The Bloomington Police Station Sale Should Have Been Delayed

In the month of September, Mayor John Hamilton announced his intent to sell the Bloomington Police Station, which will be handled by Griffin Realty which is owned by former deputy mayor Don Griffin.  This isn’t completely out of nowhere as the decision to move the Police Station was initially approved by a 5-4 vote in January.  However, this being done in an election year with the announcement happening after the mayor had announced he would not seek reelection is enough of a sign that this should have been done after a new mayor was selected.  The decision to finish it this year puts an extreme burden on the next elected officials of Bloomington who will be left handling the actions of previous city leadership and shows a complete disrespect to the will of Bloomington voters.

As stated, the decision to relocate the Bloomington City Police was made in January after the mayor’s announcement in November he would not seek reelection meant the decision would be left up to his successor and he would not be responsible for the transition.  Similarly, the primary this past election ended with five of the nine city council members getting replaced next year, meaning a majority of the city council that was involved with the decision will not be there but will be responsible for overseeing the transition.  As a result, this means the new city council Bloomington while those who had been involved in approving the new transition will not be responsible for seeing it to the end.

There are worthwhile questions that need to be asked about whether or not the decision would negatively impact the Bloomington police officers.  Fraternal Order of Police Union President Paul Post argued that the Bloomington police were not sufficiently addressed before the decision was made.  Similarly, City Councilman Dave Rollo complained that the future site for the building would not be able to meet the needs of the Bloomington Police.  Meanwhile, there are questions about costs that need to be addressed as well as sale of revenue.  The mayor’s spokesman had said that the initial estimated sale price of $3 million back in January was underestimated, but the lowest acceptable bid is currently $3.2 million which is not higher.  So there are many issues that need to be addressed which the mayor chose to ignore trying to ram this through.

As a result, this issue should have been left up to the Bloomington voters.  It should have an election issue so those in the voting booth can be allowed to determine if they agreed with the mayor’s plan or those in opposition.  It could have impacted several races in this election and had the potential to impact voting decisions since that may have impacted who they would have selected had it been made more publicly aware.  As a result, the decision to ram this through shows a disregard for the voters who entrusted the current political establishment to run their city.

For the reasons listed, this issue should have been handled next year and remains the reason I’m running.  The mayor showed a complete disregard for the needs of voters and that has been how many voters I’ve talked to have felt about his and the city’s leadership style.  For that reason, the city needs to elect people who will listen to their constituents, show due diligence in their decision making, and put the next of its public workers ahead of so-called political expediency.  That is why I have and will always seek to serve my constituents and will make sure this voice is heard on this and every issue if elected.