is down. The average is actually much less than that. Last year, we were at 37 gunshots ... fired and four people were shot, but no deaths last year.”
Recommendations in the data-heavy, 29-page final report from the advisory board include expanded collaboration among community groups, gathering youth perspectives, supporting suicide prevention efforts, strengthening programs targeting domestic violence, and more investments in school programs and mental health treatment.
“Gun violence takes many forms; it’s an interlinked web. If it was an easy thing to solve, it would have been solved a long time before we came along, or before you asked us to do this,” Denton told the council. “Most deaths, unfortunately, are from suicidal deaths in our community. They’re also shootings that were not premeditated. These are spontaneous acts, whether from suicide or accidental or homicidal violence.”
The last recommendation included in the commission’s report is to extend the work of the Safe Communities special commission, or at least establish a task force to monitor progress on the other recommendations.
A majority of the council members seemed to favor continuing the special commission.
“I would really love to see us as a council, give voice to some of the areas that that energize us the most, and then ask staff to come back with language that we can take action on,” said council member Mollie Ward.
“For my part, the No. 1 thing is to follow that recommendation that the special commission itself made. Frankly, to me, that’s as simple as losing the word ‘special’ and changing the end date, making it ‘the Commission for Safe Communities’ and making it a permanent commission that we focus on.”
Other business
While the report from the Safe Communities commission was the only item of regular business on the agenda, the council unanimously approved several actions as part of the consent agenda.
A change in a previously approved redevelopment agreement will give Halladay Properties more time to get its $42 million project at the former Verizon site on East Empire Street underway.
The development calls for 210 apartment units. The city has pledged up to $4 million in incentives for the project.
Developers say changing market conditions have slowed the project. The revised agreement delays the deadline for construction to start by nine months — to August of next year. The project has to be finished by August 2028.
The council also finalized a new labor contract with the city’s emergency dispatchers, whose last contract expired in April.
The new three-year agreement calls for pay raises of 3.5% in the first year. Dispatchers get additional pay if they can speak or read a second language.
Other items approved on the consent agenda included:
— Spending $225,000 on turf maintenance products for the city’s public golf courses;
— Purchasing $92,000 worth of ammunition for the police department; and
— Single appointments to the Connect Transit board, the cultural commission, and the planning commission.
Finance director Scott Rathbun presented his monthly report summarizing city funds through the end of September. Presentations honored winners of the 2025 Beautification Awards, and the 160th the anniversary of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church.
