Normal Town Council

A new organization wants to improve the justice system experience for victims of crime in McLean County.

Ryan Otto, Normal's director of public works and engineering, presented a list of findings from a pedestrian and roadway campus safety initiative to the town council on Monday.

The Bloomington City Council voted Monday to approve a one-year pause on contributing revenue to the McLean County mental health and public safety sales tax fund, following last week’s matching action by the Town of Normal.

McLean County Board chair Elizabeth Johnston said she made no assumptions about whether the city and town would still push the suspension after the county tried to let the idea die, but she said she supports the audit and hopes it can provide a new framework “so that we were all beginning the negotiations again from a shared financial footing.”

The Normal Town Council on Monday approved two changes to the intergovernmental agreement for the McLean County 1% mental health and public safety sales tax fund.

The manager of multiple Airbnbs in the area said she’s “remaining optimistic” despite Normal’s coming ban on short-term rental listings in certain neighborhoods – a ban that she thinks is an overcorrection.

Elected officials in McLean County say the lawmaker shootings in Minnesota are frightening – and that they’ve been on the receiving end of violent rhetoric themselves.

The five-year delay of a ban on existing short-term rental units in residential areas of Normal might have been a wise move by the town.

While no new rentals can be made in areas marked as single-family residential in Normal, a five-year transition period for current STRs is included in the ordinance approved by the town council on Monday.

The proposal comes after the town implemented a six-month moratorium on new residential short-term rental units last November so it could explore long-term options.