- Okay, it is December 10th, 2025 at 12.05 p.m. This is the meeting of the Wellington Urban Enterprise
- Association. Is there anyone on the cats? Just cats? It's just cats right now. Okay, we'll see if Elissa
- jumps on that.
- Let me start with the roll call. Sure, Dan. Brad, why don't you lead us off? Roll call. Brad Whistler
- here. Holly Warren, Economic and Sustainable Development. Deidra Ressa, ESD. Marion Morgan, board member.
- Heather Robinson, board member. Michael Huber, board member. Jane Coopersmith, board member. Virginia
- Gutierrez, board member. All right, welcome, everyone. All right, Dee, I know we have
- It doesn't look like a lot of items, but we have some big discussions in today's agenda, including our
- budget, which I know we will get to that. We have a couple of other things, but minutes are first on
- the list. Are there any comments, questions, corrections to the November minutes? If there are none,
- I would entertain a motion to
- Let's move to approve the November 2025 BMA board meeting notes. We have a second. Second. All those
- in favor? Any opposed? Okay. She carries. Thank you. All right. Dee, it looks like we have some unfinished
- business. Do you want to talk about that? Yes. So our unfinished business is the historic facade grant
- for First Christian Church. The last meeting we
- Discussed our scoring rubric and kind of the bounds in which we have decided to evaluate grants as they
- come to us. As First Christian Church is just outside of the geographical boundaries of the BUDA, but
- provides a lot of services for the area and for BUDA residents. We're taking this into consideration
- for a $40,000 request.
- To for me from your work on first Christian church. We've kind of seen this a couple times. I don't
- know how far you want me to go through the grant application. But I hope everybody's reviewed it and
- open to discussing. Well, I think 1 of the pieces, if, if I can just recall from our last meeting when we.
- And Alex was great. She provided some clarity for us and how the bylaws are written. And I think we've
- had as a board questions around, you know, can we fund things that are outside of the boundaries of
- the UEA? And we've kind of been back and forth a little bit on that. And last year we had a couple of
- situations where we said, no, just this request is outside.
- of the zone and based on how we were interpreting the bylaws, we did not. But with this interpretation
- legal, I should say legal guidance and interpretation of the bylaws, what we determined that there were
- three specific areas that we could consider. That would be if we're outside of the zone area,
- Does the request aid employment of zone residents? Does it improve the physical environment or does
- it encourage retention turnover capital in the zone, even if it's outside of the zone? And the conversation
- and why we asked you to bring back the request today from the church is that we said, you know what,
- we think that
- this just being outside of the zone, but does fit into this criteria that we could say that this long
- standing institution is a benefit to the zone based on this. And therefore that rubric, which Steve
- put together is very helpful. And I think that that will aid us moving forward and will create clarity.
- So that's just kind of a little bit of the background from last month. And so,
- I will kind of leave it there and others to comment. I would support this grant. They're a great partner
- in. Addressing some of the needs of the house folks downtown and because they are just basically abutting
- the orders, I think this is a really reasonable. Request fully support it.
- Other thoughts or comments or. I agree well. Sorry, I missed the last meeting, so I hope I'm not. Being
- redundant, but. My concern is just that we're consistent in the way that we're applying this and that
- and we're being clear and transparent to the public about it. So if if in fact we're adopting this new
- guidance as our official policy and that is.
- clear on the website to anyone who's going to apply, and those conditions are consistent, then I don't
- have any objection to it. My problem all along was that we say no to some people because they're outside
- now. We say, yes, this is what we need. I just want us to be consistent. So is there any kind of update
- about how we're presenting that on the application?
- There's no official, and I'm happy to do this, and this is something I think that all of the, now that
- we do have a sparring rubric, that's something that we do need to let people know. It's like, hey, this
- is how we base our, how we decide that you're going to get a grant or not. So that will be incorporated
- with all of that, and all of the grants do need to be updated in general. Could we add just a paragraph
- or something to the VBA page, which I know is really in fact,
- The statement about eligibility criteria, that is a quote of Alex's. Yeah, sure. That's what I'm looking
- for. Because if you go to the application page on the website right now, it says available to. And if
- I were outside the zone, I would just walk away. Yeah, right. Okay, excellent.
- This might be something for another time. I don't think it's directly related to their request, but
- I think that let's say for instance, they did have some type of emergency need because they do serve
- a lot of unhoused. Would there be anywhere in the grant where if they were just on the border of the
- zone that it would be OK that the board could make a determination that it would be an emergency or
- would that be muddying the waters too much? Because I mean, I think there are times when
- You know, that could be a consideration also, but I don't know. But consistency is important. So I was
- just saying there would be a time pressure factor as well as the location that possibly the time pressure
- factor, or maybe they're providing some unusual service that actually is going to be extremely beneficial.
- to a lot of people who were in the zone. And I mean, that can happen, especially now in this economy,
- in our environment, just in people's, just in the world itself. And I can see those types of things
- potentially coming up. But if we're... It makes me nervous from a management perspective, just that
- like, if it's not exactly within our guidelines, like we, I think you retain a lot of flexibility and
- have the how about
- Like what people can do with the funding, even within our specific grant programs, but if we're making
- exceptions for specific organizations, I feel like that could really get us in trouble. Okay. And a
- number of levels. So I, I don't, I wonder if there are other ways we could address. Okay. I appreciate
- that. That would fall off in our rule set. So we need Deacon. Yeah. Okay.
- But that's maybe responsiveness. You want them to be able to be responsive. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean,
- I agree. It's hard because people can start talking and then, you know, I had an emergency too and we
- served this many people and so it could get so at the end of the day, you know, following the rules
- is what you have to do. I mean, I make my students do it, you know. I mean, they have all kinds of crazy
- things. Listen. Yeah. All the record. We can talk about it another time over there.
- You know, you got me consistent, so I get it. Well, I think that brought me to a really good point,
- Dean. It sounds like you've already got that on your radar. Making sure as we get into 2026 and these
- online portal is consistent with the updates and the clarity that Alex provided for us and these three
- criteria along with that rubric so that it will
- For those that would like to apply, they'll have an understanding of how these decisions are made. I
- think the transparency is always the path. Absolutely. Absolutely. And it is time for some of the,
- I mean, every year I am trying to improve upon the grant programming that we're doing and trying to
- make it more clear and trying to learn from the mistakes that, you know, maybe could come about or
- things that were unclear before in the application process, because it makes my job easier when it's
- like, oh, this can just go straight to the board. This is fine. And not that I don't love speaking to
- the people, because I do. It's fun talking to people about their projects. But sometimes I realize,
- oh, that should have just been in the grant guidelines. So yeah, so I appreciate that. And yeah, there
- will be some updates on that. Sure.
- Are there any other comments, questions, thoughts about this? Mary, I think you essentially made a proposed
- approving this. So I don't know if we, is that human emotion? Do you want to answer? Sure. That's the
- word I was looking for. Move to approve. What is there? Historic beside. Move to approve the historic
- beside crest.
- Grant for First Christian Church. Do we have a second? I'll second. All those in favor say aye. Aye.
- Aye. Are we opposed? All right. Yay. Okay. All righty. Good deal. So we are going to go back to the
- video. Okay. It's time for the budget.
- Do you let's let's talk about we get to that part.
- Okay, for this year's grants. Oh, that's right. This year's grants. I'm so sorry. Yeah, so I forgot
- that Holly needs to talk about this year's grants before we talk about the 26th grant. So, Holly, yeah.
- So this is for spending the rest of the Arts Commission Arts Grants Fund. So every year the BUA allocates
- $50,000 and trusts the Bloomington Arts Commission to do a rigorous review
- process for two grant categories each year to allocate that money. But then we always come back to you
- to make a recommendation and get them approved before we send those MOUs and money out. So our first
- grant cycle of the year was our Zone Arts Project Grant Cycle. So this is for organizations
- artists, arts groups, working within Bloomington to create really public facing programming for our
- community. As part of that cycle earlier this year, the BUAA allocated $27,983. Thank you very much.
- For this current operations grant cycle, I'm proposing that the BUAA allocate $23,500 in arts and grants to
- 501 C threes who have arts focused missions and
- The way we judge these grants is they're available for any arts-focused 501c3 whose annual operating
- budget is $500,000 or less. We can award them up to $5,000. When we are reviewing these applications,
- we review them for organizational capacity. We make sure that they have what it takes to get the work
- they tell us they're doing done and community impact. Again, we always want to award the groups that
- are doing enough for as much for our community as possible.
- Again, we're looking for folks who facilitate involvement in arts and cultural activity, provide an
- opportunity for folks in our community to participate in the creative process, advance the quality of
- arts and the availability of arts in the zone specifically for more product money, and then just celebrate
- and enhance the identity of the zone. Again, we are recommending an allocation of 23,500 for this cycle,
- and I've included in this packet a list of everyone. I'm happy to go through those. I know sometimes
- when we're trying to stay
- money y'all can just tell me what you think ask me questions about that I do want to point out though
- with that twenty three thousand five hundred dollar allocation I'm a little over my fifty thousand dollar
- budget there's an additional one thousand four hundred and eighty three dollars and I'm proposing that
- we pull that additional fourteen hundred and change from the fifteen thousand discretionary spending on city
- Let arts initiatives lines in our arts and culture budget. That's what I'm proposing. We pulled that
- additional funds for it because we haven't spent any of it yet. So I'll start stop there and you ask
- me any questions you have. So the amount would be. Overall, if you approve this entire thing, the overall
- amount would be fifty one thousand four hundred eighty three dollars. Okay, yeah, and that's it that
- fifteen thousand that you're going to pull the extra out from.
- Is also correct. Yes. I look through the list. I fully support the organizations listed here and I'm
- sure I know you have committee and you do the due diligence and reviewing those applications and so
- forth. I don't really have any questions.
- And then the other thing I wanted to point out to you all is one thing we realized is that four hundred
- or four thousand dollars was never paid out to the Lotus Festival last year as part of their operations
- grants. And I think basically I think they just dropped the ball and it fell out of my head and I never
- followed up from them to get their Ugarify form. That grant period is basically still active.
- My recommendation is, again, we draw from that $15,000 line in the BUA budget for this year to be able
- to give them that money. Again, I think that they serve this community in a very good way, and I would
- like to be able to give that money to them if possible. But again, I will leave that decision to you
- all. Yeah, I mean, if they were awarded the money and it just simply didn't, the administrative side
- of it didn't happen, I don't think that
- They shouldn't be penalized for that. I mean, those things do happen. And you said they were the ones
- that noticed this. Yeah, so basically, I'd be shocked. And I was like, if this happens every year, you
- always have to remind people, especially for the E-Verify, because before this year, you had to have
- a document notarized. And it was just a pain in the butt. So I followed up with it and was like, hey,
- just a reminder. You didn't need this. And they didn't respond. And then I think I was like, OK, move
- it over here. What's the crisis?
- So, has there been a change or anything? Last year there wasn't a leadership.
- change that I know of. I think there might have been some staff change, but yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
- Yeah. This seems like... Yeah. Yeah. I'm surprised too, especially, you know, having the table. Yeah.
- Having worked with them pretty consistently, you know, it was surprising. Yeah. But yeah. It happens
- sometimes. Yeah. Okay. That was improved in 2025? That was improved in 2024.
- Yeah, but the grant period goes through the end of 2025. Yeah. And for the 2024 balance for the arts
- and culture grants, it looks like, and this is from the budget versus balance sheet, it looks like there's
- about $28,000 of unspent funds. So there's room in there to cover it.
- Okay, so if the grant period is the end of this month, then maybe this needs to happen. Yeah. Yes, that's
- so they receive the money and spend the money. Right. Exactly. And I anticipate that they will be able
- to do that because the grant was written for this year's Lotus Festival. So, I'm sure you'll just reverse
- them for expenses from that festival. Okay. All right. Any other questions on the grants?
- So, it looks like it'll end up being a total of 55, 483. Yes, that right. Okay. We have a motion to
- approve motion. 2nd.
- And I think we've had Felisa joining us, so we'll need to do around the room again. Hi. Sorry I'm late,
- guys. Hi. That's OK. Do you want to start for the approval of this grant? Yes. Felisa Spinelli, yes.
- Mary Morgan, yes.
- Heather Robinson, yes. Michael Hover, yes. Jane Cooper-Smith, yes. Virginia Gidear, yes. All right,
- thank you all so much. It was a long way this year with all the tests we're seeing statewide and federally.
- Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Holly. Thank you, Holly. Thank you. OK. All right, now it's budget fun time.
- It's budget time. Where do you want us to be on the summary? Yeah.
- If you'll note, I did send updated pages today. I received the financial statements from November, yesterday
- evening after I met with Heather. And so I updated those numbers. So we have actual numbers as to what
- our income really was, and that kind of changed things a bit. And then after meeting with Heather, you
- can see that the first table is a little bit different.
- exactly how much is going out without pulling from our cash reserves. So the proposed budget totals
- $696,000. It's $609,500 and $3,000. Wow, guys. I was really late doing this. I'm so sorry.
- And that's six hundred and ninety seven thousand dollars that has this running at a deficit of about
- two hundred and seventy seven or two hundred seventy eight thousand dollars for the year. If you'll note.
- In 2025, we were supposed to run at about $176,000 deficit. However, from all of the back pay that we
- received from Catalan Novo Nordisk, the total income for 2025 was $834,000. So substantially over what
- we thought, where we thought we were going to be at the end of 2025. I feel comfortable.
- with running this deficit, and I will show you why in just a moment. We can get into the details, but
- I want to show you the overview of this because I did update the budget pages. And let's see, I think
- this is the important one. Sorry, I'm bad at navigation. Let's see if we can make this bigger.
- So these are the running totals for the past 2023, 2024. We were at a surplus of $175,000 in 2023,
- or $170,000 in 2023. We ran a very small deficit in 2024 when everything was all said and done. And
- as you can see in 2025, we are
- running way above our expected spend. Can I ask a question? Yes. That payment from that particular filer,
- what year does it go back to? It looks like back to 2023, doesn't it? So we got payment for 2023, but
- there was no payment in 2022.
- or I'm sorry, no, they were paying all the way up to 2023 and we didn't get payment for 2024 and the
- numbers for 2023 were off by a few hundred thousand. Okay, so the 2023 net income here, positive net
- income is the total income is low because it was missing the payment that we received in 2026. So I
- guess what I'm trying to say is the,
- surplus that we saw in 2025 really kind of would be allocated over 24. Yes. 23. Yes, because so I can
- run up to the top of this. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I need that many weeds. I just sure it's
- not a problem. So if you see the zone membership
- fees right here, we didn't get paid for anything in 2024, and we ran a very, very short deficit. We
- did get paid in 2023, but it wasn't the correct amount. So running that very short deficit with not
- being paid, we did a pretty good job of running the numbers and running the money correctly. And then
- that 2025 year to date, so then we see an increase in 2025 because that, in spite of other
- Ease of throwing off that filer had additional major investments that they're claiming. Yes. And then
- 2025 reflects back pay. So 2026 is really just reflecting increased investments at that site. Yes, that's
- the projection for that. Okay, thanks. This is all cash basis. So,
- That's kind of just the basic summary of the deficit that we're looking at running at. Getting into
- the weeds, so expenses. Administrative allocation of $168,000 for management of the BUBA. This includes
- an increase of professional services and staffing.
- insurance, accounting, advertising, marketing, the technology resources and overhead used by city staff.
- Just for that part, the fees that the VA had been paying in the past were not adjusted for COLA. They
- weren't adjusted for staff increases as far as wage and things like that. So it was time to just update
- that agreement. So we figure out the numbers for that. You can get into the leads in that just a second.
- And then you all have been so supportive of me over the years and I greatly appreciate it. And I have
- been talking about adding an additional person to help me out. So I have included $25,000 for
- an administrative consultant to help me with some of the work that we're doing.
- So that's administrative and staffing. And Dee's using the word consultant deliberately because to add
- a staff position, it would have to go through a full process with city council and an appropriation
- ordinance to create the position. And we can do that if the board thinks that's necessary. We just can't
- do that until next fall when we run through the budget.
- process. So I think Dee's idea is to use this funding to hire someone who can help administratively,
- but on a consultant basis. Yeah. And this is a good trial run. So if this becomes successful and we
- do want to put it in the 2027 budget, then we have a clear understanding of what that person's role
- will be and how they can assist. So
- kind of thinking of it as consultant pilot sort of situation. And having a staff person, I mean, through
- that process would be more expensive, I assume. It is, yes. This would be a W-9 employee. This, yes,
- this will be like a 10 and a 9 employee. Okay. All right, yeah. Moving on, arts and grants education.
- $92,000, $93,000 in programming for resident education, expanding K through 12 education support, $56,000
- in entrepreneurship for programs and scholarships benefiting business, education, technical assistance,
- and entrepreneurship.
- About 260,000 for arts and culture initiatives and that does include the hundred thousand that we had
- allocated for 2025 for the arts incubator and we'll talk totally about that in a little bit.
- And then zone improvement, 120,000 in grant funding to directly assist small businesses and nonprofits
- with physical improvements emergency assistance and assistance, financial aid, and an appropriation
- of $20,000 to sustainability to fund to seal energy efficient grants.
- specifically targeting zoned residents. This climate and sustainability line had been in the 2025 budget
- and it went unspent and now it is officially dedicated to something. And then the one-time expenses
- of converting around $100,000 of existing loans held since 2020 for the rapid response fund grants.
- We did talk about the income a little bit before. Like I said, it's about $134,000 and the projected
- gross income just for 2026 will be around $519,000. Did you remind us what amount is in our reserves?
- We have about $3.4 million. I was just looking at that on the balance sheet.
- from last month. I'm in on that too. From October, I don't know the number. Sorry, I said that.
- Almost $3.5 million in total current assets will discharge. Yeah, it's over.
- It's over 3.5, but we're going to discharge several of those FFBs. So we just kind of look at like cash
- and deposits and so forth, 3.49 million in that range, at least in October. So it's a solid amount of reserve.
- So that's going to be that's going to be decreasing to roughly what? Well, if we get this charge, a
- hundred thousand dollars, it looks like he has a hundred thousand dollars, which is included in those
- total expenses. So the net income, there we go. Two, seventy seven, five or three hundred thousand.
- So that would.
- essentially since we are, the operation is on a cash basis that would technically if every single thing
- spent that's been budgeted and every dollar that you've forecasted. So that would be cash. Yeah, I mean,
- it's all just cash. It's not technically reserves as far as it's structured. It's just cash that sits
- in banks and there's some CDs or something so there's,
- You have that, but as far as just cash that you- And that wouldn't affect the interest income much at
- all then? Not for that. Although the rate cut, there's another rate cut, so interest is going down.
- The earnings in general. So if you're in the bond market, think about it. The bonds were great a year
- ago. So we would see
- a reduction in the cash that's sitting there. But as far as the interest that we're getting on it, it's
- still substantial. It almost makes up for losing the $100,000. Could you also remind us what percentage
- of your time is BUAA? About 40%. Okay.
- I asked Dee to track all the staff hours that go into it. So she, Alex, me, I was pretty nominal, our
- administrative coordinator, Susan Coase. I don't know if you all have met her, but she's one of the
- people that makes it happen. She's awesome. And then Cheryl Gilliland, right? I don't know if Holly
- was in there. So she looked at everyone's
- labor hours according to their salary along with a technology percentage that came from the ITS department
- and calculated that along with the COLA for 2026. So it's a real number that's there. And then the idea
- with the support person is just that even at her 30%,
- there is more work to do here to truly market the organization and successfully get the funds out. So
- I think there's a lot of work to do on top of that. But we don't want to pull Dee away completely from
- the small business work she's doing across the whole community, which is really important. Yeah. Thanks.
- So, yeah, as we get into this ministry, so thanks for going through that Jane. I appreciate it. And
- we do have more breakdown of that if you'd like to see those individual numbers. So, that agreement
- ends up coming out to about. Ninety thousand dollars, which is a little less than, or I'm sorry, a little bit.
- Yeah, a little bit less than doubling of what it was before. I think that when you look at the cross-study
- and how our wages went up considerably. And so to reflect that and bear some of the cost, it only seemed
- right. $25,000 for the administrative consultant.
- Do's and subscriptions, we put 2,800 in there and that is actually talking about the IT costs specifically.
- So, you know, that's us using DocuSign and Dolby and all the other little things to get this thing going.
- It looks like our insurance expenses will remain about the same. There was no indication that there
- would be increase on accounting and tax services.
- Project administration has been increased about $5,000 to do a thorough, you will see in the packet
- that there is some projection in there for the next five to 10 years. It's a pretty rough, they're pretty
- rough projections. We'd like to do something in depth for a five-year projection.
- The $10,000 to support marketing is expanding of programs, of programming. So that's all of our grants,
- all of our business incentives. And I'm getting assistance through Ivy Tech to do that. And I mentioned
- that a couple of meetings ago that we had been working on kind of a short-term strategic plan for the
- marketing. So that's where that's happening. Miscellaneous expenses.
- is exactly what it is. It's something offset. We need to pay for it and pull it out of that. All right.
- Any questions about that part? It might be helpful to leave that on the screen a little longer, just
- because there's a lot of information in there. And then just projecting out.
- Whenever there's an increase in personnel, like future years, that's a commitment, right? And we're
- confident that on the revenue side, we can support that. At least that's what our best guess is now.
- That's what our best guess is now. The projections, and I had Stone Municipal Group help me out with
- those projections. They helped me out with the eases. Those projections are out to
- 33 or 36 or something to that effect. Actually, let me scroll down to, let me get to those so you can
- see that chart. Oh, I hate this thing. I'm sorry. Jesus, I'm good at technology, but you have no idea
- how bad I am at it. This is probably a good one to look at.
- Okay. And this is post-SEA 1 or? Yes, this is post-SEA 1. To cover that super quickly, I make brief
- mention of it close to the end of the budget memo. But most of our income from property tax is coming
- from real estate property tax, not personal property tax. So the hit that we got from SEA 1 is not as
- bad as we thought it might be. It ends up being about $12,000.
- So not, not related, not, not relating to terrible. So this chart shows the eases that we have right
- now. If we do not add anything, if no additional. Companies decide to sign on to the participation fee.
- So this is just the life cycle of the current eases. Absolutely. So that, that cliff.
- Really reflects like we did nothing, but we did absolutely nothing. We're in our expectation is presumably
- we will be the sun. Yeah. And I think there's a huge opportunity in that, uh, real property. I mean,
- especially thinking about what's going on in the trades district, you know, what we was going in and
- then having some tech investments. And then, you know, there's a new development going in.
- adjacent to NOVO. NOVO continues to grow. So I think it's realistic that that revenue would grow. And
- so it's great that Dee has these productions from Stone, but one of the line items in the 2026 budget
- is to get realistic
- What we can do. What's that? 30,000 right there. Yeah. I appreciate that. I felt that's what that might
- mean. Yeah. So that was a request just being transparent. Heather and I had a really nice conversation
- about like, what is it? What does the BVA want to be when it grows up? Like, what's it doing now? Is
- that sufficient? What more could it be doing? Is it being strategic? And it was really just,
- I don't know, just good.
- conversation that Heather had observed that if we want to think critically about what we're doing at
- all, we have to have really good projections for what our gravity was going to look like. Otherwise,
- we're just shooting in the dark. So that's kind of what triggered Dee to add that. And that's how those
- projections will differ from this.
- Yeah. And maybe we'll get some leads out of it too. Yeah, absolutely. And it's a considerable amount
- of income, even if we don't do any, like that's a considerable amount of money. So even, even if, even
- if 2032 is the drop off, there's still, I mean, we would have, we would have spent a lot of money for
- us to be defunct by 2036. We'd have to spend it pretty quick. Um,
- Which is not impossible if that's the way that it looks, but I don't foresee that drop off happening.
- At least I'm not going to try not to let it happen. That's really good information, Dean. I appreciate
- seeing that because it does give us an idea
- Now, this year, we do have a couple of expenses that we may not, well, for one, the FSP loans, that's
- a unique situation. I have that. It's the $100,000 for the Arts Incubator. I don't want to presume,
- Holly, what you might ask in the future, but that may not be an expense that we would have. There's
- a couple of $100,000 in there that are special, if you will. But that's still based on those projections
- that we were trying to say,
- you know, net pretty flat. We're still not, you know, with those numbers based on where our expenses
- are now, we wouldn't quite hit that. But to Jane's point, it sounds like there's opportunity and with
- an admin helping support you, Dee, and I hope that that too then frees up some of that time for you
- to seek the additional ease. It's not like a huge amount of decline. It's not like, oh, we need three
- or $400,000.
- another 100, another 150,000 would pretty much net us out in expenses. So, you know, something great
- to see those projections. And then I think, you know, next year will be an important year for us as
- an organization to kind of see how that goes and how, you know, can it ease it.
- Can we grow that revenue, what it looks like, with the support that you've got and so forth? So I think
- that would be a good year for us. And the good news is we do have the cash. We have the cushion to be
- able to say, okay, it's a year transition. We recognize it's going to be a negative budget for next
- year, but we've had, you know, if we look at the three years, it was like 500 in the calculation, some thousand.
- dollars that we've added to our, basically to our pot of money. So I think we're, we're fine with that,
- so. Okay. Moving on to grants, education. I made mention of SEA 1 earlier.
- Unfortunately, our school corporation has been hit much harder by this. And I do want to thank the board
- for approving an additional $25,000 to go to the MCCSC. That pushes the grant total to $75,000 for 2026
- for their emerging workforce technological education grant.
- which is great. So what I've done to kind of make that work, I've redirected funding from uncategorized
- grants, which perform the DEI training grants, and then unbudgeted grants to hit that obligation. Look
- over here. That's the education budget. So to get to that 92.5,
- The 75,000 for NCCSC, we have $15,000 for resident economic independence scholarship, which is funny
- because I get a lot of them the fourth quarter of the year. So that never changed a couple of times
- before I sent you the budget. But that money is dedicated. And then Lemonade Day, which is a nice favorite
- to participate in and give money to.
- Does anyone have any questions about the education grants? Oh, and one other thing I did, this is broken
- out into education and entrepreneurship before there was a combined category because we had an SBDC
- in there. This just kind of cleans it up a little bit so we know where we're putting those funds directly.
- I'm just curious, Andy, on those,
- Um, scholarships and, and I always support the $15,000 mountain mountain here, but it just, it just
- doesn't look like those funds are really being tapped at that level or utilized at that level. So, um,
- knowing that there are other areas maybe where we can always push a little, I mean, I'd wonder if we'd
- be seeing that by five is.
- Something that I consider. I want to push back on that just a little bit because we because we're devoting
- so much money to marketing right now and marketing these programs. I'd like to try and do the 15,000
- again this year and if we see that that's still an issue, then I then I will definitely take
- into consideration lowering the lowering. I think that's a great use of a consultant. Yeah, I think
- we can do it. I think so too and I really this is why I'm really excited about having a consultant because
- It's not so much that it's not difficult to get the grant together and get all of that stuff together,
- but it is time consuming because there's checking and making sure that, you know, it's like, okay, well,
- I need this form now and that sort of thing. So having an additional person to help me get those out
- and the sooner somebody gets one,
- the sooner they're gonna start talking about it. And I need people to start getting them and talking
- about them because that's how I get rid of them. Maybe a neighborhood, like if your time is freed up
- from pushing paper, you can do things like go to the neighborhood association and talk about the program.
- I think there's just, it's hard for people to understand the footprint and what it means and what they
- can get out of it. Yeah, absolutely. So, all right. And when you say that's the, oh, I'm sorry, Regina.
- Oh, no, I didn't have anything.
- Is that the same for the business economic enhancement scholarships there too? So you're yes, both of
- those you would put into that same. Yeah, I really want to push the scholarships more the individual
- scholarships more this year. I think that that's that's a very reasonable goal with some additional
- help. Okay. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, those are.
- Yeah, love to see all of those grants. Now that we have deployed a fair number of staff on diversion
- and prevention, I think that one of the clients they're working with would be great candidates. Oh,
- yeah. So I'd love to just help push that out. That's great. All right. Okay. All right. Moving on to
- entrepreneurship.
- I'm going to have to leave that one. I'm really sorry. But I think you have a quorum. Yes, because Felisa
- is here. So we are good if you need to go.
- So our budget commitments to entrepreneurship direct this board an hour to around 50 zoned residents
- through an annual allocation of $45,000. And I didn't finish that statement. I'm so sorry. That goes
- to Cook Center. Cook Center Ivy Tech has been an invaluable resource. I think I probably talked to Steve
- at least four or five times a month.
- directing people to him and they keep great records of who's in the zone and how they're assisting them.
- And so we can get some good data from about our residents and our entrepreneurs in the zone. The 2024
- and 2025 funds were spent in 2025. So the expenditure there,
- for the grants is a little bit higher than annually. So it ends up being, we missed the payment in 2024.
- So we paid them for both 2024 and 2025 this year, which is why that line is high. However, we have allocated
- the $45,000 for next year as well. Additionally,
- Some of that marketing work and consultant work to get scholarships out there and all of that is going
- to be wrapped up into the 2026 agreement with Cook and Ivy Tech.
- they've been great partners to us or we've been great partners to them and they would like to return
- the favor. So that will be incorporating that into the proposal for next year. So that $45,000 will
- directly help the BVA as well. We talked a little bit about the business enhancement scholarship for
- economic development courses, business workshops, and professional organizational membership dues or
- conference registration. I didn't
- use a lot of these this year. I think I had more last year. I really like this scholarship, and I would
- love to give out so many more. That allocation for this year is $10,000. And then the zone day passes,
- we actually have been having people use them, and I completely forgot to ask Victoria before I left
- the mill today how many had been utilized.
- I do think that these are great and I think that marketing means is going to help us a lot. This is
- only about 50 passes for the year. The membership is quite expensive and a day passes kind of costly,
- but I think that's a good resource if we can push this out. Maybe even potentially doing a combination with the
- Um, scholarships that we have. Yeah. And unpacking out a little more. This program is really important
- for helping entrepreneurs have a sense of belonging. So entrepreneurship can be a lonely activity or
- starting up a nonprofit can be a lonely activity. And so having access to a place like the mill,
- I don't know, beats down any kind of imposter syndrome, people, community, adds to the resources. So
- I would also say.
- I mean, I think it's a great deal, even at the full membership. I know it's not accessible for everybody,
- but for 205 for a month, it's better than having your own office. Yeah, it's cheaper than having an
- office. Yeah, for sure. But Victoria and I are working to try and do some more Main Street small business owner.
- kind of things there. I know that Victoria Kelly, the head of operations, if you've not met her, she's
- fantastic. And I'm really trying to get non-tech small businesses, non-tech small businesses to feel
- like they can be there because I think that the misconception of the mill is that it's only for tech.
- And that's- They do have a bro culture. There is.
- We want all kinds of people to come to the trades. We're doing our part by trying to get people to stop
- taking meetings in the mother's nursing home. Victoria's all over. Wow. Do you have any evidence of
- people who have
- Uh, been awarded the day pass to then get a membership. I didn't have any, um, I used to talk to Victoria
- about that because that would be interesting. Um, yeah. And right now there's no, like, there's no limit
- on how many day passes you can get for the year because we haven't expended all of them at least since
- I've been here. Um, I think that if we see, I think that.
- Victoria's good about keeping your eyes open about that stuff. So we'll we'll see how that pans out.
- But I'm excited to have some marketing behind it and pushing it on socials and things like that. And
- just I'm really excited to have.
- Every time, help me out with that stuff because it's, it's very hard to promote a non profit and then
- also do a full time job, which I'm sure some of you in this room have actually done. And then, let's
- see what else.
- I just want to take a quick pulse, D, because I know we've scheduled this meeting to 1.30, but I just
- want to make sure we're not going to lose anybody. Is everybody good? Is everyone good? Good until 1.30.
- Okay. Cool. Let's try it. Let's shoot for 1.15, 1.20 here. Okay. Sounds good. Where's Holly?
- She's on a call. We can always jump ahead. For sure.
- Absolutely. So the zoned proof of grants. I am really glad that the board has taken on these grants
- and really supports them. These are like the first grants, the first programming that I ever created
- when I started here at the city. So I'm glad that you're utilizing them. We'll sit down to here. I did
- do a little bit of a decrease on these this year.
- Let's see, it was $5,000 out of the accessibility modification. We haven't utilized that a lot. However,
- those modifications do tend to be pretty expensive. I didn't want to decrease it too much just because
- I was just trying to cut some corners because I saw the bottom number and deficit and was trying to
- do my best to not make it any worse, I guess.
- So, five thousand dollars there, I added ten thousand dollars to the business building improvement.
- We have gone about sixteen thousand dollars over budget this year for that, which I think is great.
- I'm happy to add some money to that. The safety and security grant, we did not spend all those funds.
- So I dropped it by about 5,000. So the five from the accessibility and the five from the small business
- safety and security were put into the business building improvement line.
- The $20,000 for the SEAL energy efficiency grant program, which was the sustainability kind of ambiguous
- line from last year. And then the direct assistance, small business and community support. I did decrease
- that by $15,000. And this, honestly, this is mainly because I don't have enough hands to run another
- micro grant program.
- of $25,000. I think $10,000 is manageable for me at this point in time. We'll see how that changes with
- some assistance, but I thought that just to make sure that I'm getting them out to people in a reasonable
- amount of time. So you think the SIL funds, because we haven't, we've had the 20, well, let's see, trying
- to figure the years here.
- So it didn't happen in 2025. We didn't have it budgeted before that, or if it did, just none of those
- funds were spent. We did not have it budgeted before then. So you think that in 2026 there's likelihood
- that this will? So this is going to be administered by sustainability. So that is two grants.
- They are super stoked that they can have $25,000. Those are actually going to be put out that you can
- have applicants for and expect that to be spent. They expended all of their funds for that program this
- year, so to have an extra $25,000. I would say we're pretty excited. Who's the staff there now? That
- is Sean Mia and Jolie Carey.
- And some really very talented O'Neill fellows that make out fantastic, fantastic people. Do you want
- me to talk about all of the budget categories under arts?
- I'm just going to let you talk about that. Hi, everyone. Thanks for continuing to support the arts.
- It means a lot, especially now. We've got just a few different categories of spending that we'd like
- to propose for 2026. Again, we'd like to recommend an allocation of $50,000 to the Bloomington Arts
- Commission's two grant cycles. Even though we went over our budget this year, I don't recommend necessarily
- increasing that budget for
- 26 because the fact is there are only so many groups that apply within the and so I wouldn't want to
- accidentally allocate 60,000 dollars and we only end up spending 48,000 dollars it could happen next
- year. So there's that 50,000 and then I'd like to continue to allocate 40,000 dollars to just
- city identified arts and culture expenses. And so that would give us, I'd like to continue
- to give Constellation Stage and Screen, who runs the Waldron Arts Center, a $25,000 operations grant
- again next year. And that's basically, I think what we've learned since we struck that deal
- with Constellation Stage and Screen in 2023,
- Running the facility is hard, especially if you are a theater group who doesn't have knowledge of how
- to run an individual arts gallery, which they have done a magnificent.
- job doing and your building is over 100 years old. So I'd like to allocate of that 40,000 discretionary
- spending, 25,000 to constellation stage and screen. And then I'd like just to keep that $15,000 as open
- discretionary spending. If like we did this year, we go over a little in our grant allocation. And then
- the other field is that $100,000 that you graciously awarded us for 2025 to spend on our arts incubators.
- So as a reminder, we partnered with Secret Lease Group to manage 10,000 square feet of their warehouse
- down on the B line. We have a great space where we're going to do artist studios. So you gave us that
- money at the end of 2024. We have not spent it yet, and I'm going to explain why. So when we asked for
- this money, we were
- In the process of applying for a ready 2.0 arts and culture grants so when ready released its 2.0
- grant funds, the lily kicked in 65 million dollars to give to.
- cultural arts and culture sticks and bricks entities, basically. And we had done a feasibility study
- in 22 that said you guys need artist studios. So we were getting support there. ROI, Regional Opportunities
- Initiative, who is facilitating the $65 million in grants through the IEDC, who is giving the money,
- strongly encouraged us to apply. So at the end of last year, we started applying and we needed matching
- funds. And so that's when we came
- to the BUBA and ask for those matching funds. But we submitted the application at the end of 25, and
- we're given a lot of hope that we were going to be a successful applicant. So we were very excited that
- we already had the space rented. We were letting artists use it for larger scale projects. And then
- The Ready 2.0 folks just kind of pumped the brakes. Nothing bad happened. Basically what they realized
- is the IEDC just does not have experience awarding arts and culture grants and they wanted to make sure
- that they were giving these funds out and just
- The most useful way possible. So they stopped the application process and they hired a like arts and
- culture consultant for each of the regions in Indiana to do a cultural planet to identify the
- biggest needs in each region. We're part of the uplands region. So IEDC would have a good idea of what
- kind of projects they should be looking for for funding going forward. I was made a member of the steering
- committee for the consulting group that we were assigned for that project. And they are wrapping their
- draft of their plan now for our region.
- The top thing they have listed as a need is artist video space. So I'm very happy. So again, basically,
- once this report is put out into the public, the IEDC will then reopen their application portal, we'll
- all reapply in quarter one, and then we will hopefully get funds. But because there was just this question about
- Are we going to end up being a viable candidate? There was a lot of confusion once they paused the project
- to like what's going to happen. I was really nervous about.
- Spending a hundred thousand dollars on anything that we might just have to give back at the end of twenty
- six. So we kind of slowed down our initiatives to do things like put in in a accessible entrance or
- install age back or do a lot of programming in this space. But now that we're getting really good indications
- again, that we're going to receive the funds. I'm like,
- Okay, let's do this. So we now are in the process of working with someone to install an ADA ramp and
- we're also looking for someone to help us with the HVAC. We also earlier, well, I guess at the end of
- last month, we moved in our, like,
- Frontiers artists cohort who are now working in the studio. So we have eight early career artists and
- two mid-career artists who are kind of acting as their mentors and they're in the space and they're
- working in the space. And we're also doing professional development workshops with them. They will continue
- in the space until the end of 2026. So with all this momentum and having renewed confidence that we
- will have the ability to really
- blow this space out, probably beginning in the middle of 26. I'd like to ask for the ability to keep
- that $100,000 for our 26 budget to pay for things like ADA ramp, professional development, and other
- build out of the space.
- It seems focused on visual arts. We're still trying to determine whether or not we want to do music
- and other types of arts. We definitely want it to be a multimedia space. But I think we're realizing
- a couple of things while we're working in this space. Number one, sound travels. And so we just want
- to be respectful of artists to be quiet.
- And the other thing is I realized since we've like been like just kind of building theoretical plans
- of the space out 10,000 square feet goes really, really fast. And so we're kind of realizing
- that this might not be the space for like a performance venue or something that might have like sound
- and everything. Correct, correct. And so we're actually, as we're learning more about what these funds
- are going to be available for in the new year, we're thinking maybe this space should be all visual
- arts, like visual arts home medium, of course, but maybe we should be putting like sonic things or like
- an all-we-do performance venue. Maybe we should be working with another entity to put a grant application
- to Ready 2.0 available for that.
- Definitely, I would see this incubator space if we were to choose to only do this space for visual arts,
- I would still be looking for opportunities to expand to have other sites. I think we could consider
- ways we could access ready 2.0 money to do that in the future. Okay. Thanks.
- Um, the other like historic cyber outreach every year I say I'm going to move into building improvements.
- I'm just going to do that right now. It's funny. I was just thinking, you know, I think that just goes
- under there. There. I think it just goes into that. That changes the numbers in the amendment a little
- bit. I think that makes sense to put it there.
- And I'm glad you mentioned that, because I'm sitting here thinking, you know, we did just approve a
- $40,000 grant for the church. And because of how I know the timing of this works and you're operating
- on a cash basis here, that $40,000 is going to head into 26. So,
- Knowing that we have a $50,000 budget, but technically we would have a $10,000 balance. So I might propose
- that we increase the budget of that line item. I know that will increase the bottom line deficit for
- next year, but I think otherwise we will find potentially that we'll have, we'll run out of money for
- that line pretty quickly.
- So I just kind of throw that out there for other people's thoughts on that. Yeah, that's a great idea.
- Thoughts about increasing it by the full 40 because to honor them, what D is proposing here, 50,000
- next year, or what's the appetite before the increase? Because for every amount we add there, it does
- raise the deficit at the bottom.
- Just yeah, we've got their 10,000 left over. So really the $30,000 increase. Um, well, to get it to
- get off this budget will actually be 40. If we put the full 40 in there, it would increase the bottom
- line, but for the budget would go from 50 to 90. So that's a big budget. So.
- We would know though that we just approved something that's going to hit next year. So instead of having
- a variance in the budget, we're just going to say we've increased this budget because of what we already
- know. But again, that grows our deficit at the bottom by 48,000. So just, you know, so then we're over
- 300,000. Yeah, so we can move that up and come up. So, you know,
- You know, welcome feedback on what others are thinking about that. So that makes it 3.17. Yeah. 3.18.
- Yeah. I think it makes sense. I don't really have a position to that. In the scope of things, the deficit
- based on the cash that is available right now isn't an issue.
- if we're running deficits for multiple years, it would become an issue. So because of the net income
- we've gained is just this year alone, you're projecting D, is my looking at the right line? Yeah, 428,000.
- So it won't even eat up basically what the surplus from this year. So again, just,
- knowing that it is a deficit with the net of the past three years positive, is it something that the
- board feels comfortable? Otherwise, then we have $10,000 for facade grants. Increasing it to the full
- $40,000. Okay. Other thoughts? Anyone?
- No, I mean, sitting where we are about cash reserves, I see no reason not to increase that, especially
- knowing what our profit is. And I think also because it's utilized. Right. If it were something that
- wasn't used, you'd have to try to find money anyway. So I think. And they were doing a really great
- job of referring people and getting them through HPC.
- To get to get their projects improved. So, um, actually, we, he, there was one that he sent me for this
- meeting, but since we were doing budget, I was like, that's gonna have to wait until the first quarter
- next year. So, so, yeah, and I think this just really touches on like the.
- physical beauty improvement of the buildings downtown, like that fox construction site there on 4th
- Street, that building looks beautiful now. It looks pretty great. So it really enhances the beauty of
- our downtown too, while respecting the historic nature of many of the buildings we have. We've had many
- facade grants this last year, seems to be one of our most popular.
- Okay. All right. So, okay. So, um, we've been through arts, we talked about zone improvement, um, and
- we can talk a little bit more about the, uh, RF loans. Um, I mean, you guys have approved this, we've
- gone through this quite a bit. Um, after looking at what we have left, um, as far as outstanding loan
- principle,
- it's around 99,900 and something. So I just said $100,000 to take care of the loan principle. When you
- do factor in everything, it ends up being around $128,000. What we're talking about, late fees,
- all interest, all of that. After Heather and I had a discussion about it, when I figured up the grand
- totals, I was factoring in
- Every single payment from every single loan that we hold, however, some of those businesses have dissolved.
- We're just waiting for paperwork from them to say, Hey, we were not here. So that extra $28, $29,000
- is some of that.
- Once again, not every single business that applies will be eligible for the conversion. So there may
- be some leftover that we'll still be dealing with. That's probably a broader discussion as to what we
- do with the outstanding loans because they are supposed to be paid off mid-2026.
- So, we'll have to have a discussion as to what to do with those outstanding ones. So, I'm really trying
- to push everyone to at least apply. So, we don't really have to take any further action on anything
- that's outstanding. And then we discussed the income, we kind of hit that first time. So,
- In summary, the 2025 year-to-date income will be $834,000, expenditures of around $405,000. Well, it's
- changed now that we put that in. So it's more like $450,000 for the positive balance of more than that.
- We're projecting an income of $519,000, suspensions of 100, it's probably gonna be more like 700.
- And $30,000 somewhere around there. And then the loan conversion allocation. And so our deficit's gonna
- be more like around 300. Yeah, go back down to that sharp D for sure. Yeah, just so we can visually
- see it. Thank you. There we go. So since we've added
- the facade increase, the grant increase there. I think that gives us a clear picture then of where we'll
- be. And to your point, the RF loan may not be the full 100. But I appreciate that it's the possibility
- that if every single loan was converted to a grant, this is what it would be. That's what we'd like
- to plan for, should that be the case. Awesome.
- I know I said we've got one minute. I'm sorry. I don't want to rush anything. D, awesome job in getting
- this budget. Thank you for all your thoughtfulness and putting it together and putting the additional
- years in there. It's very helpful and information and the charts that you've gathered about the ease
- of revenue over the next few years. I think all of that's really fantastic and helpful information.
- So if there are there any questions comments or anything else on we need to vote to approve the budget.
- Yes, we do. Okay. So before I was. Yeah, before we get you so anger. I'm so like, I already know. I
- look at the draft calendar. I already have possible budgets. Second.
- Unless there's some serious last 11th hour, we're going to prove this today. Is there any, if there
- are no other comments or questions or anything on it, I would entertain a motion to approve the 2026
- budget with the adjustment that was shown on the screen of adding the additional $40,000 to the facade
- grant line item. I motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right. And then we'll need to do the roll call.
- Felisa, do you want to lead us off? Felisa Spinelli, yes. Brad? Brad Whistler, yes. Mary Morgan, yes.
- Heather Robinson, yes. Michael Hober, yes. Virginia Gethier, yes. All right, the back of the chair.
- Thank you so much. That's great. I think it was going to be a second reading. I feel like there was,
- well, and there were some like last minute
- like things that happen. Also, dedicating 30 minutes to making sure we have time to go through the budget,
- three minutes wasn't a very good idea. Yes, I would recommend this in the future. I actually have put
- that into the calendar. So that was like the last part of the business is the draft calendar. All I
- wanted to say about that was take a look at it. If you think that there are things that we should add
- or things you would like to see, let me know. There's like notes, staff,
- board and presentation. So have at it and slowly filling it in. And I will send another back before
- our first meeting in January. Oh boy. Oh, right. Thank you. Thank you. Happy.