July 26, 2008

July 2: Regular Session

 Reports: We heard a brief report from Parks & Rec Natural Resources Director Steve Cotter about the Griffy Lake Master Plan and from City Communications Director Danny Lopez about the Be Bloomington campaign. “Be Neighborly Bloomington” is the theme for July-September.

Legislation for Second Reading: We were to vote on Ordinance 08-10, the new city fire ordinance, which was discussed during our Committee of the Whole meeting on June 25, but Councilmember Volan proposed tabling the ordinance for two weeks. The vote was 7-2 in favor of tabling the ordinance.

A special session was called for July 9. 

July 9: Special Session and Committee of the Whole

Note: I was not present at this meeting.

A. Special Session

Legislation for First Reading: Ordinance 08-11 was read into the record. This ordinance would amend part of the Woolery Planned Unit Development (PUD) to allow an addition onto Monroe House assisted living facility.

B. Committee of the Whole

Ordinance 08-11 was discussed.

July 16: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading:

Ord. 08-11: Council member Volan proposed a “reasonable condition” to add to the Woolery PUD amendment. He wanted the fire lane to be paved with permeable pavers or permeable pavement. There was some discussion as to whether such pavers would be strong enough to hold fire trucks, and we were assured by Planning Department staff member Eric Greulich that such pavers are available and have been used in other cases. Fire Chief Kerr wanted to make sure that the pavers could be clearly seen by fire fighters as being a drivable lane, and he was assured by the architect that this would be the case. We voted 9-0 for Volan’s reasonable condition and 9-0 for the PUD amendment.

Ord. 08-10: The fire ordinance. 6 amendments were brought by council members to this ordinance, and four of them passed:

·        Clarifying language in the ordinance (Piedmont)

·        Clearly allowing outdoor fireplaces manufactured for that purpose if used properly (Sturbaum and Wisler)

·        Adding luminescent tape or paint to mark fire exits (Volan)

·        Making the chaining or blocking of fire exits a more serious offense with higher fines (Volan)

One amendment in particular that was proposed but didn’t pass generated much discussion and disagreement between the mayor, who was there to support the ordinance, and some council members. This amendment was sponsored by Council member Ruff and would have made a distinction between violation for over-occupancy of a public place if the over-occupancy was less than 10% or more than 10%. The argument in favor was that there is a big different in the risk to public safety if a place is 2-3 people over the occupancy limit vs. if it is 100 people over the occupancy limit. The vote on the amendment was 4-5.

After considering the amendments, the ordinance as a whole was discussed. It was brought up that the way occupancy limits are determined is not always clear, and architect Doug Bruce said that the occupancy to which he builds sometimes turns out not to be the occupancy the fire department determines after the building is complete. The city staff promised to look into this matter further. Mr. Volan proposed to postpone final vote on the ordinance so that the issue could be clarified, but his proposal was rejected 4-5. The final vote on the ordinance as a whole was 9-0.

July 21-24: Budget Hearings

The mayor presented the overall city budget proposal on Monday evening, followed by presentations by each department head of their budgets Monday through Thursday. Highlights include:

·        Average staff salary increases of 3.7%

·        Funds for engineering of a roundabout at the intersection of Sare & Rogers Rd.

·        $15,000 increase in Jack Hopkins Social Service funding

·        4 new police officers

·        Development of a dog park at Ferguson Park (currently a city tree nursery near Griffy)

·        Intersection improvements at Allen & Henderson, Atwater & Henderson, and Arlington & 17^th

·        A South Walnut St. redevelopment plan

·        The creation of a separate Economic Development Department

All departmental budgets were approved. I voted “no” on the mayor’s office budget because I feel strongly that we need a single staff member whose job it is to increase the sustainability of city operations and to collaborate on community sustainability, and this was not in his budget.