Bloomington mayor cites cost as big reason to nix Showers West remodel for police HQ, but fire department projects to proceed

Excerpt from construction drawings for the Showers West renovation.

Bloomington redevelopment commission member Sue Sgambelluri. (Feb. 5, 2024)

Bloomington police union president Paul Post. (Feb. 5, 2024)

Bloomington redevelopment commission members Randy Cassady and Deborah Deborah Myerson. (Feb. 5, 2024)

Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. (Feb. 5, 2024)

Bloomington RDC members from left: John West, Deb Hutton, Sue Sgambelluri, Randy Cassady, Deborah Myerson. (Feb. 5, 2024)

At a meeting attended by Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson, the city’s redevelopment commission (RDC) voted unanimously (with one recusal) on Monday to reject all the construction bids for the Showers West renovation project.

The resolution was added to the RDC agenda late Friday.

The resolution stated that the bids for a total of around $12.7 million were responsive to the project design—which put both fire administration and police operations in the Showers West portion of the city hall building.

But as the wording of the resolution put it, the bids no longer meet “the vision and scope of the project.” That’s the project that Thomson’s predecessor, John Hamilton, had put in motion starting in the summer of 2022.

The change in vision for the project was consistent with the opposition from the police union, which has, from the time the idea was first floated, resisted the move—citing security concerns about Showers West, as well as entrance and egress issues.

Thomson told the RDC that the future of the Showers West project would be decided in “a collaborative process” with the city council to make sure that “whatever we do with police, in the end, it is in the interest of the future of public safety.”

Thomson added that she wants to make sure that “we really look at how we’re collaborating overall with public safety, as it’s being defined in the 21st century.”

[Updated on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. The city of Bloomington communications director, Angela Van Rooy, issued a statement with a description of two slides that were used by the Showers West working group, showing cost comparisons of four alternatives for moving ahead with different components of the project. Here’s a link: .pdf of combined email message and two slides]

Continue reading “Bloomington mayor cites cost as big reason to nix Showers West remodel for police HQ, but fire department projects to proceed” →

Bloomington RDC to vote on resolution rejecting all Showers West bids, police move looks unlikely

Showers West

The aerial image is from the Monroe County property lookup system.

Studio AXIS rendering of Showers West floor plan for lobby.

StudioAXIS rendering of Showers West police station entrance.

Now added to the agenda for the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s (RDC’s) 5 p.m. Monday meeting is a resolution that rejects all of the construction bids for the Showers West renovation.

The revised agenda was released to RDC members around 6:45 p.m. on Friday.

The resolution rejecting all construction bids reflects an apparent decision by new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson to change course from her predecessor, John Hamilton’s plan, to move both the fire department administration and police operations into the Showers West portion of the city hall building.

The city purchased Showers West about a year ago—with approval from the city council coming on a 5–4 vote.

A “whereas” clause of the resolution says: “[T]he City of Bloomington and the RDC have determined that while the bidders were responsive, they no longer meet the vision and scope of the Project.”

City attorney Larry Allen confirmed to The B Square on Friday that the added resolution reflected the discussion of a working group appointed by Thomson to review the Showers West project. Allen confirmed that the group had met at 4 p.m. on Friday, before the resolution on construction bids was added.

The working group includes city staff as well as two city councilmembers—Isabel Piedmont-Smith and Isak Asare. Continue reading “Bloomington RDC to vote on resolution rejecting all Showers West bids, police move looks unlikely” →

Tenants of building to be remodeled for Bloomington police, fire: Some resistant to early move out

Bloomington city attorney Larry Allen (Jan. 22, 2024)

Bloomington RDC members from left: John West, Deb Hutton, Deborah Myerson, and Randy Cassady. (Jan. 22, 2024)

There was a lot of business that got transacted on Monday, at the first meeting of the year for Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC).

But there was one big takeaway: A plan to renovate Showers West, to create a home for fire administration and police operations, looks like it will need way more negotiation with current tenants, in order to move ahead at the city’s hoped-for pace.

It emerged during Monday’s RDC meeting that some the tenants don’t want to end their leases early. According to Bloomington’s corporation counsel Margie Rice, who briefed the RDC on Monday, there are at least six tenants who are “not willing to move.” Continue reading “Tenants of building to be remodeled for Bloomington police, fire: Some resistant to early move out” →

Smooth sailing at Dems caucus for county treasurer, Smith picked to fill McClellan’s spot, cascade begins

Cathy (Catherine) Smith addresses Saturday’s Monroe County Democratic caucus. (Jan. 20, 2024)

From left: Monroe County circuit court judge Christine Talley Haseman administers the treasurer’s oath of office to Cathy Smith. Standing next to Smith is Jordan Miller, Monroe County financial coordinator. In the background are Charlotte Zietlow, Pat Williams, Jack Davis and Tree Martin. (Jan. 20, 2024)

Treasurer’s vacancy caucus in the Nat U. Hill Room of the Monroe County courthouse. (Jan. 20, 2024)

Monroe County’s new treasurer is Cathy Smith.

Smith was the easy choice for the roughly five dozen Democratic Party precinct chairs who gathered in the Nat U. Hill room of the Monroe County courthouse on Saturday (Jan. 20).

That’s because she was the only choice to fill the vacancy, which was left when Jessica McClellan resigned the treasurer’s job at the start of the year.

McClellan resigned to accept an appointment as Bloomington’s city controller, in new mayor Kerry Thomson’s administration.

No other caucus candidates filed for the position of county treasurer.

Smith was sworn into office on the spot, by Monroe County circuit court judge Christine Talley Haseman.

That means Smith’s position as elected county auditor is now vacant. And that means the Dems will be holding another caucus in a couple of weeks, to fill the auditor’s vacancy. Continue reading “Smooth sailing at Dems caucus for county treasurer, Smith picked to fill McClellan’s spot, cascade begins” →

Bloomington city council’s first meeting puts familiar faces in leadership, gives public safety some airtime

Shruti Rana (Jan. 10, 2024)

Matt Flaherty (Jan. 10, 2024)

Hopi Stosberg (Jan. 10, 2024)

Dave Rollo (Jan. 10, 2024)

Kate Rosenbarger (Jan. 10, 2024)

Isak Asare (Jan. 10, 2024)

Gretchen Knapp (Jan. 10, 2024)

Kerry Thomson (Jan. 10, 2024)

Sydney Zulich (Jan. 10, 2024)

Isabel Piedmont-Smith (Jan. 10, 2024)

Kerry Thomson (Jan. 10, 2024)

Andy Ruff (Jan. 10, 2024)

Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson addresses the city council (Jan. 10, 2024)

Bloomington’s city council (Jan. 10, 2024)

On Wednesday, the 2024 edition of Bloomington’s city council gathered for the first time at city hall since it was sworn in on New Year’s Day.

One of the first orders of business at the council’s first meeting, which is required by state law, was to choose a president and vice president to serve for the upcoming year.

The job of president went to District 1 representative Isabel Piedmont-Smith. The job of vice president went to at-large representative Andy Ruff.

A requirement of local law, but not state statute, is to choose a parliamentarian. The job of parliamentarian went to District 3 representative Hopi Stosberg.

For all three council officer positions, those who were chosen were the only members nominated. The votes were all unanimous on the nine-member council.

Much of Wednesday’s meeting was first-of-the-year housekeeping, including the introduction of new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson, and deputy mayor Gretchen Knapp, who each delivered brief remarks.

Also introduced were some new department heads: Jane Kupersmith, head of economic and sustainable development; Jessica McClellan, city controller; and Sharmaine Pechac, head of human resources.

But the topic of public safety—in general, as well as in connection with the clearance of a homeless encampment last Thursday—got some discussion at the meeting. Continue reading “Bloomington city council’s first meeting puts familiar faces in leadership, gives public safety some airtime” →

Analysis | A list checked twice: Unwrapping Bloomington city council’s 1,093 votes over 4 years

Two weeks ago, Bloomington’s elected city clerk, Nicole Bolden, called the roll of the nine city councilmembers for their final vote of the four-year term.

The vote was unanimous: Every councilmember voted in favor of the encomiums that were read aloud for each of the five councilmembers who will not be returning to the council in 2024.

Even the final substantive vote, which was taken on a proposal to sell the 3rd Street police station, turned out to be unanimous. All nine councilmembers voted against it.

Even though the 2020-2023 edition of the Bloomington city council will likely be remembered as one of the most divided in Bloomington’s history, unanimous votes were still easily the most common result.

The B Square kept track of the votes in a public Google Sheet in real time as they were taken, meeting by meeting.

Out of 1,093 roll call votes taken by the council for the four year term, 929, or about 85 percent of them, were unanimous. That includes 8–0, and 7–0 votes where someone was absent or abstained, and other similar patterns where there was a zero in either the “yes” or the “no” column.

Of course, the votes where the council was not unified were more memorable than the split votes, which were often preceded by acrimonious debate. Continue reading “Analysis | A list checked twice: Unwrapping Bloomington city council’s 1,093 votes over 4 years” →

Analysis: Disparate motives, but unified Bloomington city council verdict, police HQ sale nixed for now

Bloomington city council. Jim Sims participated on the Zoom platform. (Dec. 13, 2023)

Bloomington mayor John Hamilton (Dec. 13, 2023)

Bloomington police station from 3rd Street. (Dec. 13, 2023)

Aerial image of Bloomington police station.

On the final agenda item of their final meeting of the year, which marked the end of their four-terms, Bloomington city council members found their way to a unanimous vote on a contentious issue.

At last Wednesday’s meeting, the council voted 0–9 on the sale of the 3rd Street police station for $4.4 million.

Outgoing mayor John Hamilton, who had asked the council to approve the sale, attended the council’s meeting.

Reasons for voting against the sale were varied. Some, like Dave Rollo, opposed the sale, because they do not want to see police operations move to Showers West. That’s the portion of city hall—which is housed in a 110-year old former brick furniture factory building—that the city purchased from CFC properties at the start of 2023 for $8.75 million.

Other councilmembers, like Matt Flaherty, are squarely in favor of moving police operations, as well as the fire department administration, into Showers West. That will put it in the same building as most other city departments. Flaherty put it like this: “I think it’s essential that we have a police that are headquartered in the same place as the rest of civil city staff. Same for fire.”

Rollo also had qualms about the sale, based on a 1923 deed restriction, that requires the land be used as a free public park.

Flaherty and Rollo are two of the four who will return to the nine-member city council in 2024.

Five of the nine Bloomington city councilmembers who take the oath of office on Jan. 1 will be different from the nine who voted on the police station sale. Joining the council to start 2024 will be: Hopi Stosberg, Shruti Rana, Sydney Zulich, Andy Ruff and Isak Asare. They’ll replace Ron Smith, Sue Sgambelluri, Steve Volan, Susan Sandberg and Jim Sims.

The other two returning councilmembers are Kate Rosenbarger and Isabel Piedmont-Smith.

The city council’s work over the last four years, starting in 2020, was sometimes marked by acrimonious debate that, on occasion, devolved into personal attack.

Last Wednesday’s vote could be analyzed as a reason to be optimistic about the tenor of the next four years of the city council’s deliberations. Continue reading “Analysis: Disparate motives, but unified Bloomington city council verdict, police HQ sale nixed for now” →

Bloomington city council rejects sale of police station on 0–9 vote, but door seems ajar for future deal

Bloomington police station from 3rd Street. (Dec. 13, 2023)

Aerial image of Bloomington police station.

At their final scheduled meeting of their four-year terms, Bloomington’s city council voted unanimously against the sale of the city’s police station, which stands on 3rd Street, just north of The Waldron, Hill and Buskirk Park.

Some councilmembers expressed support for Bloomington mayor John Hamilton’s overall plan, which includes consolidation of fire administration and police operations with other departments in the same building as city hall—even though they voted against the sale of the police station on Wednesday night.

Mayor-elect Kerry Thomson weighed in from the public mic, using the Zoom video conference platform. She called for a delay in the sale, in order to get answers to several questions that had been raised, but did not argue against any sale of the property ever in the future.

The specific purchase offer that was rejected by the council was from GMS-Pavillion for $4.4 million. That amount was the higher of two appraisals obtained by the city for the fair market value of the property. Continue reading “Bloomington city council rejects sale of police station on 0–9 vote, but door seems ajar for future deal” →

To sell or not to sell Bloomington’s police station building: Board tees up vote for city council

Board of public works member Kyla Cox Deckard (Dec. 8, 2023)

Board of public works member Elizabeth Karon (Dec. 8, 2023)

Real estate agent Tim Ballard (Dec. 8, 2023)

Bloomington corporation counsel Beth Cate (Dec. 8, 2023)

Bloomington resident David Sabbagh (Dec. 8, 2023)

Police union president Paul Post

Police union vice president Jeffrey Rodgers (Dec. 8, 2023)

Councilmember Matt Flaherty (left) and city council attorney Stephen Lucas (Dec. 8, 2023)

Council president Sue Sgambelluri (Dec. 8, 2023)

Cued up next Wednesday for Bloomington city councilmembers—as the final agenda item for the final scheduled meeting of their four-year terms—is the sale of the city’s police station, which stands on 3rd Street, just north of The Waldron, Hill and Buskirk Park.

That’s the outcome of Friday’s board of public works public hearing, to review three purchase offers.

The board did not recommend that the mayor and city council sell the property to any of the three potential buyers. The board also did not recommend against selling the property.

Instead, the three-member board, all mayoral appointees, voted 2–0 to give no recommendation. That non-recommendation will now go to the city council on Wednesday (Dec. 13) for a vote.

Outgoing mayor John Hamilton administration’s first choice of a buyer is GMS-Pavillion Properties, which after some back-and-forth, offered $4.4 million. Continue reading “To sell or not to sell Bloomington’s police station building: Board tees up vote for city council” →

Hamilton vetoes Bloomington city council decision to reinstall 7th Street stop signs

Dave Rollo, Bloomington city council member. (Oct. 4, 2023)

Bloomington city engineer Andrew Cibor.

Bloomington mayor John Hamilton at the Oct. 11, 2023 budget adoption meeting.

The effect of Hamilton’s veto is that the stop signs with asterisks (*) will not be reinstalled. The signs at the 7th-and-Dunn intersection will remain, based on a 180-day order from the city engineer.

Mid-afternoon on Friday, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton released a statement vetoing the city council’s action taken last week, to approve reinstallation of stop signs at four intersections on 7th Street.

The stop signs that have already been reinstalled at the 7th-and-Dunn intersection will remain in place—through a new 180-day order issued by the city engineer.

The stop signs at Morton, Washington, and Lincoln Streets will not be reinstalled, unless the council votes to override the mayor’s veto.

It looks unlikely that the council would be able to achieve the two-thirds majority (6) that is needed to override a veto. Still, a possible vote on a veto override appears on next Wednesday’s (Oct. 18) meeting agenda for the city council. Continue reading “Hamilton vetoes Bloomington city council decision to reinstall 7th Street stop signs” →