Bloomington traffic commissioner Greg Alexander could be stripped of his title, depending on the committee's recommendation.
(Joey Mendolia, WTIU/WFIU News)
A special committee could determine whether a traffic commissioner accused of making inappropriate social media comments will be stripped of his title.
Bloomington City Council members on Wednesday voted 9-0 to refer to the special committee on council processes the matter of Greg Alexander’s conduct. Alexander has been embroiled in controversy since he made profane social media comments which some say felt threatening.
Despite council members’ unanimous vote to refer the matter, there was extensive debate before they reached that decision.
The discussion started when councilmember Dave Rollo motioned for Alexander’s removal from the traffic commission. He argued Alexander’s conduct is “unbecoming” of a council-appointed commissioner and has diminished his ability to perform the duties of his appointment. Rollo’s motion was seconded by councilmember Susan Sandberg.
Councilmember Stephen Volan introduced a separate motion to refer the matter to the committee on council processes for a recommendation by late March.
Volan called the complaints against Alexander “extremely political” and said there’s no process under Bloomington’s local code for removing a council appointee for any reason other than excessive absences.
“I don’t even know where to begin with how problematic this action is,” Volan said. “I fear for the precedent that this would set if we were to vote on it tonight, let alone to not send it for further study.”
According to local code, city council members can remove a council appointee “for cause.” The code cites excessive absences as a reason for removal but otherwise leaves the definition of “cause” ambiguous.
The city council has not removed a board or committee appointee because of controversial statements, and there is no set process in local code for addressing that scenario.
“All of this is about process,” Volan said. “This deserves a great deal of discussion — not just this particular motion, but any such potential motion.”
Volan cited concerns over the constitutionality of ousting Alexander because of his statements and questioned where the line between political statements and personal attacks lies.
Residents have described Alexander’s comments as bullying and alleged he alluded to sexual violence on at least one occasion.
“The only way this works is if we collectively agree on a course of action and not simply react to a few people who are upset — however deservedly upset they are — over what are essentially political statements and distinguish the political statements from the unnecessarily offensive statements that should be censured,” Volan said.
Sandberg did not object to the idea of referring the matter but argued time is of the essence. She did, however, push back on Volan’s comments about others’ sensibilities.
“Please do not bring my feelings into this, because I'm a big person,” Sandberg said. “You can call me what you want. People are free to come up to this podium and say what they want. This is not a free speech issue. This is conduct unbecoming of someone who's serving on one of our commissions. I want to make that clear.”
Councilmember Ron Smith said he interpreted Alexander’s comments as “threatening” and is in favor of removing Alexander from the traffic commission.
To that point, Volan questioned who should decide what constitutes threatening behavior. Smith tried to interject in the middle of Volan’s comments, to which Volan repeatedly pushed back, saying, “Sir, I do not yield the floor” several times.
Council President Sue Sandberg said it’s the council’s responsibility to address the immediate issue of members of the public feeling threatened while also clearly defining processes to respond to similar situations in the future.
“I think we have an obligation to think intentionally about process,” Sgambelluri said. “I think we also have an obligation to respond in a timely way.”
Councilmembers ultimately agreed the special committee should return a recommendation to the full body by March 1, at which point the council may vote on whether to remove or keep Alexander.
Rollo and Sgambelluri are on the committee on council processes, along with councilmembers Isabel Piedmont-Smith and committee chair Matt Flaherty.
