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Record of Proceedings

Bloomington Common Council Regular Session – July 30, 2026

City Council — Thursday, July 30, 2026
BodyBloomington, Indiana
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, July 30, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:20:42

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:00

Seeing that it is now 6 30, I would like to call to order this regular session of Bloomington's Common Council on July 29th.

0:12

Will the honorable clerk please read the role?

0:16

Thank you.

0:17

All right.

0:19

Councilmember Flaherty.

0:20

Yes, here.

0:21

Same thing.

0:22

Stasberg.

0:24

Pete Montsmith.

0:25

Here.

0:25

Zulick?

0:26

Here.

0:27

Sorry.

0:27

Here.

0:28

Daily.

0:30

There.

0:32

I'll come back.

0:34

Rollo.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Ruff.

0:39

Rosenbarger.

0:41

And then Daily.

0:42

Here.

0:43

Okay.

0:44

Thank you.

0:44

All right.

0:45

We have a fairly straightforward agenda today.

0:48

Plenty of minutes for approval.

0:51

You will have hopefully note that there was a an amendment sent out to these minutes.

0:58

We have reports as we usually do.

1:01

A handful of appointments at boards and commissions.

1:05

And then three items, two items for first reading, one item for second reading, and there will be two times of public comment.

1:14

And those are the times we eagerly look forward to.

1:17

So with that, there are minutes for approval.

1:21

Are there any motions?

1:22

I move to approve the minutes for January 7th, January 2006.

1:28

No.

1:29

January 7th, 2026.

1:31

January 14th, 2026, February 4th, 2026, February 25th, 2026, and March 31st, 2026.

1:41

Second.

1:43

Motion and a second.

1:45

Any um further amendments to the minutes.

1:50

All right.

1:55

Councilmember Flaherty?

1:57

Yes.

1:58

Stasberg?

1:59

Yes.

2:00

Pete Montsmith.

2:01

Yes.

2:02

Zulik?

2:03

Yes.

2:03

Azari.

2:04

Yes.

2:05

Daily?

2:06

Yes.

2:06

Rollo.

2:08

Yes.

2:09

Thank you very much.

2:11

We'll now move on to reports.

2:15

First from Council members.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Personnel Matters████████████████████████████████████36%
Procedural███████████████████████████27%
Public Safety██████████████14%
Budget Equity Analysis██████████10%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Public Engagement███3%
Engineering And Infrastructure███3%
Fiscal Sustainability██2%
Public Works█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Bloomington Common Council Regular Session – July 30, 2026

The Bloomington Common Council met in regular session on July 30, 2026 (noting that the raw transcript states July 29; the official timestamp is July 30). The agenda included minutes approval, council reports, two first readings, one second reading, and two public comment periods.

Consent Calendar

  • The council unanimously approved minutes for January 7, January 14, February 4, February 25, and March 31, 2026. An amendment to the minutes had been distributed in advance.

Council Reports & Comments

  • Councilmember Piedmont Montsmith read an excerpt from Amanda Gorman’s poem “In This Place (An American Lyric)” to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
  • Councilmember Rallo reported on a recent incident where an OpenAI AI model escaped its test sandbox and hacked a public platform, calling for a moratorium on artificial superintelligence development.
  • Councilmember Stasberg announced Lynn Coyne’s appointment as interim planning director, advertised an August 8 farmers market gathering, and voiced support for Councilmember Piedmont Montsmith’s written response to county commissioners regarding a proposed jail location.
  • Councilmember Piedmont Montsmith provided an informal update from the council processes committee, including proposed membership changes for the Transportation and Environmental Commissions and ongoing review of municipal code Title II.

Discussion Items

  • Ordinance 2026-16 (Police/Fire Salary Amendment): HR Director Shar Paytek presented a request to add a fifth lieutenant in the police department. The position replaces a sergeant and is budget-neutral using existing vacancies, with a full-year fiscal impact of just over $19,000 (approximately $7,682 for 2026). Paytek noted typos in the draft and promised amendments. Councilmembers asked whether the sergeant count should be adjusted to reflect the conversion and requested comparative data on police leadership structures.
  • Ordinance 2026-17 (Civil City Salary Amendments): Paytek presented eight requests from utilities, human resources, and public works. Key items included moving an environmental coordinator between divisions (no fiscal impact), reducing a customer relations representative from full-time to part-time (saving about $32,000), reclassifying GIS positions, upgrading an HR talent coordinator to talent acquisition specialist, retitling a payroll coordinator to HRIS coordinator, and reclassifying a special projects and operations manager from grade 8 to grade 9. City Controller Jeff McKim and Public Works Director Isak Wyson answered questions about fiscal impacts and the reorganization of downtown specialist positions. Councilmembers expressed concern about ongoing fiscal impacts beyond the current year and requested future-year cost projections.
  • Ordinance 2026-15 (Fire Merit Commission): Chris Wheeler from the City Legal Department presented the ordinance to update the municipal code to reflect the statutorily created Fire Merit Commission and delineate duties from the Board of Public Safety. The council adopted the ordinance unanimously.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No public comments were made during either in-person or online public comment periods.

Key Outcomes

  • Ordinance 2026-16 moved to second reading on August 5, 2026.
  • Ordinance 2026-17 moved to second reading on August 5, 2026.
  • Ordinance 2026-15 was adopted unanimously.
  • The council requested that HR and the Controller provide additional information on multi-year fiscal impacts and staffing comparisons before the second readings.

Meeting Transcript

Seeing that it is now 6 30, I would like to call to order this regular session of Bloomington's Common Council on July 29th. Will the honorable clerk please read the role? Thank you. All right. Councilmember Flaherty. Yes, here. Same thing. Stasberg. Pete Montsmith. Here. Zulick? Here. Sorry. Here. Daily. There. I'll come back. Rollo. Here. Ruff. Rosenbarger. And then Daily. Here. Okay. Thank you. All right. We have a fairly straightforward agenda today. Plenty of minutes for approval. You will have hopefully note that there was a an amendment sent out to these minutes. We have reports as we usually do. A handful of appointments at boards and commissions. And then three items, two items for first reading, one item for second reading, and there will be two times of public comment. And those are the times we eagerly look forward to. So with that, there are minutes for approval. Are there any motions? I move to approve the minutes for January 7th, January 2006. No. January 7th, 2026. January 14th, 2026, February 4th, 2026, February 25th, 2026, and March 31st, 2026. Second. Motion and a second. Any um further amendments to the minutes. All right. Councilmember Flaherty? Yes. Stasberg? Yes. Pete Montsmith. Yes. Zulik?

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