Bloomington City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to adjust membership requirements for two citizen commissions Wednesday. The goal of the legislation is to make certain seats easier to fill.
Councilmember Steve Volan sponsored Ordinance 21-04, which changes one seat on the parking commission from mayoral to council appointment.
“That particular seat has been vacant since August of 2019,” Volan said. “I asked on multiple occasions for the administration to name someone to that seat and they have refused.”
Mary Catherine Carmichael, public engagement director for the office of the mayor, said there has been high turnover on boards and commissions during the pandemic, but the parking commission has been a long-term problem.
“It has been problematic and I’m sorry that we weren’t able to keep it fully staffed,” she said.
In total, there are nine members of the parking commission, which was formed in 2016. Under the new ordinance, council will now appoint five seats and the mayor will appoint four. Of the nine members, each seat has a specific criterion:
Four seats must be filled by city residents, three of which are appointed by council.
One mayoral appointee and one council appointee must be business owners.
One mayoral appointee shall be a board member or employee of a nonprofit.
One mayoral appointee shall be from the planning & transportation, engineering, or public works department.
One council appointee should also be a city council member.
Additionally, the ordinance reduces the number of members on the Citizen’s Redistricting Advisory Commission from nine to five. The commission was approved in December 2020 and originally required at least 18 qualified applicants; however, only 12 have applied since 2021. Under the new legislation, the city only needs 10 qualified applicants.
The goal of this commission is to make recommendations regarding decennial redistricting to create six council districts by the end of 2022. Of the five members, two must be Democrats, two must be Republicans, and one must be an Independent. One Democrat and one Republican commissioner must be full-time Indiana University students.
The three at-large city council members will select 10 applicants and divide them into five pools of two during a public meeting this month. They will then flip a coin to determine each seat.
Organizational assessment report
Last year, Mayor John Hamilton directed an independent, third-party to review the city’s board and commission structure and offer solutions to maximize efficiency. During Wednesday’s meeting, Jonathan Ingram of Novak Consulting Group presented recommendations to council, including:
Merging the commission on sustainability and the environmental commission.
Merging the parking commission, traffic commission, and bicycle and pedestrian safety commission.
Consolidating the park, recreation, and urban forestry-related commissions under the board of park commissioners.
Council president Susan Sandberg said the report is good “food for thought” and will provoke future discussions.
“These are recommendations,” she said. “This is a report given to use based on the findings, and it’s up to us to determine what or what we will not be doing with this moving forward.”
