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Chamber News
Press Releases & News Updates

Construction to begin on convention center expansion after City Council greenlight

3/10/2025

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NOTE: This news article featuring President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally published by IDS - Gabby Rogers on Friday, March 7th, 2025.
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The council chambers are pictured Sept. 4, 2024, in City Hall in Bloomington. The city council approved construction to begin on the Monroe County Convention Center expansion at a meeting Wednesday. Photo by Molly Gregory / The Indiana Daily Student
A round of applause filled the council chambers after Bloomington City Council unanimously passed the critical step in the years-long Monroe County Convention Center expansion project.  
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The council greenlighted $46,825,000 in lease rental revenue bonds to renovate the center. ​

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The 812 Podcast: 003: Christopher Emge, Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce

1/18/2024

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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.
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Capital board as governance for Monroe Convention Center expansion to be on July 5 county agenda

7/5/2023

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NOTE: This article that features The Chamber's President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was published on June 28, 2023 in the B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are provided by B Square Bulletin.
PictureMonroe County commissioners, from left: Lee Jones, Penny Githens, and Julie Thomas. (June 28, 2023)
The long-planned expansion of the Monroe Convention Center, which has been stalled since March 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, could take a small step forward next week.

At their regular meeting next Wednesday (July 5), Monroe County commissioners are likely to consider and approve an ordinance that will establish a seven-member capital improvement board (CIB) to provide the governance structure for the expansion. [2023-06-28 draft ordinance]

Expectations about next week’s action are based on the discussion at a Wednesday work session, which was held by commissioners following their regular meeting.

The previous night, at a county council work session, attended by commissioner Penny Githens, the council passed a motion made by councilor Geoff McKim, which supported the path that the commissioners are now taking.


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Bloomington mayoral candidate forum: Sharp difference in perspectives on crime, city-county relations

4/12/2023

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NOTE: This article that highlights The Chamber's Elect Connect: Mayoral Forum on Business event was published on April 11, 2023 in the B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins. Photos are provided by B Square Bulletin.
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Kerry Thomson
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Susan Sandberg
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Don Griffin
At a forum for mayoral candidates hosted on Monday night by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, not a lot of new, additional daylight emerged between the three candidates as far as their known policy positions.

But a sharp difference in perspective emerged in response to a couple of the questions—one involving public safety and another involving the working relationship between city and county governments.
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Moderating the forum was Paul Helmke, who was a three-term mayor of Fort Wayne, and is a professor of practice at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

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Commissioners set on building new jail despite public opposition

3/7/2023

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NOTE: This article with featuring Government Relations Manager, Jim Shelton, was originally published on March 6, 2023 in the Indiana Daily Student by Marissa Meador.
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Photo by: Marissa Meador | The Community Justice Reform Committee is seen March 6, 2023, in the Monroe County Courthouse to discuss building a new county jail. The meeting was preceded by a Care Not Cages Block Party outside the courthouse.
Amid continued opposition from members of the public, the Community Justice Response Committee for Monroe County met again on Monday to move forward with plans for a new county jail. The committee was initially formed in May 2021 to review reports that described poor conditions in the jail and currently meets two times per month.  

Built in 1986, the jail was described as having “far exceeded its structural and functional life cycle” in one of the consultant reports. Since then, there has been little movement on the push for a new jail, with the previous plan of building a jail in the southwest corner of the city failing to receive approval from the Bloomington City Council.  

A key player in the opposition movement is local advocacy group Care Not Cages, which hosted a block party in front of the courthouse in advance of the meeting. The event recognized this week as the Week Against Mass Incarceration and hosted Jauston Huerta, the director of Forever On Course United in Solidarity Initiatives, as a speaker. FOCUS Initiatives is an Indiana-based organization that aims to help people transition out of prison life and re-enter society.  

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What candidates said in 3 minutes to make their best pitch to Monroe County voters

10/6/2022

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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.
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This B Square roundup is limited to candidates in contested, partisan races where both candidates appeared.
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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.

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Potential convention center deal: City, county leaders meet, agree to meet again

9/1/2022

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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.
PictureConvention center work session at county courthouse. (Photo by: B Square Bulletin)
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.


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County council warm to Bloomington’s pitch for convention center transfer

8/10/2022

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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.
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Greater Bloomington Chamber president Eric Spoonmore addresses the Monroe County Council (Aug. 9, 2022)
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.
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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.

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Bloomington wants to buy Monroe County convention center for expansion, no numbers given

8/5/2022

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NOTE: This article that highlights President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore's, involvement was published in the August 3, 2022 B Square Bulletin by Dave Askins.
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​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.


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Column: Chamber survey says a lower income tax would fund resident priorities

4/25/2022

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NOTE: This "Your Turn" guest column by Chamber CEO Eric Spoonmore was published in the April 24, 2022 Bloomington Herald-Times.
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Mayor John Hamilton recently proposed an increase to the Monroe County Local Income Tax rate to fund $18 million of new city investments in four primary categories that include the following:
  • public safety ($4.5 million)
  • climate change preparedness and mitigation ($6.5 million)
  • equity and quality of life for all ($4 million)
  • essential city services ($3 million).
The plan proposes to increase the local income tax rate for all Monroe County residents to 2.2%, which is a 64% increase from the existing rate of 1.345%. Under this proposal, a household earning $50,000 annually would pay an additional $425 a year in local income taxes to fund new spending initiatives for the city.

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    Chamber News

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