The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce along with numerous community partners plan to attend the Monroe County Commissioners’ work session on Wednesday, August 31 to discuss a pathway forward for the expansion of the Monroe Convention Center. The Commissioners’ work session will begin at noon in the Monroe County Courthouse, Nat U Hill Room.  

“We are anxiously awaiting the County Commissioners’ response to the City of Bloomington’s proposal to acquire the Monroe Convention Center and begin moving forward on expansion,” said Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce President Eric Spoonmore. “We are very pleased that the County Commissioners invited City representatives to their meeting for this important discussion.”

The Chamber of Commerce, City of Bloomington representatives, and local hospitality & tourism leaders will be present at the work session to advocate for a pathway forward on the convention center expansion project. The long-delayed project was supposed to be funded by a local food and beverage tax that passed in 2017. Since then, the tax has generated over $15M in revenue, but the project has seen no progress to date.   
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“The lack of any meaningful progress on the expansion is deeply concerning because it could put the future of the food and beverage tax funding mechanism in jeopardy by the State Legislature during its 2023 legislative session,” said Spoonmore. “Time is of the essence, and the Commissioners’ teamwork in this process is critical to achieving a successful outcome for the community.”

​The city of Bloomington is now interested in purchasing Monroe County’s convention center and possibly other land from the county government, in order to pursue the expansion of the facility.
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That’s the message that was conveyed to county commissioners during public comment at the start of their Wednesday meeting, when Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce president Eric Spoonmore told the commissioners that “a viable path forward for convention center expansion” could “involve a transfer of assets from the county to the city.”

Spoonmore said the city of Bloomington is “willing to reasonably compensate the county.” No dollar figures were mentioned by Spoonmore or by deputy mayor Don Griffin, who followed Spoonmore to the public mic.

Griffin wrapped up his remarks in under a minute, saying, “We’re ready to talk. I’m ready to listen. And let’s move forward.”

The expansion project which was supposed to be a joint venture of the county and city governments, has been stalled since early March 2020, before the pandemic hit.  The county and the city were having trouble coming to terms over the selection of members for a capital improvement board, which could provide governance for the expanded convention center.

If the city were the sole governmental entity undertaking the expansion, that work would not require the kind of close collaboration between the city and the county, which up to now has not been achieved.