Bloomington Mayor Announces Three New Task Forces

Last updated on Tuesday, January 12, 2016

(BLOOMINGTON) - Fulfilling another campaign promise, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton announced the formation of three new task forces: Wage Growth, Fiscal Control and Government Innovation.

The Wage Growth task force will be charged with answering questions like the following in order to move Bloomington to a stronger, more sustainable economy:

What are the most successful cities in America doing to help build a stronger, more sustainable economy?
What key resources exist in Bloomington that can be coordinated, aligned, to help achieve a better economy?
What are some tangible steps that key local players could take to improve the economic future for all our residents?

Wage Growth task force members include:

David Audretsch Distinguished Professor, Ameritech Chair of Economic Development, SPEA
Jerry Conover Director, Indiana Business Research Center of Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Lynn Coyne President and CEO, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation
John Fernandez Bloomington Mayor 19952002 and current U.S. Chief Innovation Officer and Partner with Dentons
Jane Martin Cofounder, Spring Mill Venture Partners
William Morris Attorney with Indiana Legal Services, expertise in housing, employment law and social justice initiatives
Tina Peterson President and CEO, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County
Ron Walker Vice President, Commercial Real Estate, CFC Properties

Members of the Wage Growth task force have been asked to report the results of their efforts in approximately 12 months.

The City of Bloomington Director of Economic and Sustainable Development will support their efforts.

The Fiscal Control task force is charged with reviewing fiscal operations, systems, protocols, management and resources in the city and provide a review and recommendations regarding the following:

Are the fiscal systems and protocols appropriate for a city of our size and activities?
Are there areas of weakness or vulnerability that should be improved?
Is our capacity to manage and forecast our fiscal situation adequate?
Are there practical ways our city can better manage and deploy fiscal resources?

Fiscal Control task force members include:

Mike Claytor Past Partner, Crowe Horwath
Tedd Green President, Cook Pharmica
MaryFrances McCourt (invited, pending agreement), Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer of Indiana University

The City of Bloomington Controller and Corporation Counsel will provide staff support to this task force, which has been asked to report their findings and recommendations in three months.

The Government Innovation taskforce has been asked to review current local government operations and consider how potential new systems, approaches and technologies might benefit city operations.

The Government Innovation task force has been asked to consider questions such as the following:

What are the most successful cities in America doing to help create and operate a responsive, transparent, efficient, engaged government?
What key resources exist in Bloomington that can be coordinated and aligned to help achieve a better government?
What have we tried in the past that has worked well, or not so well to improve our city's operations?
What are some tangible steps that key local players could take to improve the performance of our government?

Government Innovation members recruited to date include:

Daniel Bingham Software developer, writer, sustainability advocate and economic democracyactivist
Alex Crowley Managing Director, Excello Solutions
Christian Freitag Attorney and Director, Sycamore Land Trust
Kathy Gutowsky Expertise in information architecture, communications, technology solutions
Darryl Neher Senior Lecturer at Indiana University Kelley School of Business, former Bloomington City Council member Mike Trotzke Cofounder, Managing Member, Sprout Box

Three additional members will be recruited from front line City of Bloomington employees.

This task force has been asked to present their findings and recommendations in approximately six months. It will recieve support from the Office of the Mayor and the Information Technology Department.

"We are bringing together a smart, experienced and creative group of residents to address important problems in our community with these task forces. I marvel at our talent pool, and the generosity of time demonstrated by everyone agreeing to serve their fellow residents in this way. I look forward with genuine excitement to see what these groups of bright people tell us. This input will inform the way we look at our city going forward", Hamilton stated.

1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com

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