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Q&A: Mayor Mwilambwe On Bloomington's Police Chief Search and Open Meetings Act Violation

Mboka Mwilambwe
Emily Bollinger
/
WGLT
Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe at his swearing-in ceremony this year.

Bloomington’s mayor says the city’s next police chief will need to have significant experience and be able to navigate the “friction” around policing that’s been more prominent since George Floyd’s murder.

Bloomington is now on its fourth police chief in three years. Dan Donath retired in 2020 after less than a year on the job, following the short tenure of Clay Wheeler. Interim chief Greg Scott is now in the role, and he said he’s likely to apply for the permanent position. Applications are due by July 5, and City Manager Tim Gleason said he wants the selection in place by mid to late summer.

Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said the city needs someone with significant experience, including a leadership role in a department similar in size to Bloomington’s. Bloomington Police has around 128 full-time employees and a $22 million budget.

Mwilambwe said the next chief also must be prepared to lead at a time of increased scrutiny of police and widespread interest in improving police-community relations.

“We need somebody who understands what the concerns could be,” Mwilambwe said. “Somebody who can work in a positive fashion with the community, and really move the department in a positive direction.”

Mwilambwe said he has no preference on an internal candidate from within BPD versus someone external.

“If somebody is internal, they definitely have better knowledge of the department and the community. If somebody is not internal but from the community, they can have that knowledge,” Mwilambwe said. “I don’t necessarily have a preference. It’s just a matter of looking at the candidates, what they bring, taking a look at the input we receive not only from the panel that’s reviewing the candidates, but from the community as well.”

Mwilambwe said it’s also important for the next chief to get BPD back on track in terms of community engagement. The pandemic stalled progress there, he said.

“I’d look for somebody who can reignite this sort of approach in the future now that we’re in Phase 5,” he said.

Open Meetings Act violation

This week, the City of Bloomington released audio recordings and minutes from several closed-door meetings the city council held in 2016 and 2017 before ending a longstanding tax-sharing agreement with Normal. The city shared the material after an appeals court ruled in April the city violated the Open Meetings Act.

Mwilambwe was on the city council in 2016-17; most other council members and the city manager have turned over since then. Speaking this week on Sound Ideas, Mwilambwe was asked what the current council should learn from this episode.

“As much as is possible, we’re going to limit the use of executive sessions,” he said.

“We could’ve had another opportunity to dispute this (ruling),” he added. “But we just decided, there’s really nothing to hide. Let’s just go and move forward, because we want to be as transparent as we can.”

The city previously fought release of details from the closed meetings. That changed last month.

Bloomington leaders chose to leave the Metro Zone agreement because they felt it was a bad financial deal for the city—and that the Town of Normal was getting more money from the deal.

The Mitsubishi auto manufacturing plant, now owned by Rivian, helped to spur the creation of the Metro Zone in 1986. Rivian has spent the past few years pouring millions of dollars into the plant.

WGLT asked Mwilambwe whether Bloomington missed out on a lot of revenue by leaving Metro Zone when it did, right before Rivian’s takeoff.

“Hindsight is always 20-20,” he said. “But I am one person who never really looks at life with regret. The decisions were made, and we have to move on. As it is, I do think the City of Bloomington is going to see some benefits from Rivian being here, because their employees are purchasing homes in Bloomington. They’re buying goods in Bloomington. And vice versa: We have Ferrero, which has invested in the community and will be investing more. The Town of Normal will benefit from that as well. There’s a process of osmosis that happens between the two communities.”

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.