City water rate increase, budget preparations, Trades District proposals and listener questions!
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: I see the city water contaminant levels were going down which is a good sign but the water rates are going up by 22 percent, at least that's the latest recommendation. On average perhaps a $10 dollar a month increase for residents – that's a decent increase, where will that money go?
Hamilton: I'm very sensitive to any cost increase. One of our first jobs in government besides public safety is protecting the public purse. We haven't had a water rate increase in four to five years, it is fundamentally clear that we've got to protect and invest in our water system to make sure we have safe water and that we're responsible with the environment. We're going to be investing in the water quality to make sure the water quality is the highest quality so that means we need to do some investment.
I'm also committed what I call conservation pricing. I do believe that a substantive level of drinking water - we shouldn't be increasing the rate on that. Indiana state law makes that very, very difficult. I've been talking to our advisers and pushing hard because I do believe the first few hundred gallons that we all need each month to live - we really should be providing that without rate increases.
Hren: City budget talks are starting, what changes do you see necessary as you begin this process for the first time as mayor?
Hamilton: Part of it is just making sure we're as efficient as we can be. Every place you go there's always ways to get better at what you do and there are 650 people who often know a lot of ways to get better. I'm having lunch with employees every few weeks and we talk about government and how it can be better.
Hren: There's a proposed county option county income tax that would help fund the dispatch center, why are more taxes being used to pay this?
Hamilton: Kind of like water, that's a fundamental service we need to be sure we're providing. We have a combined dispatch center and much of that used to be paid for by landline telephone fees and those are shrinking. It's a 0.25 percent income tax, and would create a substantial opportunity to improve the public safety services and to pay for that dispatch center.
Hren: I just heard you received a few responses on a request for information on the city's gigabit-class broadband initiative, what was the response like?
Hamilton: If we only had one or two, it would have been disappointing. We received 12. Our job over the next few weeks is to dig into those responses, I've got a thick binder with all of that, and try to look at the options. I want to be very pragmatic on how we efficiently and with the highest quality try to overcome the digital divide and make sure Bloomington is a cutting edge city.
Hren: Since we last talked, new plans for the Trades District have come out, but it's nothing at all from the plans we heard about last year – of course, with a new year came a new mayor and staff, but instead of a letter of intent from Flaherty and Collins and Envisage headquarters we have two new parts – a business incubator in the former Showers Mill and affordable housing unit with a Carmel based developer Pedcor. How did these come about?
Hamilton: I've felt the trades district is an exciting opportunity for the city and it's going to grow organically. We need to let that develop as businesses want to invest as housing can be developed not with one fell swoop. So we put a pause with this plan for a very large apartment building and I'm glad we did because now we're seeing this organic development. The two pieces you mention, one the Dimension Mill will be restored and be the energy beehive hub of all this with incubator space, start-ups. I think the redevelopment commission which owns the land will be collaborating to develop that building.
There were two sites in the state that were going to be selected for this new affordable housing development which is trying to create low cost, long term living expenses and Bloomington got selected. So forty low income units focused on working people and we're talking to more people interested in developing the trades district. We're going to be laying out streets, it's going to be very green, it's going to be a hip new place - a new neighborhood in town.
Hren: How will affordable housing help bring jobs to that area?
Hamilton: It makes it possible for people who aren't earning a bunch of money to live there. One of the big challenges in Bloomington is how do we make this city work for people from all walks of life? It's pointing a flag that says this is for everybody, whether you make $28,000 a year or $128,000 a year.
Hren: So are the previous developments before you came here off the table?
Hamilton: They are not off the table. Any developer is welcome to come and approach us. In front of the redevelopment commission, we laid out the grid system that we're going to put in there. We welcome people to what they can do focused on technology jobs.
Hren: What about the proposal from Flaherty and Collins, I guess it's been quiet from their perspective, are they on board?
Hamilton: I haven't spoken to them for two months maybe, but I know some of my colleagues have. Envisage which is a local company, I've met within the last week to talk about opportunities for them. We'd love to get them assembled in the Trades District and I think they're interested in it, so it's figuring out what kind of space they need, what kind of lease they can sign. But also, it's private developers who are going to build the buildings so we want to bring them together... Flaherty, local CTP partners, other groups are all looking at this.
Hren: The Herald-Times had an article this past week with a quote from Bloomington Economic Development Corp. President Lynn Coyne, it was during an annual meeting where he criticized the lack of consistency in land use decisions now and suggested that factor is stopping businesses from considering the Bloomington area early in their search process. Do you agree with that?
Hamilton: I think we know the main reason businesses locate or expand is because of where people want to live. Businesses come to Bloomington because the leadership making those decisions is a good place to be in and it's true. We have a high bar in Bloomington. If you want to build a building if you're going to expand a business, we expect high quality products, good jobs, good corporate citizens... if you meet that bar, then we need to make it easy to do that. I think Lynn's point is let's not make life too complicated or stressful in doing the thing they do best which is grow jobs.
Hren: We have two listener e-mails, Mandy wants to know since taking office, what steps has your administration taken to address these issues? She lives in an area close to Seminary Square Park and she and her husband are concerned about homeless people panhandling while waiting at the bus stop with their daughter.
Hamilton: I've been meeting with representatives from the homeless community and social services providers and housing providers. The city has just committed substantial resources to Crawford II, the second round of the permanently supportive housing to help the most at risk homeless. Vagrancy and panhandling are different issues, most of the people that are homeless are homeless for a little while. Panhandlers are a different community. If there are individuals who are behaving in ways that are not appropriate, we need to address that.
Hren: Mandy also writes that word is that many people were not reappointed to the Bloomington Human Rights Commission after you took office. What are the reasons for eliminating these people?
Hamilton: One of jobs you do is assemble the best group of people to serve. I just try to get a good mix of people from the community. A good mix of viewpoints, but there's natural turnover in those commissions every year.
Hren: Ivan wants to know about the ParkMobile app that seems designed to ensure that some users will accidentally pay for an entire day of parking as there is no way to specify, when you park, that the session should end after a certain amount of time. He pleads that the app add this feature.
Hamilton: I certainly agree the goal of the ParkMobile app is for convenience and to pay for parking, not all day parking. We can certainly look on how to improve it. I know some people like the ParkMobile because you can do the exact time you need. I am open on how we can improve it. We don't want to be punitive.
