Two mayoral candidates want to 'halt' Bloomington's annexation. What you need to know.

Two Bloomington mayoral candidates say they want to halt the current administration’s annexation — now tied up in courts — but can they? And what exactly does “halting” annexation mean?

Kerry Thomson, former CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, said she wants to halt the process to allow for more communication and to address concerns from county officials and affected county residents — though she said her approach might mean annexation would proceed unchanged in scope and size.

In contrast, current city council member Susan Sandberg says she’d like to stop the process altogether and eventually expand the city’s borders in smaller increments.

The third candidate, Don Griffin Jr., former deputy mayor under current Mayor John Hamilton, said he would continue the current annexation, in part because he said it would increase housing.

Election preview: Mayoral candidates on annexation, housing and unhoused people

Early voting for the primary election begins April 4. Primary election day is May 2.

What's the status of Bloomington's annexation?

As it stands, of the seven areas the city targeted for annexation, two are to be annexed: on the city’s west and southwest sides. The five other areas — three “islands” surrounded by the city on its west side, a small neighborhood to the city’s southwest and a large area on the city’s southeast side — have succeeded in blocking the city’s annexation.

More: Where Bloomington's annexation attempt stands following recent court ruling

However, two pending lawsuits could swing the outcome in either direction, so all of the areas — or none of them — ultimately are annexed. And with two mayoral hopefuls now saying they want to "halt" annexation, the outcome of one of Hamilton's would-be signature efforts appears to be more in doubt.

Hamilton, who is not seeking re-election, warned this week that stopping the current annexation would be “dangerous” and “extremely short-sighted” and may threaten the city’s ability to expand its boundaries for a long time — or possibly ever.

What would it mean to “halt” Bloomington’s annexation?

Thomson and Sandberg said Hamilton’s plan is too big, in part because the city already is struggling to hire and retain enough city workers, especially police officers and firefighters, to provide necessary services in its existing boundaries.

Bloomington firefighters: Low wages, staffing shortages imperil public safety

Thomson said her call for halting annexation would mean having conversations with county officials and affected residents to generate a “co-created solution.” She acknowledged those conversations may not result in any changes to the annexation boundaries.

Sandberg, on the other hand, said she is conferring with legal advisers to determine how to end the current annexation, which would include extricating the city from two annexation-related lawsuits and possibly also convincing the next city council to repeal the annexation ordinances passed by the current city council.

“We can do it in a more incremental and gradual way,” she said last week at a mayor’s forum organized by the Bloomington Press Club.

Can Bloomington’s annexation still be stopped?

A mayor, as the city’s CEO, generally has broad powers over the lawsuits in which the city is involved, said Paul Helmke, an attorney, IU professor and former Fort Wayne mayor, who oversaw several annexations in that city.

Helmke said a future Bloomington mayor could, for example, ask the annexation-related, city-initiated lawsuit against the county auditor be withdrawn. The Hamilton administration filed that suit in part to challenge a 2019 state law that made annexation more difficult.

Subscribers get more of this story: Two mayoral candidates want to 'halt' Bloomington's annexation. Could it work?

Helmke said mayors also may have to yield to other parties, including judges and, in the case of annexation, the city council.

The next mayor could try to withdraw the lawsuit the city filed against the county auditor, Helmke said, but a judge would have to agree.  And the city council could argue the mayor's action does not represent the majority of the city. In that case, the city council could request the lawsuit continue, with the council’s attorney replacing the mayoral administration’s attorney.

And, Helmke cautioned, some of the next mayoral administration’s actions regarding annexation could produce highly unpredictable results.

“I’m not sure that this … has ever come up for the courts before,” he said.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Could Bloomington's next mayor stop annexation that's now in court?