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Rohrman’s lawsuit against Lafayette ‘unlikely’ after meeting with mayor

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Auto dealer Bob Rohrman says a lawsuit over the Sagamore Parkway construction project is now not likely after a meeting with city officials Wednesday.

Mayor Tony Roswarski and construction managers offered a solution to his problem. WISH-TV’s sister station WLFI waited outside the meeting at Bob Rohrman’s Honda dealership to find out what the city proposed.

Rohrman says he appreciates the city working with him to come up with a solution. Although a lawsuit isn’t likely, he says he isn’t finished compromising. But overall, Bob Rohrman says his meeting with Roswarski went well.

Rohrman said, “I told him, I said, ‘You know, I think I started in the car business before you were born.’ He said, ‘I think you did!’”

But jokes aside, Rohrman meant business when he threatened to sue the city over the Sagamore construction project. He had his attorneys ready.

“He was there about three hours, so I’m going to have to pay him for that,” Rohrman laughed. “But you know, these attorney’s they don’t come cheap.”

Rohrman says his sales went down 27 percent after the southbound lanes of Sagamore Parkway were closed from Kossuth Street to Teal Road.

Roswarski said the city did offer a solution to the problem. They are going to open up Sagamore Parkway a little bit further south so drivers can turn left into Rohrman’s dealerships. However, they are unsure if Rohrman and his team will think that compromise is enough.

“It does get the people from the north,” Rohrman said. “And of course, West Lafayette is north of here so that helps.”

Rohrman originally complained that the city never told him about the southbound road closure, but they later discovered someone from Rohrman’s team was informed about the plan.

Roswarski says they may have to agree to disagree on a few matters because for the most part, he thinks construction traffic is running smoothly on Sagamore Parkway.

“I think you can see from behind us here, there are still thousands of cars a day going right past these dealerships,” Mayor Roswarski said. “And we do encourage people to come out, just like downtown with the streetscape, let them know that these people are open for business.”

Several Sagamore business owners attended the meeting. Roswarski says he wasn’t expecting that, but encouraged those people to take up their concerns with him later.

Although Rohrman says the meeting went better than expected, he wants to do a little more compromising with the mayor. He wouldn’t give us details on that compromise but hopes to come to an agreement within the next few days.