Bloomington officers oppose Hamilton plan for new police station at Showers Building

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct information about costs associated with the city's proposal.

Last summer, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton proposed the city spend about $23.5 million to purchase and renovate the western portion of the Showers Building to house Bloomington police headquarters and city fire department administrative offices.

City fire department offices would move there as well, bringing the police and fire agencies under the same roof with most other city services, "modernizing public safety facilities," the mayor said in a July news release.

Another $10.5 million would be spent on renovating two fire stations and building a training center and storage facility for firefighters.

But a problem surfaced: Bloomington Police Department officers aren't keen on moving the police headquarters to the Showers Building. They say it's a flawed, and potentially dangerous, idea.

Previous coverage:Bloomington considers moving police, fire departments to Showers Building

They say the location, adjacent to the B-Line Trail, would make it difficult for police vehicles to come and go quickly on emergency calls since they would have to cross the busy pedestrian trail.

They say the old Showers furniture factory has too many windows to be a secure police facility. And, they say, it would cost too much to transform the building into a viable police station.

When officers were polled, it was unanimous, BPD officer and FOP President Paul Post said: They want to stay where they are.

They say the current police headquarters, a cement-block, steel-beam, limestone-façade building, has decades of life left. Its location at the corner of East Third and Lincoln streets is central, with quick ingress and egress in emergencies.

Post said BPD officers suggest the city scrap the Showers Building plan and opt instead to renovate and expand the current police station. Final cost estimates haven't been made, but millions of tax dollars could be saved if the city council votes down the mayor's plan to buy the western part of the Showers Building for a police station and office space for fire department administrators.

The estimate to purchase, reconfigure and renovate the western portion of the Showers Building for a police headquarters, which also houses City Hall, is about $30 million.

City council members put the process in motion when they approved $29.5 million in bonds at the end of last year, without specific plans for how the money would be spend.

Council member Dave Rollo said the council saved "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in interest over the term of the bond issue by approving the expenditure before interest rates increased .5%.

A committee made up of city council members Rollo, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Susan Sandberg and Steve Volan has held three meetings with city and police officials over the past two weeks trying to narrow in on what the best option is going forward.

"We're trying to to track down and validate these figures," Rollo said. "There are two broad categories of concern: the relative cost and the location, whether it serves the police department well or not."

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Representatives from the police department have presented an alternative plan: Staying where they are by investing $5 million or so to expand and upgrade the Third Street facility.

Post asked city officials to consider police concerns.

"It was unanimous," he said. "They did not want to move to the Showers Building. I think that's a good data point for the city to consider."

During an interview after the first meeting, Rollo said he was dismayed by the city administration's Showers Building proposal given the cost and concerns that the historic building might be inappropriate as a police headquarters.

"I'm mystified as to why the Showers Building is seen as the best location at this point," he said.

"If the police are satisfied with locating where they are at, and if that is cost effective and less expensive than relocating, I am favorable to that," he said. "I am highly skeptical of Showers because of the access problems and the nature of the building."

Post pointed out about half of the Showers Building space the city is proposing to buy for a police station, around 35,000 square feet, is currently leased as office space, with some leases in place for years. So the initial station would be much smaller than the final plan.

Volan shared that concern. "That's $4 million that should not be coming out of that bond," Volan said, "buying property that we don't have immediate plans for."

Sandberg agreed. "I want an assurance that the rent money (from the leases) goes to the public safety fund. We earmarked these dollars for public safety."

The city council is expected to discuss and vote on the plan during its meeting on Wednesday.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington police officers against moving headquarters to Showers