April 25, 2009

What has the city council been up to?

April 1: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading

Ordinance 09-03: To approve issuance of revenue bonds up to $6.5 million for the Parks and Recreation Department to purchase the Sportsplex. This would allow the city to purchase the Sportsplex by entering into a revenue bond, to be paid for by the revenue generated by the facility. The facility was appraised in February at $10 million by three independent real estate appraisers, and Mick Renneisen, director of Parks & Rec, has reached an agreement with the current owners of the Sportsplex to purchase it for $5,550,000. The remaining $950,000 of the proposed revenue bond would go toward needed repairs, the appraisals, the bond counsel, building inspection and site surveying as well as $477,678 set aside as capitalized interest. The capitalized interest is extra money borrowed by the city to cover the first few years of debt payments in case revenues don’t match expectations.

Council members had many concerns about the proposal, including:

• Some were unsure that the  revenue from the facility will be enough to cover debt service and repay the bond, given the current state of the US economy.

• The facility is unsafe to reach via walking, biking, and public transit.

• Purchase of the facility will allow Parks & Rec to close the downtown Bloomington Adult Community Center, dispersing its activities to other locations, including the Sportsplex, which is less accessible. Seniors will lose their community center.

• Some were concerned about the lack of recent financial figures for the facility, including 2008 actual expenditures and revenues.

In the end, the vote was 8-1 in favor of the ordinance. I was the only one who voted against it.

Legislation for First Reading

Appropriation Ordinance 09-02: To appropriate additional funds for the Atwater/Henderson intersection project to pay for a historic preservation consultant.

Ordinance 09-05: To amend Title 4 of the Bloomington Municipal Code entitled “Business Licenses and Regulations” by creating one comprehensive chapter on itinerant merchants, solicitors, and peddlers

Ordinance 09-06: To amend Title 15 of the Bloomington Municipal Code entitled “Vehicles and Traffic” by making various changes in one-way alleys, parking, crosswalks, and penalties.

April 8: Committee of the Whole

Appropriation Ordinance 09-02: The additional funds for this project were needed because INDOT, which is funding most of the intersection improvements, requires compliance with historic preservation standards on sites designated as historic, in this case the Legg House owned by IU at the northwest corner of Atwater and Henderson. The plan submitted by Bloomington to INDOT included a new stone wall in front of the house, which INDOT said had to be approved by a registered historical consultant at a cost of $12,500. In order to move forward with the project, we had to approve this additional payment.

Ordinance 09-05: This ordinance would require itinerant merchants, solicitors, and peddlers to obtain a license from the city controller’s office, with assistance from the two assistant directors of economic development, Miah Michaelsen and Adam Wason. There was some concern that an applicant had to disclose past misdemeanor and felony convictions, and that this could be reason to deny him a license. I and other council members also expressed concern that some merchants might not be able to afford the license fee and the required insurance coverage. Public comment included the head of the 4^th Street Festival board, who was in favor of the ordinance since it banned itinerant merchants from the public right of way within one block of the festival unless permission was given by the festival organizers. On the other hand, a vendor who sold tie-dye shirts along the fringes of the festival thought this rules was unfair.

Ordinance 09-06: A few times a year, the Public Works staff brings forward a traffic ordinance to take care of recommended changes in parking, one-way street designations, stop signs, etc. This particular ordinance had several such provisions, including

• Removing parking in front of Kilroy’s Sports Bar on the west side of N. Walnut St. between 7^th and 8^th Streets.

• Making the alley behind the First Methodist Church downtown on 4^th St. one-way going west.

• Allowing neighborhood parking on a section of Hawthorne Dr. that was previously no parking.

• Banning parking in Parks & Rec parking lots overnight.

• Removing parking on N. Lincoln St. between 14^th and 15^th Street due to multiple curb-cuts for driveways.

• Officially putting existing mid-block crosswalks into the traffic ordinance.

 The parking in front of Kilroy’s generated the most discussion. Steve Volan and I were against removing parking at that location because studies have shown that on-street parking makes it safer for pedestrians and also slows traffic, two problems evident on this portion of Walnut St.

April 15: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading

Appropriation Ordinance 09-02: The additional funds for the Henderson/Atwater intersection project were approved by a vote of 8-0.

Ordinance 09-05: Two amendments were made to the itinerant merchant ordinance. The first, co-sponsored by me, Chris Sturbaum, and Mike Satterfield, made several changes including removing the requirement that an applicant disclose prior criminal convictions, that she submit to a criminal background check, and that she give her social security number. The second clarified that an itinerant merchant could set up shop within one block of a special festival on private property, with permission of the property owner and with proper zoning allowance. Both amendments passed. There was still some concern among council members that the insurance requirement would make it cost-prohibitive for some itinerant merchants, and that the ordinance as a whole presented too much regulation. The ordinance passed 6-2.

Ordinance 09-06: Steve Volan and I proposed an amendment which would add parking on the east side of N. Walnut St. between 7^th and 8^th Streets to make up for the lost parking on the west side of the street in front of Kilroy’s Sports Bar. The amendment would also require a well-demarcated pedestrian crosswalk at the south side of the intersection of 8^th and Walnut, and the clear delineation of the new parking spaces on the east side of the street. We also wanted to see a change in the timing of the traffic light at 7^th and Walnut, but the Public Works staff could not promise that, since traffic studies had not been done. Mike Satterfield proposed tabling the ordinance, and this motion was adopted 5-3.

April 22: Committee of the Whole

We discussed five legislative items which would refinance the following city bonds:

• General Obligation bonds issued in 1998 to pay for transportation projects, mainly the College Mall Road expansion and the traffic circle at High/Rogers/Winslow.

• Bloomington Municipal Finance Corporation lease bond issued in 1998 to pay for transportation projects, mainly the Patterson Drive truck route, 3^rd/5^th/Adams intersection, and widening of W. 3^rd St. east of S.R. 37.

• Mortgage refunding bonds of 1998 for the Showers City Hall building.

• Parks District revenue bonds issued in 1999 to expand and improve the Cascades Golf Course.

Since interest rates on municipal bonds are currently very low, we could save a significant amount of money by refinancing.