McLean County Times

Tim Gleason, the City Manager of Bloomington City, said that is "quite remarkable" what the group of elected officials have done for the area.

Various members of the city council also gave updates on recent and upcoming community events.

"And it truly is quite remarkable what this group of elected officials have done for the community, and I say this a lot whenever I speak, is there is not a single business item of the city that does not get passed. And that's quite amazing for a municipal government" Gleason said.

The city manager talked about future happenings in Bloomington. There will be the BooGala downtown Bloomington on October 7 from 5pm to 10pm. He also reminded everyone that while there will continue to be the outdoor Farmer’s Market every Saturday, it would conclude at the close of the month of October. The Illinois Main Street conference will also be occurring in downtown Bloomington from October 18 to October 20.

The three-day event will see all kinds of representatives from different communities from around the state discuss growing and sustaining downtown districts as social and economic hubs for their respective communities. The manager also shared that the council recently had a visioning retreat that consisted of community members coming in to make comments and join the public meeting. The event had been postponed a couple of times due to COVID-19, so the whole team was very excited to finally be able to do it.

Another council member also discussed the triumph of the city’s first mandated welcoming week, which ran from September 9 through the 18th. Welcoming Week was hosted in collaboration with the Immigration Project and featured events like an ice cream social, trivia and a culture festival. She said a lot of members of the community were touched by the efforts of inclusion and welcoming.