This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, April 1st, 2026.
In today’s newscast, Mayor Kerry Thomson made a plea for the Hopewell South project during her State of the City Address last night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. More in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, “April Fraud” on Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on the WFHB Local News. More following today’s feature.
Election Board holds special meeting to address registration, early voting and ballot scanners
The Monroe County Election Board held a special meeting on March 31th. County Clerk Nicole Browne updated the board on a ballot scanner test.
“All results were as expected from all scanners test,” said Brown. “Test results are certified correct and accurate.”
According to Browne, 29 people showed up for the testing compared to 6 last election. Election supervisor Kylie Farris gave an update on the postcards being mailed with election dates and details.
“Those will be going out, I believe, at the end of this week, and they will start seeing people’s mailboxes the beginning of next week, which will be perfect timing, since that has information about early voting. That will give them the information for that, as well as having information about how to request an absentee ballot by mail and how to find their location for Election Day,” said Farris.
The last day for voter registration will be April 6th. Voters can register with a valid Indiana driver’s license or state issued ID. Farris said paper IDs with a barcode will work. The first day of early voting will be April 7th. Fleet and Building Manager Richard Crider said the early voting location is operational for voting to start next week.
“It’s five business days away, so that’s coming up quick. They we have a short punch list of items to complete that I think we’re going to handle in house,” said Crider. “So we are now looking ahead and moving forward to moving staff down into the new space.”
Farris said Election Central will be moved into the first floor of the Showers Building and the second floor will be used for training starting April 13th. The primary election will be on May 5th.
The Monroe County Election Board will hold another special meeting on April 9th.
Bloomington RDC loses two Showers West lease disputes in Monroe circuit court
The view of the Showers West building from the southwest. (Dave Askins, Feb. 16, 2026)
Two tenants in the Showers West building have won summary judgment rulings against Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC), with a Monroe County circuit court judge concluding the RDC could not terminate their leases after purchasing the property.
In orders issued Tuesday (March 31), judge Kara Krothe granted summary judgment to Warrant Technologies LLC and Bloomington Board of Realtors (BBOR), while denying the RDC’s cross motions for summary judgment in both cases.
The rulings mean both tenants are entitled to remain in their leased spaces unless the property is properly condemned through statutory procedures for eminent domain, or until the leases expire.
The RDC purchased the Showers building in 2023 from CFC Properties in an arm’s-length transaction for $8.75 million, and explicitly assumed leases of both tenants as part of the purchase. The RDC argued the tenants should surrender the space based on what it argued was an “inverse condemnation” of the leasehold interest.
The court rejected that argument for both tenants, concluding the RDC had not followed the statutory condemnation procedures required under Indiana law. The court’s orders for both cases point out that under Indiana law, an RDC cannot itself exercise the power of eminent domain.
Instead, an RDC has to get the legislative branch of its unit, in this case, the city council, to pass a resolution determining to use the city’s power of eminent domain on behalf of the RDC. That’s something the Bloomington city council was not asked to do for the Showers West leases.
The judge’s order is blunt in its breakdown of Bloomington’s argument that the tenants were required to vacate their premises—based on the city’s claimed “inverse condemnation” of the lease. The court gave three independent reasons why the RDC’s argument fails: no court had ever ruled that a taking of the property had occurred; inverse condemnation claims can only be brought by property owners against the government, not by the government itself; and redevelopment commissions in Indiana lack eminent-domain power, meaning the RDC could not accomplish through “inverse” means what it cannot do directly.
Hovering behind the legal fight is a practical one. The Showers West purchase was financed with bonds issued for capital and public-safety purposes tied to city operations. At a Bloomington RDC meeting in June 2025 the city’s corporation counsel, Margie Rice, said the city’s bond counsel had advised that leasing the space to private tenants is not consistent with the public-use purpose of the bonds.
The late 2022 bond issuance covered the cost of the Showers West as well as other public safety projects, and came with a legal requirement that the building purchased with the money be put to a public purpose. That public purpose, as envisioned by then-mayor John Hamilton’s administration, had been to house the city’s fire department administrative offices and the city’s main police station.
The fire department was moved into Showers West. But Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s administration, which took over at the start of 2024, opted not to pursue a move by the police department. Some of the space is just empty while other parts of Showers West are occupied by tenants.
The decision not to move the police department to Showers West eliminated the immediate urgency for tenants to leave, which stemmed from the practical need to make way for a specific city use. But the view of the city’s bond counsel is that it does not count as a public purpose for the government to collect rent from tenants and use the proceeds of the rent for a public purpose.
In Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s State of the City speech on Tuesday (March 31), she mentioned Showers West: “We’re looking at how best to use the Showers West space, given the bond restrictions, the city’s need for space and the current state of its aging systems.” She added, “Most recently, our engineering department relocated to Showers West, affording planning and HAND [Housing and Neighborhood Development] the space they have long needed within city hall—no more working in closets.”
In her Tuesday address, Thomson also mentioned the current tenants, but not the litigation: “We are now negotiating final agreements with the remaining tenants.”
Several of the tenants were able to negotiate payments from the RDC in exchange for agreeing to terminate their leases. Most recently, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) reached an agreement with the RDC to vacate its current space. The agreement with CASA includes a payment of $45,751 and two parking passes in the Fourth Street garage for one year.
Mayor Thomson makes a plea for Hopewell South in State of City Address
By Kade Young, Camdyn Glover
Mayor Kerry Thomson delivered the State of the City Address last night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
Thomson focused on promoting the Hopewell South project, which was delayed by the city council last week for the second time.
The mayor says she wants Hopewell to drive more affordable housing in the city. She outlined major projects the city has tackled throughout its history. She says she sees Hopewell as one of these milestone initiatives.
“It remains our city’s greatest priority,” said Thomson. “We need more houses of more sizes for more people, and we need housing diversity. The largest opportunity to do that is Hopewell.”
The mayor calls the project a “once in a lifetime neighborhood.” Thomson touched on the housing affordability crisis and how she intends Hopewell will address it.
“It takes time for a project to reach a point of action. Hopewell would be difficult to deliver in today’s environment without sustained public leadership. Together with our council, I agree this project is worth the work, and we all share the same vision for it – attainable housing in Bloomington,” said Thomson.
She says the Hopewell South development is just one phase of the broader push to redevelop the former IU Health hospital site. She maintained it won’t solve the housing crisis in the city — but she views it as a step in the right direction.
“It doesn’t resolve every challenge. No single project does, but it moves us forward and in a housing crisis that matters more than perfection. As an administration, we take responsibility for our part of the ongoing housing puzzle outside of Hopewell,” said the mayor.
Meanwhile, the city council voted 6-3 during its meeting last week to further postpone the project. During that meeting, Councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith says she supports the project as a whole – but she believes the city could push for more affordable options for Hopewell if given the time.
“With all due respect, we are asserting our prerogative and our legal right to try to make this project even better. So I am opposed to voting on this tonight,” said Piedmont-Smith.
On the other hand, council member Sydney Zulich was one of few members who voted against this postponement. She explained the reality of the housing affordability crisis.
“Out of the nine of us up here, I am the only one who does not own property. All of my eight colleagues do, and my generation has no hope of following in their footsteps if we continue to let perfect prevent good. So the people of this city deserve results, and that is why I’ll be voting against postponement,” said Zulich.
On Monday, six members of the city council drafted a letter urging the mayor to work with them to make “reasonable updates” to the Hopewell South planned unit development.
The letter written by Councilmember Matt Flaherty says the current plan misses the mark in a few critical ways – most notably, its lack of permanent housing.
It said, “to address these issues, meet Hopewell’s promise, and abide by our own city goals, it is essential to:
1. include and require more permanent affordability as a substantial part of the development;
2. invest in sidewalk and street improvements that meet the basic requirements of city code; and
3. ensure energy efficient buildings that will substantially lower utility bills for residents while also reducing pollution.”
The city council plans to hear the Hopewell South PUD again during its next meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at city hall. To view the full state of the city address, you can visit Community Access Television Services.
And now, “April Fraud” on Better Beware – your weekly consumer-watchdog segment on the WFHB Local News. We turn to host and producer Richard Fish for more.
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Elyse Perry, Kade Young and Camdyn Glover, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Dave Askins produced today’s edition of B Square Bites.
Better Beware is produced by Richard Fish.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
