By Sam Thomas
BLOOMINGTON – Sue Feldkamp has no intention of stepping down from her position on Bloomington’s Liquor Commission.
She made it made known during public comment at Monday night’s City Council meeting that her resignation would mean the loss of a citizen voice on liquor commission matters.
“I, Sue Feldkamp, will not be resigning from the liquor commission,” she said. “It is very important to have citizens on every committee, board and commission. If I step away from this position the license holders in the community will lose the opportunity to have a citizen listen and work with them.”
Mayor Tari Renner requested that commission members Feldkamp and James Jordan step down from their positions effective Oct. 1. Jordan was appointed by unanimous motion to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners Monday night.
Renner said transparency issues are the driving force behind his asking members of the liquor commission to submit their resignations.
“They were making the perverse argument that I couldn’t talk to either of the two people I had appointed to help me,” he remarked. “So until that is resolved I wasn’t going to continue with two (members). And I felt adding more would say, ‘OK, I’m doing this to prove your point.’ I’m not going to do anything to prove anyone else’s point.”
Feldkamp said she plans to be in attendance at Tuesday night liquor commission meeting.
Alderman Kevin Lower said Feldkamp was just trying to lend a helping hand.
“The issue here, I think, is asking someone to resign,” he said. “How do you deal with that when she really wanted to be involved? She took offense to it.”
In other happenings at Monday night’s meeting, the purchase of a long-term but temporary building for sheltering Public Works vehicles was unanimously approved. The structure will provide protection to snow removal vehicles as the winter season approaches.
Sam Thomas can be reached at Sam@WJBC.com.
