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Purchase offers for Bloomington police station: Board of public works to mull proposals on Friday

Purchase offers for Bloomington police station: Board of public works to mull proposals on Friday
Park gets new name By Christy Mullins 331-42661 cmullins@heraldt.com The small public park on Third Street behind the Bloomington Police Department now bears the name of three prominent Bloomington families who deeded the land decades ago. In a celebration Sunday, the park was rededicated as the Waldron, Hill and Buskirk Park. Members of each family attended, some from as far as New York, to thank the city for its recognition. But “the families didn’t seek this,” Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan said. About a year ago, curious resident Evelyn Powers found the deed to Third Street Park on microfilm and brought it to Kruzan, the city’s parks director and the city’s legal department for some answers. The original deed stat- ed that the park would be named after the three famP lies who sold the land to the city in the early 1920s — for a lump sum of $5,400. Until Sunday, the land had been known as Third Street Park, although officials aren’t sure why. “Of course I thought she was wrong," Kruzan said. “There was no way. But she was right. "Some might say gov- ernment works slowly, but today we’re getting it right.” In the background, hun- dreds of people occupied the park, finishing a 5K walk through Bloomington for homelessness awareness. A smaller crowd gathered for the rededication cer- emony. Kruzan and others acknowledged that the park has remained free and open to the public, even during special events at its amphi- theater. “Call this park what you want,” said Nat U. Hill, rep- resenting the Hill family. "So long as you maintain the belief that it should remain a free, public park."

At a 3 p.m. public hearing on Friday, Bloomington’s board of public works is set to consider three purchase offers that have been received for the city’s police station.

Under state law, the board’s role is not to approve one of the offers. It is Bloomington’s city council that has to approve the sale.

The board is just supposed to make a recommendation, then notify the mayor of that recommendation. The wording of the state law goes like this: “…the executive shall designate a board or commission of the municipality to give notice, conduct the hearing, and notify the executive of its recommendation.”

[Updated On Dec. 8, 2023 at 4:11 p.m. At the conclusion of the public hearing, at which just three people spoke, the three-member board voted 2–0 to forward no recommendation to the city council. Board member Jane Kupersmith recused herself from the vote, citing as the reason her pending appointment by mayor-elect Kerry Thomson as head of the city’s department of economic and sustainable development.  The three purchase offers are available on BloomDocs.org]

Even if the board of public works were to recommend against selling the police station, the question could still get a vote by the city council.

Outgoing Bloomington mayor John Hamilton wants to put the question of a sale on the council’s meeting agenda for next Wednesday, Dec. 13. That is the city council’s final scheduled meeting of the year.

Dec. 13 is also the final scheduled council meeting for the current four-year council term. For five of the nine councilmembers, who won’t return to the council in 2024, the decision on the sale of the police station will possibly be the final vote of their council careers.

Not returning in 2024 are: Susan Sandberg, Steve Volan, Ron Smith, Sue Sgambelluri and Jim Sims.

But it’s not clear whether on Friday the board of public works will take action on a recommendation. The window of opportunity for someone to make a purchase offer on the police station does not close until next Tuesday, Dec. 12.

If the board puts off making a recommendation, by delaying for a short time, then it’s conceivable that a special council meeting would be called, in order for a council decision to be made before the end of the year. It also is conceivable that the board of public works could put off making a recommendation until next year. That would push any council decision to next year.

Hamilton is a Democrat, who did not seek re-election to a third four-year term. Incoming mayor-elect Kerry Thomson is also a Democrat, who was unopposed in the November election. She prevailed in a three-way primary.

Thomson has asked that Hamilton refrain from making strategic decisions that will have an impact past the end of the year—decisions like the sale of the police station.

The sale of the police station is part of Hamilton’s plan to move police operations into Showers West, which is the  western part of the 110-year-old brick former furniture factory that already houses city hall.

Three purchase offers have been received so far by the city—one for $3.2 million, another for $4.4 million, and a third one that is higher than $4.4 million. When deputy mayor Larry Allen revealed the purchase offer amounts, at Monday’s city council work session, he did not specify how much higher than $4.4 million the third offer was.

The lowest of the three offers was right at the $3.2-million minimum, which is specified in the city’s notice of sale, published on Oct. 11. That figure also matched the lower of two fair market appraisals that were obtained by the city.

The offer of $4.4 million matches the higher of the two fair market appraisals that were obtained by the city.

The police station is located at the corner of 3rd and Lincoln streets, north of The Waldron, Hill, and Buskirk Park. But the building stands on part of the land that was conveyed to the city in 1923 by members of the families for which the park is now named.

The deed restriction also requires that the land be maintained as a free public park. The legal position of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s administration appears to rely at least in part on the fact that the specific land in question has not been used as a public park since 1963, when the building was constructed.

In any event, Hamilton’s administration does not think the deed restriction would prevent the sale of the building. A counter to that view is provided in a  recent letter to Hamilton from Philip C. Hill, a descendant of the families that owned the land that became a city park

It was not until 2011, under then-mayor Mark Kruzan’s administration, that the city made good on the requirement in the deed that the park be named as it is now.

Attending that renaming ceremony on April 10, 2011 were: Kruzan; Bloomington resident Evelyn Powers, who brought the deed restriction to Kruzan’s attention; and two descendants of the families that conveyed the land to the city—Nat U. Hill IV and Gary Chumley.

Also attending the ceremony was Geoff McKim, a Monroe County resident, who is also one of seven county councilors who make up the county’s fiscal body. McKim took the photographs below, which The B Square shares with his permission.

Renaming ceremony for The Waldron, Hill, and Buskirk Park (April 10, 2011)

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