By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – There’s an attempt to wrestle away some of the power of Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner, and the alderman who’s making the proposal has been critical recently of matters that have come to the city council.

Renner, under Alderman David Sage’s proposal, would no longer have the authority to place an item on city council meeting agendas.

Instead, a council majority of five aldermen would have to agree on the agenda topic.

In a staff report to the council, Renner said he should be able to unilaterally choose agenda items because he’s the only citywide elected official.

Back in August, Sage scolded Renner for placing on the agenda a proposal to hire a mayoral aide without the backing of a council majority.

Sage also criticized discussions about building a new library at Market and Monroe, when most aldermen already indicated they preferred construction at the current library site.

Sage obtained the signatures of five aldermen to discuss the matter at Monday night’s committee-of-the-whole meeting.

Aldermen who signed the request were Mboka Mwilambwe, Joni Painter, Karen Schmidt, Diana Hauman, and Kimberly Bray.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]