The Bloomington City Council on Monday approved hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new vehicle purchases, welcomed three new police officers to the force and approved a settlement involving a former officer.
Three Bloomington Police Department officers, Lo-Ryelle Robinson, Brian Enderli, and Joseph Krasney, completed their probationary period and are official members of the department.
The council also approved a workers' compensation settlement of around $220,000 to former officer Nikolai Jones, who retired in January 2026. The council documents did not indicate how Jones was injured, but said he was hurt on Oct. 24-25, 2024.
A message was sent to Bloomington Corporate Counsel Chris Spanos Monday afternoon asking for details, but a city spokesperson said they would not comment on personnel matters.
Miller Park cage work
The council rejected a bid for cage construction in the Katthoefer Animal Building at Miller Park Zoo. City staff said upgrades to the building have been underway, including a design to upgrade the cages.
PJ Hoerr submitted the only bid to complete the work for around $298,000. According to the city's ordinance rejecting the bid, the cage work project is funded by a $106,500 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
However, the zoo is sending the architects who drew up the designs back to the drawing board "due to the bid amount, loss of Rojo the tiger and the Miller Park Zoo master planning process," according to the council agenda.
Vehicle purchases
Beyond it's typical spending approval, the council approved spending nearly a million dollars to purchase a fleet of vehicles, ranging from an ambulance to service trucks.
Bloomington Fire Department requested an ambulance from a Sterling, Illinois business for around $398,000. According to city documents, the new vehicle will replace the current medic-unit ambulance, and will push an older unit to reserve status. The purchase was accounted for in the FY27 budget, with $425,000 set aside.
BFD also requested purchasing a 2027 Ford F350 service body truck for just under $100,000. Staff said it would replace a 2018 Ford Transit with 103,947 miles. That truck will be sent to public auction.
Bloomington Parks and Recreation requested a new forestry bucket truck, after the previous one was damaged in March 2026. According to council documents, a third-party inspection revealed it would cost around $140,000 to repair the truck that was valued at around $74,000. The council approved purchasing a new truck for around $258,000. That amount was not accounted for the in FY27 budget.
The city's facilities department also looked to replace aging trucks. The department asked for around $198,000 to purchase three 2027 Ford F-150 trucks with plow equipment attached from Morrow Brother's Ford. The three previous trucks are from 2015-2016 and range from 25,000 to 85,000 miles. Two trucks have estimated repairs costs of over $10,000. The third truck required around $2,500 in repairs.
All three trucks are under budget based on what was set aside. The city plans to sell the three utility vehicles at public auction.
Other business
- Bloomington will allocate $500,000 in state funds for street lighting replacement throughout the fiscal year. Those funds will be combined with $625,000 from the general fund.
- The council approved another year-long agreement with the McLean County Regional Planning Commission, totaling $54,000.
- Approved liquor licenses for The Local Hideout Bar and Grill at 2401 E. Oakland Ave. and Napoli's Italian Restaurant at 110 W. Washington St.
