Bloomington Common Council Regular Session - December 5, 2025
Bloomington Common Council Regular Session - December 5, 2025
Note: The transcript indicates the meeting occurred on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, but the provided metadata states the date as December 5, 2025. This summary uses the metadata date per instructions.
The Bloomington Common Council held a regular session on December 5, 2025, at 6:30 PM. The meeting covered several major legislative items including a voluntary annexation fiscal plan, a year-end appropriation ordinance, a septic hauler rate adjustment, and updates to towing rates. The council also received a climate action plan update from the Economic and Sustainable Development Department. Public comment was heard on multiple items, and several votes were taken.
Reports
- Councilmember Reports: Councilmember Rallo expressed disappointment regarding the potential donation of the Bunger Robertson property for a hotel development, noting the council’s 2024 formal opposition and the need to recoup the $7 million paid for the property.
- Climate Action Plan Update: Sean Mia, Assistant Director of Sustainability, presented an update on progress since July 2024. Key highlights include: 11 solar installations completed, 6 more approved; 9 energy audits completed by Donovan Energy; a $508,000 grant for the Buskirk-Chumley Theater HVAC and solar project; over $1 million in SEAL grants distributed; launch of Bloomington Energy Works program (funded by a $250,000 grant) to provide free energy audits; and climate resilience efforts including tree planting, AC units distributed, and 15,000 free pool admissions. Project 46 governance structure was also updated.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Voluntary Annexation (2005 West Cory Drive): Two neighbors, Jay Nelson and Leslie Ruiz, opposed the annexation and rezoning, citing concerns about a potential sinkhole/karst feature, existing drainage easements, narrow road conditions, traffic safety for children, and the creation of a service island. They urged full geotechnical assessment before any development.
- Fiscal Plan for Annexation: Jay Nelson reiterated concerns, saying development feasibility should be assessed before annexation. Paul Post (FOP representative) criticized the fiscal plan for lacking itemized cost estimates and highlighted police understaffing. Paul Rousseau noted that septic systems in karst areas pose environmental risks and suggested full annexation of the neighborhood to avoid complications.
- Appropriation Ordinance: No public comments.
- Septic Hauler Rate Adjustment: Multiple septic haulers and business owners (Courtney Medley, Jeff Todd, Malcolm Webb, Chris Berg, Jerry Jackson, Jay Pippen, Maggie Sullivan, Steve) spoke in opposition to the proposed 300% rate increase. They argued that the increase would disproportionately harm holding tank customers (e.g., campgrounds, marinas, businesses) and lead to deferred maintenance, environmental damage, and financial hardship. Many requested a more gradual phase-in and a separate rate for holding tanks.
- Towing Ordinances: No public comments on the amendments to Ordinance 2025-19.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 2025-19 – Fiscal Plan for Annexation: Council discussed the fiscal plan for annexing 2005 West Cory Drive. Assistant City Attorney Chris Wheeler presented, noting the property owner wants to build a duplex and connect to city sewer/water. The plan shows no significant fiscal impact on city departments and a slight increase in property tax revenue. Council members questioned environmental concerns (karst), road maintenance responsibilities, and the sufficiency of the plan. The resolution was adopted 7-0.
- Appropriation Ordinance 2025-14: Deputy Controller Cheryl Gilliland presented the $391,484 year-end appropriation request covering eight funds, with much of it as transfers within funds. Key items include liability insurance increases, a new grapple truck for public works (funded by FEMA disaster reimbursement), vehicles for fleet, and funds for Hopewell Commons Park and Seminary Park portalet. The ordinance passed 7-0.
- Ordinance 2025-44 – Septic Hauler Rate Adjustment: CBU Utilities Director Catherine Zager and staff presented the proposal to increase hauled wastewater rates from 2 cents to 8 cents per gallon (a 300% increase), based on a Crow LLP cost-of-service study. The rate had not been updated since 2000. An amendment to remove the out-of-county surcharge passed 5-2. After extensive debate about environmental justice, holding tank impacts, and gradual phasing, the main ordinance was voted down 0-7, effectively failing. Council members expressed a desire for more accurate data and better differentiation between waste types.
- Ordinance 2025-19 – Towing Rate Updates: Assistant City Attorney Edina Casimanian presented updates to maximum towing and storage charges for police-initiated tows, citing increased operational costs and public safety needs. An amendment (to revert storage fee start time from 12 to 24 hours and remove a $75 after-hours fee) was discussed but later withdrawn. The ordinance was postponed to the December 17 meeting to allow further refinement.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 2025-19 (Fiscal Plan for Annexation): Adopted 7-0.
- Appropriation Ordinance 2025-14: Adopted 7-0.
- Ordinance 2025-44 (Septic Rate Adjustment): Amendment one (remove out-of-county surcharge) passed 5-2, but the main ordinance as amended failed 0-7. The matter will be revisited in 2026.
- Ordinance 2025-19 (Towing Rates): Postponed to December 17, 2025, to address concerns about after-hours fees and business hours.
- Ordinance 2025-20 (Non-consensual Towing Business Regulations): Failed to be introduced due to lack of a two-thirds majority after 10:30 PM.
- The council noted upcoming meetings: a deliberation session on the 2027 budget on December 10, and the next regular session on December 17.
Meeting Transcript
Seeing as at 6 30 and we have a quorum, I would like to call this regular session of the Bloomington Common Council to order here on Wednesday, December 3rd. Will the clerk please call the roll? Councilman Fair Council Member Falardi. Here. Rough? Here. Rallow? Here. Pete Montsmith. Here. Salzburg. Here. Daily. Here. Sorry. Here. Great. Thank you. There's a lot of people in the room here tonight. That's exciting for one of the last meetings of the year. I've been starting meetings with a little kind of general note of interest, either historical or something related to justice and that category of thing. And for the third time, I think this year I'm going to talk about gerrymandering. The first time I talked about it, it was about the origin of the word gerrymandering, and then it was, you know, the different states are gerrymandering. And today I'm going back to it because our Indiana State legislatures legislators have reconvened in special session to redistrict our congressional maps. And for those of you who don't know, redistricting usually happens around the census, so once every 10 years, and this mid-decade redistricting is not normal. It is not the normal course of business. And the Republican contingent, the sponsor of this bill has been open about declaring that the maps that they are proposing are politically gerrymandered, breaking apart areas with high numbers of Democrats, so those democratic leaning voters are diluted with Republican numbers in hopes that all nine of the congressional seats will go to Republican candidates. And in order to do that, one of the things that they've done is separated the Indianapolis Airport, excuse me, Indianapolis area into four different districts. And that results in the same person representing sections of urban Indianapolis as rural Jackson County or rural Rush County or rural Union County. And that's interesting, I'll say, because I try to stay neutral during these moments. So both the process of calling a special session mid-century and proposing deliberately gerrymandered maps is meaningful for everybody for all who's years, and this will impact the representation representation that all of us have in Washington. And I would encourage everyone to contact your representatives to share your views on this process. And now usually I go on to the agenda summation, but I also have a little note about our agenda before I go on because we have a few pieces of legislation tonight that are just a little bit different than normal. So there is legislation related to voluntary annexation on the agenda this evening. And so it's been a learning curve for everybody involved to figure out exactly how to do it. And so I'm going to talk about it a little bit because there are three pieces of legislation that have to do with the voluntary annexation. One of them is a resolution, okay, and resolutions have one reading. So we're going to talk about that and vote on that as a council this evening. And that resolution has to do with the fiscal plan. That's like the money plan. It's like how does Bloomington plan to fund this new property in terms of the services and that kind of thing that wants to be a part of the city? The second piece of legislation that is the actual voluntary annexation itself. And that has to be an ordinance and ordinances have two readings. Tonight will just be the first reading of that ordinance to actually do the annexation. Council doesn't talk about things at first readings. Mostly, most of the time at first readings, there's not an opportunity for the public to comment. However, with this particular first reading, the state of Indiana for voluntary annexation requires a public hearing. And at public hearings, the public gets to talk. So at our first reading tonight for that is ordinance 2025 43, that will be a public hearing. So even though it is a first reading, the public will have an opportunity to comment about the annexation ordinance itself.
openpublica.com