By Heart of Illinois ABC

BLOOMINGTON – Some Bloomington City Council members are in favor of holding a special meeting to discuss a citywide mask ordinance.

During Monday night’s council meeting, City Manager Tim Gleason told the council he is not suggesting the city is heading towards a mask mandate, however, he says the conversation is happening.

“I wanted to inform the elected (officials) and the community, this is not something that corporate council Jeff Jurgens and I feel can be done on my level, at the mayor’s level, and the mayor pro tem with an emergency order, that this is in fact something that would have to come back before council,” Gleason said.

Multiple council members chimed in stating they would be in support of a special meeting regarding a mask ordinance.

“Masks ordinances have been a hot topic, it’s one of those things that means something different to everybody that hears that term. My opinion has continued to be unchanged since the beginning of COVID, that we should do whatever the health department recommends, definitely want to get those under consideration quickly, so I would too sign onto a special meeting should we need one,” council member Scott Black said.

Other council members including Jamie Mathy and Julie Emig agreed they too would sign on to a special meeting.

“I’m really interested in their review in the IDPH region 4 mitigation measures which certainly suggest that their are things that the community can put in place to assist in mitigating this,” council member Julie Emig said.

Gleason added there will be a meeting Tuesday including representatives from Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan, the Town of Normal, McLean County and the City of Bloomington. Those at the meeting will discuss the uptick in numbers and what they can do to address the situation.

The council is expected to make further decisions after Tuesday’s meeting.

Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].