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From YouTube: Council Minute April 19
Description
In this week’s Council Minute, Mayor Tim Busse welcomes the new full-time firefighters who were sworn in at the Council meeting on Monday, provides information on changes made to the way the City administers ranked choice voting, and gives an update on the City’s new strategic plan Bloomington. Tomorrow. Together.
A
Hello
Bloomington
I'm
mayor
Tim
Bussey,
and
this
is
the
council
minute
for
the
week
of
April
17th
at
our
council
meeting
on
Monday
night.
We
all
had
the
pleasure
of
being
witness
to
the
swearing-in
of
19
new
full-time
firefighters
for
the
city
of
Bloomington.
It's
a
significant
step
as
Bloomington
transforms
from
a
predominantly
paid
on-call
Department
to
a
hybrid
model,
a
full-time
and
part-time
firefighters.
A
You
might
remember
that
last
fall.
The
fire
department
learned
it
was
the
recipient
of
a
staffing
for
adequate
fire
and
emergency
response,
Grant
shortened
to
the
very
creative
acronym
of
a
safer
Grant.
It's
a
big
deal.
The
funds
received
through
the
safer
Grant
enable
Bloomington
to
hire
18
full-time
firefighters,
to
improve
fire
response
times
and
to
better
meet
the
safety
needs
of
the
community.
A
A
Also,
on
Monday
night,
the
city
council
made
some
procedural
changes
to
the
way
the
city
administers
ranked
Choice
voting.
Specifically,
the
council
changed
the
number
of
candidates
that
voters
could
Rank
and
required
write-in
candidates
to
register
ahead
of
time.
Both
changes
are
practical
in
nature
and
neither
change
Alters
in
any
way.
The
general
process
of
ranked
Choice
voting
as
I'm
sure
you
remember,
in
2020,
Bloomington
residents
went
to
the
polls
and
voted
in
favor
of
a
charter
amendment
that
instituted
ranked
Choice
voting
in
our
city
elections.
A
The
new
voting
process
only
applies
to
our
city
elections,
so
the
way
that
voters
choose
school
board
members
or
state
elected
officials
didn't
change
ranked
Choice
voting
was
used
successfully
in
the
2021
Municipal
elections
and
will
be
used
again.
This
fall,
however,
the
uniqueness
of
the
2023
City
elections
brings
a
bit
of
complication
to
ranked
Choice
voting
in
November.
A
A
those
details
they
matter,
because
state
law
requires
ballots
to
be
one
single
sheet
of
paper
front
and
back
and
Bloomington
voting
equipment
allows
for
three
columns
across
the
ballot
now,
depending
on
the
number
of
candidates
that
file
for
each
office,
the
layout
of
the
ballot
could
be
a
challenge
to
get
out
in
front
of
those
potential
challenges.
The
first
modification
was
to
change
the
number
of
candidates
that
a
voter
can
rank
from
six
to
three.
The
change
doesn't
limit
the
number
of
candidates
who
can
file
for
the
office.
A
A
State
law
allows
a
charter
City
like
Bloomington
to
require
writing
candidates
to
register
and
again.
History
shows
this
won't
be
a
dramatic
change
in
the
way
the
voting
process
takes
place.
Bloomington's
candidate
filing
period
runs
from
August
1st
to
the
15th,
and
early
voting
begins
on
September
22nd.
The
election
day
is
November
7th
and
finally,
today,
on
Monday
night
staff
presented
an
update
to
council
detailing
how
the
city
is
working
to
make
bloomington's
new
strategic
plan.
A
A
You
may
have
heard
this
for
one
at
one
time
or
another,
but
I
want
to
be
sure.
People
understand
how
comprehensive
and
thoughtful
the
BTT
planning
process
has
been.
It
started
in
the
fall
of
2021
with
community
events
where
residents
and
stakeholders
shared
their
vision
for
what
the
future
of
Bloomington
could
look
like.
A
A
core
planning
team
met
for
more
than
40
hours
over
four
days
and
developed
the
original
Bloomington
tomorrow,
together
plan
and
afterward
action
teams
and
a
measurement
team
expanded
on
the
core
planning
team's
recommendations
in
late
2022,
another
group
of
City
staff
gathered
to
create
a
measurable
and
actionable
work
plan
based
on
the
community's
vision
that
will
carry
the
work
forward
to
help
reach
the
community's
goals.
The
work
plan
has
three
priorities,
with
nine
desired
outcomes,
and
staff
has
developed
a
variety
of
initiatives
to
support
those
desired
outcomes.
A
Here's
the
shorthand
version
of
All
That
Bloomington,
said
a
series
of
aspirational
goals
laid
out
how
those
goals
would
be
accomplished
and
to
find
a
work
plan.
And
what
we
heard
on
Monday
night
was
the
outline
of
an
internal
plan
to
operationalize
the
BTT
priorities
and
the
desired
outcomes,
and
we
saw
the
template
of
a
dashboard
and
quarterly
progress
report
that
will
keep
the
council
and
the
community
up
to
date
on
progress.