Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson is calling for the county to close the homeless encampment at the Thomson property sooner than September 1, as originally planned.

County officials posted a notice at the site August 3 citing county code that prohibits camping, dumping trash and storing personal items on county land without permission.

But Thomson said she wants the camp closed sooner, citing escalating safety concerns. This comes after two separate reports of shots fired at the encampment in the past week.

In a statement, Thomson said “given the repeated safety concerns we have seen, I do not believe September 1 is soon enough. I urge our County partners to move that timeline forward. The City stands ready to support an accelerated closure.”

The city said police have increased patrols in the area and coordinated social services and resources for those at the camp.

The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce issued a news release yesterday, asking the county and city to take joint action to speed up efforts to close the encampment.

“County officials have already recognized that this encampment cannot remain, and the events over the past week underscore the extreme gravity of the situation,” chamber president Eric Spoonmore said in the release.

“By looking beyond jurisdictional boundaries and bringing the right people to the table immediately, we can bring the encampment to a safe, orderly close before further tragedies occur,” Spoonmore said.

The encampment is on county-owned property, so county officials must make the call to move up the closure.