City could scrap State Street garage art

When the city decided to ask artists to submit ideas for a wayfinding system at the State Street parking garage in October, it hoped to have a design locked in by March and the project complete before the end of the year.

The selection process was already behind schedule in April when the city discovered a problem. Three employees working with the Public Art Committee to recommend a design failed to disclose a relationship between one of the finalists and Parking Manager Mark Lyons.

Lyons made comments to the PAC that influenced the board’s recommendation of his son-in-law’s proposal. Since then, the city’s focus has drifted away from the artwork at the garage and toward managing the fallout of the selection process.

Mark Krucke, Lyons’ son-in-law and the artist who submitted the design the PAC endorsed, has reached out to city officials in hopes of getting more information on the status of the project. So far, all he’s heard is that the City Commission will discuss the State Street garage art proposals at its June 5 meeting.

If the commission follows the advice of City Attorney Robert Fournier, it won’t be good news for Krucke. In a memo prepared for the June 5 meeting, Fournier encourages the commission to cancel the artwork selection process without hearing the art committee’s recommendation.

Fournier said that decision would put the city in the most legally defensible position. If the commission were to select one of the final proposals for the garage — be it Krucke’s submission or someone else’s — it would make the city vulnerable to legal challenges from artists alleging the selection process was tainted.

“That would be a harder action to defend than simply just canceling the whole thing,” Fournier said.

Katie Krucke, Lyons’ daughter and Mark Krucke’s wife, said she and her husband have felt out of the loop since the city placed Lyons and two other staff members on paid leave in April. Even after the employees returned from their suspensions with demotions and salary decreases, the Kruckes have gotten few details about how the process will proceed.

Katie Krucke said she was unaware of any recommendations city officials might make to the commission during the June 5 meeting. An artist herself, she said waiting for an update on the garage has prevented her husband from pursuing other opportunities, a challenge for an artist working on large-scale projects.

Without any word either way, Mark Krucke has continued to refine his plan for the garage, which would paint sea animals on each level to remind people where they parked.

“He’s just in this mystery land where he’s working hard on this project he’s passionate about and potentially not ever getting paid for it,” Katie Krucke said.

She’s upset most of the attention regarding the project has been devoted to conflict-of-interest issues, and said her husband’s proposal objectively matches up with what the city wanted.

Next month, the City Commission will decide whether to follow the city attorney’s advice — and whether it will move forward with an art project at the State Street garage at all. Katie Krucke said she understood why the city needed to investigate the selection process, and hopes residents will take a more active interest in public art in the future.

“I just want the public to be more engaged in local art projects,” she said. “It’s our city. It’s our taxpayers’ money. It should be something we all like, not just a small committee.”