Bloomington City Council Interview Committee B, August 20, 2026
Bloomington City Council Interview Committee B Meeting – August 20, 2026
The City of Bloomington City Council's Interview Committee B met on August 20, 2026, to interview applicants for a vacancy on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission. The committee, consisting of Council Members Matt Flaherty, Andy Ruff, and Courtney Daly, heard from one applicant and discussed a second candidate who had been interviewed earlier. After deliberation, the committee voted to recommend appointing Jatna Ayala Ruez to the commission.
Discussion Items
- Interview with Lysonda McCoy: McCoy, a former Bloomington Police Department social worker and long-time preschool teacher, now serves as a social worker for school resource officers. A 40-year resident of Bloomington, she is involved with the Black Culture Club at South High School and was previously recognized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission as one of 60 women honored at the Black History Month Gala. She expressed interest in bridging gaps between Indiana University, the City of Bloomington, and the Monroe County Community School Corporation, and emphasized her skills in active listening, conflict resolution, and community organizing. She confirmed her availability for the commission’s monthly meetings.
- Review of Candidate Jatna Ayala Ruez: Council Member Courtney Daly reported that she had interviewed Jatna Ayala Ruez, a junior at Indiana University heavily involved in the Neal Marshall Center and the Black Student Union, where she has organized events. Ruez was recommended by Dr. Glove of the commission. She expressed interest in engaging with the broader Bloomington community beyond campus and was comfortable with the meeting schedule.
- Deliberation and Vote: Committee members praised both candidates. Council Member Ruff noted Dr. Glove’s recommendation leaned toward McCoy but acknowledged Ruez’s potential to bring youth and student perspectives. Council Member Flaherty suggested appointing Ruez to encourage student involvement, with the possibility of McCoy serving when another vacancy arises. The committee moved to appoint Jatna Ayala Ruez to seat C (C2) of the commission. The motion carried.
Key Outcomes
- Appointment Recommendation: The committee voted to recommend appointing Jatna Ayala Ruez to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission. The recommendation will be presented to the full City Council at its regular session on September 6, 2026.
- Future Consideration: The committee expressed strong interest in Lysonda McCoy for a future vacancy and directed staff to convey that message when notifying her of the decision.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Well, I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. This is a meeting of the City of Bloomington City Council's interview committee B. Quick go around the room with Director Roll. I'm Matt Flaherty. I'm an at large city council member. I'm Andy Ruff, I'm at large council member also. Hi, I'm Courtney Daly. I'm city council member for District Five. General across Lee Clerk's office. And uh welcome uh Lessandra. And we appreciate your interest in serving on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration commission. Uh so thank you for uh for you for applying and and um and yeah for joining us today for an interview. Uh I'll explain just a little bit about the process and then we'll probably have some questions for you and also have time for you to ask questions of us. Um and uh about the process. The inner the um the city council divides uh appointments to boards and commissions uh across three interview committees to interview and make recommendations. So that's this committee's uh job. Uh this is one of our commissions, and uh we will make um I think we're considering two applicants for uh a vacancy currently, and we'll make our final recommendation to the city council at um our next uh upcoming regular session, which is I think in a couple of weeks. So, as far as our timeline and process, that's what our role is today, and um kind of a timeline that you can anticipate action and follow-up communication from uh Deputy Clerk Crossley. Uh with that, maybe we could just get started uh with you introducing yourself and sharing a bit more about uh why you're interested in serving on this commission. Hey, my name is Lysonda McCoy. Um, I'm interested in serving as commission. I was a former Bloomington Police Department social worker, and now uh they someone saw me doing that job because I told them that I wanted to continue to work in the schools. I was a former preschool teacher for almost 30 years. So then someone saw me that being a police department social worker, and um, and I told them I still want to volunteer the Black Culture Club at South High School. So they saw me working with over 70 kids. So they basically created this job for me now. So I'm a social worker for the school resource officers, and I love my job. I love working with kids. So what reason why I wanted to uh apply for this because one time, so last year I was one of the 60 women on the movement. I got not I was one of those women that uh the commission uh put me in as an award. And then also as a faith-based person, I spoke at this uh Martin Luther King celebration, like before that, the year before that. So I've been in a resident of this city for over 40 years, and I come and go between IU and the uh school corporation and the city. So I want to be that person to help bridge the gap. So that's why I'm interested in being a part of that commission because I feel like I love the city of Bloomington. I love the school corporation, and I just want to be that person that's that liaison between all three things, IU and City of Bloomington and the Monocronic School Corporation. So I think being a part of the Martin Luther King Commission will help me to be able to do that, bring more children out, bring more youth, get more youth involved in that. Amazing. Thank you. Uh other committee members have questions for Sandra. Yeah, hi. So again, thank you so much for being here today. What um what experience or skills would you say that you would bring to the commission um to be an effective team member? First of all, being a social worker, I'm an active listener. And I'm used to dealing with conflict, I'm used to dilemma conflict, and I feel like you know, bringing people together sometimes. You're not gonna agree on everything, right? So, with my job as a social worker, I find myself bringing people together like other grown-ups together, like administrators together, kids with administrators. I've been that advocate between when uh parents come in, sometimes the administrator might call me in to be that person that bridge that gap too.
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