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Bloomington mayor warns SEA 285 will sharply limit notice for outdoor encampment removals
Summary
At a city town hall, Mayor Kerry said SEA 285 — a state house bill taking effect July 1 — reduces required notice for clearing outdoor encampments to 48 hours and could lead to arrests if alternative shelter is unavailable; the city says outreach and 30‑day notices had been its practice and about seven residents now remain in the last encampment.
Mayor Kerry told residents at a June town hall at the Monroe County History Center that SEA 285, a state house bill set to take effect July 1, will limit local options for managing outdoor encampments.
"What the state house ruling says is that we can then only give a 48 hour notice and if there is no alternative place for somebody to go and or they refuse to move that we are compelled to arrest them," Kerry said, warning the change shortens the city's prior practice of providing longer outreach and notice periods.
Kerry said the city has taken a "strategic approach" to entrenched encampments over the past two years, closing more than a dozen sites and reducing the remaining encampment to an estimated seven residents. She described the city’s prior approach as providing 30-day notices plus coordinated outreach and services and said officials prefer voluntary moves to enforcement.
The mayor urged continued use of outreach services and reunification where possible, saying people often get services more successfully when they can reconnect with supportive networks. She also pointed residents seeking help for non‑imminent mental‑health crises to Stride’s mobile outreach, noting Desiree at the table had Stride cards for contact information.
Some residents pushed back on enforcement claims. One bicyclist who said they had been struck by a car two years earlier said that, despite promises of more officers, they still did not see active speed‑enforcement on city streets. "There may be a philosophical objection to having more policing," the bicyclist said, adding they would prefer candor about enforcement priorities.
Kerry acknowledged limits on police resources and said officers do pull drivers over for moving violations when possible, but she emphasized distracted driving as a national factor in increased injuries. She reiterated that the city prefers outreach first and that the new state timeframe could force more abrupt interventions.
The mayor closed by noting a listening session on the Kirkwood closure scheduled the next day at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers and asked residents who could not attend to reach out to their district council member.
