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Record of Proceedings

Bloomington City Council Meeting Appoints Justice Belton and Discusses Transit Board Expansion – September 29, 2026

City Council — Tuesday, September 29, 2026
BodyBloomington, Indiana
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, September 29, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 6:17

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

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

Okay, it is nine o'clock.

0:01

We are in order, and present is Hopi Stasberg from District Three and myself and uh Clerk Crossley.

0:08

Yeah, we're here.

0:10

So all right, what's that?

0:12

What do we need to talk about?

Speaker 2

0:14

The only thing um that we have, I think originally I had scheduled this meeting um because we needed to talk about the public transportation board scenario, but that got taken care of last week.

0:27

So really the only thing that you have, um, you still always will have um the issues with BUEA and try to find somebody, it's just not a thing that's working.

0:39

But you do have one thing, which is the commission on the status of black males to do resign back in July.

0:46

There is one application, Justice Belton, and um Crystal, who is the liaison for wrote yesterday that she highly recommended this individual, and he apparently in 2021 won the outstanding leaders of today.

1:03

So

Unassigned speaker

1:03

oh

Speaker 2

1:04

yeah, I remember him, Justice.

1:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:08

And so that's it.

1:09

That's literally it.

1:10

Are you happy to

Speaker 3

1:11

appoint him?

1:12

Yeah, I I looked at his application and it looks great.

1:14

So I'll move that we appoint Justice Belton to see C2 on the commission on the status of black mass.

1:19

I'll happily second.

1:20

Okay.

Speaker 1

1:21

And it's which makes which makes it irrelevant to call for votes.

1:24

But we have to do it.

Speaker 2

1:27

So sorry.

1:29

That's

Speaker 1

1:29

totally in favor.

Speaker 2

1:32

Yes.

1:32

Okay.

1:33

So I will put this in the packet.

1:36

Um are

Speaker 1

1:36

they okay with uh timing?

1:38

Do we like they didn't know you're good.

1:41

There's

Speaker 2

1:41

no

Speaker 1

1:42

until October 14th.

Speaker 2

1:43

Exactly.

1:43

So they they should be

Speaker 1

1:45

like a special session too, actually.

1:47

Yeah, I think what keep us from.

Speaker 2

1:49

Um, but yeah, that's other than that.

1:52

I'm looking at all the rest of the things.

1:55

You all are that's that's

Speaker 3

1:58

no, I had a thought, just reminding me after this.

2:01

It doesn't relate to this meeting.

Speaker 2

2:02

Um, I'm just scrolling through, just I'm like, I looked at your spreadsheet like botams this morning to make sure no, you guys are literally good.

2:11

Oh, that's so awesome.

Speaker 1

2:14

We've been very efficient this this year.

2:16

I really thank you very much.

Speaker 2

2:17

Yeah, and I think it also helps to hopefully the other colleagues can maybe do this in the future too, like the liaison part where if somebody's talking and as an individual, and then you can either come back to this meeting or in council, like that really moves the needle that fast.

Speaker 3

2:38

Um, before we go though, uh, in terms of the public transportation work and move from five to seven.

Speaker 4

2:45

Yeah,

Speaker 3

2:46

um, I reached out so at their last meeting, they also discussed that.

2:50

And I'm not sure that there's like clarity on both sides about how exactly to do it.

2:58

Um, they seem to be under the impression that they can do it independently of the council.

Unassigned speaker

3:02

Yes, we have to do it.

Speaker 1

3:04

We have to change title two, yeah.

Speaker 3

3:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

3:06

Yeah, that's exactly what we have to do.

3:08

So I sent an email to um, so they so James and Nancy ended up um they're all for the meeting.

3:15

Well, no, they they ended up being like the subcommittee or whatever they want to call it, like the working group to work on that.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Transportation█████████████████████████████████████████████56%
Personnel Matters███████████████████24%
Procedural████████████████20%
Summary of Proceedings

Bloomington City Council Meeting – September 29, 2026

The Bloomington City Council met on September 29, 2026, with Councilmember Hopi Stasberg (District 3), Clerk Crossley, and the presiding officer present. No formal agenda or minutes were available, so this summary is based on the raw transcript. The meeting opened at 9:00 a.m. (metadata timestamp 2026-09-29 14:12:20 UTC) and focused on one appointment and an update on the public transportation board.

Appointment: Commission on the Status of Black Males

  • The council considered the sole application for a vacancy on the Commission on the Status of Black Males, submitted by Justice Belton after a resignation in July.
  • Crystal, the commission liaison, wrote the previous day that she highly recommended Belton and noted that he won the Outstanding Leaders of Today award in 2021.
  • Councilmember Stasberg remembered Belton favorably and said his application looked great.
  • Stasberg moved to appoint Belton; the motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

Discussion: Public Transportation Board Expansion

  • The council discussed the public transportation board's proposal to expand from five to seven members.
  • Although the transportation board appeared to think it could make the change on its own, council members said the council must amend Title Two of the city code instead.
  • James and Nancy were identified as the working group/subcommittee on the issue; the presiding officer had contacted them and hoped to speak with them before the next CCP meeting.
  • A staff member prepared a pros-and-cons summary. The presiding officer's main concern was recruitment, including the need to find another Republican to serve.
  • The presiding officer said an anticipated future collaboration between IU and BT made a larger board seem appropriate.
  • Because service has expanded outside city limits and rural transit is doing less, the council discussed possible collaboration with Monroe County and Ellettsville. One idea was to use "urbanized area" language, matching MPO terminology, and the presiding officer said they would be happy to update the relevant provisions.
  • The presiding officer had also raised the topic at the CCP meeting and planned to share the research summary there.

Key Outcomes

  • Justice Belton was appointed to the Commission on the Status of Black Males by unanimous vote.
  • No formal action was taken on the transit board expansion; the presiding officer will continue research and engagement before the next CCP meeting.
  • The meeting was then adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, it is nine o'clock. We are in order, and present is Hopi Stasberg from District Three and myself and uh Clerk Crossley. Yeah, we're here. So all right, what's that? What do we need to talk about? The only thing um that we have, I think originally I had scheduled this meeting um because we needed to talk about the public transportation board scenario, but that got taken care of last week. So really the only thing that you have, um, you still always will have um the issues with BUEA and try to find somebody, it's just not a thing that's working. But you do have one thing, which is the commission on the status of black males to do resign back in July. There is one application, Justice Belton, and um Crystal, who is the liaison for wrote yesterday that she highly recommended this individual, and he apparently in 2021 won the outstanding leaders of today. So oh yeah, I remember him, Justice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that's it. That's literally it. Are you happy to appoint him? Yeah, I I looked at his application and it looks great. So I'll move that we appoint Justice Belton to see C2 on the commission on the status of black mass. I'll happily second. Okay. And it's which makes which makes it irrelevant to call for votes. But we have to do it. So sorry. That's totally in favor. Yes. Okay. So I will put this in the packet. Um are they okay with uh timing? Do we like they didn't know you're good. There's no until October 14th. Exactly. So they they should be like a special session too, actually. Yeah, I think what keep us from. Um, but yeah, that's other than that. I'm looking at all the rest of the things. You all are that's that's no, I had a thought, just reminding me after this. It doesn't relate to this meeting. Um, I'm just scrolling through, just I'm like, I looked at your spreadsheet like botams this morning to make sure no, you guys are literally good. Oh, that's so awesome. We've been very efficient this this year. I really thank you very much. Yeah, and I think it also helps to hopefully the other colleagues can maybe do this in the future too, like the liaison part where if somebody's talking and as an individual, and then you can either come back to this meeting or in council, like that really moves the needle that fast. Um, before we go though, uh, in terms of the public transportation work and move from five to seven.

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