By Howard Packowitz
City councils in Bloomington and Normal declined to employ a so-called nuclear option of rejecting Connect Transit’s budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
No formal votes were taken at separate meetings Monday night, but at Bloomington’s committee-of-the whole session, recently-elected council members Jeff Crabill and Jenn Carrillo were the only representatives wanting the matter placed on next week’s council meeting agenda.
In Normal, Mayor Chris Koos repeatedly shot down Council member Stan Nord’s questions of Connect Transit staff, claiming Nord was trying to micromanage Connect Transit decisions.
Nord, and council members Kathleen Lorenz and Scott Preston urged Koos to appoint Normal’s third representative on the Connect Transit Board. Koos says he’s not stonewalling.
“I had publicly asked people to submit information to me via email if they were interested in being on that board. So far, I’ve only heard from one, and that person said they would not be available in the near-term,” the mayor said.
Current and future mayoral candidate Marc Tiritilli said he wants the appointment. Preston favors a bus rider, perhaps even a disabled rider to serve on the board.
Meantime, Connect Transit General Manager Isaac Thorne announced a compromise to calm protests over eliminating the Olive Route, which takes riders from north Normal to east of Veterans Parkway.
Thorne’s cost-neutral plan is to re-route the Pink line bus to pick up people at Orlando-Northbrook who can’t travel the half-mile or so to the bus stop at Main and Orlando.
“The Pink route also services Uptown Station, so they can make transfers. This is a great alternative for those individuals that say they can not access Main Street and walk that distance from Orlando-Northbrook,” said Thorne.
The Olive line, which is expected to stop running at the end of the month, picks up riders at Orlando-Northbrook every hour. The Pink line would come every two hours.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
