Bloomington City Council Meeting – June 29, 2026

Everyone and welcome.

I will call our Bloomington City Council meeting to order.

Tonight is Monday, June 29th, 2026.

Thank you to everyone joining us here in the council chambers.

Thanks to everybody watching online.

We will begin our meeting as we always do.

If you're able, please rise and remove any covering and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it's fans.

Council, our first order of business is uh the adoption of our agenda tonight, and it is a very manageable agenda, and I hope we can get through it in a timely and efficient fashion.

I'm looking right at you, Councilmember.

That's right.

On our agenda, uh, under introductory items, we have item two point one.

We're going to get an update on the I-494 quarter commission and commuter services.

We've got folks here who are going to speak to us.

Welcome.

Thank you for being with us.

And item two point two is our only proclamation of the evening.

This is a Pride Month proclamation.

Item three, our consent business.

Councilmember Robertson has consent, and we have sixteen items on the consent business tonight.

Item five point one is the Bloomington Urban Forest Master Plan, final draft and action plan review.

And item five point two is a study item.

This is regarding minor policy updates for annual miscellaneous issues ordinance.

We'll wrap up with our council policy and issue update.

Motion and a second by Councilmember Carter to accept tonight's agenda as stated.

No further council discussion on this.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries six zero.

And this good opportunity.

This evening, my colleagues Kate Meredith and Michelle Leonard, who are pictured on this first slide, are here with us tonight.

They do the outreach for our organization.

Thank you.

So we work jointly with a number of additional cities.

And each of our cities pays 60 cents per resident.

Are we able to go back one?

Thank you.

And the City of Bloomington's membership dues are 6% of our overall budget.

So we are able to provide you a great return on your $55,000 annual investment.

There are actually more jobs in our five cities along 494 than there are in both of the two downtowns combined.

Next slide, please.

In fact, people from 85 out of 87 counties in Minnesota use this section of 494 on a daily basis.

95% of our budget is spent on demand, and 5% is spent on supply side projects.

Commuter Services, which is an outreach program of the 494 Quarter Commission, was created to influence employers and commuters towards sustainable commute options to slow the growth of traffic congestion and reduce the demand for roads.

And Bloomington receives commuter services as part of your membership in the 494 quarter commission.

We hold over 100 commuter fairs with large medium and employers and multi-tenant office buildings in a year.

We provide customized communications for employers for their intranet and newsletters, and we enroll employers in transit pass programs, and we also have a deep set of telework and hybrid resources.

We started the brand called Twin Cities Telework with some state funding that we received a few years back.

And we also push out road construction updates.

And here's a representative look at some of the employers and hotels that we work with in Bloomington.

And a quote from one of our contacts at the Mall of America.

She said, Mall of America has partnered with commuter services for over 20 years, and their support has been a valuable resource to our team members.

And also a quote from Normandale Lake Office Park.

Commuter Services has been a trusted resource for our tenants, offering practical solutions and on-site support that make a real difference in daily commutes.

Their partnership helps us deliver added value and a better overall experience for the companies we serve.

And then a look at the types of things that we can provide and do provide to commuters, and that includes ride matching to help people find someone to carpool and van pool with, customized transit information with personalized itinerary with the right schedules and two free passes so the person can give it a try.

Um the Metropolitan Council provides 100 of free taxi or Uber and Lyft rides per year as a safety net for people who use an alternative to driving a loan to work.

So that way if their child gets sick or kind of whatever the what if scenario is, they have a safety net to get home.

And then we have a deep set of telework and hybrid resources for employers, teleworkers, and managers, and then our resources are available in multiple languages.