Normal Mayor Chris Koos said he’s pleased the firefighters’ union is willing to have conversations about the fire service, and the future of the department outside of collective bargaining with the town.
The formation several months ago of a committee to talk about strategic planning for the fire department helped lower the temperature of discussions of firefighter requests for additional staff and a fourth fire station.
“I think conversation always is the best place to start, and mutual understanding of what the issues are,” Koos said in a Sound Ideas interview.
He said town positions are strongly data driven and involve collective bargaining. He said he does not have particular goals other than “common understanding.”
“If there's something we're missing by not having conversations with the firefighters, we need to have that, if there's something the firefighters are missing because they're not having conversations with us, and I think that's the position we're going to take initially," said Koos.
"Now, if the group agrees that there needs to be common deliverables, then that will happen, but I don't think it's there yet.”
The panel will include fire department leadership, union representation, and City Manager Pam Reece.
Kratom
The Bloomington and Normal councils have both imposed limits on the sale of the herbal substance kratom.
Bloomington also banned use of the unregulated substance. In Normal, Koos noted the town chose to do less than Bloomington, in part because of conflicting information about kratom’s effects and addictive properties.
“There's so much back and forth, and so much unknown among the research staff did, the research I did, the research Kevin McCarthy and Rory Roberge did, in terms of the what's safe and what's not about kratom,” said Koos.
If there are multiple accounts, why do anything?
“We feel like banning the sales [and] distribution in the Town of Normal is a good first step," said Koos. "People that want kratom can get it, but they're not going to be able to get it in Bloomington-Normal.”
The ordinance passed unanimously Monday night in Normal bans the sale or distribution of kratom, and will take effect July 15.
Koos said the ordinance makes it harder for young people and people in the community that may have addictions to obtain the substance.
“We heard some pretty strong evidence from people that just do the leaf itself and claim it has benefits. We heard from another person that said just the opposite of that, and talking to the medical field and USDA, looking at their stuff, the jury's out,” said Koos.
E-bikes
Illinois lawmakers have passed legislation to regulate e-bikes to keep them from operating on sidewalks, and they have statewide regulations for police to enforce.
The measure would require operators of electric bikes, scooters, skateboards, or any electric personal transportation that can reach top speeds of 28 mph to register their vehicles to show ownership, have a valid driver's license or permit, and to have insurance.
They would only be allowed to travel on streets — and not on sidewalks. Higher speed e-bikes would be allowed only for people ages 16 and older, and drivers of lower speed e bikes would have to be at least 15.
The Town of Normal has waited years for this kind of legislation and had been reluctant to wade into the issue on its own, despite the proliferation of e-bikes in town.
“There was an issue in terms of how this works when we did our first bike master plan, and the key elements of that plan was a period in a process of education and enforcement on e-bikes," said Koos. "I see high-powered e-bikes on sidewalks almost every day, and that is not safe. And they were never designed for that. State law on bicycles says if you're over 12 years old, you should be riding in the street. It's high time for some regulations.”
Koos said, at least for now, there’s no pressing need for local additions to the state law to address a gray area in differences between how higher speed and lower speed e-transport vehicles are regulated by the state.
“For us to do it locally would be almost impossible. We'd have to have the City of Bloomington, the county to participate in that, and we always felt it was better to come from statewide legislation,” he said, adding the town will have to decide internally how it will enforce the new state law if the governor signs the measure.
“I think it's going to be probably on a complaint basis, or the police notifying something and checking that bike. I would say that's the first roll out, but to me the most important thing, first step is getting these bikes off sidewalks, and second step, having them obey traffic laws,” said Koos.
Just as with unpowered bicycle speeders on Constitution Trail, he said there needs to be an education component coupled with any enforcement.
“We've been asked for years to regulate bicycles on the trail. The question then is, do we take officers' time to put them on the trail to do this? There's a conundrum there on what's the best way to do it. I think we have to ease into it,” said Koos.
As a start, he suggested public outreach and signage, and perhaps pop-up enforcement with warnings instead of tickets.
“We're trying to build awareness. There are a lot of people that just feel that because it's a bicycle, I can ride it anywhere, and I don't have to obey traffic laws. And that has never been the case,” said Koos.
