February 23, 2008

January 9: Organizational meeting. Chose officers and who would serve on which committees.

Officers of the City Council for 2008:

President – Susan Sandberg (at-large)

Vice-President – Andy Ruff (at-large)

Parliamentarian – Steve Volan (District 6)

January 16:

Sidewalk Committee issued its report on which projects will receive funding this year.

Resolution 08-04: Waiving payments in lieu of taxation by the Bloomington Housing Authority

The city has an agreement with the Bloomington Housing Authority (BHA) which makes BHA exempt from property taxes, and instead of paying these taxes BHA pays a fee to the city based on a formula created by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The city has agreed to waive this fee because BHA provides many services which benefit our low-income population.

Resolution 08-03: The Council expressed its support for a continue downtown retail facility for the US Postal Service

January 23:

This was a Committee of the Whole meeting where we discussed the update to the Alternative Transportation and Greenways System Plan.

January 30: No meeting. We don’t meet the 5^th Wednesday of the month.

February 6:

We adopted the revision of the Alternative Transportation and Greenways System Plan, with three amendments:

1. Mentioning the city’s dedication to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and its recognition of the peaking of worldwide petroleum production as further reasons to have a solid alternative transportation plan in place.

2. Changing the title of the plan from “alternative transportation” to “bicycle and pedestrian,” so that bicycle and pedestrian transportation options will not be seen as inferior in any way to cars

3. Adding a downtown map to the plan.

February 13:

This was a Committee of the Whole meeting where we discussed the CDBG grant allocations. These are the Community Development Block Grants, funding the city receives from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The funds are spent as follows: 15% on social services (this is the maximum), 20% on administrative costs (this is the maximum), and 65% on physical improvements to buildings and infrastructure that benefit the low-income community. We expect to receive $827,024 from HUD this year.

February 20:

The mayor gave a report on the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, which the city owns and which needs major renovations this year. The project is expected to cost about $645,000 and the money will come from the downtown TIF.

We approved the CDBG allocations.