The Bloomington City Council continued its debate on standing committees Wednesday, with resolution 22-02 ultimately passing by a 5-4 vote.
Councilmembers Susan Sandberg, Sue Sgambelluri, and Jim Sims sponsored the legislation, which eliminates the following standing committees in favor of a committee of the whole:
Administration
Community Affairs
Housing
Public Safety
Sustainable Development
Land Use
Additionally, the resolution dissolves the transportation committee and re-establishes the sidewalk standing committee, which has a narrower focus.
This resolution essentially reverts council operations prior to resolution 20-01 passed in February 2020. However, councilmember Steve Volan said standing committees were only used for a short time before council reverted to committee of the whole again in 2021.
“I don’t think there has been an honest effort by those that would support this, at least the sponsors, to try committees,” Volan said. “I mean they weren’t really tried. They were tried in 2020 for 10 months.”
What are the different types of committees?
Committee of the whole meetings include all nine council members. These meetings usually take place Wednesday in the week between regular sessions.
Standing committees are permanent bodies of four council members, with a focus on a particular area of policy. These smaller committees make recommendations to the entire council, which then votes on legislation.
Special committees are temporary bodies with a specific issue to research and address. Any three council members could form a special committee at any time.
Joining resolution sponsors, councilmember Dave Rollo said it was more beneficial to have all nine members address issues together.
“I feel that the committee of the whole is a far superior process,” Rollo said. “Primarily because it includes all nine people.”
But opposing councilmembers said standing committees provided a proactive opportunity to dive deep into issues, such as those in the climate action plan and transportation plan.
“The idea behind naming an entire slate of committees is to cover, broadly, all the potential topics that might come up,” Volan said. “And when somebody has a question, they can be referred to the closest committee chair or the closest committee to their topic.”
However, resolution sponsor Sandberg said special committees could still address proactive issues, despite their temporary timelines.
“With respect to special committees … that is your option,” Sandberg said. “If any number of you wish to do proactive work or research on any one topic, that is perfectly acceptable for you to do.”
Councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith pushed back on the idea and said there was no guarantee the rest of council would listen to three members who form a special committee.
“So that’s saying, ‘Okay, those of us who want to do more hard work should just go ahead and do it?’” she said. “That just doesn’t seem right to me.”
Trying to bridge a gap between the two factions, councilmember Matt Flaherty authored an amendment to maintain the Administration, Climate Action and Resilience, and Land Use standing committees. Councilmember Kate Rosenbarger authored a similar amendment to save the Transportation committee.
However, the council rejected both amendments by a 5-4 vote. Councilmembers Sandberg, Sims, Sgambelluri, Rollo and Ron Smith voted against the amendment. Councilmembers Flaherty, Rosenbarger, Steve Volan and Isabel Piedmont-Smith voted in favor. This is the same factional vote that elected Sandberg council president earlier this month.
Resolution sponsors did propose a third amendment to spare the Climate Action and Resilience committee following last week’s discussion. This amendment passed 9-0.
The entire resolution, as amended, passed on the same 5-4 vote.
Kirkwood and downtown outdoor dining
Council also unanimously approved an extension of the outdoor dining program on Kirkwood Avenue and the downtown square for 2022. The program will run March 16 to Oct. 31.
Several retail business and grab-and-go restaurant owners oppose the program, but larger restaurants are in favor. Village Deli owner Bob Costello said the program even saved a lot of businesses.
“Most of the restaurants on Kirkwood and some of the retail would not be open today had we not had the opportunity to have outdoor seating,” Costello said.
“I think its extremely important that we continue this. And I’m actually an advocate for closing Kirkwood completely and only having pedestrian traffic allowed.”
New this year, the city will charge businesses which operate outside to offset some of the lost parking revenue. Businesses on College Avenue and Walnut Street will have to pay $1,250 to use a parklet, which is an extension of the sidewalk into a single parking space. Kirkwood restaurants will have to pay to extend tables into the road, according to their total seating capacity.
Screenshot of chart with Kirkwood/downtown outdoor dining rates. (Courtesy: City of Bloomington)
