By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – The night before voters decide his political future, State Representative Dan Brady said local governments should be prepared to assess the impact of State Farm’s decision to eliminate almost 900 information technology jobs from Bloomington.

Rep. Brady was one of three state lawmakers taking part in an annual legislative work session with the Bloomington City Council.

Rep. Brady said it was sad and sobering on the campaign trail to meet with those affected by State Farm cutbacks. He urged creation of a local task force to deal with the many economic impacts.

“What the city of Bloomington, the town of Normal, the county of McLean, in particular, can react to, what can they prepare for, what this going to mean for our schools? What’s this going to mean to the residential market? What’s this going to mean to all those areas that are very important to the operations of municipal government and state government as well?”

Mayor Tari Renner noted State Farm executives plan to keep its total Bloomington workforce at about 15,000, but the mayor’s concerned many of those will be lower paying jobs. What’s important, Renner said, is to diversify the economy.

Also participating in the work session was State Senator Bill Brady and State Representative Keith Sommer.

Sen. Brady called for better cooperation between Bloomington and Normal to boost economic development efforts. Intergovernmental cooperation, said Sen. Brady, was key to luring Rivian Automotive and Brandt Industries to McLean County.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]