Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton’s administration has picked four people for the board of directors of a new capital improvements nonprofit to focus on arts, technology and housing.
Hamilton’s office said Mick Renneisen, Sarah Bauerle Danzman, John West and Valerie Peña will serve on the City of Bloomington Capital Improvements, Inc. board once they are officially appointed early next month.
The city council is tasked with appointing a fifth member, per the nonprofit’s bylaws.
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Hamilton announced plans last month for the 501(c)(3) to oversee projects that do not involve core municipal services but are “vital” to the city — such as the Buskirk-Chumley Theater; the Waldron Arts Center; the Trades District, and housing projects in the Hopewell neighborhood.
In a memo to city council, Hamilton said city staff had assumed the role of overseeing those projects, and that doing so had detracted from their ability to complete their regular duties.
Hamilton’s office said the nonprofit may play a role in additional city projects later.
Renneisen was Bloomington’s deputy mayor from 2016 to 2021 and administrator for the city’s parks and recreation department from 1996 to 2015. He has led the master planning process for development of the Hopewell neighborhood and other projects.
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He has also served on the board of the Bloomington-Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Indiana University School of Public Health Dean’s Associates.
Danzman is a political scientist and associate professor of international studies at the Hamilton Lugar School and director of the Tobias Center for Innovation in International Development at IU. She has also served on the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission and the Office of Investment Affairs in the U.S. Department of State.
West is the owner of F.C. Tucker Bloomington Realtors and former Bloomington Redevelopment Commission member. He serves on the city’s Hopewell Steering Committee, formerly the Hospital Reuse Committee.
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Peña is associate vice president and chief of staff for the IU Office of the Vice President for University Relations. She also serves as executive director of the IU Center on Representative Government. She has served on the Bloomington Animal Control Commission was executive director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.
An organizational meeting for the nonprofit is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 3, in the McCloskey Conference Room at Bloomington City Hall, 401 N. Morton St. There, the four board members will be appointed and will adopt bylaws.
