Well, it's three o'clock, so let me call this meeting of the Monroe County Capital Improvement
 Board of September 17th, 2025 to order.
 So with that, I'll ask Mr. Whitlatch to take the attendance.
 John Whitehart.
 Present.
 Doug.
 Bruce.
 Here.
 Jeff McKim.
 Here.
 Joyce Poehling.
 Here.
 Jim Silverstein.
 Here.
 Adam Teese.
 Here.
 Jay Baer.
 Jay indicated he was running just a few minutes late, so we will see him shortly.
 We have such a small crowd today that I'll ask each one of you to get up and tell us a
 little bit about yourselves.
 Next item of business, approval of the consent agenda.
 The minutes were produced and sent out.
 You've had claims in the financial report.
 Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?
 No.
 Second.
 Okay.
 So it's been moved and seconded.
 Is there any discussion or comments or questions about the consent agenda?
 All right.
 Thank you.
 If not, again, if we can take the roll.
 John Weichart?
 Yes.
 Doug Bruce?
 Yes.
 Jeff McKim?
 Yes.
 Joyce Mulling?
 Yes.
 Jim Silverstein?
 Yes.
 Adam Teese?
 Yes.
 Jay Baer?
 Not here still.
 Okay.
 Item number three, Treasurer's Report.
 Mr. McKim, anything to report this month?
 Not much, only that we will be, our request to have the City Council forward our budget
 onto FAB, the Food and Beverage Tax Advisory Commission for their recommendation will be
 heard at City Council tonight.
 Thank you.
 Item number four, President's Report.
 I have nothing to report this month.
 There were no actions that I took between the last meeting and this meeting.
 Item number five, Construction Update.
 Andrew?
 Thank you.
 Thank you, John.
 Andrew Sherry, Project Manager with Weddle Brothers.
 Let me share my screen here.
 Bad news is, John said I can't talk for 45 minutes, so I'll try to leave this at 44.
 I said you can, but not here.
 Oh, okay.
 So after this.
 Okay, so a few things to go over.
 Just a construction progress update.
 Work descriptions.
 So as we work through some of the things that I'm talking about is in these meetings with
 these updates, I just kind of want to give a little bit of a background.
 And then also in the details, so hopefully everybody's seeing the work that's taking
 place across the street.
 We have a lot of moving parts and pieces, but kind of want to get into what that is
 and what that means for the overall project.
 So again, construction progress, ground improvements, which are the piers are nearing completion.
 Those are the big excavators out there at the auger bits or the compressed air vibrators.
 Foundation excavations are in progress.
 We actually have our first concrete pour this Friday.
 Huge milestone for for footers and foundations.
 Our plan is to hopefully be pouring every three to four days.
 And then also the reinforcement and structural steel accessories such as anchored bolts.
 So work descriptions, again, it's hard to see up here on these photos, but I tried to
 add pictures of the ground improvements, the piers underneath this, every foundation out
 here are about a little over 500 aggregate piers.
 So we drill down anywhere from 11 to 17 feet and then pour our footers over top of that.
 So on your right hand side, this is a photo from yesterday.
 You can see where those gravel piles is what they look like.
 Those are those piers at the bottom of the footers.
 And then today we're in there tying rebar and getting ready for our concrete pours.
 Again, in the details, just from a craftsmanship standpoint, kind of want to talk about where
 we are in the details and the tolerances that we're we're up against here.
 So we're going through right now and digging excavations.
 This is actually on the register parking lot around remax here.
 That is our starting point and we're working towards the east and then working north.
 The form work here.
 This is what we will see on site as we start these footers and these piers that eventually
 will have anchor bolts in them and we'll build the structure on top of rebar.
 So this is a picture on the left, the top left of some of the rebar on site.
 So in this project, we have 210 tons of rebar, which is 420,000 pounds of rebar that gets
 shipped to the site on the semi and we place that together, build all the mats and all
 the layout.
 And then again, it's hard to see, but on the right this morning, they're going ahead with
 the first footer rebar.
 So they're progressing with that to prep for Friday.
 A huge milestone also in this sequence is the anchor bolts.
 So there's 434 anchor bolts on this project site.
 We have some that may be three quarters in diameter with base plates that are already
 cut, with a one inch hole.
 And so we have to hit that with this layout.
 So it's very critical.
 We've got again, 434 spots that have to perfectly align with prefab steel that we get delivered
 to the site.
 So we're going through here, digging, forming, tying this rebar and then setting 434 anchor
 bolts to make sure that everything aligns for the project.
 So again, we'll be pouring every three to four days, there will be a lot of activity
 over there.
 We're very happy to come over and see us in a safe manner from the fence.
 But again, we're progressing to have structural steel on site in October.
 Thank you.
 Any questions for Mr. Sherry?
 Thank you for the presentation.
 Next item is award alternate bids.
 This is JS Held parenthetically, but I've had some help from JS Held with what you're
 seeing on the screen and I'll address what we're looking at here.
 As we've discussed and as I've communicated in the past, as I look at these alternates
 and we look at the ones we have today, we have two categories we're looking at today.
 The first category are the alternates with bids expiring September 24th, so a week from
 today.
 The second category are the four other bids that will expire, have expiration dates in
 October, which those dates follow our October meeting.
 So it'll still allow us in October to consider those particular four alternates.
 One of those four alternates was moved from the September deadline to October and that
 was the window, existing building replacements, the window replacements in the existing building.
 So it originally had a September expiration date and the contractor moved the expiration
 date out another 30 days to October to allow us a little more time.
 The cost of those, our September alternates, you can see $202,402 for the existing building
 kitchen equipment and the existing AV technology infrastructure upgrades, $304,414.
 So those two alternates obviously commended over $500,000 of the $1,170,000 that we still
 have left that we reviewed last month as our estimates of what we have left that we can
 dedicate to alternates.
 As I've attempted to look in particular at these alternates, I've tended to put them
 into two different categories, which are necessitated by our new construction, which has always
 been our priority.
 And so therefore, which are viewed as integration of the new construction into the current building,
 which are impacted by that.
 And then secondly, which if any of these alternates would more likely be categorized as capital
 improvements or maintenance or repairs that would take place in this building or be necessitated
 for this building even absent our project.
 So those are things that we can talk about moving into October.
 As we look at cost and timing, we have expiration dates on these two bids in September.
 We have total bids of all of these, all six of these projects at $2,565,217, and we know
 we don't have that.
 We know we've got $1,071,000 to play with here.
 And the two bids that expire next week total $506,816, which leaves us another $500-plus-$1,000
 to consider for alternates in October.
 So as I look at these bids, my recommendation to you is the two bids that have expiration
 dates of this month, I believe fit the criteria of projects that need to be integrated from
 the new construction into the current building that are necessitated by the new construction.
 So the kitchen equipment changes are necessitated by the fact we're putting a main kitchen in
 the new construction area and the expansion and the existing AV technology infrastructure.
 We obviously want these two buildings to be able to talk to each other.
 And we obviously want to have those who are coming here for conventions to have the same
 experience in the expansion part of our building as they will have in the current part of our
 building.
 So I believe that the two alternates that have expiration dates next week are in fact critical
 to the new construction, complement the new construction, allow us to integrate the new
 construction into the current building.
 And so it is my recommendation that we approve those two alternate bids today.
 And to open it up for discussion first, let me see if there would be a motion that we
 approve the two September alternates and move forward with those today.
 I'll make that motion.
 You've done a great job, by the way, of summarizing this is very common for construction projects.
 Thank you.
 Motion to approve this approach presented by our president.
 Second.
 Second.
 It's seconded by Mr. Bruce.
 So we've got Mr. Thies has moved it, it's been seconded by Mr. Bruce.
 So now let's open it up for discussion, comment, questions about the motion to approve these
 two alternates today.
 Yeah, Mr. McCann.
 So I just want to make sure I heard this correctly.
 What says existing building replacement is really existing building window.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 Yeah.
 The word.
 Yeah.
 The word window needs to be there.
 So we're not going to replace the existing building.
 That might be.
 That is a very good deal.
 We could get that for 730.
 In fact, we will open that up for bids right now.
 Anybody want to bid $733,000 for the current building?
 So yeah, it's for window replacements.
 You are correct.
 Okay.
 And so do you have a description of the changes that would be made to the kitchen?
 I mean, I assume it's to convert it more to a warming kitchen.
 It is to convert it to a warming kitchen, but it's also to address some of the needs
 to get it up to conditions that the other kitchen can work with.
 So there's a lot more prep that will happen in the new kitchen and a lot more warming
 that will happen over here.
 Let me ask Eddie Layton from Schmidt if he has comments as well.
 Yeah.
 So that's a good summary, Mary.
 But what's in the project-based scope is kind of the bare minimum we needed to do to make
 the kitchens work.
 This additional scope really will make it more functional, meet current health code,
 to correct some things that were grandfathered in, and just improve the conditions in general.
 Thank you.
 Any other questions?
 Yeah.
 Mr. Silberstein.
 Does anything from Weddle or Schmidt remind us what the air handling DOAS unit is all
 about?
 Yeah.
 I can do that as well.
 So there's two HVAC alternates there.
 The existing HVAC units would be replacing the remainder of the heat pump units that
 are not affected by the bridge, basically, is what it entails.
 And then the DOAS unit, which is dedicated outside air, if we were to build this building
 today, we would have to have that unit.
 It's just a current code requirement.
 Again, this building is grandfathered in and doesn't have to have that as part of our project.
 It's nice to have.
 It supplements the HVAC system by bringing more outside air in.
 It's one of those selections that would be nice to do if we could do it.
 But it's an alternate because we don't have to do it.
 Other questions?
 Mr. Baer.
 In terms of the window replacement, is that like for like?
 The same windows that are in here now, we just get new ones, or is it sort of an aesthetic
 issue to make the windows look more visually contiguous between the two buildings?
 It's more of the latter, but not a historic replica.
 So they will be in line with the new building as far as the coloring and that sort of thing,
 but existing opening sizes and not going back to a historic and true industrial style.
 And I think, and I can be, somebody can correct me if I misstate this, I think these windows
 have been here since 1991 when this building transitioned to the current convention center.
 So there are issues with some of the windows, but this would be a replacement of all the
 windows.
 But again, this is for consideration for the October meeting when we have to decide what
 we do to select among those four alternates.
 Mr. Silberside.
 Yes, so for us to think about it between now and then, if we accept these first two items,
 we basically have to eliminate three out of the other four alternates sometime in October.
 Current math would tell us that would be the case, but I'd like to propose something after
 we finish this discussion about how we might move forward with that.
 Any other questions?
 Okay, seeing none, we have a motion and a second, so Mr. Whitlatch, if you would take
 the roll.
 John Weickart.
 Yes.
 Doug Bruce.
 Yes.
 Jeff McKim.
 Yes.
 Joyce Bowling.
 Jim Silberstein.
 Yes.
 Adam Teese.
 Yes.
 And Jay Baer, who's joined us for this whole conversation.
 Yes.
 Okay, thank you.
 So we have those two alternates approved to move forward.
 Let me add that as we've done in the past, I'm going to ask JS Held to form an evaluation
 group between now and our October meeting to examine a couple of things.
 Both examine the four remaining alternates in terms of how they may be prioritized.
 And secondly, to move forward and examine our budget to see if our budget as we're moving
 forward and as we're coming more out of doing the site preparation work and moving more
 into the construction side of things, if we are seeing a trend in any tendency to be more
 optimistic about our overall budget in October, to see that we may have made some gains in
 terms of our estimates, so that that's helpful in terms of coming back with a recommendation
 about how much money we actually have to spend on alternates as we examine these four in October.
 So I'm going to ask J.S. Held to form that evaluation group to certainly include members
 of our board, as well as to invite at their discretion members of our design and construction
 team and our controller to look at both our budget, at their budget estimates, and how
 we might prioritize these alternates, and to report that back to us at our October meeting,
 so we can then move forward with a decision in October about what we want to do about
 these four remaining alternates.
 So with that, unless there are questions, all right, let's move to external, item number
 seven, external communications update from the evaluation group.
 So, we have been working with the external communications group, and that's primarily
 been working with Jay and Jeff and John, as well as Andrew and Talisha, so that we can
 strategize on how best to make sure our community's informed about the project without over-undating
 people with everything.
 So we've had a couple different meetings.
 One major effort that's been accomplished this past month is putting on the website
 frequently asked questions and their responses.
 So John and Jay and Jeff reviewed all those questions and answers, and Jay got that posted.
 So that, we're hoping that that is a place that people can be directed if they have deeper
 questions about how the project's funded, timeframes, what's the design team, et cetera.
 Also, we anticipate doing roughly a monthly electronic flyer, very much like we did at
 early phases of the project when we were trying to identify traffic mitigation.
 Something else that Visit Bloomington has done is they have hired Joe Throckmorton to
 do a series of videos, and those are also posted on the CIB website.
 Those are very entertaining.
 Everyone looks great in their safety gear as they share information about the project.
 And I understand those will be continuing.
 And then we'll be looking for media opportunities, fireside chats, so to say, most likely with
 John and our local media stations.
 The site signage will be going up soon.
 We have worked through that in process with the external communications meeting.
 On that website, on that signage that you'll see, this will be posted at the corner of
 college and third.
 And we have a QR code that takes you straight to the CIB website, so all your questions
 can be answered there.
 Of course, it identifies all the design team and construction team members.
 The thing also to point out here on the signage is that we have integrated the new logo as
 developed by Visit Bloomington for the Convention Center.
 So basic information, we get one sign for the whole project, and this is it.
 So Weddell is working to get that printed as well as installed.
 That is four by eight meeting for complying with city code at the city signage ordinance.
 So we will, from time to time, invite other parties as we need, such as Visit Bloomington,
 city leaders, city communications, et cetera, as we start to push our material out forward
 just to gain their expertise and keep that communication all circle.
 Any questions for Mary or for Jay or Jeff?
 Yeah, that's the work of Schmidt.
 So credit where credit's due.
 They've put that together based on the rendering work that they've done and they've instituted
 the QR code.
 If you look closely, one of the figures walking across the street is Mr. Bear.
 We had him photoshopped.
 No, no, that's not true because if you've seen his suits, he would really show up.
 Well, we didn't want to distract traffic.
 I do think it's smart, but I know we're going to stay on plan here.
 We're going to open the sucker in time, but I think it's wise to 2027 is going to open.
 You see these restaurants.
 It's opening January 3rd and everybody's all disappointed, so very smart.
 I like the fact that it kind of had an Abbey Road reference.
 I know, it's cool.
 I will tell you that as I attend the construction meetings, I know that the target date for
 the new construction is January 8th of 2027, and I remind them periodically that January
 8th is Elvis's birthday, so it's certainly a target we're shooting for.
 All right, any questions, observations, comments other than what we ... Yes, Mr. Bayer.
 Just want to touch on the frequently asked questions section of the website.
 John and Jeff did a masterful job of answering those.
 It's quite comprehensive.
 We've got 40 or something questions there.
 That being said, if anybody in the CIB or associate with the project, Schmidt Wettel,
 get other questions from members of the public that we probably should have an answer to,
 please do let us know and we'll add them.
 All good FAQs should be organic living documents, not static, so if somebody ... Oh, you know
 what we didn't have on there is this thing because we just didn't think about it.
 Please do let us know and we'll make that adjustment.
 Thank you.
 Item number eight, arts project update from our Friends on the Beat advisory group.
 I know Holly Warren is here and Galen Cassidy.
 Oh, there we go, there we go.
 All right.
 We are here, so yeah, just a quick update when we were here last month, but if we go
 to the next slide here, this is again a review of the timeline we presented last month and
 we're in the very first stage here, which is our very first public feedback sessions.
 We will have one later on as you see, but this, our next step after this will be a call
 for artists, which has already been drafted a little bit, but we're really hoping to achieve
 with these feedback sessions as some overall themes that the community is looking for at
 this point.
 So we can move on to the next slide and I'll let Holly go a little bit more in depth about
 some of these feedback opportunities.
 Thanks, Galen.
 Hi again, everyone.
 So as Galen mentioned, we are really hitting the ground running, getting feedback from
 as many folks as we can in the community and we're doing that in several different ways.
 First of all, we launched a virtual survey this Monday.
 It will be online and open for anybody to take anonymously through next Friday, September
 26th.
 So this is one great way to share feedback about what about Bloomington you would like
 to see reflected in the public artwork we select for this.
 We're also doing a public feedback workshop here tonight at 6 p.m.
 If anybody would like to join us for that, it should be a pretty great time.
 We're just going to give folks who attend an overview of what we're hoping the art will
 be where it will be and then again asking folks, okay, if you want this artwork to tell
 a story about Bloomington, what is that story?
 So we'll have a great conversation about that in person tonight.
 In addition to the virtual survey and the feedback workshop we're having tonight, we've
 also been engaging in a series of pop-up events.
 So we've been meeting people where they are to ask them what they would like to see reflected
 in the art.
 We were at the Farmer's Market on Saturday, we were at Uptown Cafe on Monday, Galen graciously
 hosted us outside.
 We will be at the People's Park Concert Series tomorrow night from about 4.30 to 5.30, again
 asking people what they'd like to see in the art and we also have a few other pop-ups lined
 up at the Popcorn Kernels with the Twist Storefront Gather and we're hoping to get to a table
 at the Lotus Music Festival.
 We're just again trying to get as much feedback as possible.
 I can say so far I've been incredibly pleased with the feedback.
 So much of the time when we ask people questions about what they like to see, they immediately
 go into well-filled potholes.
 What are you doing with art?
 But people are really giving us thoughtful, constructive feedback and I'm really excited
 about what we're going to be able to do with that ultimately.
 And then if you go to the next slide, I just want to share with you all a QR code.
 So anybody is welcome to snap this code.
 This is going to take them to a webpage that will outline the project and also include
 a link to the survey.
 It will also include a link to RSVP for tonight's workshop if you're still interested in doing
 that.
 The RSVP is not required.
 It's just a good way to help us prepare to know how many people we're going to be engaging
 with.
 And we're also, as more pop-up events come up, we'll also be listing those out too so
 people will know when to attend them.
 And again, we're really excited about this, once the public feedback portion of this ends,
 we'll be synthesizing all of the feedback we get.
 It's going to take a lot of work because we're getting a lot of really cool stuff.
 And we're going to try to hone that into a few specific themes that we'll be able to
 include in the Call for Artists, like Galen mentioned.
 The Call for Artists will go live on October 6th, and I'll actually be heading to DC right
 before then for a conference for an international public art group just to network with
 international
 and national artists and fabricators to advertise the Call to them.
 So we're really excited about that and happy to answer any questions.
 Holly, could you go back, or can you go back to the previous slide if someone can go back
 to that?
 The online survey, it's pretty difficult to read.
 Can you just give us that website information in case, sorry.
 I think it's, oh, thank you so much, Galen.
 Okay, it is bloomington.in.gov/arts/public.art.
 As simple as we could get it.
 I think it's public-art.
 Yes, correct.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Okay.
 Thank you.
 Okay.
 And thank you for the presentation.
 Thanks so much.
 And I hope you have a good turnout tonight and a good crowd.
 Yeah.
 Thank you.
 All right.
 Thank you very much.
 Any other questions for the B group about the arts project?
 All right.
 Item number nine is a hotel update.
 I had a message from Shane Coopersmith that says, "Our update is that the lawyers for
 the city and the developer are actively engaged in negotiation."
 I can't report anything further than that today.
 So it's in the hand of lawyers and what could possibly go wrong?
 So that's the update on the hotel project.
 Item number 10, old business.
 Is there any old business to be brought before the board?
 Item number 11, new business.
 Any new business to be brought before the board?
 Item number 12, comments from board members.
 Seeing none.
 Item 13, comments from the public.
 Let me remind you, you have two minutes and that counts the time you walk up to the podium.
 So not seeing any.
 All right.
 Next meeting of the board is October 15th, 2025 at 3 p.m. here in the Convention Center.
 Did you want us to keep talking, Mr. Bruce?
 Okay, excellent.
 So as I always say, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here and we are adjourned.
 Thank you very much.
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