CFC Business Plaza at Showers currently occupies 320 W. 8th Street, which is a portion of the building that also houses city hall. (Holden Abshier, WFIU/WTIU News)
Bloomington City Council members for the second time have decided to postpone voting on plans to purchase a portion of the former Showers Brothers factory building to relocate the city’s police and fire departments.
The 8-0 vote Wednesday came after more than three hours of discussion on whether they should move forward with moving the departments into Showers, as proposed by Mayor John Hamilton, or keep police headquarters where it is and expand that facility.
The council had also been considering moving police and fire into an entirely new facility at an undetermined site, but that option was rarely discussed at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
Only eight council members voted Wednesday because councilman Jim Sims was absent.
While some members were clear in their support or opposition to the Showers proposal, others felt they needed more time to consider it given the price tag and weight such a decision carries.
Background: Downtown Fire Department Relocating To Former Law Offices After Flood Damage
Councilman Stephen Volan, who moved to postpone the vote until next week, said he could go either way.
“This is a complex situation,” he said. “I’m not as confident as a couple of my colleagues about what the decision is, which is why I certainly want to move to postpone.”
Councilwoman Susan Sandberg said she doesn’t support relocating public safety to Showers. She urged her colleagues to consider the feedback of police officers who have said they are opposed to the idea, citing concerns over recruiting and retention.
“We’re down 22 officers now — and if we go against their best instincts and their common sense and say ‘We don’t really care what you say, we think you’re going to be better off here, we think it’s going to be better off for the community, so let’s just move you back here’ against their will, I’m not sure how well that’s going to go for this community,” she said.
Councilwoman Isabel Piedmont-Smith argued in favor of the Showers proposal, noting the potential value in moving police closer to other city departments.
Read more: Police union doubles down on opposition to rehousing HQ
“The cheapest option is not always the best option, so even if it is less expensive to renovate the current BPD station, that’s not my only consideration here,” she said. “I want to look to the long term.”
Nevertheless, she also agreed that it would be best for the council to take another week to digest the information presented to them.
Also under consideration Wednesday was an amendment council member Ron Smith wanted to make to the ordinance. The amendment sought to strike from the ordinance the council’s approval of the Showers building purchase.
Had it passed, the council would have only voted on the appropriation of $29,500,000 in bonds approved last year for public safety projects and not on the relocation of police and fire to Showers. Originally, there was no clear plan for using those funds. Smith’s proposed amendment did not specify what the funds would be used for.
For now, it’s a moot point since council members won’t vote on any part of the ordinance for at least another week.
Wednesday’s regular session followed three meetings held earlier this month by the ad hoc Committee on Public Safety Headquarters, consisting of council members Volan, Piedmont-Smith, Sandberg and Dave Rollo.
During those meetings, committee members presented numerous questions to police and fire administrators, members of the police union, representatives of the mayor’s office and consultants.
Read more: City Council postpones vote to move police, fire to Showers
City council members have been considering three options for rehousing police and fire headquarters: Plan A, to move both into Showers, estimated at $23.5 million; Plan B, to keep police where they are and expand on the building, estimated at $25.3 million; and Plan C, to move both into a new building at an undetermined site, estimated at $31.6 million.
The mayor’s administration has said that if Plan A is not approved by city council, it does not intend to move forward with Plan B.
Members of Bloomington’s police union have repeatedly voiced their opposition to rehousing their headquarters into the Showers building, citing concerns over safety, limited space, privacy and cost.
The police union’s position is that the Showers building isn’t built to be a secure facility and that it would be too costly to renovate it. The union prefers to instead keep police at their current building on East Third Street and have the city expand it to make room for the fire department.
“We polled the membership about this move and the response was overwhelmingly ‘no’ to that location (the Showers building),” said Fraternal Order of Police President Paul Post. “Let’s work together to make a plan for the police department that will best serve the city for decades to come.”
Read more: City Council considers 3 options for police, fire headquarters
The city’s cost estimates put Plan B a few million dollars more expensive than Plan A. Police union officials have disputed the estimates for renovations in Plan B, saying they’re inflated.
Piedmont-Smith argued that a professional cost assessment for renovations at the existing police building, so there’s no way to be sure.
“The survey done by FOP, you have to consider that it was not in context,” she said. “It did not provide any of the background information that we have, and I think that needs to be considered when we look at the responses of the rank and file.”
Fire Chief Jason Moore and Police Chief Michael Diekhoff have said consolidating the city’s public safety operations into one building could better promote coordination between the departments.
“We need a new building; we need a new space,” Diekhoff told council members. “Showers is a space that we can make work. It allows us to have future expansion, which is something that I think we really need to think about.”
Read more: Bloomington council approves $30 million bond but questions city hall expansion
Volan pointed out there is much at stake in the council’s decision and many moving pieces to consider.
“Everyone, I hope, recognizes that we're as a council trying to synthesize all of this complicated decision making and make the decision that provides the most optimal solution,” he said. “It’s not going to be the favorite or the best, it's going to be the most optimal that we can come up with.”
The plan to move police and fire into Showers was part of a list of proposed public safety projects totaling roughly $34 million. Also included in that list rebuilding Fire Station #1 downtown for $5.5 million, remodeling Fire Station #3 for $2.5 million and constructing a BFD training/logistics center for $2.5 million.
Council members plan to vote again on the Showers proposal during their next regular session on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
