Bloomington city council: city manager pay raise, new chicken coop and scoreboard

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Bloomington City Council held their first council meeting of the month on September 11.

City Manager Tim Gleason was sure to be gleeful after Monday’s meeting, which resulted in the approval of a 5% pay raise for Gleason, totaling an annual salary just under $220,000 for the city manager of Bloomington. Gleason’s term with the city has continued since 2018, where prior he served as the city managers for Decatur and Washington, Illinois.

A contentious item that had the council members clucking during the council meeting related to the special use approval for a chicken coop for a property located on the city’s east side. While the item was included on the omnibus agenda and was subsequently approved, it was brought up again by council member Kent Lee at the end of the meeting, relating to the issues of the council superseding a decision which would usually be decided by the related Homeowners Association. The item was passed on a 5-4 vote following the side session.

The council also approved the purchase of a digital video scoreboard for the Bloomington Ice Center from Nevco. It holds a price tag for the city of $81,219.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the purchase for three Toro Zero-Turn riding mowers at the request of the Parks and Recreation Department for $60,568.
• Matched a $100,000 federal grant first awarded in 2021 for improvements related to the Veterans Parkway corridor, in order to address safety concerns and support multiple forms of transportation.
• Approved the purchase of HP desktops, monitors, and laptops totaling $114,564, at the request of the Information Technology Department.

The city’s next council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on September 25, 2023.