Bloomington City Council candidate Jim Blickensdorf played a major role in the 1998 purchase of a Bedford strip club. The state’s highest court found his dealings with the real estate broker overseeing that transaction were deceptive enough to warrant restitution.

Unpaid tickets bedevil parking commission head

Today, Jim Blickensdorf is a Democratic city council candidate on the May 7 ballot for District 3. He is a downtown business owner and chairman of the city's parking commission.

He also owes hundreds of dollars in parking tickets.

Court records document a dozen unpaid City of Bloomington parking tickets since 2000 that have ended up in the county court system. As of Monday, Blickensdorf had yet to pay fines and court fees for two parking violations he received in February and March 2011. In both cases, the Blickensdorf received an $80 ticket and incurred $114 in court costs, leaving $388 on the court docket.

In five of Blickensdorf's court cases involving violations of city traffic parking codes, judges issued what’s called a writ of attachment, an arrest warrant for not paying court judgments. In each case, Blickensdorf eventually paid off the amounts, which ranged from to $126 to $1,221.

Blickensdorf also was the subject of several small claims lawsuits in Monroe County, all of which he lost. In a 2001 small claims case, a judge ordered Blickensdorf to pay $109 to Tim and Debbie Hummel; court records indicate the money was never paid, and the amount remains on the court docket.

In a 2002 case, a cleaning firm called LABTEK filed a $2,494 suit alleging nonpayment for services. When Blickensdorf did not pay the amount ordered by a judge, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He ended up paying the money, plus $39 in court costs, in August 2006 — four years later. More recently, a 2015 small claims suit filed against him by the Inn of the Fourwinds for a $1,129.77 unpaid bill was dismissed when he paid sum in 2016.

Reporter Laura Lane contributed to this report.