Along with the procurement change, Mayor Renner gave his State of the City address Monday night. (WJBC File Photo)

By Andy Dahn

BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council voted to change their current procurement process Monday night, increasing the minimum price of a formal bid from $10,000 to $25,000 for city property purchases.

The council hopes the increase will boost public confidence in city council purchasing, but not all council members were on board. Alderman Kevin Lower voted against the increase, and he said the new price hurts the chance of small businesses.

"We're releasing a little bit more of our oversight than we should be," Lower said. "I want to continue to see those figures at the ($10,000) level, and that disallows us from doing that in many instances."

Alderman Judy Stearns also opposed the increase, which she said will hurt public confidence, not help it.

"What we're doing is doubling the amount of money that our City Manager can procure and allocate without council approval," Stearns said. "And I think in this era, citizens are looking for more accountability and more scrutiny, not less. We're not just increasing this amount, we're doubling it."

The meeting took a turn when several council members voiced their thoughts on recently released racial comments made by a Bloomington police officer in 2013. Stearns said she still has several questions regarding the incident.

"When it happened, why was it not brought to the attention of the Mayor and even of the council?" said Stearns. "I'd like to really understand who knew, when they knew, and why it wasn't brought to light of those who really are in leadership of the city."

Meanwhile Mayor Tari Renner gave his State of the City address at Monday night's meeting, in which he said local economy needs to be a priority. He said that starts with revitalizing Downtown Bloomington, where he would like to see a new hotel to attract tourism.

Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].