|
NOTE: This news article featuring the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce's President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally published by Dave Askins from B Square Bulletin on Wednesday, March 4th, 2026.  A rate case field hearing is held in Bloomington city council chambers on the proposed rate increase for drinking water rates for City of Bloomington Utilities customers. (Dave Askins, Feb. 25, 2026) Drinking water rates for City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) customers will be going up for all classes of customers, with an order expected later this summer.
That’s been known since late June last year, when CBU was holding discussions with Indiana University and Washington Township to develop the proposal. IU and the township had formally opposed CBU’s rate increase four years ago, which is why CBU had to have meetings with those two big customers this time around. IU and IU Health are also formally opposing the current increase. After Bloomington’s utilities service board adopted the proposed rate increase in early September, it was submitted to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for review. The IRUC docket for the case is a convenient online repository for all the filings as well as a schedule of important events, like the evidentiary hearing, to be held on April 30.
0 Comments
NOTE: This guest column article featuring President & CEO Eric Spoonmore, was originally published by The Herald-Times on Friday, November 28th, 2025. On Nov. 3, the Monroe County Council voted to reject the purchase of the North Park property between Bloomington and Ellettsville to construct a $230 million justice complex. The project included a new jail and sheriff’s department, nine new courtrooms with accompanying judges’ chambers and new offices for the prosecutor’s staff, county clerk’s staff and the public defender’s office.
While the proposal for North Park failed, one fact remains: County officials remain committed to the urgent need for, at minimum, a new jail. The existing facility is inadequate and no longer meets modern operational standards. A safe, humane, and functional jail is a critical component of a forward-looking justice system. Fortunately, there are viable and accessible sites near Bloomington where the county can construct a new facility that better reflects our community’s values. And while the jail itself does not need to be located downtown, all other justice-related services absolutely should remain there. NOTE: This news article featuring Senior Director of Government & Community Relations, Christopher Emge, was originally published by WFHB on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025.  Photo courtesy of the Herald Times. The Bloomington City Council met on September 30th. During the meeting, a proposal to name a section of Bloomington the “Stadium District” was introduced. The naming would be the area surrounding Miller-Showers Park. In today’s feature report, WFHB News Correspondent Katrine Bruner speaks with Co-Founder of Heartwork Brewing Aubrey Williams and Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce’s Christopher Emge about naming an area in Bloomington the “Stadium District.” She also features perspectives from residents of the area who pushed back against the proposal.
NOTE: This news article featuring President & CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally published by IDS - Gabby Rogers on Friday, March 7th, 2025.  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.
The council greenlighted $46,825,000 in lease rental revenue bonds to renovate the center. 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.  Capital board as governance for Monroe Convention Center expansion to be on July 5 county agenda7/5/2023 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.  Monroe 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. 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.
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. 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. 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.  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. 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 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.  Convention 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. |
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 2026
|
|
|
Copyright The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. All Rights Reserved.