Democratic Party candidate names are in blue. Republican Party candidate names are in red. The locations for dots and labels of candidate names correspond to where the candidates live.
Democratic Party candidate names are in blue. Republican Party candidate names are in red. The locations for dots and labels of candidate names correspond to where the candidates live.
On Jan. 4, residents were able start filing official declarations of candidacy in the 2023 Bloomington primary elections.
But at noon on Friday, the time for filing official paperwork expired.
No unexpected declarations for mayor were recorded on the last day of filing. That means voters across the city in Bloomington’s Democratic Party primary on May 2 will have three mayoral candidates to choose from: Kerry Thomson; Susan Sandberg; and Don Griffin.
And Democrats will have a pool of seven at-large city council candidates—from which to choose three.
There’s only one candidate in the Democratic primary for city clerk—incumbent Nicole Bolden.
Republican voters will have no citywide candidates to choose from.
The one independent candidate for mayor who has filed paperwork to establish a committee is Joseph Davis. But he has not yet submitted the 352 signatures that he needs, in order to be placed on the Nov. 7 general election ballot. The deadline for Davis and any other independent candidates to submit signatures is June 30.
Bloomington city councilmember Susan Sandberg (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Kate Rosenbarger (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington city council member Sue Sgambelluri (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Matt Flaherty (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Steve Volan (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington police chief Mike Diekhoff (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington mayor John Hamilton (Jan. 25, 2023).
Former city councilmember David David Sabbagh speaks against the Showers building purchase (Jan. 25, 2023).
Police union president Paul Post (Jan. 25, 2023).
Bloomington police detective Jeff Rodgers (Jan. 25, 2023).
The view is from the west of the Showers building. The pink outline shows the portion of the building that Bloomington has made an accepted offer to purchase from CFC Properties. The image is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system.
On Wednesday night, Bloomington’s city council took action that will, as councilmember Dave Rollo put it, shape the city’s public safety building footprint “for decades to come.”
The council split 5–4 on a vote to approve the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s purchase agreement with CFC Properties—for the 64,000 square feet in the western portion of the former Showers Brothers furniture factory that currently houses city hall.
Asked by Rollo if he agreed that the “decades-to-come” description of the deal’s impact is accurate, Bloomington’s mayor John Hamilton confirmed that he did.
Bloomington city hall’s footprint inside the former Showers Brothers furniture factory building on Morton Street will expand by 64,000 square feet to include the western portion of the building, where the city’s police station and fire department administrative headquarters will be located.
That’s because at its Wednesday meeting, the city council voted 5–4 to approve an ordinance that appropriates $29.5 million in bond proceeds, which includes $8.75 million for the purchase of the western portion of the Showers building.
It’s part of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s plan to put both the city’s main police station and fire department administration in the same historic city hall building. The proposed move is part of a bigger plan estimated at over $30-million—which includes reconstructing the flood-damaged Fire Station #1 and remodeling Fire Station #3.
Left is the existing 3rd Street Bloomington police station. Right is the western part of the former Showers Brothers factory building currently owned by CFC properties.
A decision on an $8.75-million real estate deal to expand the footprint of city hall inside its existing building has been postponed by Bloomington’s city council.
What has been delayed until next week is a decision to approve the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s purchase agreement for the western part of the former Showers Brothers factory building that houses city hall.
It’s part of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s plan to put both the city’s main police station and fire department administration in the same historic city hall building. The proposed move is part of a bigger plan estimated at over $30-million—which includes reconstructing the flood-damaged Fire Station #1 and remodeling Fire Station #3.
Wednesday’s vote, which was unanimous among the eight councilmembers present, came after more than two hours of deliberations.
Absent was Jim Sims, who in early December described as “a joke” a “Plan B” alternative, which involves just renovation of the existing 3rd Street police station.
The approval of the building purchase is part of the same agenda item as the ordinance that appropriates the proceeds of $29.5 million in bonds that have already been issued. Based on the wording of the bond issuance, the proceeds have to be used for public safety purposes.
Postponement came at the point in the meeting when Ron Smith moved an amendment that would remove from the appropriation ordinance the reference to the building purchase. The amendment would also prohibit use of the bond proceeds for purchase of the Showers building.
Councilmembers will be deciding whether to approve a purchase agreement for the western part of the former Showers Brothers factory building that houses city hall.
It’s part of Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s plan to put both the city’s main police station and fire department administration in the same historic city hall building. The proposed move is part of a bigger plan estimated at over $30-million—which includes reconstructing the flood-damaged Fire Station #1 and remodeling Fire Station #3.
2007 Google Street View: Henderson and Allen streets looking north.
2019 Google Street View: Henderson and Allen streets looking north.
Last Wednesday, a divided Bloomington city council approved new stop signs on Maxwell Lane at Sheridan Drive, making the intersection an all-way stop.
The council’s deliberations were on brand—mired in meaningless debate club theater. The desire to score debate points distracted from a fundamental challenge—the need to identify more funding for infrastructure that benefits pedestrians.
But there’s an upcoming venue where a need for additional funding pedestrian infrastructure could get aired. Sometime in the next few weeks, the four-member city council sidewalk committee will be conducting its annual review of requests for new sidewalk construction.
The committee will be making recommendations on how to divvy up $336,000, which is the same amount as last year. But based on 2019 costs, there’s $17 million worth of requests on list for additional sidewalks, which will take a half century to build at the current pace.
I hope the sidewalk committee members take some of their meeting time to start talking about concrete steps the council could take, working with the mayor, to inject more money into pedestrian infrastructure.
After more than two hours of deliberation on Wednesday, the Bloomington city council postponed until Oct. 6 further consideration of new boundaries for city council districts.
The council’s special meeting, now set for Oct. 6, coincides with the Democratic Party’s Vi Taliaferro Dinner—an annual fundraiser that is scheduled to start at the council’s usual meeting time of 6:30 p.m.
That’s why the all-Democrat council voted 9–0 to convene its special meeting for Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. The council set a time limit of one hour.
The council’s annual calendar had already called for a committee meeting on Oct. 6—which is a Thursday, instead of the usual Wednesday. The one-day shift avoids a conflict with Yom Kippur, which falls on Wednesday. The council canceled that committee meeting in favor of the one-hour special meeting.
On Oct. 6, the council could vote to adopt the new map that has been recommended by Bloomington’s redistricting advisory commission.
Another option would be to reject the map, and send the matter back to the five-member redistricting commission with the reasons for the council’s rejection.
On Wednesday night, Kate Rosenbarger and Steve Volan abstained on the vote granting a $30-million tax abatement for Catalent—but not because they had some financial conflict or even an appearance of one.
The resolution passed with six votes in favor, one more than the five-vote majority it needed.
Rosenbarger was in a quandary—she doesn’t believe in tax abatements generally, but said it was “silly” for Catalent not to pursue the abatement. What was her way out of the dilemma? To abstain.
Volan also said he found the concept of tax abatements problematic, and complained that Catalent was not willing to make some additional commitments—for example, allowing a developer to build housing on Catalent land.
Volan could not vote yes, but wanted to make a “show of good faith to Catalent.” What was his show of good faith? To abstain.
Director of Bloomington’s planning and transportation department, Terri Porter (standing right) addresses city council president Steve Volan on his proposal to create standing committees. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)
The Hooker Conference Room at city hall is packed with city staff on Friday afternoon for a city council work session. (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)
“Is council a co-equal branch of government or isn’t it?” That’s a rhetorical question posed by Steve Volan, this year’s president of Bloomington’s city council, about the relationship between the council and the city’s administration.
Volan asked the question during a contentious work session held last Friday afternoon in city hall’s Hooker Conference Room. All nine councilmembers attended at least part of the session, along with a dozen and half staff members, among them several department heads and deputy mayor Mick Renneisen.
The friction that emerged between Volan and staff members, and with some of Volan’s city council colleagues, stemmed from a pending resolution, introduced by Volan at the city council’s first meeting of the year, on Jan. 8.
At the last city council meeting of the year, on Dec. 18, 2019, Bloomington’s mayor, John Hamilton, delivered proclamations to the four outgoing councilmembers.
Chris Sturbaum (District 1)
Dorothy Granger (District 2)
Allison Chopra (District 3)
Andy Ruff (member at large)
On Jan. 1, 2020, four new councilmembers were sworn in to start four-year terms, along with the five returning councilmembers, the mayor, John Hamilton, and the city clerk, Nicole Bolden.
