NOTE: This article that features The Chamber's President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was published on January 18, 2024 in the B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are provided by B Square Bulletin. At its Wednesday afternoon meeting, Monroe County’s capital improvement board of managers (CIB) took the actions recommended by a three-member committee for moving ahead with the Monroe Convention Center expansion project.
One step was to authorize the issuance of an RFQ (request for qualifications) for a “construction manager as contractor” for the project. Interested firms will have three weeks to respond to the RFQ. The idea is for the three-member committee to winnow the respondents to a short-list by the next meeting of the CIB, which is now set for Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. The full board won’t be picking from the short list at that meeting, but could ratify the committee’s shortlisters. Also approved by the CIB at Wednesday’s meeting was the issuance of an RFQ for an owner’s representative. The idea is that none of the CIB members will have sufficient time to staff the project, and that role should be assigned to an owner’s rep.
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NOTE: This interview with the Director of Advocacy & Public Policy, Christopher Emge, was originally aired by The 812 podcast, hosted by Steve Volan, a daily show about the basic workings of city government in Bloomington, Indiana on Thursday, January 18th, 2024.
NOTE: This article that features The Chamber's event, Legislative Preview, was published on January 17, 2024 in the Herald-Times by Laura Lane. Photos are provided by Herald-Times. At the helm of a city with an unhoused population mired in mental health and substance abuse issues, Kerry Thomson asked a panel of state lawmakers last week what they will do about the statewide crisis.
“It cannot be addressed just at the local level,” the Bloomington mayor's written query stated. There was discussion of the challenges, but no answers offered when Thomson suggested the state lead the way toward healthcare and recovery instead of the criminal justice system for vulnerable people not receiving care. Last year, state lawmakers passed bills to boost funding for mental health services across the state. One increases funding to local mental health centers and another directs $100 million to mental health services. NOTE: This article that features The Chamber's event, Legislative Preview, was published on January 12, 2024 in the B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are provided by B Square Bulletin. More than 100 people were assembled at The Mill at midday on Friday for the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Legislative Preview. This year’s session of the Indiana legislature started on Jan. 8 and will wrap up by mid-March. Friday’s crowd got to hear four Indiana state legislators answer a question posed by Bloomington’s new mayor Kerry Thomson—about mental health. Thomson’s question, which she had written out on one of the cards distributed for that purpose, was read aloud by the Bloomington Chamber’s CEO, Eric Spoonmore: The state is experiencing a mental health and substance use crisis. This cannot be addressed simply at the local level. What can be done about it at the state level, to ensure health care before criminal justice? NOTE: This interview with the President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally aired by Bloomington's Voice Glass in the Afternoon on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024.
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NOTE: This interview with the President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally aired by Bloomington's Voice Glass in the Afternoon on Monday, December 18th, 2023.
As the festive season unfolds, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped shape our business community. It's been quite a year for us all!
We wanted to take a moment to extend our heartfelt thanks to you. Your unwavering support and cooperation have been the key to our collective successes and the strides we've made toward fostering a thriving business environment. The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce team wishes you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season filled with warmth, cheer, and delightful moments. May the new year bring you prosperity, health, and continued success. Looking ahead to 2024, we're excited about new opportunities and collaborations. Together, we'll continue our journey towards better business and a better community. Your partnership is invaluable, and we can't wait to see what we will achieve together in the coming year. Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year! NOTE: This article shows the Bloomington Business forecast for 2024 and was presented at the Chamber's Futurecast event in November 2023, was published in the Winter 2023 (Volume 98, No. 5) issue of the IBR | Indiana Business Review by Carol O. Rogers, Director and Executive Editor of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Recession or no recession? That was the question we posed last year and the answer was: maybe. Our forecast was split due to many factors, not the least of which were the residual effects of the pandemic shutdowns and slowdowns, supply chain bottlenecks and inflation rearing its generally ugly head. Both our forecast models (thanks to Bill Witte, as always), and general consensus among Kelley School economists, foretold a relatively brief recession or extremely slow and low growth. We know now, at least for the nation as a whole, that we did not experience any consecutive quarters of negative growth (as in, GDP shrinking rather than growing) during the first three quarters of 2023. In fact, many were startled by the 5% growth in GDP between the second and third quarters of 2023. So, what does the economy look like for Bloomington in 2024 and beyond? Let's look at the charts.
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