The Bloomington City Council heard a presentation Wednesday on a proposed new city logo brand strategy, with several members questioning the rebrand.
Bloomington Communications Director Desiree DeMolina and CivicBrand co-founder Ryan Short presented the report, which focused on “Unlocking Potential” in Bloomington’s branding. CivicBrand serves as the city’s branding consultant.
“The work is about opportunity and how we create more opportunity for more people, more businesses and more community partners,” DeMolina said. “And in turn, how that spurs and supports better jobs, better wages and a stronger local economy.”
One of the largest components of the proposal is changing the current city logo to a stylized "B” icon. The current logo, adopted in 1986, is a combination of the peony and the trout lily flowers and is based off quilt patterns used predominantly by regional folk artists during the 19th century, according to the original resolution.
The brand change was inspired by a 2016 Wage Growth Task Force Initiative, which recommended branding as one way to “accelerate wage growth and reverse economic underperformance.”
It wasn’t until 2025 that Bloomington began a citywide branding initiative. The city council approved a $95,000 contract with the Colorado-based CivicBrand in the 2025 city budget, with research beginning March 2025 and a final payment for the contract occurring November of the same year.
The new logo, which gained traction Aug. 30, has received pushback, with online users critiquing the city’s use of funding. Councilmembers Andy Ruff, Hopi Stosberg, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Dave Rollo and Council Vice President Sydney Zulich shared similar sentiments at the meeting and questioned the reason for the rebranding of Bloomington.
Rollo worried the logo looked “generic,” comparing it to other similar icons, including Brandicts LLC and Elastic Beats.
Bloomington mayoral candidate Zulich spoke against the new branding, questioning DeMolina on why the city didn’t collaborate with a local business for the branding project.
“I just don’t understand why we don't trust our own people to know who we are because I think that we do,” Zulich said. “I don’t think we need anyone else to tell us who we are, certainly not for $95,000.”
The new branding will be implemented gradually, according to the session’s agenda, replacing physical items only as they wear out or need replacement, though the city seal itself can only be changed by a council approved ordinance.
Other action items
Assistant City Attorney Enedina Kassamanian introduced an ordinance, sponsored by Rollo, to permanently amend job titles, including replacing “Senior Police Officer” with “Officer First Class” and “Officer First Class” with “Officer Second Class,” to align with the Fraternal Order of Police’s collective bargaining agreement, which covers 2027 until 2030. The ordinance passed 9-0.
The Indiana Public Retirement System, an asset managing public service, uses the titles as a benchmark for calculating retirement base salary, so the job title ordinance is expected to increase retirement contributions. This change carries an approximate fiscal impact of $450,000 in additional retirement fund contributions over the next four years.
Additionally, the council passed two resolutions sponsored by Rollo that contain changes in salary and pay schedules for first responders. The changes impact vacation schedules and accumulation, grievance procedures, clothing allowance and group insurance.
The resolutions approve the collective bargaining agreement for the Fraternal Order of Police, from 2027 to 2030, and Local 586 Firefighter, covering 2027 to 2028.
The council also unanimously passed an ordinance sponsored by Council President Isak Nti Asare that establishes guidelines and reviews processes for additional alcoholic beverage permits in Bloomington, including a new class of on-premises alcohol permits downtown.
These new permits stem from Senate Enrolled Act 89, granting Bloomington and other select cities two additional three-way liquor permits. Three-way liquor permits combine a beer retailer permit, a wine retailer permit and a liquor retailer permit into one classification.
The council's next regular session is Sept. 16. in City Hall.
