Showers West construction contracts on hold until after Kerry Thomson becomes Bloomington mayor
At its regular meeting on Monday, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) let four resolutions die that would have approved separate construction contract awards for the Showers West renovation and remodeling project.
That does not mean the contracts themselves are dead.
It just means that the contracts, which totaled around $12.7 million, could be up for a vote sometime in January 2024—but maybe not as soon as the very next meeting of Bloomington’s RDC, which is scheduled for Jan. 2.
The winning bids, which included a base plus some additional money for an IT room were: SCS Construction Services, Inc. (general trades) for $4,623,400; Multicraft Fire Protection (fire protection) for $310,500; Harrell-Fish Inc (mechanical and plumbing) for $4,128,000; and Cassady Electric (electric) for $3,655,900.
The Showers West project is supposed to remodel the portion of the city hall building that was purchased early this year, to make the 110-year-old brick former factory building into a suitable home for the fire department administration and police department operations.
Part of outgoing mayor John Hamilton’s plan was to sell the city’s 3rd Street police station, and move police operations to Showers West. Last Wednesday, the city council voted unanimously to reject the sale of the police station, at least for now.
Hamilton appeared in person in front of the RDC on Monday to advocate for going ahead and approving the construction contracts. Councilmember Matt Flaherty also appeared in person to urge approval of the construction contracts.
As she did on Wednesday, mayor-elect Kerry Thomson weighed in from the public mic on the Zoom video conferencing platform to advocate for putting off a decision.
Thomson said on Monday, “I wanted to ask you all to wait for the new administration to have an opportunity to review these bids in detail and ensure that there’s proper contingency and funding for all of the equipment and other needs before we move forward.”
Based on information presented to the RDC on Monday, there’s a contingency of about $700,000 which is about 5.5 percent of a construction budget of $12.7 million.
Thomson served as CEO of Habitat for Humanity for 20 years. At Monday’s meeting, Thomson said, “As someone who has run multiple construction projects, this is a 100-year-old building, and in a commercial project this size, the contingency ought to be 10 percent.” Thomson continued, “And I’d like better assurance that we have a balance available to complete this work, before we sign a binding document.”
Bloomington RDC member Randy Cassady, owner of Cassady Electric, recused himself from discussion and deliberation on all the construction contract awards.
With Cassady on the sidelines, that left the board with four voting members, who needed a three-vote majority to take any action. But when they voted on a motion to postpone the general trades contract to a date certain, the tally was 2–2—so the motion to postpone failed. No one seconded the motion to approve the general trades contract. So the motion to approve died for lack of a second.
RDC president Cindy Kinnarney handled the other contracts as a batch, with the same result.
In favor of postponement were Deborah Myerson and Deb Hutton. RDC members are appointed for one-year terms, ending at the year’s end—three by the mayor and two by the city council. Myerson is a city council appointee to the RDC. Hutton was appointed by the mayor.
Cindy Kinnarney and Sarah Bauerle Danzman, both mayoral appointees, were in favor going ahead and approving the contracts on Monday night. Cassady, who recused himself, is a city council appointee.
When the RDC takes up the contracts in 2024, the composition of the group will be different by at least one member. Bauerle Danzman said that she was “cycling off” the commission at the end of the year.
At Monday’s meeting, presenting a case for the urgency of the work on Showers West was fire chief Jason Moore, whose resignation from the position is effective at year’s end. Moore resigned as chief just days after Thomson had announced that she would be keeping him on in her administration.
The fire department’s Fire Station 1 on 4th Street was damaged in the 2021 Kirkwood Avenue flood, and is currently operating out of a temporary location on the former Bunger & Robertson property, at 4th Street and College Avenue, across 3rd Street from the Monroe Convention Center. The temporary location has allowed the fire department to consolidate around 20 administrative staff in one place, Moore said on Monday.
The partial reconstruction and renovation of the flood-damaged Station 1, along wih the Showers West renovation, is part of the set of public safety projects that a $29.5 million city-council-approved bond issuance is supposed to help pay for. The construction contracts for Station 1 have been approved and that work is already underway. Station 1 is expected to be ready for service in late 2024.
That is a time frame that would allow the firefighters who currently work out of the temporary location to move back to Station 1, before the planned construction of a convention center expansion would start on the former Bunger & Robertson property. That’s based on the April 2025 construction mobilization called for in a presentation given last week to the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB).
But Moore stressed at Monday’s meeting that there’s no place for the administrative personnel to go, once they leave the temporary location at the former Bunger & Robertson property. Moore said that there is no space for the fire department’s administration designed into the renovation plans for Station 1. Before they were consolidated at the temporary location there were 20 admin positions “spread out all over the city,” Moore said.
Moore continued, “The temporary headquarters gave us the option to finally bring us all into one roof, and really improve our operations, maintaining that cohesiveness with the rest of our team.” Adding the mobile integrated health care team meant a total of about 20 people, Moore said, who would have no place to go when the Bunger & Robertson property has to be vacated. That’s why Moore sees the Showers West project as vital for the future of the fire department.
At Monday’s meeting, county attorney Jeff Cockerill addressed the Bloomington RDC in the context of the use of the former Bunger & Robertson property for the convention center expansion. There was not a specific request that Cockerill made—he was there mainly as a kind of emissary on behalf of the CIB, to confirm that the property could be available for use in the convention center expansion.
RDC president Cindy Kinnarney confirmed for Cockerill that her understanding is that the Bunger & Robertson property had been purchased by the RDC with an eye towards its use for the convention center expansion. Whether there would be a dollar amount connected with its use, Kinnarney did not know. The purchase price for the real estate was nearly $5 million.
In the long history of negotiations between Bloomington and Monroe County government about the convention center expansion, the city government has expressed an interest in getting reimbursed for the purchase price of that land. The interlocal agreement on the topic, which has been approved on the side of the city, does not appear to hard-wire a reimbursement into it.
The wording says that the “parties shall in good faith review and negotiate regarding such requests [for use of real property]” The interlocal agreement has not yet been ratified by the county government.
Thomson’s turn at the public mic came after Moore’s remarks. She took up the issue of the convention center expansion. Thomson said, “That convention center move is not imminent.” Thomson continued, “While I understand the outgoing fire chief’s concerns, the fire administration is able to stay in the 4th and College [former Bunger & Robertson] property for the foreseeable future.”
Thomson added that even when firefighters move from the temporary location back to Station 1, the fire department administration can stay at the temporary headquarters. Thomson said, “The decision for the convention center space has not been made as of yet.”
Thomson also pointed out that the construction bids that the RDC was considering on Monday were good for another 100 days. Under the terms of the bid agreements, low bidders cannot withdraw the bid for six months (180 days) after the bids are opened. Bids were opened on Dec. 11.
Here’s how the bid agreement wording reads:
WITHDRAWAL OF BID: No Contractor may withdraw his/her Bid for a period of sixty (60) days after the date and hour set for the opening, and the Bidders submitting the three lowest Bids may not withdraw their Bid for a period of one-hundred eighty (180) days after the opening date. A Bidder may withdraw his/her Bid at any time prior to the expiration of the Bid period during which Bids may be submitted by a written request signed in the same manner and by the same person who signed the Bid.
