Annexation forums, animal shelter renovation, sanitation service changes and broadband deadlines.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington 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. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: I know the city held an annexation forum this past week and many residents aren't happy about the potential property tax increases, how are you answering to these concerns?
Hamilton: Annexation is never easy for the people being annexed. We remind ourselves both the city and the county are 199 years old. I promise you the boundaries of the city has changed a lot over a period of time. County government and city government are meant to do different things. County government is set up by the state to provide basic services in the county including the jail, sheriff, running the property tax, assessor and those kind of things.
City government is set up to provide services for those who live in cities with much more intensive services. As densification happens and urbanized cities grow, the boundaries change. We've stopped annexing. The previous administration stopped annexing. If you stop, you have to catch up at some point.
Hren: Have you been able to talk more with county officials and how this would affect the county?
Hamilton: All these areas that have been growing and developing, the county stepped in to provide services. The county plowed the roads, the county provided the sheriff coverage, the county fire departments stepped up. I've been meeting with county officials regularly. We work together really well.
Hren: In your state of the city address, you announced a major renovation to the animal shelter. Where is that $2 million coming from and what does this get them?
Hamilton: The facility needs upgrading, the previous administration had earmarked some of this money to support the upgrade. It's going to expand the number of cat and dog facilities and improve them for our volunteers. They will get approved in the next week or two and you'll see construction and rehab beginning very shortly.
Hren: City council are looking over updated plans on sanitation services, what should residents be on the look out for?
Hamilton: Council should have their formal vote in a couple weeks. The main components is we're moving to weekly recycling. We're moving to single stream recycling. We're moving to uniform carts that we're going to provide to everybody. The real driving force to this a year ago is our employees are getting hurt. They're lifting tons of trash everyday. So this is going to lead us to mechanized trucks. We'll see the roll out later this fall, probably six months from now.
Hren: We hear in the news about the immigration ban ramping up again, what resources does Bloomington have for those who may be concerned?
Hamilton: This city is full of people from all over the world and these families are facing this terrible fear driven policy at the national level. We in the city are committed to making this a welcoming place. There are a lot of resources inside city government and through wonderful non-profits that are trying to help people deal with this. Both the university and city are working closely together to do all that we can to make sure people feel safe and have resources, whether it's lawyers or social service agencies, school counselors
