Bloomington City Council vacancy draws 22 applicants

Bloomington City Council members will interview 22 candidates in January to fill an at-large seat until city elections next year.

The council seat is opening because at-large Council Member Nathan Coulter is stepping down from his city post after being elected in November to serve as a state representative.

Coulter was first elected to the council in 2017 after serving on the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, and had worked in the staff of the state Legislature.

Bloomington opened applications on Dec. 8 to city residents to apply to fill the council vacancy until city elections in November 2023. During a two-week application period in December, 22 residents submitted applications.

Sitting City Council members are set to interview candidates for the seat during special council meetings scheduled for the first week of January. Finalists will be invited to speak at another special council meeting Jan. 11, and the appointment will be announced during the Jan. 23 meeting.

The appointed council member will serve until city elections in November. The person elected to Coulter's at-large seat will only be elected to a two-year term. The next election for the seat in 2025 will be for a full four-year term.

Bloomington City Clerk Christina Scipioni said the applicants are:

David Arbit, Adam Carvel, David Clark, Maxwell Collins, Maureen Failor, Michael Farnham, Cathy Gustafson, Danielle Indovino Cawley, Dale Johnson, Phil Koktan, Alba Nelly Korman, Theodore Lockhart, Ted Moore, Chao Moua, Ricardo Oliva, Amos J. Olivarez, Joey Oslund, Beth Pollack, Sam Puppe, Ryan Simonis, Adam Spears and Kathleen Stoehr.

Oliva ran for the at-large seat in 2021, but placed third in the first round of ranked-choice votes.

Bloomington last filled a vacant at-large council position in 2016, according to city communications administrator Janine Hill. That year, 32 Bloomington residents submitted applications and 29 were interviewed. The city also filled a vacancy for the Second District seat in 2017 — that vacancy drew 13 applicants, Hill said.