On Wednesday, January 18, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce President Eric Spoonmore addressed the Bloomington Common Council to express deep concern about numerous violent crimes that have occurred in the community over the past several weeks and months including rape, stabbings, shootings, attempted murders, and murders among other egregious acts. The Chamber fully supports the law enforcement agencies that make many sacrifices each day to protect and serve our city, working tirelessly around the clock to keep residents and businesses safe. The Chamber also recognizes that the Bloomington Police Department (BPD) is experiencing a significant shortage of police officers, which only exacerbates current public safety challenges for both BPD and the community. Given the rash of troubling incidents, the Chamber encourages elected leaders to act with the highest level of urgency to address the current police officer shortage and ensure that our highly skilled police department has all the personnel and resources needed to meet its critical mission to the community. “Safety always comes first, and the optimum levels of public safety can only be achieved for our community when we have a fully staffed police department,” said Spoonmore. “We have excellent police officers, but we need about 25 more of them. It’s our highly skilled team of officers that so often make the difference.” Spoonmore also noted that elevating police staffing to the necessary levels should be the community’s top public safety priority. “City leaders have demonstrated they can ambitiously pursue innovative initiatives city-wide, including the new gigabit fiber infrastructure project and dramatic decreases to carbon emissions. I am confident that we can also aggressively solve the police shortage with that same spirit of innovation and ambition,” Spoonmore said.
0 Comments
The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce is inviting interested parties for lunch and conversation on Justice Reform on Tuesday, November 15th at the Elks Lodge located at 400 N. Walnut St. in Bloomington. “This important discussion will inform the public on the many complexities of our local system of criminal justice including the need for a new jail facility in Monroe County,” said Eric Spoonmore, the Chamber’s President & CEO. What Justice Reform Entails. There will need to be a new justice center to replace the one built in 1985. According to the 2020 Criminal Justice & Incarceration Study conducted by the RJS Justice Services, “The jail facility is failing and cannot ensure consistent and sustainable provision of constitutional rights of incarcerated persons. The report goes on to declare, “daily inmate population exceeded the jail’s functional capacity on most days since 2004 and all days per year consecutively since 2015.” Beyond the new justice center, the study reveals that 75-80% of the daily 250-320 inmates have some sort of mental illness or substance abuse issue. The current facility does not have the space nor the staff of mental health professionals to address this issue. NOTE: This article that highlights The Chamber's Elect Connect event was published in the October 5, 2022 B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. On Monday evening, several candidates for local and regional office made an appearance at a networking event hosted by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce (GBCC) at The Mill, a co-working space north of city hall.
Each candidate got a chance to deliver a quick three-minute stump speech. This B Square roundup is limited to candidates in contested, partisan races where both candidates appeared. That leaves out school board races, which are non-partisan. But one takeaway from Monday’s event was the position taken by school board candidates on the Monroe County Community School Corporation ballot referendum. Each of the three MCCSC school board candidates who attended Monday’s event expressed strong support for the levy increase that appears on the ballot. The three who spoke were: Daniel O’Neill (District 3); Ashley Pirani (District 3); and Erin Wyatt (District 1). If it’s passed, the referendum would set the school referendum levy rate at $0.185 for eight years, which would increase the average residential taxes paid to the schools by about 35 percent, according to the ballot question wording. The ballot language says the additional money will support the retention and attraction of teachers and staff and enhance programs in STEM, the arts, and special education. The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is Oct. 11. Early voting for the Nov. 8 election starts on Oct. 12. In Monroe County, early voting will take place at the election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets. The GBCC has set up a website with a roundup of information on candidates. An additional resource for information about candidates is the The League of Women Voters Vote411 website. NOTE: This Noon Edition interview with Chamber CEO Eric Spoonmore was published in the September 9, 2022 WFIU Noon Edition by Nathan Moore. Discussions between city and county officials over the Monroe Convention Center’s expansion and ownership continue. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton’s administration offered to buy the convention center for $4 million to accelerate its expansion. The expansion is expected to cost tens of millions to complete.
The purpose of this expansion is to host larger events, increasing tourism dollars and boosting the local economy. The goal for the city administration and local businesses leaders is to get a deal done by the end of the month, but some county officials say they don’t support the city’s plan. A main funding source for the center is a 1% food and beverage tax that has collected more than $14 million. That tax could be threatened in the next legislative session. NOTE: This article that highlights President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore's, involvement was published in the August 31, 2022 B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are gathered from the article as well. On Wednesday at noon, the possible expansion of the county convention center was the topic of a meeting of Monroe County and Bloomington officials. The gathering at the county courthouse included county commissioners, some county councilors, city councilmembers and the mayor’s office. It was the first time that representatives from all four groups had sat at the same table on that topic since early March of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. After about 45 minutes of conversation, the group had not made much progress, but agreed it was worth another meeting. The city wants to get a deal done by the end of September. So “sooner rather than later” was the city’s wish for a next scheduled meeting. One twist that emerged on Wednesday was the possibility that a convention center deal between the city and the county could hinge on Bloomington’s approval of a rezone for land that the county wants to use for construction of a new jail. 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. “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.” NOTE: This article that highlights President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore's, involvement was published in the August 10, 2022 B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are gathered from the article as well. While a lot of details remain to be worked out, Monroe County councilors appear receptive to the basic idea of transferring ownership of the county’s convention center and related properties to the city of Bloomington.
The city’s hoped-for timeline for getting the deal done is the end of September. At their regular meeting on Tuesday, county councilors took turns responding to a pitch from Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce Eric Spoonmore, who is their former colleague, and Bloomington deputy mayor Don Griffin. The two gave a somewhat longer version of the proposal that county commissioners had heard during public commentary at their regular meeting last Wednesday. The city’s pitch comes in the context of some political pressure to use the food and beverage tax, enacted in 2017 by the county council, for its lawful purpose—to expand the convention center. The hoped-for collaboration between the city and the county on a joint effort at expansion was stalled even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. One fear is that the state legislature will sunset food and beverage taxes in its 2023 session, which could be somewhat countered by action now to get the food and beverage tax revenues obligated through a bond issuance. NOTE: This article that highlights President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore's, involvement was published in the August 5, 2022 B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are gathered from the article as well. The initial potential term sheet that has been floated by the city of Bloomington for the acquisition of the Monroe County convention center is now public.
The key points of the proposal include the transfer of the convention center at 3rd Street and College Avenue to the city of Bloomington—as well as other property that has been purchased by the county government with proceeds from the innkeeper’s tax. The city wants to acquire the convention center, in order to purse an expansion of the facility independent of the county, because the joint venture between the two governments was stalled even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Under the terms, the county would also have to support an annual transfer from the county to Bloomington, or its property manager, the proceeds from the county’s 5-percent innkeeper’s tax. The tax is overseen by a five-member convention and visitors commission, which is appointed by county government. It’s the innkeeper’s tax that is used by the county to make the payments on the existing debt on the convention center. NOTE: This article which highlights the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce was published on August 8, 2022 on Inside Indiana Business by Wes Mills. The city of Bloomington is proposing a plan to take over ownership and operation of the Monroe Convention Center and to pay for an expansion of the venue. City leaders have submitted a proposal to the Monroe County Board of Commissioners and will present the idea Tuesday during the Monroe County Council meeting.
The plan has the backing of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Visit Bloomington, and Downtown Bloomington Inc. Under the proposal, the city would pay off the county’s existing debt on the convention center, estimated at approximately $2 million. NOTE: This article which highlights Chamber CEO Eric Spoonmore was published on August 4, 2022 WFIU by Joe Hren. Monroe County’s convention center business is back to pre-pandemic levels and city leaders are looking to revive the struggling expansion project.
Bloomington city leaders want to take over the convention center expansion project by purchasing the existing building and land from the county. At this week’s county commissioner meeting, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce President Eric Spoonmore presented what he calls a ‘win-win’ for all parties. “The city is willing to reasonably compensate the county in order to do this,” Spoonmore said. “This will provide much needed resources for county government to pursue other high priority projects, such as the new quarry park that we’re excited about.” |
Chamber NewsThis blog contains press releases, other news updates from the Chamber, news articles and radio interviews featuring interviews with the Chamber and team members, and much more! Categories
Categories
All
Archives
Archives
April 2024
|