Bloomington City Council: City Police within Top 5 of the State, Finances remain conservative

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The City of Bloomington held their second council meeting of the month March 25.

Along with numerous presentations of financial standings for the city and the Parks and Recreation Department summer plans, the Bloomington City Council oversaw the re-accreditation of the Bloomington City Police Department at Monday evenings meeting, among additional business and regular items.

Police Department Accolades & Appointments

The council and the Bloomington Police Department were recipients of an award plaque for their recent re-accreditation from the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP). The award, presented by Police Chief Dan Ryan of ILEAP, represents months of work and progress the Bloomington Police Department devoted to being re-accredited within Illinois.

Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington presenting the certification of numerous police officers for the city.

Since the launch of ILEAP over a decade ago, Chief Ryan spoke to how only sixty-one police agencies including Bloomington have achieved accreditation in the state of Illinois.

“That’s about five percent of the entire police departments in the state,” said Chief Ryan.

The ILEAP program focuses on making police organizations better in the state of Illinois by evaluating policies and procedures, and accrediting police agencies that follow the best practices set forth for law enforcement.

The council also oversaw Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington presenting numerous officer certificates regarding the police station. The City Chief presented Kevin Steck, Cory Volz and Robert Hilliard with their official appointment to serve as a police officer for the city following their police academy training.

Largest Fiscal Budget in City History

The council was presented with a monthly report from Finance Director Scott Rathbun. The proposed $331.7 million budget would be the largest budget in the city’s history, a 14 percent increase over last years budget.

Bloomington’s proposed budget was described as a fiscally conservative, but an optimistic and community focused budget for the inflows and outflows for the city in the coming year.

“It’s a budget emphasizing public safety, roads and sidewalks, dependable infrastructure, clean water and community well-being,” said Rathburn.

This presentation immediately followed the Parks and Recreation Department presentation, which highlighted the many new additions and updates in the parks and rec department for the upcoming summer, including the completion of recent renovations at the water centers in the city and the recently reopened O’Neil Skate Park.

The city budget cycle would begin May 1 and end April 30 of 2025.

In other business, the council:

The homeless encampment is set up at the intersections of East Mac Arthur Avenue and Mission Drive (shown in the red area).

-Heard numerous public comments from residents regarding a local homeless encampment. The residents spoke on the homeless encampment located near Home Sweet Home Ministries and the Huck’s gas station on Oakland Avenue. One resident noted an event where a member of the encampment began soliciting door-to-door early this past Saturday, asking for money from the woman and her neighbors. The residents spoke on the encampment members public usage of drugs and alcohol, loitering, the encampments proximity to a nearby playground and violations of zoning and safety laws according to Bloomington’s own laws.

-Agreed to lower marking minimum requirements within the city’s zoning code. Ward 1 council member Jenna Kearns who initiated discussion on the item spoke about the possibility of removing the minimums altogether as a means of helping address the housing unit shortage that the city faces.

-Officiated upcoming awareness events within the city this year, including Community Development Week and Autism Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day. The Community Development week, which seeks to raise awareness on housing and development issues within the area, will be held from April 1-5. Bloomington’s Autism Spectrum Disorder Awareness Day will be observed on April 2.

The council’s next meeting will be held on April 8, 2024.