“But at the core of it, we have to be centered on what we’re trying to accomplish. And I think sometimes, I see in our community—I see some challenges.”  - Cook President Pete Yonkman at the  February Governor’s Luncheon.  

​The Chamber is set for our next Community Conversation luncheon “Working Better, Together” on Tuesday, April 4th at the Fountain Square Ballroom. The impetus of this topic was the lack of progress on many critical issues that plague the community.  These range from housing, convention center expansion, and justice reform to annexation. It is easy to point fingers, but harder to take the lead, and confront these challenges.

What these endeavors require is a certain sacrifice and compromise among all the parties.  The basis of progress has to be “trust”.  Too often I have witnessed what appears to be clashes over territory.  The greater good becomes more about protecting one’s self-interest. This goes beyond the strained city-county relations.  We lack real champions to move the process along that is inclusive of all stakeholders.  One cannot be a leader if the communication channels are not open.
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This community remains rich in resources. We have the tax base, the talent, and the drive to accomplish far more than we have in the last five or so years. What how this luncheon provides is a sense of what has gone wrong and how we fix it. 

The cliché about this being an important municipal election cannot be overstated. Bloomington is electing a new mayor with three strong candidates on the Democratic side.  At a minimum, we will have four new members on the City Common Council.  Change is not just brewing, it remains inevitable. 

The conversations I have had appear to indicate the winning candidate for mayor needs to reach about 3,500 votes in the primary  to pull off a victory. In this demographic, that pretty much entails sailing through the general election. That is not a lot of votes for a town of 80,000.  Your vote matters, and statistically has a real impact on the results.

The Chamber is hosting its first of two election events on Tuesday, March 21st at 5:30p with Elect Connect.  This will center on the council candidates.  Each candidate in a contested race will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes.  The atmosphere is light, with a networking vibe inclined to provide an opportunity to get to know the candidates.  

On February 14th, Indiana Senate Bill 1 was referred to the House of Representatives with unanimous approval from the Senate. This behavioral health matters bill was written by Senator Michael Crider and is expected to make major improvements to how the state responds to mental health issues. If passed, SB1 would allow Medicaid recipients to pay for community behavioral health clinic services through reimbursements. It would also establish the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission as well as a confidential hotline for people who are in distress or seeking mental health services. The House has also referred a mental health bill to the Senate, HB 1006. Where these two bills diverge is their target populations. SB 1 primarily focuses on those who qualify for Medicaid whereas HB 1006 focuses on those who are incarcerated or have been incarcerated. If enacted, HB 1006 would allow those who have been arrested and are in need of mental health services, to be committed to a facility where they can receive proper care. It would also create a referral program for inmates to receive counselling services. 

​If you or someone you know is currently experiencing thoughts of suicide, or a mental health or substance use crisis, please call 988 to reach Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and speak with a trained crisis specialist 24/7. For more information on 9-8-8, CLICK HERE. 

At the end of 2020, Indiana ranked 41st in the nation for its public health system according to a review by IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. As a result, Governor Holcomb formed a commission to address areas of concern and has since proposed a statewide budget that makes increased investments to Indiana's county health departments. With health care as a major policy interest in our 2023 State & Federal Advocacy Agenda, the Chamber fully supports the governor's public health budget for its provisions of increased resources for mental health and addiction services. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about the Governor's 2022 Health Commission Report. 
Contact your state representative HERE 

Last night, during public comment, The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Eric Spoonmore passionately advocated for improved public safety before the Bloomington Common Council.  He provided a sobering assessment of the situation highlighted by the shortage of police and the uptick in crime.             
 HERE is the video of his speech with the transcript below.
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Good evening, Council. I’m Eric Spoonmore, President of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. 

​Over 80% of our members are small, locally owned enterprises. We also partner with our public-school corporations, numerous non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, local government, and many large corporate employers. We believe that membership in the Chamber is a statement that you care about our community, and you want Bloomington to thrive for generations to come. In other words, we recognize that our businesses and employers are instrumental in achieving the high quality of life that our residents deserve.

And so, the quality of life we all want is dependent upon our residents and visitors feeling safe in our community.  And when I say safe, I don’t mean relatively safe. We need people to feel very safe. I know you’re aware of this….we’ve experienced a disturbing number of violent crimes over the past several months and weeks.  Rapes, stabbings, shootings, arson, murders, attempted murders in broad daylight….these things simply cannot be tolerated under any circumstance. And ensuring the safety of the public is local government’s most important and fundamental role.  

I also want to let you know that too many businesses in our community are having to commit substantial resources to protect their safety and to protect their property from damage related to vandalism and other illicit behaviors that are contributing to a general degradation of our quality of place. The Chamber of Commerce even keeps our front door locked during business hours because we have experienced too many situations that have put our staff and property at risk of harm.  It’s sad to me that a Chamber of Commerce – of all places – has to keep the doors locked so that our staff feels safe.  And we’re not the only enterprise taking these measures.

Numerous businesses are having to hire private security services, they’re installing security doors and expensive intercom systems and surveillance cameras to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. And the businesses aren’t just eating these costs – at the end of the day, they have to pass the cost on to the customers – they don’t want to do that, but that’s the only way they can stay in business. So, this is not a good situation – especially considering the 51% increase in local income tax that workers are all now paying largely to address public safety.

And so, I don’t know all the answers to addressing the very significant concerns we hear about perceived and actual safety in the community. But, I think we clearly need to look into some new crime prevention strategies.  But, in the meantime, my first suggestion would be to employ the number of professional police officers that we need to provide effective public safety services.  We used to have them, and I don’t know where they all went.  Not too long ago, we had over a hundred sworn officers. And now we have somewhere around 80 and we need to make progress on getting back to where we were.

And then another suggestion – I appreciate the weekly reports on the number of city employees who have COVID, I know there’s a lot of diligent record keeping with that data and the staff works to distribute that information to the public very reliably each week. And so, I would also be interested in using that same model to generate a detailed weekly report that shows the progress we’re making on hiring police officers to address the current shortage. And so, I cannot emphasize enough that the business community is not just concerned – we are gravely concerned – that we do not have enough employed police officers protecting the safety of our community.
And then, finally, I would also suggest just more overall police visibility – day and night – especially in the high-traffic pedestrian areas. I’m sure there are community policing strategies that numerous other communities have used and do this effectively. There are a lot of theories about crime deterrence, but I think even the most progressive criminology experts generally agree that there is no better deterrent to violent, criminal behavior than knowing you will get caught in the act of doing it. 

So, let’s do everything we can to prevent the kinds of reprehensible, violent crimes that occurred just last week in this city.  If we want people to use public transportation, if we want people to visit our city to spend their dollars here to support our businesses, and if we want our residents to enjoy our downtown and parks facilities with their families – they need to feel safe when engaging in those activities.
Please always keep public safety as your number one priority.  Thank you.     

As the calendar changes, the Chamber advocacy reflects on the past year while also looking forward to the work ahead. After years of grumbling, we have finally witnessed real progress in the expansion of the Monroe County Convention Center. This development project required shuttle diplomacy by our President and continued public comments by the Chamber to drive this message home. The result is a Capital Improvement Board (CIB) that provides for shared governance. The county commissioners formed the CIB before it was later affirmed by the city council. This breakthrough was only after the Chamber and its partners earlier in the year were able to prevent the state legislature from sunsetting the food and beverage tax.  

Next year, the Chamber plans to focus its work on continuing to support public K12 education, expanded owner-occupied housing, and most importantly, improved public safety in our community.  The essential duty of our government is to keep its citizens safe. To do that we need to have an appreciated, well-paid police force at full capacity to address the problem behaviors our members deal with daily. There is a need for immediate remedies that can address the problem.  We cannot tolerate people feeling threatened walking down the street on a way to a downtown eatery. These behaviors must be addressed and not accepted as the permanent backdrop of our community.  

The Chamber has been in full support of the work of the county’s justice response committee.  We need real reform that entails a bigger emphasis on mental illness/addiction programs that address our recidivism rate.  The current jail housed at Charlotte Zietlow Justice Center is completely inadequate in all respects.  However, we are years away from seeing this type of transformative change in our justice system.  In the meantime, short-term solutions must be sought. 

On January 9th, 2023, the Indiana General Assembly will convene its members for a "long" legislative session that will determine the state's annual budget for next two years. Despite this official start date, senators and representatives have already begun to file bills in anticipation of what is expected to be a very busy session. Below is a list of deadlines that lawmakers must follow in the coming months:

• January 12th: Last day for House bills to be filed  
• January 13th: Last day for Senate bills to be filed 
• February 27th: Last day for third readings of House bills 
• February 28th: Last day for third readings of Senate bills  
• April 17th: Last day for third readings of Senate bills in House
• April 18th: Last day for third readings of House bills in Senate
• April 29th: Last day of adjournment for both chambers 

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For more information on 2023 Legislative Session, visit the Indiana General Assembly website by clicking HERE. 

It is a budget year for the Indiana General Assembly (IGA). This entails that the legislation during this session will focus more greatly on financial issues as opposed to social issues. Bills proposed during this long session will determine the state's budget for the next two years. Looking ahead of the official January 9th start date, there is much anticipation surrounding legislators' plans to remedy the issue of inflation and how they intend to help Hoosier families.  Another topic of much discussion is education. Larger investments for K-12 and higher education are expected with increased funding in categories influenced by the business community, i.e., workforce development and job training. A number of recommendations from commissions have been given to the governor and legislative committee members on topics regarding public health and affordable housing. How these suggestions will be implemented are of great interest to the Chamber's business members. 

To follow all the action and deadlines, follow this LINK to the IGA's website. 

In an 11th hour move, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners created a Capital Improvement Board (CIB) as the form of governance for the Convention Center and its expansion.  This was after Commissioner President Julie Thomas stated that this elected body would not sell the Center asset nor accept a 501-C3 non-profit as put forward by the City of Bloomington's Office of the Mayor.  The City and County are scheduled to meet today, the 9th of November to discuss collaboration on the expansion of the convention Center.  In 2018, the County Council passed an increase in the food and beverage tax to fund this imitative.  

​​Part of my role here at the Chamber is to take calls from members on issues they are having with government.  One of the areas I hear quite a bit about is the lack of beauty in our Kirkwood-Square area.  It may appear to be a trivial issue but aesthetics matter.  It is the first impression visitors have of Bloomington.    Below are some examples related to planters that do not meet the eye test.  One of those planters does not fit where an outside group does the maintenance.  it's pretty easy to spot. 

At the October 19th City of Bloomington Common Council Meeting, I took the opportunity to both thank them for the council for their role in the budget process and bring up the issue of beautification.