$370K for security in 2025 OK’d by Bloomington park commissioners, will push total since 2021 to $1M+

On Tuesday, a $370,000 contract  with Marshall Security, Inc (MSI) was approved by Bloomington’s board of park commissioners at its regular monthly meeting.

Based on payments recorded in Bloomington’s online financial system, from 2021 through mid-November 2024, the city of Bloomington has paid $950,019 to MSI for security in the city’s parks.

By the end of 2025, that figure will reach around $1.3 million.

According to the memo from parks operations coordinator Amy Leyenbeck, which is included in the meeting information packet, based on the incident reports in the parks to be patrolled by MSI, “there is a daily need for [MSI’s] presence.”

The patrols by MSI are provided by “unarmed uniformed security officers.”

The memo continues, “We look forward to continuing the contract into another year to help promote a safe environment at our core parks and trails throughout 2025.”

[Added Nov. 13, 2024. All of Switchyard Park is to be patrolled under the terms of the contract.] The core parks and trails to be patrolled by MSI include the following [(+) indicates a location with a restroom that security staff will lock nightly]:

• Seminary Park
• B-Line Trail
• Building Trades Park (+)
• RCA Park (+)
• Butler Park (+)
• Rose Hill Cemetery
• Crestmont Park
• Hopewell Commons
• Miller Showers Park
• Waldron, Hill, and Buskirk Park
• People’s Park

The following locations will be visited once per evening for a security check and to lock restrooms:

• Olcott Park (+)
• Winslow Sports Park (+)
• Lower Cascades Park (+)
• Bryan Park (+)

Giving the presentation to the board on the agenda item was Rebecca Swift, who is the parks operations and development director.

Swift told the board that MSI is the current provider of security services for the parks, and that the department received only one proposal, from MSI.

About MSI’s performance up to now, Swift stated “We are satisfied with their services.”

Compared to last year’s contract, Swift said that there was a cost of living adjustment and a change to the scheduling of patrols. A question from board president Kathleen Mills drew out the fact that the change to the schedule was to eliminate the coverage from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Swift said that there were not a lot of incident reports coming in during that time span, and parks staff report to work shortly after that anyway, starting between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

It was in mid-2021,  when the board of park commissioners first hired MSI. In early 2022, the scope of MSI’s coverage was expanded to include more parks.

Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) also contracts with MSI for security, for the properties that are awaiting development in the planned Hopewell neighborhood, which is on and around the site of the former IU Health hospital at 2nd and Rogers streets.

In September, the RDC approved revision to the MSI contract to extend it to March of 2025. In the table below, the the RDC’s expenditures are reflected in those for the HAND department.