Tag: Don Griffin

Poll: Big majority of Monroe County voters still unsure in 2024 local primary races, but trends visible

With three weeks left before the May 7 primary Election Day, a scientific poll shows most voters still unsure about their choice of candidates in local Monroe County races.

In the three-way race for the Democratic Party’s nomination for District 3 Monroe County commissioner, 60 percent of poll respondents are still unsure.

But among those who have made up their minds, it’s a dead heat between incumbent Penny Githens and challenger Jody Madeira, each of whom had support from 15 percent of respondents. At 10 percent is Steve Volan. Continue reading “Poll: Big majority of Monroe County voters still unsure in 2024 local primary races, but trends visible” →

Bloomington Police HQ notebook: Griffin Realty paid for police station marketing services on hourly basis

The aerial image looking to the east is from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Griffin Realty offices lookin south on College Avenue. (B Square file photo)
The 3rd Street Bloomington police station (B Square file photo)

On Tuesday night, a payment of $11,250 to Griffin Realty was approved by Bloomington’s board of public works. The payment was part of the board’s routine authorization of claims that appear at the end of every board meeting agenda.

The payment to Griffin Realty was for work that was done by the real estate firm in the fall of last year, to advertise and market the city’s 3rd Street police station headquarters.

At that time, the plan that former Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s administration had set in motion was to sell the police station, and to use the proceeds from the sale to help pay for the renovations to the Showers West building, which was supposed to be the future home of the police department.

When the Bloomington’s city council voted unanimously in mid-December last year, to reject a proposed $4.4-million sale of the police station building, that meant Griffin Realty did not receive its 4-percent commission.

Griffin Realty is owned by former Bloomington deputy mayor Don Griffin, who was unsuccessful in his 2023 bid for election as mayor.

If the deal had been approved by the city council, the $4.4-million sale to GMS-Pavillion would have translated into a payment of $176,000 to Griffin’s firm.

The much smaller amount that Griffin Realty was paid does not appear to be spelled out explicitly in the original contract.

But an amendment to the agreement does specify compensation in addition to the 4-percent commission. The amendment calls for compensation at a rate of $150 per hour for the marketing services that Griffin Realty provided.

At Tuesday’s board of public works meeting, Bloomington’s director of public works, Adam Wason, told the board that the city’s legal department, the controller’s office and Griffin Realty had discussed the compensation for the real estate firm’s effort and concluded the contract amendment was “a fair way to compensate for the services provided.”

The amendment does not appear to be dated, but the original file name of the document, which was provided to The B Square by city attorney Larry Allen, includes the string “20231222.” That suggests the amendment was signed on Dec. 22, 2023, about a week after the city council’s vote.

The invoice for the work submitted by Griffin Realty  says the firm put in a total of 75 hours starting on Oct. 24, 2023, averaging about 8.5 hours a week. The work included “doing research, preparing materials for marketing, general marketing, data input in Multiple Listing Service and LoopNet,” according to the invoice.

The work also included “communicating with prospects, preparing a purchase agreement for buyer #1, presenting it to the City, preparing counter offers and presenting to each side,” according to the invoice.

The three offers secured by Griffin Realty were for $4.4 million, $3.2 million and $4.85 million.

Given that new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s administration has now changed course on the Showers West project, there does not appear to be any realistic chance the city would sell the 3rd Street police station anytime soon.

But under the terms of the amended agreement, Griffin Realty could eventually see a bigger payment than the $11,250 approved by the board of public works on Tuesday. One scenario where that could happen would entail the city’s eventual sale the property, to one of the three buyers from which Griffin received offers. In that scenario, Griffin Realty would be paid 4 percent of the gross sale price—minus the $11,250.

Transit notebook: Bloomington heads towards more cashless fares, year-end housekeeping

Bloomington Transit (BT) is looking to switch to a fare collection system where almost all passengers who pay to board the bus will do it with an electronic transaction.

At its meeting last Tuesday, the BT board authorized general manager John Connell to negotiate an agreement with Cubic Transportation Systems for the purchase of electronic fare collection system software.

The amount of the agreement with Cubic, which is headquartered in San Diego, is not supposed to be more than $1.5 million.

BT currently has an agreement with Token Transit, to provide one way of paying for rides with a smartphone.  And Token Transit was one of the companies that responded to BT’s request for proposals, along with Masabi. But Cubic wound up as the preferred vendor. Continue reading “Transit notebook: Bloomington heads towards more cashless fares, year-end housekeeping” →

Griffin Realty to market, generate bids for Bloomington police station

Former deputy mayor Don Griffin (Oct. 10, 2023)
Board of public works from left: Jane Kupersmith, Elizabeth Karon, Kyla Cox Deckard (Oct. 23, 2023)
Bloomington corporation counsel (Oct. 23, 2023)
Looking southeast on 3rd Street. The image is from Google Street View
The aerial image is from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

Griffin Realty will be marketing and generating bids for Bloomington’s 3rd Street police station, in connection with a notice of sale approved by the board of public works in the last week of September.

According to the professional services agreement that Bloomington mayor John Hamilton was expected to sign this Monday, Griffin Realty will be paid 4 percent of the gross proceeds from the sale of the police station.

If the building sells for the minimum of $3.2 million in the notice of public offering that amount would mean $128,000 for the former deputy mayor, Don Griffin’s firm.

News of the pending contract signing was conveyed to the board of public works by Bloomington corporation counsel Beth Cate at its Monday noon (Oct. 23) work session.

Cate was updating the board, because the contract with Griffin Realty had originally appeared on the board’s Oct. 9 meeting agenda. But the board voted to remove it from the agenda at the administration’s request.

In Cate’s final legal analysis, which she conveyed to the board this Monday, the board was not actually required to approve that kind of contract. So she was there in part to let the board know the real estate services contract would not appear on this week’s Tuesday agenda. Continue reading “Griffin Realty to market, generate bids for Bloomington police station” →

Bloomington Transit board OKs budget for presentation to city council, plans for limited replacement of Rural Transit service

From left: John Connell, Don Griffin, James McLary

Bloomington Transit’s 2024 budget, as adopted by the board at its meeting last Tuesday, is about $280,000 more than the draft presented a month ago by BT general manager John Connell.

At around $26.6 million, it’s still less than this year’s $35-million budget, which included significant amounts for acquisition of new buses.

The other notable topic of discussion at Tuesday’s board meeting was the city council’s action, taken the previous week, to give BT the legal authority to operate outside the city limits of Bloomington anywhere in Monroe County.

Still to be negotiated are interlocal agreements between BT and other entities, so that BT can provide service to non-city residents who previously were served by Rural Transit. Under the ordinance, the interlocal agreements have to be “equitable in relation to the level of support city residents already provide to the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation.”

Continue reading “Bloomington Transit board OKs budget for presentation to city council, plans for limited replacement of Rural Transit service” →

Bloomington mayor calls Hopewell groundbreaking a “once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city”

Hopewell West Primary Plat
Hopewell West Primary Plat

On Friday afternoon, a day with partly cloudy skies and a temperature around 80 degrees, about 60 local leaders gathered at the now empty grassy lot on the south side of 2nd Street, between Rogers Street and The B-Line Trail.

They were assembled to mark the groundbreaking for the Hopewell neighborhood, which will be constructed at the site of the former IU Health hospital, where the health care provider operated its facility until December 2021.

Delivering remarks on Friday were Bloomington mayor John Hamilton, followed by Cindy Kinnarney, who is president of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission, and by Mick Renneisen, who is president of the board for the nonprofit called City of Bloomington Capital Improvements, Inc.

Hamilton led off his remarks by saying, “We are here to break ground on this once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city.” Continue reading “Bloomington mayor calls Hopewell groundbreaking a “once-in-a-century opportunity to create a new neighborhood in the heart of our beloved city”” →

Carmichael to step down as Bloomington deputy mayor, Hamilton taps assistant city attorney for job

Mary Catherine Carmichael is stepping down as Bloomington’s deputy mayor effective July 28.

Assistant city attorney Larry Allen has been appointed by Bloomington mayor John Hamilton to replace Carmichael starting July 29.

That’s according to a news release from the mayor’s office around noon on Friday.

The news marks the first of what could be additional transitions at city hall, ahead of the anticipated inauguration of a new mayor, Kerry Thomson, to start 2024. Thomson won the Democratic Party primary, and there’s no opponent on the Nov. 7 ballot. Continue reading “Carmichael to step down as Bloomington deputy mayor, Hamilton taps assistant city attorney for job” →

Bloomington primary election 2023 photos: A look back to the distant past of one week ago

Wildlife was not allowed to vote at Bloomington High School South—there’s no election-deering allowed within 50 feet of the polls. (May 2, 2023)
Don Griffin (May 2, 2023)
Kerry Thomson (May 2, 2023)
Don Griffin (May 2, 2023)
Kerry Thomson (May 2, 2023)

For the B Square’s day-of election coverage last Tuesday, words and numbers took priority over photographs.

But a complete record surely demands some photos, even if they’re late.

In that spirit, below is a set of photographs, in mostly chronological order, as they were taken during the day—at different polling places and then at the Cascades Inn where the local Democrats gathered to celebrate their victories. Continue reading “Bloomington primary election 2023 photos: A look back to the distant past of one week ago” →

2023 Bloomington Democratic Party Primary: Mapping out the mayoral results

It’s no longer breaking news that Kerry Thomson won the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor of Bloomington in Tuesday’s election.

Bloomington 2023 Mayoral Primary. Kerry Thomson’s Percentage of the Vote by Precinct. The image links to a dynamic version of the map. Data for all candidates can be downloaded via the dynamic map.

Thomson’s 3,444 votes gave her about 43 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent (2,644) for Susan Sandberg and 24 percent (1,924) for Don Griffin.

The county clerk’s office has now released the precinct-by-precinct totals. Thomson won 30 of the city’s 47 precincts. Sandberg won 6 of them, and Griffin won 9.

Who won the remaining two precincts?

In Richland 09, not one of the 13 registered voters participated in the primary, so it was a three-way tie at zero.

In Perry 15, which includes an older central Bloomington neighborhood northeast of Bryan Park, Thomson and Sandberg tied with 105 votes apiece. Griffin tallied 32 votes in Perry 15.

Those totals are all unofficial. The results won’t become final until provisional ballots have been adjudicated by the election board. Adjudication of provision ballots is scheduled for next Friday, May 12. Continue reading “2023 Bloomington Democratic Party Primary: Mapping out the mayoral results” →