Hello Bloomington, [music] happy new year. I'm Mayor Tim Busy and this is the council minute for the week of January 5th. The past couple of weeks have been weeks of transition for the Bloomington City Council. As we said farewell to council member Saw Mua and welcomed council member Danielle Robertson. Council member Mua served the community with distinction for nearly three years as an atlarge council member. He first joined the council by appointment in January 2023 and then won the atlarge seat in the 2023 election. Council member Mua was a strong advocate for housing in Bloomington as a member of the HA and he served as a member of the community budget advisory committee before his appointment to the council. We thank him for his dedication to Bloomington and for his work on issues like community engagement, equity, and strong neighborhoods. In the November 2025 election, residents elected Danielle Robertson to the atlarge seat for a four-year term beginning this month. Danielle is an attorney and community steward who ran on a platform of inclusion, collaboration, and service. We're excited to have her join the council and add her voice to our work. And we can't forget on Monday night, two of our sitting council members were also sworn in after reelection last fall. Congratulations to council member Shawn Nelson and Dwayne Lman. A big thank you to everyone who participated in the elections last year. Whether you voted early or on election day, your voice matters in shaping our local government. And speaking of city council members, each year the city council appoints members of the council to serve on various regional boards and commissions. These appointments help ensure Bloomington's voice is heard in metroide decisions that impact our city and that our local commissions have council representation. At this week's meeting, the council made appointments to organizations including the Bloomington Housing and Redevelopment Authority, the Bloomington Port Authority, the Greater Metropolitan Area Foreign Trade Zone, the 35W Solutions Alliance, and others. These appointments are a good reminder that council members don't just work three Monday nights of the month. These roles on boards and commissions reflect council members commitment to regional collaboration and to representing Bloomington residents on issues that matter the most. and they are not an insignificant time commitment. So, thank you to all of our council members for stepping up on these important leadership roles. And finally, today at our meeting way back on December 22nd of last year, the city council reviewed two major transportation studies designed to help guide long-term infrastructure decisions in our city. The two studies were the Bloomington Ferry Road Corridor Vision Study and the American Boulevard Transit Study. For the Bloomington Ferry Road corridor, from Enson Venice Road to Dreadscott Park and 110th Street, staff and consultants have been working to develop a shared vision for that roadway that better serves residents, businesses, and visitors. The council adopted the recommendations from this vision study last month, supporting a future focused corridor design. The plan reduces the roadway to one lane in each direction with turn lanes at intersections and provides an off-road two-way bikeway alongside sidewalks on both sides. Additional space is included for things like storm water management and other sustainability features. The vision study will guide future pavement preservation and reconstruction projects, and staff will begin identifying funding and opportunities for interim safety improvements, including striping changes and modified intersections, hopefully to address safety concerns in the near term. Along American Boulevard, the city has been exploring how this major corridor can evolve from a road mainly for automobiles into one that better supports transit, walking, rolling, and biking, reflecting community priorities and a multimodal future. The American Boulevard transit study examined potential transit improvements, including future bus rapid transit options and how transit investment can support economic activity, connectivity, and multimodal safety. The final recommendations were presented to the planning commission and the city council with a focus on land use guidance and corridor design that could lay the groundwork for future transit investment. Council action has moved this study forward as a planning document to help inform the comprehensive plan with next steps including continued coordination with metroransit and regional partners to explore when and how to advance transit options including possible BRT alignments. And it's important to note the council and the staff know full well how important American Boulevard is as an alternative to 494, which we all know has been under construction since covered wagons traveled the corridor. Any discussions about changes to American Boulevard will include a conversation about the status of the work on 494. If you'd like to learn more or share your input on these studies, visit Let's Talk Bloomington at blm.mnlettalk. Thank you to everyone who has already participated so far. Your voice helps shape Bloomington's transportation future. That's it for this week's council minute. Thank you so very much for watching. Until next time, stay safe, Bloomington.