Good evening everyone and welcome. I will call our Bloomington City Council meeting to order. Uh it is Monday, April 13th, 2026. This our regular city council meeting. We will start our meeting as we always do. If you're able, uh please stand, remove any head coverings, 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 stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thanks for everybody joining us in the council chambers tonight. Thanks for everybody watching online. We are actually at five uh council members tonight. We've got council member uh Nelson remotely and council member um Carter is not able to join us at the the meeting tonight. So we have a total of six but five in the chambers which means we're going to have to do all votes by roll call vote. And just wanted to put you on on notice for that. Our first order of business uh in our agenda is the approval of the agenda. And our agenda this evening under item two are introductory items. We actually have three proclamations. Item 2.1 is a proclamation for volunteer recognition week. 2.2 is a proclamation for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. And item 2.3 is a proclamation for Arbory Day 2026. We do have one more item under item two. That's our 2026 Parks, Arts, and Recreation Commission work plan. That'll be item 2.4. Under our consent business, we've got 15 items on the consent business. Council member Robertson has the convent consent agenda tonight. Thank you for taking that on. Under four hearings, resolutions, and ordinances, we have a couple of items, including one public hearing. Item 4.1 is a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of general obligation sewer revenue bonds. And item 4.2 is our public hearing that is regarding our community development block grant 2026 annual action plan. Under our organizational business, we've got three items. I 5.1 is a study item regarding corner lot standards. Item 5.2, we'll get a public safety update from Chief Booker T. Hajes. Item 5.3, we'll get an uh an update on the community health and wellness center. They are at 100% construction documents. And then we'll wrap up with our council policy and issue updates. Council, anything to add or any corrections on our agenda this evening? And let's hope we get through it before the storms come rolling in and and knock the power out. And uh I'm sure Chief Seal will keep us uh up to speed on that. No uh adjustments to tonight's agenda. I would move the agenda as stated. Motion and a second by council member Dalisandro to accept tonight's agenda as stated. No further council discussion on this. Miss Ray >> Nelson. >> Dlesandro >> I. >> Reebas. >> Lom. >> Hi. >> Robertson. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Mayor By >> I. Motion carries 6. Thank you so very much. We have an agenda and our first three items are proclamations. So I'm going to make my way down to the podium. Our first proclamation this evening is for volunteer recognition week which is April 19th through the 25th. And we've got a couple of our teen volunteers with us who are going to join me up here. Uh Eban, am I saying that correct? Evan Nos and Millana Santiago, will you uh what we usually do, why don't you come on up and join me while I read the proclamation. The cameras are up there, so you got to come up here and stand and face that way. So, and uh and then we'll we'll turn the microphone over to you. So, come on up. Come on in behind me here. Thanks for being here tonight. City of Bloomington proclamation for volunteer recognition week, April 19th through the 25th, 2026. Whereas the city of Bloomington is committed to encouraging and enhancing civ engagement and has identified volunteerism as a priority to make Bloomington a remarkable community. And whereas throughout this past year, the city of Bloomington has appreciated the efforts of volunteers to enhance and support city services, programs, and spaces. Volunteers increase quality of life in Bloomington by helping to keep the community safe, clean, and beautiful. supporting the arts, assisting with social and recreational programming, addressing sustainability initiatives, and serving on boards and commissions. And whereas the city of Bloomington volunte city of Bloomington volunteers are a robust group of approximately 800 people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities and come with unique talents, skills, and interests. And whereas volunteerism is a reinforcing cycle. Volunteers acquire skills and relationships that lead to empowerment and a sense of purpose in creating community. And whereas the community thrives when its members share responsibility for its well-being. The city applauds the efforts of individuals, families, service groups, businesses, nonprofits, schools, and faith-based organizations that have stepped forward to advance the city's mission. And we invite others to find their call to service. Now therefore, I, Mayor Tim Busy, do hereby proclaim the week of April 19th through the 25th, 2026, as volunteer recognition week in the city of Bloomington, dated this 13 day of April, 2026. And as the proclamation said, I think we could not do what we actually do as a city without our volunteers. Uh, the outstanding work that they do in our different programming and our different facilities and with all that's going on is incredibly important and it's incredibly appreciated and valued as well. And as I said, we've got two of our teen volunteers here, Evan and Malana. Mill, am I saying that right? How am I saying it? >> Milliana. >> Milliana, thank you for correcting me, Milliana. Uh, I'm going to turn the microphone over to you. >> Did I introduce myself, >> please? Please. >> Um, hi, my name is Milliana and I'm a summer adventure playground volunteer at Smith Park. Um, my name is Evan Canouse and I'm also a volunteer at uh, Summer Adventure Program Park and I'm also at Smith Park. >> You had a paper there. I thought you had full remarks to to >> I didn't bring one. She needed one. >> No, please go ahead. >> Okay. Okay. Um, we are two of the We are two of the 60 teen volunteers who contributed to a combined total of over 4,000 hours of service. Do you want to read something else? Sure. >> Uh, okay. Volunteer applications are currently being accepted for 2026 summer adventure playgrounds in Campota. Teen volunteers are age 13 or entering 8th grade in the fall. Um, and information is available at blm.mm/volunteer and the deadline to apply is May 15th. So, you should join. >> Yeah. >> Uh, unscripted. What do you both like most about doing the volunteer work that you do? >> Uh, I like I like interacting with the kids. I like being the boss for once. >> Yeah, it's pretty fun and they're pretty funny sometimes. So, >> um, I really enjoy helping like the kids and like staff and all that. And I also like making new friends cuz obviously there's a lot of different age groups there. So, I think it's kind of fun to also, like you said, like hang out with everyone. >> Well, thank you. Thank you for the work that you do. Thanks for being here tonight and representing. Thanks for the plug. Looking for more volunteers. We'd really appreciate that. And what we do now, uh, we officially have the proclamation. This is what is called the grip and grin portion of the evening. So, we stand back here. We get over here so we're away from the desk. You got to come over here. You got to come over here. Why don't you hold the the proclamations and we will get You got to smile. Anybody else? >> Anybody else? >> Yeah. getting really close. >> There we go. Good. Thank you. Thank you. >> And here here's your descript. >> Thank you. >> Next up is a proclamation for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. That's April 12th through the 18th. I I know we've got Chief Hodgeges here. Do we have Oh, we do. I wasn't sure. We It was kind of touchand go depending on what the weather was going to be doing. So, yeah, not a problem. Come on up here if you could. and I am going to make the proclamation for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, April 12th through the 18th, 2026. You two don't have to be afraid of me here. >> Whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require emergency services. And whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of first responders is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. And whereas the safety of our police officers and firefighters is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the city of Bloomington Emergency Communications Center. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers and firefighters by monitoring their activities, providing information, and ensuring their safety. And whereas public safety telecommunicators of the city of Bloomington have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fire of fires, and care of patients. And whereas in 2025, the public safety telecommunicators worked as a team to handle 128,021 phone calls and entered 80,798 computer aided dispatch events. And whereas the public safety telecommunicators exhibited compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job while upholding the department's core value of respect demonstrated through our compassionate and honest service. Now therefore, I, Timbus, mayor of the city of Bloomington, Minnesota, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through the 18th, 2026 to be National Safety Telecommunicators Week in the city of Bloomington in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city and our citizens safe. dated this 13th day of April, 2026. Uh I'm going to read those numbers again just in case you missed them. Uh the number of calls, 128,21 phone calls and entering in 80,798 computer rated dispatch events. Uh you folks are busy. >> Yes. >> And do a lot of good work and a lot of great work. So thank you so very much. I I will let you two fight over who gets the uh the microphone. >> I I wrote a little something. Um, my name is Katrina Trudeau. I am the training and quality assurance coordinator for our dispatch center. It's a very long fancy name. Um, I basically train in all of our new uh, dispatchers and I do continuing education as well as run our quality assurance program. Um, so on behalf of our public safety telecommunicators, we also call them PSTs, which is what I'm going to say the rest of the time. Um, I would sincerely like to thank the city council for this proclamation and for recognizing the important work that they do every day. Um, our PSTs are the calm voice in the chaos, the steady presence in someone's worst moment and the unseen connection between those in need and the help that is on the way. Their dedication, compassion, professionalism, and service often happen behind the scenes and mostly unseen, but the impact they make is felt throughout our entire community. We are grateful for this recognition and incredibly proud of the team we have serving the city of Bloomington. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anything? >> No. >> Okay. And and I I would echo that. We we're also very thankful and very proud of the work that you do as well. And uh and I know uh our our public safety folks are very appreciative. Thank you so very much. So, all right. Now, the grip and grin part of the evening. >> I get just me. Just you? Yeah. You actually do the real work now. I ain't got that pretty shirt that Julie has on. >> Congratulations. Thank you so very much. AND OUR FINAL PROCLAMATION this evening is for Arbor Day which is April 24th, 2026. Dustin Jacobson is here. Whenever we talk trees, Dustin is here with us. A city of Bloomington proclamation for Arbor Day 20 April 24th, 2026. Whereas Arbor Day provides an opportunity to celebrate the importance of trees and forests to our economy, culture, history, and future of our state. And whereas trees are of great value as they provide clean air and water, shade, and energy savings, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, wood products, and jobs, while also capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, thereby offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. And whereas properly planting and caring for a diverse mix of trees makes community forests more resilient by minimizing the impacts of diseases, insects, and other stressors such as climate change and providing long-term community and environmental benefits. And whereas thoughtfully choosing, planting, and caring for a diverse mix of trees now supports resilient communities into the future. Now therefore, I, Mayor Tim Busy, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 24th, 2026, as Arbor Day in the city of Bloomington, dated this 13th day of April, 2026. Uh, so we have seen it pretty dramatically the the importance of a diversity of species here in uh well here and everywhere in in your forest, in your urban forest. Um, what are the challenges with that? And when we talk about a diverse mix, what are we talking about in terms of trees? Yeah. So, uh that's a question that comes up quite a bit uh in terms of like what species to plant. Um the big thing now is obviously we can have a little bit more expanded pallet. Um we've kind of got the tried andrue all the natives that are most beneficial to insects around us. Um so we try to stick with a lot of those but now we can sort of enter in some of the fun ones with zone five stuff. uh USDA has made it official. So um so we have some of the stuff out there like even pecans and hickories stuff that traditionally goes in a little more southern uh neighborhoods and stuff but uh is surviving and thriving up here. Um >> very good. Very cool. I didn't realize it was that far south. >> So I mean we'll they don't grow quite as well as they do uh >> we don't have orange groves yet though. >> No. Yeah. you'll have to bring them inside for the winters. >> Thank you very much for the work that you do and uh all that you do to keep our our forest looking good here in the city of Bloomington. Thank you so very much. Absolutely. Let's get a picture here. >> Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you much for everybody who's here for those proclam. ations. I always like starting our meetings out with proclamations and getting the community involved and hearing about all the great work that goes on in all kinds of different sectors in our community. Our final final item under 2.4 is uh our 2026 Parks Arts and Recreation Commission work plan. But first, Council Member Dallas has a question. >> I just wanted to make a quick comment because of we talked about volunteer week. Um don't forget if you were or if you are a volunteer, there's an appreciation event on April 22nd here. We should and I I know that's normally like at the end, but since people are watching right now with all the proclamations, I thought that we should invite them publicly. If you don't know about it, we can find more information on the website, but April 22nd here in Civic Plaza volunteer appreciation. I think it's like 4:30 to 6 or something like that. Is that right? Yep. >> Um but like please come if you volunteer for us 4:30 to 7. Thanks uh Jackie. Thank you for all you do, Jackie. But I think it's important for people to know that we we want to continue at the end of volunteer appreciation week to recognize all of the volunteers that help us out. So thank you, Mr. Mayor for Thank you for that plug. Good. Good job bringing that back. Uh so we make sure everybody who deserves some recognition gets some recognition. So thanks much. >> Now I will call item 2.4. Our work plan of the for 2026 of the parks arts and recreation commission. We've got Leah Hughes, our deputy director of parks and uh Ryan Loken, the chair of the parks arts and recreation commission, also known as the park. Isn't it great how it works out in terms of the uh phonetically for us? Good evening and welcome. Thanks for being here. >> Uh thank you mayor for having us. Thank you, city manager and council. Um we're really excited to um let you all um see the presentation tonight. Um basically Ryan is going to give the presentation and he's going to um go over the key 2025 park work plan accomplishments. Um tell you about the connection of the park work plan to the city's Bloomington tomorrow together strategic plan and then introduce the 2026 park commission work plan initiatives. There will be time at the end for questions. Um, and there is a request for the council to vote on approval of the 2026 park work plan at the end of this presentation. So, at this time, I'd like to turn the microphone over to Ryan Loken, who is chair of the park commission. >> Mr. Chair, good evening. Welcome. >> Thank you for having me. Uh, good evening, mayor, council members. Uh, so start with the, uh, city of Bloomington mission, which I bet you all can recite in your sleep. Our mission is to cultivate an enduring and remarkable community where people want to be. Uh the parks and recreation work plan initiatives connects the city to uh connects to the city Bloomington tomorrow together strategic plan through the park system master plan. Uh the park system master plan was developed with extensive community engagement and was adopted in 2021 by city council. The park sister m park system master plan it's going to be a mouthful is a roadmap for planning and completing park improvements and guiding capital investments to ensure the park system serves the need of the community today and in the future. The PSMP proceeds process incorporates local and national park and recreation trends, community dem demographics, facility needs, current and future programming needs, maintenance, long-term sustainability, equity, and inclusion, and information gathered from the community. The extensive community engagement process began be the extensive community engagement process between November 2019 and June 2021, which included a statistically valid survey, stakeholder interviews, listening sessions, conversations with residents and staff, and online interactive engagement via project bloom in the city's Let's Talk Bloomington site has shaped the final plan. Through through the PSMP studies and analysis, we learned the following. Our parks are substantially similar. Our parks have outdated amenities. Our parks do not match the current residents demographics and recreation needs and new facilities and amenities are needed for current residents and to attract new residents. In the end, the park system master plan is the foundation for future decision-making, program planning, budgeting, and park system investments. >> Slide right here. >> What's that? >> There we go. >> Oh, you got it. >> Yeah. Um, as we reflect on 2025, we want to sincerely thank city leadership and the city council for your outstanding support in making this work possible. Your leadership and support of the parks and recreation department and our park system are making meaningful, lasting impacts across the community and region. Together, we are helping to cultivate a vibrant, enduring, and welcoming place where people want to live, work, and gather. The So, for 2025, we uh we had the three Bloomington Forward projects. And so the first one, the Bloomington Ice Garden uh modernization, it closed in mid-March 2025 and it reopened for the skate season October 1st, 2025. That's one full off season of skating. Uh and renovation is substantially complete with just a few punch punch list items remaining to be done. The community health and wellness center work included site work uh including soil boring, creek site abatement and demolition, green financing research with the sustainability commission, the traffic study uh 9M Creek wershed district DRC Henipin County Planning Commission work and other permitting process. Uh in 2025 project phases included the schematic design through 100% design development and the 9M Creek corridor renewal. Uh treework removal was completed in March. As most of you probably are aware, working on memorial bench replacements with families and individuals. Uh Harrison Park and Veterans Memorial contract for work is in place and the 100% overview plan uh moving towards final design happened earlier. Uh we're also working we did started the process for naming rights and sponsorships. We contracted with the superlative group through a competitive bid process. Uh two big parks uh projects were completed in 2025. Bryant Park is the city's first inclusive all-inclusive playground. Uh they updated the courts and fields and it has the first netzero building in Bloomington. And Treba Bike Skills Park which is the first specialized all wheels park in Bloomington. uh center for the arts business analysis completed phase one work situational analysis and stakeholder engagement and we will present the situational analysis earlier in the summer. Uh the sidewalk plowing reduction project staff presented three options for reduction of sidewalk plowing to park commission and city council. Uh based on those that there will be continued discussion for potential future changes. and the urban forestry master plans. Uh tree inventory and analysis was completed last year. Uh we're working on policy areas including rightaway boulevard trees, private property trees, and overall tree removal policies and procedures. Uh draft urban forestry plan review presentation uh will be in council early summer or so. Um and shortly following that will be uh adoption of the plan. And so park has a few annual work um annual initiatives that occur every year as is annual and those uh involvements include reviewing initiatives and providing feedback and making recommendations to council for review considerations. Um the annual work plan initiatives include specific park planning projects as guided by the park system master plan and the annual capital improvement projects. uh budget and fees review, the 10-year CIP review, annual arts supports grants uh that includes a park commissioner participating as an application review panelist, joint projects with the sustainability commission. And an example of joint work is discussions on solar, solar, geothermal, and lead certification for the community center and other park shelter buildings. And as we look forward to 2026, we have um a whole bunch of stuff coming up here. Uh so we'll continue working on the Bloomington Forward progret projects. The community health and wellness center is currently in its construction phase. It's looking great. Uh the park will continue to receive updates as the project moves forward. And then the 9mm Creek corridor renewal um is just entering construction here. So, we'll continue with that. The naming rights and sponsorships park will receive updates surrounding the continued engagement with the superlative group and potential naming partners. At this time, naming and sponsorship efforts are focused on the Bloomington Ice Garden in the community health and wellness center. The urban forestry master plan. The commission has reviewed rightaway and private tree policy considerations discussed by the city council and will review the final draft plan. the art center business analysis study. Park will continue to receive updates, requests for feedback and requests for approvals related to BCA's facilitywide study. A rep uh two representatives of park will be working more closely with web management and staff on the remaining steps involved and the study is scheduled to be completed in 2026. the park system master plan update. Uh park will work with staff on a halfway point update of the park system master plan focusing on what has been completed and what is still upcoming. This will include community engagement on future items such as the right sizing of playgrounds and courts within the city. Dakota Public Art Project Review Panel. Three park members have been appointed to serve on the Pond Dakota Mission Park sculpture selection panel. This panel will select an artist to create a sightsp specific sculpture that will reflect the history, culture, and values of the Dakota people. In the youth sports study, uh, two park members have been appointed to participate in the youth sports study. This study will provide guidance on facility needs, scheduling, and prioritization of users and uses, and a financial structure that is equitable and accessible while providing adequate funding for long-term maintenance. and the Dwan golf course pre-esign work uh particip will participate as stakeholders in pre-esign engagement and design phase updates and feedback. The park commission and parks and recreation department would like to extend a special thanks to the 2025 commissioners for their hard work and support of parks projects and initiatives last year. At this time, we'd be happy to take any questions council members may have. The Parks, Arts, and Recreation Commission requests a motion to adopt the 2026 Park, Arts, and Recreation Commission work plan. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the work that went on over the past year and and your plan for the coming year. We greatly appreciate it. Council questions of Chair Loan, >> Council Member Dellesandro. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, thanks for this. Would you mind going back to the 26 plan really quickly? Um I just wanted to get a little bit more detail. Um so uh really quickly um my understanding on the naming rights and sponsorship stuff is that we are we actually I know I remember we passed um we we approved getting u some support on that already. So that's active. What what do you expect will come back in 2026 like decisions on the actual like awards or how what specifically are you guys planning to be involved in? Um, thank you for the question, Council Member Delisandro. There there are several things that are kind of simultaneously working at once. So, they have a long list of potential um, companies, individuals within the city of Bloomington that I think they are in conversation with. One of the things that Superlative explained to us is um, you kind of go for the bigger sponsorships first and then as you engage with some of those individuals or corporations, you can figure out maybe where some of those other people might fall into maybe smaller sponsorships. And so they are in conversation with um one company in particular that um are pretty exciting. We can't say anything about it because nothing's written written in stone, but we have some interest for the ice garden. Um and so they are in conversation with that right now to try to figure out what that looks like on both sides, what the expectations can be and what that timeline might look like. Um but they are going to continue those conversations as they work through all these different relationships within the city of Bloomington and potentially even beyond. Um and we'll slowly work through um within the the ice garden first and foremost because it's actually a facility you can walk people through. It's easier to kind of sell a space if people can actually visit that space and engage with it and kind of figure out how it works on both sides. But um most certainly the community health and wellness center as that space starts to formulate itself. So, it's several simultaneous things. Continued conversations with people who are interested but haven't really necessarily picked one specific location or place or amount um in addition to one conversation right now that has has gone a little bit beyond that and we're now kind of negotiating what that might look like. Sure. Does that answer your question? >> You over answered the question in a good way. In a good what I meant specifically was what is the role of the park commission in the any decision making around that was more my question. But that was very helpful to get context. >> Thank you for that second question or evaluating the question that or answer I gave you. It's going to depend I think on what the um what the the p potential is there. I mean if it's if it's a grand naming then um they certainly will be educated on what that process will likely be but they may or may not have any sort of decision on what that might be because it's really operational costs and other things that council would likely weigh in on. Um there will certainly be a lot of education. And so as these things are formulated, they will be part of the conversation and be made aware of what's happening. Whether or not they'll be helping pick and choose sort of what things might happen within any space or with any park. Um I can't really answer that right now, but that we'll figure that out when we come there, but there will definitely be part of the overall conversations, but decision-m might lie mostly with council. >> Yeah, I just didn't know whether or not we were going to be getting a slate of recommendations from the park commission in in concert to that or not. So you answered the question it more informational and like you know keeping you in the loop kind of thing. Okay great. Uh second question really quickly. Um regarding the master uh parks master uh system master plan that is related to the CIP review in a way, right? Um and so I are we going to see them come back to kind of in together then um you know given the fact that we need to put whatever is next on the CI or whatever's next on the master plan probably has a CIP component to it. Are you going to do those in parallel or are we going to see them come back like as part of your work plan? Are they going to come back separately or how how do you when are we when are we going to see that? Is it going to come separately as a park system master plan question or is it going to come back as hey by the way when we're talking CIP later this year here's the stuff. >> Yeah, thank you for the question. I am going to phone a friend. >> She's coming. >> There she is. >> Mayor Council Member Balandro, thanks for the question. We are just kicking off a plan for that um midterm review, the master plan. It is our intention this year to um somewhat synchronize our CIP planning and how we um look to um plan future investments in the park. So they are related and the hope is to um somewhat synchronize that towards the end of the year. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Yeah. >> Oh, two friends. two friends of >> I know I didn't have no >> council our normal CIP process is um during the broad time frame of um May through the end of um July all the projects will be submitted >> y >> and then we cut them off >> um unless something really urgent pops up um and then we provide a report to council on the the updated uh CIP in October >> planning commission is November and we be back by council the first week of December. >> Okay. So, anything that you might want to bring forward quickly, that's good for you to know to coordinate so we see it in that time window then. Okay. Very good. That's all my questions. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, folks. >> Council member Lman. >> Thank you, Mayor. One really tough question for you, Vice Chair. >> Saw a lot of stuff tonight. uh what excites you about being on the parks commission and what's what's interesting that what got you interested in this or you can take whatever question you want to answer out of that but I'm just curious about what you like about this this work you do. >> I uh so I was born raised in Bloomington so the parks have always been near and dear. I've spent a lot of hours in them and with my kids growing up I was co-founder of Todd Pod and we used the parks heavily. I would say we were power users. And so I know them very well and I know their deficiencies and I know their strengths and I just I figured with that knowledge I'd be a good asset for the park commission. And it's just and then I got on and uh the breadth of stuff that parks and wreck is actually responsible for is huge. And so it's really cool to be able to get into so many different things like urban forestry big the community center all these different facilities as well as the parks themselves. So yeah council any final questions? If not council I would look for a motion to approve the parks arts and recreation commission 2026 work plan. >> So moved. >> Motion by council member Dalisandro. Second by council member Robertson to approve the parks arts and recreation commission park uh 2026 work plan. No further council discussion on this is right. >> Nelson >> I >> Revas >> I >> Lman. >> Hi >> Robertson. >> Hi. >> Mayor Basy >> I. Motion carries 6. Thank you so very much and please share our thanks with the rest of the uh the commission members and uh we know how much Bloomington loves their parks and how important parks are to everyone. Uh you mentioned it whether it's raising a family or or now taking opportunities once your kids are maybe grown past the parks. that there's there's just so much going on in our parks and they're just so important to this community. So, thank you for your your care and feeding of our park and thank you uh to our staff for the great work that they do as well. So, >> thank you. Thanks much. >> Thank you very much. >> Item three on our agenda tonight, council, is our consent business. Council member Robertson has tonight's consent agenda. Council member Robertson. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, yes. So, I have not heard of anyone wanting to hold anything. Is that correct? Thank you. Um and Council Member Nelson, there's nothing you'd like to hold. Perfect. All right. Um then I would move to approve items 3.1 through 3.15. Second. >> Motion by Council Member Robertson, second by Council Member Dalisandro to approve tonight's consent business. >> No further council discussion on this. Miss Right. >> Nelson. >> I. >> Dalisandro. >> I. Reebas. >> Hi. >> Lman. I >> Robertson >> I >> Mayor Busy >> I. Motion carries 6. Thank you council member Robertson for tonight's consent agenda. >> Moving on to item four are hearings resolutions and ordinances. Item 4.1 is a resolution. This one authorizing the issuance and sale of general obligation sewer revenue bonds series 2026 C. Miss Lori Economy Scher is back from the phone call and now she's will actually lead us through this one. Good evening. Welcome. >> Good evening Mayor and councel. Uh the item before you is um for the council to approve the issuance of the project and uh funding for the North Central Sanitary Line. And so project overview kind of tells you where the sanitary line is and um it is the new infrastructure is necessary to accommodate sanitary sewer flows expected to be generated by higher density redevelopment including housing in the Pan-Amean district adjacent to the orange line on I35W and 494. Development and redevelopment in this district are consistent with the city's comprehensive plan in the city and region goals. And so, uh, the authorization is this evening. We'll have, uh, credit rating information going back and forth with the credit rating agency by the end of the month, and we should have our rating by then. And then just over a month from now, we would have the sale on 10:00 on the morning of the 18th. And then we would bring that item back to the council that evening with the results of the sale. Approximately a month later, we get the bond proceeds and then we start funding the project. Currently we are looking at a maximum amount of funding of uh 24 million630. The project cost is just under 26 million but it looks like we'll have a premium is what we're anticipating right now with a tick um interest cost of 3.79. Hopefully depending on the markets we're less than that but um markets are pretty crazy right now. And so before the council is the motion to authorize the sale of the pods. >> Thank you very much. Uh a two-prong question. Uh one for you and I think one for Mr. Walker. I know that we've got asks out both at the state and the federal level for financial assistance to help us out with this. How does the timeline that you've just laid out, how does that work considering the the questions that we might have about federal funding? And then Mr. Walker, do we have any updates on what the possibility of federal or state funding might be >> within the bond documents? Um, we're taking that into consideration. So, um, should, for example, should the state provide us with $2 million, um, the same day, um, and generally I' I've heard, um, the state bonding bill is like the dessert after they finish their projects and getting everything done. So, it's the last thing. Um, and we're selling the bonds on the last day of session. So, um should we get say $2 million um we would still issue this amount but um and we would still spend that $2 million on this project but then we would take $2 million from it and use it on other sewer um related projects because they have enough um in their CIP activities to do that and there's numerous conversations with our bond attorney on that particular item. >> Thank you. >> Sure that we took care of any related items. >> I I appreciate that Mr. Walker. >> Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh as Miss Economy Scherer said at the state level, the updates we've been given is that the bonding bill would probably used for leverage on other legislative priorities. So uh believe I heard that is referred to as icing on the cake last week. So it'll probably be right up at the end of uh May when we know something if if we have our request approved there. And at the federal level, uh our federal delegation has recommended this project at the the full amount we requested to be included in a uh appropriations bill which was sent to the House Appropriations Committee last week. Of course, it would have to make it through both chambers, but we're in good shape that we made our uh initial cut at the full amount requested. >> Very good. Thank you, Council. Any questions? Council member Dallas. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Real quick question. I never get this right, so I figured I'd ask at the beginning. So the 20 I'm looking Thank you for my budget book. It's my favorite. Um I'm I'm So the debt that we're car in the 20 26 budget, does that include proceeds on this or is this because it's being sold this year will be accounted for in the p in the future budget cycles. I've just forgotten how that works. >> Um mayor and council, um in this particular bond issue, we are using the wastewater fund to fund it. I mean it will have a go and the pledge of that but the funding source will be the wastewater fund. Okay. Where we've already got rates planned for that and the sack charges will all go there. Okay. >> So that is going to be the funding source for this particular item but it will be funded and we'll be looking at um those rates as we do the utility fund rates in the fall. >> Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Council, any additional questions? >> All right, council. Uh hearing no questions. I would look for a motion uh on item 4.1 this evening. Council member Robertson. >> So moved. >> Oh, excuse me. Uh I was so close to getting it right. Um I move to adopt a resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of general obligation sewer revenue bonds Siri 2026 C in the proposed aggregate principal amount of 24,630,000. >> Second. Motion by council member Robertson, second by council member Lman to authorize the issuance and sale of general obligation sewer revenue bonds series 2026 C in the amount of 24.63 million. No further council discussion on this. Miss Ray >> Nelson >> I >> Dalisandro >> I >> Reebas >> I >> Lman. >> Robertson I >> Mayor Bassy >> I. Motion carries 6. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so very much. >> Item 4.2 to tonight council is our only public hearing of the evening. This is a public hearing regarding the community development block grant 2026 annual action plan. Mr. Polarmo, uh, our assistant H administrator is here this evening. Good evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Let me get my presentation pulled up. Perfect. Uh so as you mentioned, we're here today to talk about the 2026 annual action plan for the community development block grant or CDBG. Uh to give you a little background, community development block grant is uh annual uh funding that we get from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Uh as you recall, last year we approved our five-year action plan. So that was a big effort to identify what the needs are in the community um and uh what goals we hope to accomplish over five years with this funding. Uh annually we adopt an action plan that then identifies what we'll spend in that particular year. So the five-year plan address kind of broader goals, broader needs and then each year we kind of identify specific activities and what we anticipate funding. And as you'll notice, a little slight change from the presentation that was originally in the packet. Just over the weekend, we were awarded an actual amount. So we had an estimated amount of $465,000, which is what we awarded previous year in 2025, but this year we will have $477,190. Uh so that has been incorporated in this presentation in the budget. Um, but you'll also notice last year we still have quite a bit of carryover funding to utilize because of changes in federal regulations. Um, and just getting access to systems that we needed to implement. Um, and new guidance from HUD that has they're learning on the fly as well and trying to put things out. So, really slowed down funding for the first part of the year. Um, so we'll we carry over those funds and utilize in the next year and you'll kind of see that reflected in the budget. So, just to kind of go over that five-year consolidated plan goals that um we will be addressing. Homeowner rehab is a big one is one we funded for a long time and will continue likely to fund. Um public services, these are pretty broad, but there are services that go directly to people. So, we do a a request for proposal to uh different organizations that would uh propose on that. Um but they're direct services. These are all intended for low or moderate income residents. Uh that's requirement of the funding. Um and so items that we funded in the past were senior community services where we um they do assistance with uh seniors who are aging in place in their home and they can do chores and light maintenance. Um we also are looking at funding rental assistance or other items. So we have an RFP out currently for that. Uh we have developed homes for home ownership. this a good resource for doing that. We've partnered with uh West Hen and Penn County Land Trust uh homes within reach. Um acquisition demolition. So another goal of CDBG is to demolish blighted structures and eliminate slum and blight. So uh we anticipate that. Um and then these other items we could potentially do in future years, but you'll see um not necessarily in our budget this year, but financial literacy. So dovetailing with home ownership programs. um building uh public facilities or infrastructure projects. So, it's a really flexible funding source that potentially might come up in the future. Economic development activities as well as potential to to fund. Uh and we do actually do fund fair housing activities. That's an annual thing that we do and we work with partners. though um to give you a little overview of the process. So we had originally brought this budget to the HR to get their approval um that fed into the annual action plan back in March. Um we then opened our public comment period. We have a required 30-day public comment period that closed yesterday. We did not receive any comments. Um this is our required public hearing. Uh we are part of the Henipin County Consortium. So we actually submit our plan through Henipin County and they are holding a public hearing. Uh but then they will submit our plan as part of their larger grouping of plans and that will be in May uh May 15th is kind of the goal for that. The program year kicks off uh July 1st. So plenty of time to kick that off. Uh some changes from last year to this year. So it's largely the same just some uh modifications. So we are increasing the public services budget. It's capped at 15%. Um but knowing there is a demand for that we kind of decided to maximize that with the request for proposal last year. We had more asks than we had for funding. So we wanted to make sure that we can maximize that as much as possible this year. Uh knowing that we need to spend money down quickly. Um knowing that we have this carryover funding, we added this acquisition demolition act um activity. So that'll um look at demolishing a blighted home and then we can hopefully repurpose that for a new home built on that. And then uh you'll see we're utilizing money money from carryover from last year and then our payoffs for our rehab loan programs. So part of what gets really wonky is we have money from last year, we have our allocation, but we also have a revolving loan. So these the rehab loan program is a loan program. So people pay it off and that money comes in and that es and flows depending on the market and people moving um triggering events that happen. So uh in the last couple of years we've had actually quite a large amount of payoffs that have increased. So uh knowing that we have had quite a bit of payoff money that we have this carryover funding we felt it was appropriate to utilize those sources. So it'll make more sense here when I pull up the budget. So we have this estimated carryover funds for rehab loan. This program income is estimated at 300,000 but it'll likely be higher just guessing on what we've seen in recent years. If you look over time it averages to about 300,000 but uh I suspect with just that we got six payoff requests in the last week that it might be another year where there's quite a bit coming in at once. Um that uh rehab acquisition rehab program. So that actually works with homes within reach. They rehab a single family home. They put in their their land trust model. It's affordable for a moderate income household. Uh and then stays affordable based because it is in the land trust. Uh we will utilize um acquisition dem demolition. So, we have a few properties that we know that are not in great shape that would be good candidates that um we can negotiate with and potentially purchase and tear down and then utilize it for potentially the Bloomington Affordable Home Ownership Program or other uh ways to kind of repurpose that. Um we've done this in the past and held land for a little bit and that's the beauty of uh CDBG is that it is flexible like that. And then public services, we have a request for proposal out and we'll see that closes in two weeks here. So, uh, so far I think there's been four or five people that have shown interest in our bend and tender site. So, we're hopeful to get some good activities there. And then fair housing and administration. So, with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. This is a public hearing, so we'll have to open that up. Um, but otherwise, >> thank you, Mr. Polarmo. Council, any questions? No questions. Very good. Uh, stick around. We will open the public hearing. And, uh, this is our only public hearing of the evening. So, I I'll just remind everybody of the ground rules. Uh, anybody who would like to speak either online or in person is, uh, allowed to. You'll have five minutes as evidenced by the shot clock on the wall. And at five minutes, I will stop you. So, to make sure that everybody has the same amount of time, we generally don't answer questions after the presentation. We'll do them after the end of the public hearing so we have an opportunity to to gather some thoughts and make sure that we get the correct answer to you. And uh as you come up, if you could please state your name and sign in when you finish up and we will be ready to go. And with all of that, I will open the public hearing on item 4.2 this evening. This is a public hearing regarding the community development block grant 2026 annual action plan. Is there anyone in the chambers who wishes to speak to item 4.2 this evening? Miss Ray, do we have anyone on the phone? >> Mayor, we do not have anyone online. >> Last call for anybody in the chambers. >> Council, no one in the chambers coming forward. No one on the phone wishing to speak. I would look for a motion to close the public hearing on item 4.2. Motion by council member Dalisandro, second by council member Robertson to close the public hearing on item 4.2. No further public or no further council discussion on this. Miss Ray >> Nelson >> I. Dlesandro >> I >> Rivas >> hi I >> Lman >> Hi I >> Robertson >> Ibasi >> I motion carries seven six excuse me >> uh so council questions comments on this I I think I have one just based on a kind of a throwaway comment that you made where you talked about six within the past week six payoff notices which I'm I'm sure is is pretty unusual do we have ev any evidence that people are are using our our loan program to to improve and then flip houses >> uh Mayor Uh, Council Member Lman, no, they're not using it to flip houses. Um, I don't know why I said Council Member Lman. I just looked at you and my brain just I caught myself. I don't know. >> Your immense respect for Council Member Lman. I understand. >> I apologize. It's long day. Um, no. Uh, so the way that the program works is you have to apply for the loan. We evaluate your income. you have to be income qualified. Um and then there are um triggering factors um that would uh constitute repaying the loan back. So um I wouldn't suspect that there just based on the qualifying activities. It's not like a remodelment remodel program, you know, it is limited. Uh right now it's capped at 50,000. Um but we do a evaluation of the house. we go in and determine these are the needs that are needed first that you should be addressing and we are looking at kind of life safety issues and maintenance issues primarily um some and less of the aesthetic. So it's not really about flipping if someone comes in and just says I want a new kitchen. We're going to go in and say well let's look at your kitchen and see what the issues are that we're addressing and make sure um so it's not meant to kind of supplement or supplant a typical loan program. It's really meant to keep maintenance of the house. >> Got it. Thank you. Just the question came to mind when you made that comment. So that is odd that to get six in a week or as quickly as possible or quickly as you did >> and it just it es and flows. One week we'll go two months without one and then we'll get six in a week. So >> council additional questions, comments? Council member Lman, >> you know, just a comment about, you know, the the amount of money that we uh are able to allocate uh for home uh renewal. I think is really an excellent program that that the the the uh the city really has. And uh really prevents folks from having to to leave the city and it's something that, you know, um I'm really proud that our city has been able to to over the years that investment that we've kind of made. Um, and so just want to thank the staff and uh really thank the community for allowing us to kind of to do such a thing on moving forward. That's all council. Anything else? If not, council, I would look for action on item 4.2 this evening. >> I'll make council member Delisandro. >> Sure. I'll make a motion to approve the program year 2026 annual action plan and the community development block grant CDBG budget for submission and execution of related documents for program administration. >> Motion by council member Dalisandro, second by council member Rivas to approve the program year 2026 annual action plan for the community development block grant program. Any further council discussion on this hearing? None. Miss Ray >> Nelson >> I. Dlesandro >> I >> Reebas >> I >> Li >> Robertson >> I >> Mayor Bassy >> I motion carries 6. >> Thank you much Mr. Penmo and uh look forward to seeing the the continued work that you folks do. So nice job. Thank you with thank you for coming forward this evening. We will move on to item five and on our agenda. This is our organizational business and we are going to start with item 5.1. Uh it's a study item regarding corner corner lot standards and Emily Hesbach is here. Good evening and welcome. >> Good evening. Thank you. Um, yes, I'm here to talk about corner lots. Give me one second. Okay. So, for some context and kind of why we're doing this project, um, Bloomington's current zoning rules treat all street facing yards on lowdensity residential corner lots as front yards. This results in larger lot size requirements, increased setbacks, and stricter regulations compared to interior lots. These standards may hinder the city's goal of encouraging infill development and improving housing affordability while also creating inequities for corner lot owners by limiting their ability to expand their homes or add accessory structures. This project reviews these regulations against peer cities to assess whether updates are warranted. I'm going to go through the standards that are being reviewed and then ask for feedback on proposed changes. Oops. Um, so as far as research findings go, um, staff analyzed corner lot zoning standards in 15 comparable cities in the metro area and across the state, shown as the highlighted cities on the screen. The analysis found that most pure cities do not impose separate minimum lot width or area requirements for corner lots. Instead, they typically regulate these properties by applying a defined sideyard setback along the street, commonly between 15 and 25 ft, rather than treating both street facing yards as front yards. Nearly all reviewed cities also prohibit accessory structures between the principal building and the street, consistent with Bloomington's current approach. Okay. So, as far as setback goes, um, for the primary primary structure, the current code requires a 30-foot setback along all yards facing a street. This requires a larger lot and stricter location requirements for structures. Based on research findings, staff is proposing reducing the setback requirement for the sideyard adjacent to a street to 20 ft. 20 ft aligns with other standards in the code such as the 20ft landscaping yard requirement. And then just as an example so you can kind of tell what I'm talking about when I say sideyard adjacent to a street. Um the area with red um is what would constitute as that and it would be from the front plane of the primary dwelling in the sideyard to the rear property line. Um for site width uh site width for corner lots at both of the minimum required front setback lines currently must be at least 100 ft. Minimum site width for single family interior lots is 60 feet while minimum sight width for two family interior lots is 80 feet. The figure on the left shows how sight width is measured in Bloomington. Site width requirements must be met at the front setback line and over the first 50 ft of the site beyond the required front setback line. And then the example on the right side of the screen shows the requirement of 100 ft um lot width at both front yard setbacks. This site with requirement makes it very difficult to split a corner lot. For lot area, current code requires single family corner lots to have a minimum lot area of 11,50 ft², while minimum single family interior lots only need 7,800 ft². Two family corner lots have a minimum size requirement of 14,625 ft² while two family interior lots only require 11,700 ft. And then the examples on the screen are just properties that meet the minimum standards. Accessory structure placement is regulated through setbacks and placement within the yard. Not only is there a minimum 30-foot setback from a street, but an accessory structure also cannot be located between the primary dwelling and the street, which often leads to a larger setback requirement. The figures on the screen show an example of a lot that makes it difficult for the homeowner to add an accessory structure because of the placement of their house on the lot. Changes to code wouldn't necessarily fix all these issues, but would provide more opportunities um for people who own corner lots like this. Okay. Um so this is for discussion. Um so just for reference all the highlighted items are were the planning commission recommendations. Um so just starting talking about the setback for the primary dwelling. So planning commission was comfortable with staff's recommendation to decrease the setback to 20 ft for the sideyard adjacent to a street. Um, so I'm going to go on to a few of the other items and for right now we can come back to this, but I'm going to assume that you all are okay with a 20 foot setback. So after that, there's kind of two ways to go. Either we can have the same requirements for corner lots as interior lots, which is option one. Um, or we can apply a modest change from existing standards based on the calculations for typical lot sizes. Um, a potential disadvantage for having the lot with an area the same as for interior lots is that it could create unrealistic development expectations for property owners or buyers. Um, a lot may meet the minimum area and width requirements but still have a limited or constrained building pad due to the setback requirements. One possible result of this situation could be increased requests for zoning variances. And then on the flip side, an advantage to keeping the lot with such area the same as interior lots is that it creates a simpler code structure and provides more flexibility for corner lot owners. Um so kind of with all that in mind, uh we want your feedback on whether you're comfortable with the planning commission recommendations for setbacks, lot widths, and lot areas. Um or if you have other thoughts or questions. Council thoughts on this. Council member Dellesandro. I >> thank you, Mr. Mayor. Aesthetic. I mean, conceptually, I don't have any major issues. Uh, you know, I understand we're trying to maximize the utility of the spaces. Um, what does it what does it look like in practice though to have a corner lot like house that's 10 feet in front of all the other houses on the block? I mean, I don't know that I care, but I also know that part of the reason we look for that is the uniformity of both like visual visual aesthetic, but also the clearance, right? So, a firetruck coming around the corner now has like this corner house in front of its view down the street until it gets around or, you know, I'm just thinking about different things. I don't have we ever has anybody I guess maybe the question is has anybody thought about that or has anybody modeled that so that we know what that looks like? I'm just kind of curious. Mayor, Council Member Dolesandre. Um, we haven't modeled it and I think to your point, um, aesthetics is kind of why we've kept some of these things. Um, especially thinking of like accessory structure placement. Um, just for your comment about fire, I think I've learned from working here that the fire department actually prefers like a a smaller setback so that they can reach it easier. >> Definitely true. Um, but to your point, we don't know exactly what it would look like and it probably would look a little aesthetically displeasing for a while, you know? I mean, I again, I'm not going to make a code change because of aesthetics. Like, I'm that's I like practical over, you know, I'm a form over function over form kind of gal. Um, but uh but I I just it just seems I mean, I don't think that I care. It just seems like an an odd change. Although I actually totally agree especially on the accelerated dwelling area like that one example you gave I thought was really good in the sense that that that whole side area becomes most of that side area becomes much more accessible to put an ADU there um because of those changes. And so to some degree it feels like it depends on the lot in a lot of cases and we have very weird lots in Bloomington and especially on the corners in a lot of cases. So, it gets a little difficult to make some kind of uniform change here, I think. Um, so I I guess I would be ambivalent, but it just felt that one felt weird to me. >> Yeah, >> fair enough. Council member Lman, thank you, mayor. I sent a um an AI type uh uh thing. I'm not going to try to do that here tonight. Um uh I sent it both to the mayor and to the city manager. And um I am interested a little bit in terms I didn't get a chance to see that. had a very busy day. Any response that you had to that? And so, uh, the the the guts of the whole thing is, you know, start with option one and work your way backwards. You know, I think the idea is how do we get this ADU to to work, but then from the long-term perspective, what unforeseen things do we create? And I my colleague over here was kind of talking about a little bit of that. And so, um, you know, I'm I'm of the mind. let's try to figure out how do we how how can we get more ADUs and I think this is what staff is coming back and saying hey we can kind of do this in option you know that's option one kind of area and you know certainly the planning commission is coming back and saying well maybe we got to be a little more careful with that and here here's how we kind of do that but that's kind of the the question I kind of have what are the you know when you were looking at some of those other communities where were some of the tension points that uh or or issues that folks had when we made if you had a less permissive or less restrictive uh uh setup and are those real? And then the secondary question I have is that really drive ADU creation. Are we creating more problems really for no rationale at all? We're just opening this up and you know we're we're not that's not going to drive any more ADUs. So So those those are the questions I'm kind of asking myself as I as I look at this this policy. I'm not sure if you got anything to you know but that's my thinking behind it all. Um, mayor, council member Lman. So, uh, one thing I just want to specify with, uh, these first parts, like the for the setback that we're talking about right now, we're talking about for the primary dwelling and then, you know, like lot with and lot area isn't necessarily uh, specifically related to ADUs. So, I just wanted to clarify that we're not just talking about ADUs right now. Um but yeah, so I think uh with less restrictive kind of like a few things that I mentioned earlier of cons of doing that could be that someone buys a lot and is like okay great I only need a 10ft setback on this side and a 20ft setback on this side. Um or the other way if they're thinking oh I only need 60 ft if you're going to split a lot. um that could still restrict like the building pad and the size of the house you can have because of the setbacks. So um I think that's one way that we're looking at it is that it could create unrealistic expectations for people buying the lots. Um otherwise I think complexitywise uh the least restrictive option is easier for reading the code so that you don't have kind of separate um requirements for interior lots and corner lots and different places that you're looking to find those. Um, and then as far as accessory dwelling units go, I don't think we really know what effect this could potentially have on them other than I think we're trying to encourage them. So, probably any minor thing that we can do to like loosen standards to allow them would be beneficial. Um, but I don't think this is going to, you know, flood in like 100 ADUs because of this, >> you know. Thank you. And so the way I'm looking at it is um you know we look at ADUs. I think about it you know we're getting to a point in the of our existence of our home where we're going to need to revise them. Some of them need to be torn down and we we just talked about that in the last item. And so the way I kind of look at this is when we get ready to build that new pad or we tear the the property down. This is now what we'll be looking at to try to build that. So that's sort of the way I'm thinking about this in terms of ADU. you know, if you're able to build this thing closer, you know, to th you know, to those those uh those um those rules or in those areas or those zones, it allows you to to maybe put some more things in there. And so that's what I'm kind of thinking about when I'm thinking about those ADUs and how this impacts that. Sorry, I didn't I didn't state that at the outset. U and so that's one of the questions that I kind of have. Um, and I'm not looking for an answer today, but are there other cities or examples out there where they went further than option one and that did drive even more uh creation of secondary units that people can utilize in the city. So, thanks. The thoughts, council, >> council member Rivas. >> So, so I may help me understand this if I um may ask. Um, so this is to encourage the the development of uh additional units in one lot, correct? >> Um, mayor, council member Revas, it wouldn't be on Well, it could be an accessory dwelling unit for for example, but um decreasing like the size requirements of corner lots would make it easier to split a lot to make like two single family homes or two two family homes. >> So So in I mean I happen to live in a corner lot and I wish a house were a lot bigger. It's a lot of wasted space in there quite honestly. But but I get this is to encourage a development of a secondary unit so other people can live in the same lot. Um um I don't know. I I think it will be helpful if somebody wants to make their house bigger is allowed too, right? So, I think it has some flexibility for both >> and we're looking to have more um um affordable homes. If that encourages one or the other, I guess I'm I'm okay with that myself. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Rivas. Council member Dellesandro. >> So, I I'm assuming you just want feedback today, right? That's right. Okay. So, so I, you know, if the if the recommendations are here, um, uh, >> I I don't I I would, I think I would agree. I would I would I was I think I'm fine with option one to be candid with you. Um, because it it I do like the fact that it aligns with the the interior lot standards for the most part, although this 20 ft thing is still weird to me. Um but uh but I but I think um if we're going to do it in if we're going to do it in R1 like you know my arguments against some of the things that we agreed to in R1 was because I don't like the idea of papering a long big like you know peanut buttering a long big thing over 70 plus% of the city. But if we're going to do that why don't we get as you know as consistent as possible then like that's kind of where I'm at. Um, so that would be my recommendation is we align as best as possible with what we've got on interior lots. Just make it easy for people. Um, so, um, and I don't know if that brings back the 20 foot question for interior lots, too. I have no idea where my where that's going, but that's my take on it. Um, >> thank you, Council Member. >> Yep. Thank you. Appreciate it, >> Council Member Nelson. >> Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Um, I support option one. I think it's the most consistent and the most flexible and the easiest for uh homeowners and staff. So, I support option one. >> Thank you, council member. And I enjoy your background. I remember that from the COVID days. It's a uh I I would actually I'm going to disagree with both council member Dallas and council member Nelson here because I appreciated what the planning commission appeared to do. They they agreed to a modest change but to go to the least restrictive uh I think is is taking it a bit too far. The the notion of the same as the interior lots um corner lots are not the same as interior lots. They're different they're different animals and there are different things to consider both aesthetically and from a a space use perspective and so on. So from my perspective I I liked I like what the uh planning commission has recommended and I think it meets comfortably in the middle and and could accomplish a lot of what we're trying to accomplish. So that's that's where I'm at right now. >> Anything else council? >> Okay. Um, sorry, I just have one question related to accessory structure placement specifically. Um, so currently in our code, we don't allow an accessory structure like a shed to be located between the primary dwelling and the street. Um so PC or planning commission actually recommended uh to get rid of this and to allow an accessory structure to be located between the primary dwelling and the street with a 20ft setback. So just confirming I think I heard you all are interested in that. But um I guess I want to hear whether you all would be okay with having like a shed in the corner lot sideyard in between the house and the street. So I think I have an example. No. Okay. So just remember this is like the sideyard adjacent to a street. So you So planning commission was okay with putting like a shed in this red area >> but not in the front yard. Is that >> correct? >> I I think I could probably live with that. Council member Lman. >> So just a quick question. Um just just refresh my memory. Do we allow RVs to be stored in that space too right now? >> Mayor, council member Lman, that is a good question which I cannot remember off the top of my head. >> And you don't need to answer it now, but that's going to determine whether I allow that to happen. So that that's that's what I'm nervous about is that >> Yeah. All right. Yeah. >> Thank you, council member. Okay. Good question. >> All right. Next steps. >> Yeah. Um, so next step, sorry, I got to go all the way back to the end. Uh, planning commission public hearing on May 21st and then it'll be back to council for a public hearing on June 15th. Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you much. >> Next on our agenda, council, is item 5.2 of public safety update. Chief Booker Hodes going to give us an update on Bloomington Police and the work that they've been up to over the past year. >> We haven't done nothing. So, it's all good. >> Thank you. Good to see you this evening. And moving on. >> Out. See you later. Um, do I get to click this thing? I I mess this up every year. I swear to God, before I retire, I'm going to get this figured out. >> Sweet. Um, all right. So, I'll give a brief uh public safety update here. And if you got any questions, just let me know. Uh first here we'll go over our slide with our current staffing and then our projected uh retirement piece here. I just want to thank the council uh for over the years allowing us to overhire. Um and that's really paid off. But uh for the first time in three years, uh we more than likely will go under staff uh for a period of a few months because some of these retirements have come up and started to come due. So we'll manage it. But um yeah, we'll go under staff for a few months um here with uh dealing with retirements and whatnot. Um just a reminder here. So our current authorized strength is 131 officers. Um and I'll put up the next slide and I do this every time. Um our comparable cities here in Minnesota, Duth 88,000 people. Uh they have authorized strength of 156 cops. um they're down uh 20 something police officers now. Rochester 161 cops. Uh they're they have 151. St. Cloud um they have 122 cops and they're at 112. So you can see our comparable cities are um do have more authorized strength, but at the same time they are down in numbers. Um and we are the only large police department in the state that is fully staffed and continues to be fully staffed. And um I'll say this like I said every year the difference between us and these departments here also is that uh Duth Rochester and St. Cloud are all three supported by their sheriff's offices. The sheriff's offices are located in close proximity to these police departments. So we don't have that luxury here. Uh the slide that most people care about uh crime here in Bloomington. Uh last year we had a overall reduction of 10% uh crime uh decrease in the city of Bloomington which is a good thing. Um I will go over some of the violent crime piece here. We had two additional murders. Uh the three murders this year was uh a prostitution uh deal that gone that went bad when the they ran a guy over with a vehicle. And then there was a a shooting of uh relatives in a house. And then there was a domestic violence situation in which uh ex- spouse uh stabbed another spouse. We also seen an increase in reported rapes uh this year and I I I fully um expect that to continue to go up not because more people are getting assaulted but because more people feel comfortable coming forward and reporting it and we're hearing that that they feel comfortable coming to us. Uh, one thing I will draw your attention to is, um, there's been a lot of stuff in the news about autotheft. Uh, we have not seen that uptick in Bloomington. We've actually seen a decrease in amount of cars that are getting stolen, um, in our city. Next up, um, and this is probably our crown jewel, and again, I want to thank you all for helping, um, fund this, and you'll see why here. This is, uh, what's will soon become known as the National Bloomington model. as soon as our article gets published in the academic journal here. So, we we've submitted that. Uh but our community uh service unit uh brain health unit uh we have uh two we have an embedded Henipin County social worker in which the city pays 80% and the county pays 20% of that. Uh we have two dedicated officers and our brain health services folks which are our therapists. Um, and what they do here is our CPU officer and embedded social worker primarily work on group homes, which you'll see in this next slide has been I haven't seen a model that's been as effective as this and the numbers will bear that out. Um, CPU officer works on apartment complexes, our community therapy piece here and uh, our JCP community partnership which was very valuable with operation uh, Metro Surge. Next, this is um we have not seen this in the country where you've had a model here that has reduced the amount of uh law enforcement resources responding to uh brain health and mental health uh calls. Um a 21% reduction in holds is unheard of. Uh the closest that we've been able to find is like five or 6% out there. Um, and a 30 or 27% reduction in overall police, EMS, and hospital resources being used on the streets again is is unheard of for what's taking place here. So, the fact that we're providing that immediate home therapy to folks is really working and especially with our group homes, we're not having to go back out time and time again and deal with the same people because we put something in place uh to deal with them. Uh the brain health services is again free immediate therapeutic services. Um we get them from first responders, social workers. The school also gives us referrals. Uh the medical team here has two licensed marriage family therapists who oversee the program. Uh we have two to four graduate student interns which is really allows us to provide that service. Um, and we've helped 170 people, couples, families, and 795 psychotherapy treatment sessions completed. Again, free at no cost to folks in immediate crisis position. Uh, a list of our community events. Um, you all can read through that. We do a lot of stuff in the community. I won't bore you with that. Uh but the leading piece here um tonight just publicly we're going to announce and you'll see why we're doing this uh the first of its kind uh creation of an executive protection unit. Uh the executive protection unit is set up so in Bloomington when we have uh events that we're making sure that we're providing uh security and protection to those who come to our city. um we can't have an, you know, we're going to do what we can to avoid anything that took place like with the Hortman's. Um and um we're just going to do what we need to do for that. I'm not going to get into the security details for that, but this unit will be set up to where that is their job is to provide that type of level of service uh to folks. And um we have a lot of events here in Bloomington and even, you know, for you all in the council. We just want to make sure that um we're we're prepared uh for something like that. and they will be receiving specialized training here. Uh the youth leadership academy will kick that off this summer. So we'll probably be dealing with 50 kids and trying to get them some leadership skills. Our Vanguard employee wellness program, our officers are really really our officers and our civilian staff are really utilizing our our wellness resources here. And the wellness piece is not only just the mental health piece here, but also uh financial wellness and uh physical wellness, right? because that's another piece. Um we talk about wellness, it's got to be a whole focus of this and uh we'll invite you. We're going to do a big wellness summit here this um in the fall. We'll invite you to that. Uh but just really keeping our staff well. Uh that's resulted in we haven't, God willing, we haven't had any staff, you may have seen other cities that have had staff uh PTSD out recently. We haven't experienced that here in Bloomington. And I think a lot of that can be attributed to uh the resources that we've dedicated to our wellness program uh employee leadership program. Um I along with the command staff are not going to be in these positions forever. So we want to make sure that we're developing people to be able to take over for us. Uh they'll do the jobs within their own personalities, but we want to make sure that um we leave the Bloomington Police Department better than we found it and the traditions that Bloomington uh continues to continues past when we leave. um human trafficking unit. Uh we're starting that now. Uh this is one area in law enforcement um where we've not been able to make too much headway. And the difference between um the human trafficking unit, what you see in the normal details is we're going to take a step now where we're really going to start digging into um a lot of these folks involved in this trade and really start doing extensive investigations on them, which take a lot more time. But this is an area where especially here in Bloomington, uh we found with uh 10,000 hotel rooms and 50 hotels, uh we really need to continue to get um ahead of it. Uh suicide awareness, voices of education, uh we are the first department to do this and essentially they come out whenever there's a suicide and they help um the victims of that also. Um, so our are areas of concern. Um, and before I get into these two, um, I just want to remind people that, um, we had five of our officers almost killed here in December. Um, by a person, um, and that's something that, yeah, that's my biggest fear in this job. So, we just I'd just be remiss if I didn't talk about that. Uh, areas of concern. Um, and this goes between most law enforcement agencies is political violence. Uh, we're starting to see and continued. It's not just Republicans and Democrats. It's people on all sides. Political violence is something that, um, we really have to be prepared for, and that's why the executive protection unit is getting stood up. Um, so we can do what we can for that. Um, the next area concern is politics and public safety. Um, I say it all the time, politics and public safety do not mix. And we're seeing that at the federal level, right, where you have politics influencing public safety. Um, and that is a dangerous precedent. Um, and it no one wins in that. I mean, the city of Bloomington, uh, when they put the city together, and I think our citizens should be cognizant of that. There is separation between politics and my position. And there's a reason for that. Um, and that's you you just can't have politics and public safety. It's it's not a mix. Um, and that is a concern. Um especially with the federal government here. Um a lot of you know a lot of people would believe that um there was a separation between um the executive branch and some of these other federal law enforcement entities. And over the years that may have it's always been a uh just kind of a unwritten rule, but we've seen as of late that it's it's not. I mean it just pretty much the federal government is completely in some instances doing political enforcement details and it just doesn't mix. Um so with that I'll take any questions you may have. Thank you chief council questions. I do have a question regarding staffing levels. I mean you mentioned the the three cities that you compared Bloomington to. >> They're they're obviously somewhat standalone cities. Does Bloomington or and and all of our neighbors do we do we benefit from the fact that literally across the street is Edina or Richfield? Uh that if something would happen we we have additional officers at our at our disposal. Not your officers but additional resources unlike say St. Cloud which could I guess you know they could bring in weight park which bumps up to them but not quite to the level that we have here in in a a more suburban area. >> Yeah. So like St. cloud. They got the sheriff's office there, which is hundreds of of cops. Uh, you know, United Richfield, they they do help, but um I'd be remiss to say I don't want to depend on that. Um, and they, you know, they they they they can help, but I I don't want to I don't want to depend on that. Um, and like what we do to supplement that gap, and I just want our citizens to understand, you still got a 10% reduction in crime, right? And years before that was 8%. And um a lot of this we're doing through uh technology um using a lot of technology and just our general philosophy um and I and I'll touch on this and then you know cuz now I can say it publicly but um one of the the approach that we took during Operation Metro Surge was I firmly believe that people wouldn't violate someone's rights if the police were driving around. A lot of other jurisdictions took the position of hiding cops and in in fire stations wherever they put them and didn't want them riding around ICE agents and whatnot. And our philosophy here was it's a lot harder to violate someone's rights when you're have local police officers driving around with body cameras on and it worked. So even though people said what they had to say, there was a method to the madness and it worked. >> Thank you for that. Uh I will say council also this this notion of an executive protection unit. Uh we've been having that discussion uh at the US conference of mayors for about a year and a half now about executive protection. I I think I shared with you a couple of years ago uh at a mayor's only meeting when as the microphone came around to me I said raise your hand if you haven't been threatened and in a room of 250 mayors two people raised their hands. So, uh, it is definitely an issue that mayors are concerned about and not just for mayors, but for throughout city hall and for all elected officials and for our appointed officials as well. And, uh, and we've only seen it continue beyond what we've talked about initially. And so uh this this notion of an executive protection unit uh following some of the recommendations I know that came out from the conference of mayors uh some of the other recommendations that I know Noble is doing and other other organizations about how to keep people safe. Uh it's not this isn't a uh just kind of a fun little extra. This is I think a very important part now of policing to make sure that that visitors, elected officials, city staff, all fe all folks are they have they have a specially trained group that can deal with issues that might come up. So yeah, and just you guys need something and I just you know the the public safety message I'll give is everybody's not going to agree with each other, right? I mean you all sign up to run for office because you want to serve your communities and do the best you can. Uh, you should be able to do that without people trying to threaten to harm you and your families. I mean, that's just ridiculous. Um, and we go through it, too. But it's just you shouldn't have to deal with that. >> Council member Lman, >> thank you, Mayor. Just a a comment. um you know and you you had brought it forward that that staffing part and as we look at some of these other initiatives in terms of what makes sense it might make some sense to bump some of those levels of staffing up uh to try to do that and more my comments that I wanted to make uh chief and u mayor is just around uh you know that that crisis tracking is an excellent example of how our tax dollar resources are being spent effectively. I mean, that's an example of a real return there. You know, we we talk about that each time we go into cycles and outside of cycles in terms of, you know, what we value and we put the money there where it's at. And uh I think that's an excellent example of that and I hope that we'll continue to kind of do that because I think we're seeing some results uh in increased results as you've you know laid out in this presentation in terms of how we're doing uh from a year-to-year basis and we know there swings in and out and that type of thing. Um, so we got to be cognizant of that. But, uh, um, I'm I'm happy to see that we're making great investments. And then, uh, the last thing I'll say, Mayor, is uh, you know, it's funny to see, uh, old things become new. In the city, we used to have what's called the fair of the heart. Uh, we used to have it over at the, um, chiropractor center, and we'd try to get all everybody in the entire community to kind of go over there and, uh, kind of focus on this idea of wellness. And so it's funny to kind of see the cycle again where there's, you know, you talked about it too, you know, in terms of the leadership, you know, you kind of have this history of things that are that are culture and a part of who we are as as a as a city and you're trying to carry that forward and carry that forward and that's just another example of those things are just built in uh to our community. Thanks. >> Thank you, Council Member. >> Any other comments, thoughts? Council member Rivas. >> Yes. Thank you. That's all I have to say. >> No, thank you guys. I mean, I, you know, thank you for serving, right? I know I get to uniform and I get to walk around here and do all that stuff, but um for citizens to step up and want to serve their community is something that, um, people shouldn't take for granted, especially in this environment, in this current climate. So, thank you. >> Well, Chief, thank you. uh if you could share your thanks with your command staff and and your civilian staff and all of your officers. We appreciate your work greatly and I know this community does. I hear it from the residents every day uh how much they appreciate you and and your work and I'll just say keep up the good work and let us know how we can continue to help. So, thanks much. >> Cool. Thanks. Item 5.3 on our agenda council is the community health and wellness center 100% construction documents update Dakota Kenyon and then a lot of our our consultants I think are on board today as well to uh to give us this update. Good evening and welcome. >> They are good evening to all of you and and thanks for having me. Uh tough update to follow. So just want to echo those sentiments to Chief Hodes and Deputy Chief Pittney. Thank you for the work that you've done and that you're continuing to do. So the last time that we officially updated you about the Community Health and Wellness Center was back in October because I always forget this part and the mayor said my name. I'm Dakota Kenyon, the Community Health and Wellness Center manager. So good to be here with you again tonight. Uh we're going to provide an update on the on the 100% construction documents phase of the project. The construction is underway. You've driven by. You've likely seen it. Uh maybe you have some questions. So this milestone reflects the refinement of the building design and the continued alignment with the approved budget while also creating the opportunity to reintroduce key elements back into the project. You're going to hear a little bit more about that. Um, so now we'll walk through a brief overview of the design refinements, updates to the site, all of our sustainability efforts, and of course the construction progress. We'll give you an idea of what to expect in the coming months as the project continues to advance and tell you where we're at today. And as the mayor also mentioned, we do have a number of our project team uh consultants in the audience today. We have Anastasia and Tim from HGA, so the architects on the project. We have Carolyn from Integra, so she is the owner rep on the project. And then we also have Jeremiah from J Done to give you an update on the construction and what's going on over there on site. So with that, I will turn it over to Tim with HGA. >> Mr. Gay, welcome back. >> Ah, thank you, mayor and council members. Uh Tim Gette, uh project manager at HGA. Uh very happy to be here tonight uh to talk about these wonderful updates uh as construction is currently underway. Uh tonight uh as we've done in the past, we'll start off with the project charter, our quick onepage summary of the project to date, do a little bit of a project status update or process update. uh recap where we are from a sustainability procdate and then we'll turn it over to J Dunn for the construction update. Uh for those that are new to council and the city, uh this is our onepage project charter. Uh and the vision of the project is to create a modern inclusive facility serving recreation, fitness and health activities and community programs for residents of all ages and backgrounds throughout the region. And uh that vision and those nine guiding principles have been with us for the last two years uh without really much change at all. The scope in the program box in the lower left corner really tries to highlight all of the major program elements in the facility. And under the project goals for sustainability, we have both uh roof mounted solar PV panels as well as a geothermal system. Um and a as we talked early on in the project, the idea that we are pursuing lead silver certification equity goals. uh for the project include inclusive locker rooms and restrooms which you will see in the plans. Uh we have the construction update which will take us to late quarter 3 of 2027 in the budget. Uh this is remains consistent at the $14.8 million. From a process standpoint, uh yes, it we have issued the construction documents at 100% and those have gone through a a buyout process that J Dunn will talk about later so that we have really bid all the documents out and we know where we are sitting financially. Construction, as Dakota mentioned, has started and that will continue through really uh the later part of 2027. sustainability update. Uh we've heard some concerns about the sustainability uh certifications and kind of where we are and we just wanted to highlight that we still are very much on track uh to achieve lead silver certification for the facility. Uh we are sitting at 56 points and the range for silver is between 50 and 60. Uh and so we feel really good about where we're tracking uh as we work through the construction submittals. Right now from the design update, uh the three red boxes that you see, we'll start in the upper right hand corner. Uh due to the encouraging uh bidding climate, uh we were able uh to actually afford the third gymnasium on day one. And this is a this is a significant development for the facility both for the um the from the revenue generation and cost recovery of the facility uh but certainly the programs that uh staff can offer to the community. uh moving clockwise down uh due to some concerns with traffic movement on the site. Uh we continue to work with city staff uh to create what would be a a a designated drop off lane in front of the building that would then take you all the way out to Penn Avenue. Um there's still some fine-tuning, but conceptually this is the direction that we'll be pursuing uh during construction. And then the the final uh box at 9:00 uh due to a change in city code there were we will actually be able to locate the trash in it outside the building in an enclosure which was a major development in November and December of last year that will allow us to bring that out and the result is we get some bonus space on the interior for storage. Uh, as we move in just a little bit deeper, this does show you kind of how traffic would come in off of Penn Avenue and circulate around the drop off lane and be able to get out very easily back to Penn Avenue. On the left side, we've eliminated the staff parking. Uh, and so really that is just now a service courtyard uh for trash deliveries and the loading dock. Uh, and as you can see, filling out the corner in the upper right hand corner for that third gymnasium. Um, as we look from the parking area, uh, what used to be just a pedestrian plaza now has a circulation traffic lane that will go through it to allow you to get back to Penn a little bit easier. But you can see still see the welcoming environment and the extension of the lobby coming out you know to the to the exterior uh under that entry canopy. Uh as we move over towards Penn uh you can see this it really uh the courtyard that is a utility service courtyard uh with the trash enclosure. And if you look just up on the roof of the first level, you'll see a little bit of green space. Uh that green space is a outdoor fitness terrace that was added to the project uh just before we issued 100% construction documents. And certainly we'll also provide additional opportunities for programming for the facility. Um, this is just the expanded floor plan. Uh, the, uh, for those that have seen this a couple of times, just a reminder, the upper leftand corner is the aquatics. The upper right hand corner is the the gymnasiums. As we move to the lower right hand corner, we have the large event space in red. Just above that, we have the party rooms going into indoor play and the kids club in that uh light I'm going to call it a purple lilac color. Uh you would enter the facility from the south portion underneath the entry canopy and the community rooms and senior programming would be in the red rooms to the left of that. And then the purple uh and lilac that is all for public health with the green at the center. Uh those would be the offices for public or for parks and recreation. As we get up to the second level, uh we also will have the opportunity to expand the track. Uh this will allow us that now to have a 10 laps to the to the mile rather than 13 laps to the mile. So it's a much better calculation uh of of covering your steps and your miles as you as you walk around that track. And then as we go to the outside, uh this would be the uh what the gym expansion would be from the corner of Newton and 98th. Uh it is a sim similar cadence of pre-cast panels and curtain wall that would march towards Newton. And if we highlight that that is the in shaded in blue that is the the essential additional mass of the building uh as we look to open the facility in 2027. And with that I'll turn it over to Jeremiah for the construction update. While we transition, I'll just mention there are a number of ways in which we've attempted to update the community throughout the progress on this project. Uh we will be sending out a postcard to the same radius of residents in the area of the community health and wellness center that we invited to the construction meeting back in September to kind of let them know what they can expect in terms of upcoming utility work or or things they may see on the site. And then of course we post regular updates to the Bloomington Forward page. So we direct everyone back to that page for more information. And then we are working and I've been talking someone on Jed Dun's team into doing a construction update uh with me monthly for real. So we're posting those on social media as well. So uh a number of ways that people can gather information on the project. Take it away. >> Okay. Hello everyone. My name is Jeremiah Ray. I'm your project manager with Jed Dun Construction. Uh I will just keep it really brief and provide an update on where we're at. Uh we, as you remember, in the fall we uh demolished the Creek Side building and moved right into construction and had the site really ready for work to begin um ahead of the the tough part of winter, which was nice. We had the the site level and and ready to proceed with footings and foundations. And then due to really a a relatively nice winter and favorable soil conditions, we've been able to progress really nicely through that that footing and foundation work. Um that carried us really through the start of the new year. I will flip this over and then I'm sure you've seen just as much as I have um this the progress that we've made since the new year turned over and getting the pre-cast panel set, moving right into structural steel and now we've we've finished our buyout on the project and have then hired all of our trade partners or subcontractors. Um so our team is fully built out and ready to go and uh you'll see that activity ramp up on site. We're really I've said this a number of times in our internal meetings and with my team. We're really putting it in second gear and moving quickly into third. So, it's um it's been a great team and and progress has been really positive to this point. >> Thank you. I'll mention one more thing, Jeremiah, because I'll see you again later this week. Uh we will be going over to Presbyterian Homes to one of their regularly scheduled meetings to share the progress. Um Leah and I were there back in August. Everyone was very excited and I think that will be even more the case now that they can see um what will just be a short distance away. So continuing those types of inform engagement events which we're really excited about and so thankful that you all will assist with those. >> Good >> with that. I'll ask if there are any questions. >> Thank you so much. Uh I I will say for it to be at such a prominent intersection in Bloomington, uh the comments that I get from people just driving by and uh the good comments that I'm I'm hearing and primarily the comments like, "Wow, that's going up quick." And so uh well done. I think uh more than anything that's going to track people's belief on how we're meeting our goals and how we're getting this done. the fact that yeah, the tip up came quick and they get the the steel on and and to be able to get it closed up and working on it. People see it because they drive past it every day. So, well done and thank you for that so far. Council questions. Council member Dlesandro. >> Uh thank you. I don't mean to put you on the spot to very very specifics, but I'm just kind of curious. Um when we talk about the cost recovery support that we'll get from the third gymnasium, do we have a sense of the percentage that that might support? I I feel like we were I could get this wrong, but I feel like we were sitting around 80 to 85% cost recovery was where we were thinking we would end up. We were targeting 90. I'm just kind of curious where the needle has moved as a result of this. If you have a point of view on that, >> thank you for the question. I will say that uh we did achieve 90% in our working document proforma and are doing everything to conservatively pull things out that we aren't guaranteed in that first year. And um while we don't have a number or a specific percentage for the third gym, we're thinking about things like really retaining the members that we've gained and bringing in new members by having the opportunity for structured and unstructured programming to occur at the same time. thinking about things like how will we make it a regional draw? How will we please the pickle ballers? How will we have multiple activities going on where we're not taking away that open gym time from the membership base that the popular activity times is really important to us. So all-encompassing if you will, we do plan to narrow that down a little bit and we are continuing to work with pros on both the um standard operating procedures and the proforma as a working document. So, uh, we did get to 90% in that document and we'll continue to make those refinements. >> Okay. Uh, follow-up question. Um, um, when I, as I looked at the the most recent, um, layout that you guys just showed us in that area in the purple and lilac, as you called it, I which I think was perfect, the pink and lilac there. What is the what um what uh are we are we still at the point where we believe that our senior amenities and our senior programming will be um at the same strength that it was we anticipated it would be when we you know kicked off this project. Are we still feeling like we've made the the adjustments we've made hasn't changed our ability to continue to support that at the rate that we were thinking we would? >> Great question. Thank you. So, I know that's a concern in the community and 95% of of the programs that were at Creekide, but all of the programs that are currently happening at the Logan Lodge will transition over. So, really thinking about the things that we lost, I I'm sad to say the wood shop or the rock shop, those were singleuse spaces. All of the other multi-unctional programs will transfer over. and we we've spoken a lot with them about what they might like to see and they wanted to be off the beaten path and and tucked away still with plenty of opportunities and so yes to answer your question succinctly all of the Logan Lodge uh programs will transfer over to the community health and wellness center. >> Okay, great. So no no concerns that we're going to have to make any accommodations there. That's great. >> No concerns. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, council member. Other questions council? Council member Lman. >> So really just more a a comment and I'm just excited about the uh that third gymnasium. We're able to get that, you know, shoehorned in there. Um and and I'm joking when I say this next. So where's the fourth gym going to fit? But I do appreciate that that that uh uh that staff has worked hard to to get it us where we're at today. And um um I was up um a couple weekends ago up at Shore View and uh really just enjoy you know that that space up there, that aqua uh um aqua center they've got up there and they have expanded over the time. And so that's part of my concerns that I have over the long term. And I know this this footprint is difficult, but you know, I'm I'm real excited to see what things are going to look like in the future. And I've gotten just like you, mayor, some uh some really excited kids who are looking forward to being able to utilize this space. So, can't happen fast enough. Thanks, guys. >> Thank you for those comments. We're excited that you're excited. >> Other comments, council, >> it's just very, really, really exciting to know that the third gym is coming up. So, that is very encouraging. Looking forward to the building being finished. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member. >> Thank you. I will end it with saying Oh, go ahead. >> I was just going to ask, are you going to fill us in on next steps? >> So, yes, uh the next steps in the process, >> I'm going to go to the end again. This postcard will go out this week to residents in the area. So, we'll see more pre-cast being assembled. Uh I think one thing we didn't mention was at the far east side the pre-cast panel. um that is erected currently where it would be on the east side of the second gym will transition and move down to be the exterior wall of that third gym. Jeremiah, please correct me if I say anything incorrect. Okay. >> Uh and then a second phase of steel. So really figuring out how that fits together to be the most cost-effective way to add that third gym in on day one versus setting it up to expand. Uh so we feel really good about that. Uh so we'll send out that communication uh through the late spring, early summer. I believe we'll start to see some of those uh windows go in. So floor to ceiling windows and and that's what some of the gaps along 98 are that you're seeing in the pre-cast. Uh but we are finalizing and having plumbing, electrical, mechanical pre-install meetings to get those teams on boarded and up to speed on where we are in the project. So eventually the building will be enclosed and a lot of that work will move to the interior. >> Fabulous. >> Uh the one thing I would say thank you for all of your support throughout the process and thanks to all of you. I do feel like we I'm biased, but I I feel like we have a really great team. Uh so appreciative. >> Well, thank you. And yes, it is a team sport and we do appreciate the team that has put a lot of time and effort into this with a lot of time and effort to go, we know. But it's boy, it's looking great. So thank you so very much. >> Thank you. Thank all of you. Good morning, >> council. Our last item tonight is our council policy and issue update. I will kick us off as I do uh recapping our listening session from earlier this evening. We had uh three speakers. Uh Mr. Jonathan Minkx talked about council remarks and question some of the council uh decisions made around uh funding and HA expenditures and so on. Uh Trina Sutto spoke and she uh expressed again the I think the the communitywide relief that Operation Metro Surge is pretty much over, but there is still impacts and there will continue to be impacts uh on our affected communities. And in particular, she did bring up the fact that uh private organizations groups have raised uh upwards of $800,000 to help support people, which is just fantastic. and Andy Thu spoke regarding some ideas about using uh self-driving and AI devices for snow removal on our sidewalks. So, those were our three listening session uh visitors this evening. That is all I have. Mr. Walker, do you have anything to add this evening? >> Yes, sir. I just want to highlight for the council's benefit uh that this past week we were notified the city has received uh USA Today's uh prestigious workplace award uh recognizing our workplace culture. Um we are one of about 400 organizations that were recognized in the category of 500 to less than a thousand employees. So pretty prestigious. Uh and what I think is especially cool is that this is based on employee feedback, not a nomination that came from the city. So um great feedback from our employees and very welldeserved recognition for their their efforts as well. >> That is great to hear. Congratulations to all of our leadership and and to thanks to our employees. >> I have council council member Delisandro. >> May I have a quick question for Mr. Walker about that if I can. Do do you um how common is it for a municipal like body like ours to be included in something like that? I >> I would say it's very rare and and further elevates the status and standing of the city of Bloomington being elevated in that um in that realm. >> Are we like the only city? I'm just was curious for like number one or what. I just want to hear it out loud. >> Uh not >> I love being out loud. >> Not the only one, but as I recall, one of a a handful. Okay, great. Certainly very few. >> Okay. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yep. Any other questions, Mr. Walker? Council, anything to add? Council member Disandro. >> Thanks. I had two quick things. The first thing I was just going to ask, and I guess they've all left already, but I was going to ask if if it's possible, Mr. Walker, if we could get an update from um from the parks team about um about how it's going with both the boutique and Logan Lodge given the fact that um we haven't heard for a while and it's been up and running I think for about a year now. I I think that might be wrong but in that neighborhood. Um and so I'd love to just hear like how what's the sentiment, how things are going, how people are receiving that. That would be great. So, just can we add that to >> Would you um like that as like a maybe a future uh presentation at one of these settings or just as a written report? Just want to make sure. >> It's up to I mean I don't know if the council would like to have a public thing on it. If so, we could add it as a quick like introductory item or something or a business item. Yeah. Okay. Sounds like consensus to have you come back and do a quick preso on it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Great. Yeah. And love to hear how people are feeling about it. Thank you. And the second thing um you know, Mr. Mayor, you mentioned uh that we did get uh some critique this this today about um about uh uh um the the um HRA and the just the general sensus that maybe maybe the perception um from our volunteers especially on boards and commissions is this feeling of disconnection and and um and you know whether they're whether they feel like we're just rubber stamping things and stuff like that, right? We heard that and I and I was going to make this mention anyway and I was like, "Oh, this is great. This is all coming together, volunteer recognition week and the boards and commissions commentary. And then we had this wonderful meeting just this past week where council member Robertson and yourself, Mr. Mayor and myself got to sit down with our boards and commissions folks and and and literally, you know, uh talk about how things are going. And that that cadence of spring and fall boards and commission members coming together with city council and staff is a direct answer to that commentary that was spoken about earlier this this this evening, right? That the the intent is that we are making changes in real time to further strengthen the the the um connection between our boards and commissions volunteers and our and our city council. And so I if that isn't known to people, I want them to know that that's happening. And also if you're on a board and commission and you can come to those meetings, I think you'll learn in real time. But I'd also just want to encourage all of us as council to go to those meetings. Um three out of the seven of us was pretty good. Um but I think we can all get there. Um, I think it would be great if we all got there because because that I learned a lot of things and also I thought that the cross communication between the boards and commissions so they weren't feeling like they were isolated and they weren't acting in a in a vacuum and then you know not engaging with council until once a year when they come with their work plan um like they did tonight for example. um those things matter and uh so I want to commend the city staff for listening in those sessions and making these proactive changes and making opportunities for us to connect and then I want to encourage um both boards and commission members as well as our city council to please you know be a part of those things because um it does make a difference and I think if you were in that meeting you didn't you were surprised by the comments that you heard tonight because you're like oh wait that just happened this thing but that means that people don't know and we and tell them about that so that we know that it's happening. So, thanks for letting me make that statement. >> Thank you, council member. Good recap. Appreciate that. Council member Lman, >> hey, want to thank you for th those comments and those statements. I think it's always a good uh reminder. And one thing I would say just to to the council too, you know, it's, you know, I've over the years have had the opportunity, you kind of make a directional change. Uh something I learned from when I was in CIO is this idea of progression. you know, this idea of, you know, it's going to take a little bit of time for the folks to catch up with with kind of where we're at. So, you know, we just need to sometimes be patient with uh with with those changes. Uh some changes we love and some changes we maybe don't like as much. So, uh I I think that the public will get there. Uh you know, our commissioners and and our the folks that are out there, they'll get there eventually. But thank you for those words, though. >> Thank you, council member. Anything else, council? If not, we have reached the end of our agenda. Council, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn tonight. >> Motion by council member Lman, second by council member Rivas to adjourn tonight's meeting. No further council discussion. Miss Ray >> Nelson, >> I rebas >> I >> Lman >> I >> Robertson >> I may >> I motion carries 6 and we are adjourned. Thank you staff. Uh thank you council for the discussion this evening. Thanks to everybody who participated. Everybody have a good rest of your week.