Mayor Thomson Launches Reviews of City Work

As a part of her commitment to build a better, more responsive and effective city government, today Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson announced a series of internal reviews that will shape her administration and its approach to governing in the years to come.

“As mayor, I am committed to bringing people together and engaging them in their government,” said Thomson, who took office earlier this week. “And to do that, we all need a full and complete understanding of where things stand. In these first few weeks of my new administration, my team and I will take a deep dive in many areas, report our findings and work to create greater efficiency and transparency throughout city hall.”

To begin, Thomson has ordered these actions:

• Independent audit of City finances: Working under the direction of City Controller Jessica McClellan, the City will hire an outside accounting firm to conduct an independent review of the City’s finances and spending in the first 100 days of the Thomson administration. Once complete, the report will be shared with the public.  

• Review of City legal cases: Mayor Thomson has charged Corporation Counsel Margie Rice with leading a City-wide review of all of the City’s ongoing litigation. Rice and her team will review all cases, the value to taxpayers and make recommendations to Thomson on whether the City should continue with the litigation.  

• Analysis of constituent response times: With an eye on improving response times, Thomson announced an internal review of Bloomington’s “uReport” system, which allows citizens to report a wide variety of issues to the City.  Led by Deputy Mayor Gretchen Knapp, it will include analysis of response times by department and by type of request along with recommendations for improving the program and sharing response time information directly with the public.

• Working Groups for Hopewell and Showers West Projects: Given the complexities of the both the Hopewell and Showers West projects, Thomson announced her intention to form separate working groups made up of Bloomington residents for the Hopewell and Showers West projects. The goal of each is to provide a fresh perspective and independent review of the projects and advise her on next steps. Appointments to both groups will be made in the coming weeks.

“Our residents deserve a city government as good as they are, and these actions will begin to give them that. These are just the first round of reviews and over the coming days and weeks I look forward to working with our residents and my fellow City employees to find more ways to innovate and deliver services in the most effective, efficient, and accessible way possible,” added Thomson.