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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.
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.
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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.  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 with Chamber President and CEO, Eric Spoonmore, was originally published on October 16, 2022 in the Indiana Daily Student by Meghana Rachamadugu.  Photo by IDS Photographer, Olivia Bianco. A bus sits empty Oct. 13, 2022, outside of the Bloomington Transit Center. Bloomington Chamber of Commerce wants to expand the bus line outside of the city. The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce hopes the board of Bloomington Transit will vote to expand Route 3 by 1.3 miles in the west direction to serve those in Park 48 and Ivy Tech facilities, according to a Herald-Times guest column. In his column, Eric Spoonmore, the president and CEO of Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, said City Council also supported this idea when they passed Resolution 22-16, a document sponsored by Councilmember Steven Volan.
Spoonmore said the resolution favored extending the transit services outside city boundaries, something the municipal code didn’t allow previously. While the resolution signifies council members want to expand transit lines, it doesn’t formally approve an infrastructural change or construction. Spoonmore said the expansion has been an ongoing conversation in both the business and residential community and by extending services, the city will be able to serve those accordingly. NOTE: This article that highlights The Chamber's Success School was published in the October/November, 2022 issue of Bloom Magazine by Barb Berggoetz. Choosing a career isn’t always on the radar of middle school students. But the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce is trying to kick-start them into thinking about the possibilities with its Tour of Opportunity program.
“It’s a way to plant the seed and start the conversation about what they might want to do in the future,” says Katie Sensabaugh, director of Success School, which operates the program giving students real-world experiences at local workplaces. “We have done virtual tours for the last two years, but this is the first time we are doing in-person tours,” Sensabaugh says. Groups of about 50 seventh- and eighth-graders visit two or three businesses in one day to talk with professionals and learn about careers. 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. 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.  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. 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.  Panorama of convention center looking to the southwest. 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 Council passed a food and beverage tax increase in 2017 to fund the expansion. (WFIU/WTIU News) 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.” |
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