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Bloomington Council OKs $7.2M In Street Work

Bloomington City Council meets remotely March 8, 2021.

The Bloomington City Council on Monday OK’d spending $7.2 million on road work set to begin this summer.

Also at Monday night’s virtual meeting, finance chief Scott Rathbun made a presentation on the city's proposed $250.3 million budget, set for adoption in April; and another on this month’s unveiling of a new utility billing system. 

The city’s current road resurfacing plan is for fiscal '21, '22, and '23. Details can be found at the city's website's streets page.

Bloomington City Manager Tim Gleason said FY22's $7.2 million in road resurfacing reflects the council's efforts to put more focus on asphalt and sidewalk projects.

Monday’s 8-0 vote authorizes negotiating a road resurfacing contract for up to $5 million with Rowe Construction, a division of United Contractors Midwest. The council also waived bidding requirements. Ward 8 Alderman Jeff Crabill was not at the meeting.

Map of Bloomington resurfacing projects
Credit City of Bloomington
Map of Bloomington resurfacing projects

Public Works Director Kevin Kothe said a separate $1.2 million contract will be awarded later for sidewalk and ramp repairs. The other $1 million goes toward pavement preservation projects and an emergency repair fund.

Kothe described the city’s computerized data analysis used for street repair selection. He said decisions are made on a citywide, rather than ward-by-ward, basis. But several council members questioned the efficacy of relying on that system. 

Ward 7 Alderwoman Mollie Ward said sometimes computer data doesn’t tell the whole story. She suggested low traffic patterns on certain roads might be caused by people avoiding the street if it’s in disrepair, and then the road not being scheduled for repair because it’s low on traffic. 

“Please don’t throw out the human factor,” she said.

Ward 3 Alderman Mboka Mwilambwe said while he understands the data analysis working to delay certain projects until a grouping creates efficiency, it can have an negative effect.

“It can leave a bitter taste” for residents who see streets in their areas get passed over year after year, he said.

Budget adoption expected in April

The proposed FY22 budget is $20 million higher than last year’s--with the increase attributed to capital improvement projects, said Rathbun. More than half of that increase will be spent on theO’Neil Park and pool project estimated to cost more than $10 million. Other spending is to improve roads and water projects.

The proposed budget includes $109.1 million in the general fund, which is about 1.1% lower than the previous year. A public hearing on the budget will be March 22; it’s expected to be adopted April 12. 

After the presentation, council member Jenn Carrillo asked about the $30 million--or roughly 12%--of the total proposed budget for the Bloomington Police Department.

She said Bloomington should join other U.S. cities that, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, renewed attention to police funding reform.

A discussion among council members followed, with the general consensus being that it was too late to discuss changes to the FY22 budget, just a month away from adoption. Council members agreed to revisit the topic later this year. Ward 4 Alderwoman Julie Emig suggested the possibility of a task force looking at the topic for FY23.

Gleason added that police funding as a whole should be discussed for many reasons, including how to fund new requirements established with this month’s passage of the Illinois criminal justice reform bill.

Earlier in his career Gleason served in law enforcement. Currently, he's a member of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. In that role, he's been involved in discussions about the police reform issue with a variety of state leaders, he said.

New utility billing begins this week

Bloomington staff is wrapping up a three-year project to modernize its utility billing services with the Invoice Cloud system

Rathbun told the council the official rollout begins Friday. More than 30,000 utility customers will be assigned new account numbers, he said.

From Friday evening until March 22, all of the city’s payment and billing activity will be suspended, while data is converted. More information on how residents should pay bills during this time is available on the city’s website. New bills will be sent out March 29, he said.

No penalties will be charged through April 30. 

Library expansion designs

Also on Monday, the council amended its current budget by $1.5 million. The technicality reflects an early start to the design phase of Bloomington Public Library’s planned expansion. Originally, the architectural services were budgeted for fiscal 2022. The money already exists in BPL’s operations and maintenance fund. 

Eviction interventions planned

Gleason discussed Bloomington’s continued response to housing assistance during the pandemic, including funds from Community Block Development grants. 

He said the current moratoriumon evictions is expected to end this spring, and so Bloomington, McLean County, and various social service agencies are working with nonprofit Prairie State Legal Services on its new “Eviction Diversion Program.” 

Gleason noted that within an 11-county region, more than half of the homeless are in McLean County. In 2020, more than 200 people in Bloomington and Normal were homeless, he said.  

The number could have been much higher. But the moratorium has helped many people negatively impacted by the pandemic maintain housing in 2020. “We want to be prepared on the front end for the day those are lifted,” he said.

During the meeting's public comments, Andrew and Janis Hollins spoke about financial struggles the pandemic and the eviction moratorium have placed on landlords like themselves.

In other business, the council, approved:

  • Spending about $190,000 with Burr Ridge-based Securitas Electronic Security, Inc., for the city’s public works department to access and control a camera system, and waived bidding rules to do so.
  • Accepted a $175,000 Strong Communities grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority, that focuses on affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization.
  • Paying about $135,000 to Lowell, Mass.-based Kronos, Inc., for its timekeeping software and related services.
  • A single measure to allow all right-of-way, easements and other agreements for the multi-year projects focusing on improving Hamilton Road, and Fox Creek Road and bridge.
  • The final plat of the Capodice Subdivision, north of Interstate 74.
  • Farm lease extensions for two county-owned farms, Parker Bottom, and Farm No. 8425.

Michele Steinbacher is a WGLT correspondent. She joined the staff in 2020.
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