McLean County Times

The City Council of Bloomington recently approved creating a new position for a second deputy city manager.

During the April 10 Bloomington City Council meeting, officials considered an ordinance that would amend the city code pertaining to the deputy city manager position. This change was requested by the city’s administrative staff. 

Bloomington city manager Tim Gleason shared the background behind the request and how he felt it would benefit the city. Gleason explained that he felt that not only could the city employee structure support having two deputy city managers, the city's situation actually calls for increased support in that area.

The city has 12 different departments, all of which report to the city manager, which typically means Gleason has a total of 15 different reports to look over. Gleason said that while deputy city manager Billy Tyus is essential in sorting through all of the reports, responding to department heads, and generally supporting Gleason, they feel the city organization would function better with two in that position. 

Gleason said that before he joined the city staff, the city had two deputy city managers in place, so he knows it can and has been done. Gleason feels that an additional deputy city manager would increase efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability for the city departments and community members.

"This is an organization of 650, plus full-time employees, nearly 1,100, if you count part-time and seasonal," Gleason said. "The expectation, again, of the individual departments and the directors that run those departments is such that we know that we have the capacity and the bandwidth and my expectation as city manager to provide more."

Council member Nick Becker was the first to agree that there was a need for additional support in this area, given the number of people that Gleason has to manage within the organization. He also stressed that this position should increase efficiency while bringing costs down. Other council members agreed that this was a needed position and would be supportive of helping all city staff to better manage their workloads.

After a discussion, the council voted to approve adding the position to the city roster.