By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – A candidate for Bloomington mayor does not want to raise taxes, so he’ll look for cuts.
Robert Fike is a former Bloomington firefighter who says he’s running to steer the city away from what he calls its current tax-and-spend policy. Fike said he wants to sell U.S. Cellular Coliseum to a private company, and also wants to sell an empty city building on the west side.
“I tell people, if you don’t think government can waste your money, take a ride out there on Six Points Road and look at that $3 million fire station that never opened its doors,” Fike said. “It’s sitting out there empty. It cost us $3 million. They just had it appraised for $700,000.”
Fike also said he wants to review personnel and vehicle needs, and eliminate travel by city officials. He suggested offering retirement packages to longer-term employees with higher salaries.
“Do we need that personnel in that department? If we do, we hire someone younger that doesn’t have to start at a higher wage and we cut that down. If we don’t need them, we eliminate the position,” Fike elaborated. “I don’t think any of the elected officials should be traveling, especially to Cuba.”
Fike said he would have voted for the community house to be utilized by police on the city’s west side.
“The sub-station–and I’ll call it what it is, it’s a sub-station–is a tool, and the person that knows better what tools we need to fight crime is the police chief,” Fike said. “So you hold him responsible for decreasing the crime rate, but you give him the tools he needs to be successful.”
Fike is one of five candidates running for mayor.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
