Well, it is it is 3 o'clock. So let me call the meeting of the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board
for November 19th, 2025 to order and I'll ask Mr. Whitlatch to take the attendance. President? Here.
Here. Here. I believe absent. Yes, he will be absent today.
Item number 2, approval of consent agenda. You've received the minutes of the board meeting of October
15th and claims and a financial report. And if I could have a motion to approve the consent agenda.
So moved. Second. Moved and moved by Mr. Silverstein, seconded by Mr. McKim. Any questions, discussion?
Seeing none, would you please take the roll? John Weichart. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Thank you. Item number three, Treasurer's Report, Mr. McKim? No report. Thank you. President's
Report, and I think, Deb, do we have this for just on the screen? Thank you. Let me report.
a couple of items here under President's report. First of all, review of approved change orders under
$25,000. And as a reminder, in March of this year, you authorized me to approve any change orders of
under $25,000, any contingency change orders of under $25,000. I reported to you in October that we
had two of them, one for $2,100, one for $11,350.
And since October, there have been three additional contingency change orders approved, one for fire
protection revision at $2,095, one for bridge foundations and structural revisions at $13,964, and one
toilet compartment spec change, which is a deduction, 2023. So as I said, we've flushed out some savings
through that particular change order.
So those have been the change orders that I've approved prior to this meeting, both in October and November.
In addition, I signed the contract change orders for alternates four and 13 that were approved at the
September meetings. Alternate four was for the kitchen upgrade, and the current building on alternate
13 was for the AV.
and tech infrastructure in the current building as part of the renovation. In addition, I signed an
application for a fire suppression system. I wanted to mention that we forwarded all the change orders
for you so you would have them in advance of the meeting so you would have them in the event you had
any questions about them.
What I want to mention is that some of those in this category, certainly in the below $25,000 category,
came to me because there was with them some sense of urgency about them. We had contractors on site.
We could get the work done. It was a savings to us if we went ahead and moved forward with them. Since
I began to approve these orders, we have, I hope, perfected a system of how we're going to move these
contingency change orders forward.
That includes the written narratives that you've seen in what I forwarded to you, a narrative of what
the change is, the cost of the change, signatures of our architect, of our construction manager, and
of our owner's representative.
in advance saying they have all reviewed and are recommending these changes, then it comes to me and
then I approve them. That same process is what works for any change orders that are over $25,000. So
you're going to see in the next slide here in Deb's presentation that we have change orders for you
to look at today that are over the authority that you granted to me. What is incumbent on
on our folks who help us with all this, especially I guess our construction management team, is that
as they see contingency change orders that are approaching that threshold where it requires board approval,
that's either going to mean it needs to be held until the next regular meeting or it's going to require
a special meeting of the board to approve any of those change orders that are over $25,000. So obviously
it's incumbent on our team
to be monitoring that to know that in order to have a special meeting, it requires coordination of your
schedules as well as 48 hours notice. So, senses of urgency about getting things done quickly when they
cost more than $25,000, those are the requirements. We need time to coordinate a meeting and we need
to have 48 hours notice and everyone understands that and we're working towards those goals, I believe,
very successfully. So, that is my report on
The change orders that I've approved, so happy to answer any questions you may have about those under
$25,000. Okay, seeing none. The next item is the request for approval of change orders over $25,000.
And then secondly, a change orders log that's been developed. And I'll turn this over to Deb Koons,
JAS held, so that she can go over those with us. Great.
Thank you. As is customary or typical in most construction projects, particularly when we are digging
underground and trying to put our foundations in, there are a number of items that have been uncovered
that need attention. Most of them are over 25,000. The first two fall, the first two and actually the
third one fall into that category, which are things that we have uncovered that we needed to address.
They are include existing foundation removal, which was found underneath the ground.
We're downtown. These things happen on almost every downtown project. So compaction improvements in
order to make sure that we have the right better compaction for the increased foundations. That's what
that's related to. Electrical revisions is actually sort of a host of changes, and I'm happy to talk
through those. I'll have to take it off screen to talk through those.
but those include some upgrades to switch gears, some upgrades to actual locations of electrical within
the building, but there's a whole bunch of things associated with that which is in the background details
that you've received. The detention system rock removal again also falls into that category of
These are things that have been found underground. More rock is there than what was previously identified.
And so this is one in particular that has, we believe, we've really addressed the east side. This is,
we're anticipating the same or more to be on the west side. And so this is a projected number. I will
say this in particular is a projected number. And Wettle has agreed to do that really timing material
with a cap here. And so hopefully that number comes down, but in these kinds of situations,
situations until they really open it up, we don't know. And so we want to give them the flexibility
to do that. Then the last one are foundation modifications that really relate to the ever infamous 24-inch
sanitary line that we've talked a lot about. And that's the largest one at 126-815. I know there's a
slide beyond this that is going to get more information about that. Sarah, do you want to talk about
any of those, the last one maybe?
Yeah, sure. I'll talk about the last one if you just go slide. I'll talk about this one because it is
related to a couple of other change orders you have seen, but not exactly the same. There were three
related requests from the CBU. One was upsizing the sanitary line. You all remember that. Two was moving
the line. The third related request was lowering the foundation in order to make line maintenance access
easier later.
One and two we have addressed in previous discussions and previous change orders. Three has proven to
be difficult. And so the design team, in particular the structural engineer in coordination with the
civil engineer, have been working essentially June through September 8 and not working through with
the CBU to maybe not lower the foundation in order to do that. That was not the path chosen. We needed
to lower it.
based on the request. And then to figure out an easy way, the least expensive way to meet the request.
So through September, the team worked on that to come up with options, submitted that to
to the construction team to come back with the estimate and the cost of the deeper and wider foundations
at the 126-815. And so the cost summary that you see below is taking all of those changes, the upsizing,
the moving, the lowering foundations, all together to give you a total impact of those three requests
as related to the sanitary line changes. The net impact to the construction contingency, however, is
the 138-165 because you have already handled
rest of it. And I'm happy to answer questions. Yeah, go ahead. Mr. McKim. Can you just talk a little
bit more about how the deeper foundation actually makes maintenance of the line easier? I mean, why
would that be? Because then you can dig up the line using only a backhoe. The deeper foundation essentially
acts as an underground retaining wall.
And so it requires no additional shoring of the foundation in order to dig up and access the line.
Thank you. You're welcome. And that was, and that was at CBU's request. That's not correct. That wasn't,
that wasn't as part of our original design that came later. Correct. Any other questions? All of this
was a CBU request. Yes.
And I would point out that under the cost summary, the $3,080 estimated credit is what the CBU said
they would reimburse us for as a result of moving the line and upsizing it from 18 to 24 inches. So
that's what we can expect reimbursement from the CBU. Any other questions of Sarah?
Great. And so just in summary, we thought it would be important to see if we take the changes that were
under $25,000 and the changes that were over $25,000. Again, these are all within the contingency that
is within the guaranteed maximum price. It is essentially 13% of the contingency. So you see the second
to last line says original contingency, $2.4 million, $2.402.180.
by the approvals of 3.15, 3.58. That leaves us a little over $2 million of contingency. We are going
to be fully out of the ground in February, March-ish, in the first quarter of next year. So everybody's
feeling pretty good about where we're at overall, that we've only experienced impacts of 13% at this
point. And I would mention, I know the board understands it. I just want to mention for the public,
that none of this impacts our overall $52 million construction budget. These are not costs above our
$52 million construction budget. They are costs that were built into the contingency that was built
into that $52 million construction budget. Any questions for Deb? One quick question. At 13%, would
you say we're 13% complete with the project?
Um, probably pretty close. I mean, we have the steel, if you look at it from a dollar's, I mean, it's
usually more figured on a dollar's perspective. So from a dollar's perspective, yes. Um, you know, when
you look out there, does it look like you're 13%? It probably doesn't feel like 13% yet because a lot
of what's been happening is underground, right? So that, that's a, it's a, can be a little bit of a
nissan where when you're looking at it, but obviously there's a lot of steel going up. So steel is one
of the most expensive pieces.
that we have coming into play here. Any other thoughts? Yeah, sorry. No, I would absolutely agree. And
I think that, again, when you're underground and trying to get out of the ground, that's your highest
unknowns unforeseen. So I feel very comfortable with that. You might be slightly underneath that from
a dollar perspective, but very close. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think moving forward, if there
were any other impacts
to the contingency fund, they would be related to either, once we're out of the ground and we're going
up, they would be either related to design or budget estimate adjustments that would have to be made.
Is that pretty accurate to state it that way? Harry, no objection. I'll state it. No, I think that's
right. I think I was just going to step back maybe just to provide some larger context to all this.
Changes in construction is a normal part of the process, right?
What's important here is contingency was built into the guaranteed maximum price in order to accommodate
as many of those as possible. No one around this table is going to guarantee that there will be no changes
at all, right, to the contract. There could be something else that comes up or that needs to happen.
But the idea is to try to stay within the condition that's been established from the GP. That's really
the ultimate goal. But can we do it for sure?
We will see. Construction, we still hammer nails the same way we did, and we still lay bricks kind of
the same way we did for many, many decades. So it is a sometimes not very straightforward process. Well,
and the fact that we're this far along and we've used 13% of the contingency, I feel fairly comfortable
about that. We still have a very large contingency fund left.
We will continue to move forward and see where we go. Any other questions or discussion about this,
Mr. McKim? Actually, can you talk a little bit more about the electrical changes?
So this is not in a nice, neat format. So let me just talk about them, and they can be made part of
the notes. So the disconnect between the existing building and the new fire alarm, we've had it originally
shown as two systems. We've got to make sure that it's one. We had some minor mounting heights that
had to be adjusted. We added an extra exit light that was missing. We had to make sure that there was
a heat pump that was missing.
We had to connect a flow switch, a fire alarm pull station. These are all onesy, twosy things that were
going on. And then they also revised the disconnect schedule and revised the electrical panel schedules
based on any final floor plan revision. There's a list of about 10 of them there. Any other questions?
If not, is there a motion to approve the contingency change orders over $25,000? So moved. Mr. Teese,
moved and seconded by Joyce Poling. Any further discussion? If not, we should please take the roll.
John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jeff McKim? Yes. Joyce Poling? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes.
Adam Teese? Yes. Thank you.
Item number six, construction update. Andrew Sherry. Yes, sir. Thank you. Andrew Sherry, project manager
with Weddle Brothers. Share my screen. Is there a video that we see all the time? Got a lot. Nice job,
John. I haven't gotten any. I'll shoot you a text next time. Okay, so a few things to talk about today.
The detention system.
Our detention system, our structural steel, and then some upcoming activities. This drone footage, this
aerial photo was from last week. I was really hoping to get this week's in there to see the north side
being set and detailed. But afterwards, we can look out the window in the cold rain. The detention system,
we've talked about that in the last meeting. So this is going underneath the loading dock parking lot
area. The detention system excavation is ongoing, approximately 90% completed.
We're continuing the installation of the four and a half foot pipe, working away from the east to the
west and probably have a little over 50% of the pipe in the ground backfill taking place. I think they're
pumping some water today, so more backfill. Also the structural steel that we're seeing, so hard to
see on this photo, but it shows a little bit of our logistics plan as far as like the sequencing, one
through 22 or something like that.
We've got the long spans, you know, 140 foot sections that we've got coming out. So this is kind of
the detail that we've put into it from a planning perspective. So sequence one and two, the yellow that
you see on the east side of the project, and then the northeast corner there we've set. We have sequence
three, which is the northwest corner being delivered, interaction beginning this week. They'll work
through Thanksgiving week next week on that. And then as we approach
into December, these long span trusses. So again, these long span trusses are what's gonna span over
the exhibit hall for the open area. Those are 26,000 pounds, 140-ish feet long. They'll come in three
foot sections and be built on the ground and then picked in the air, then braced, and then we'll go
down and do the next one. So here's a cool picture. Maybe we talked about this in our video, maybe we didn't.
But this is on the east side of the project looking north towards the 4th Street parking garage. This
is what it looks like today in the field versus what it's going to look like with the rendering based
off of the model. So the corridor and kind of putting that all into perspective. So pretty neat photo
comparison there. Again, a huge part milestone that's upcoming is the deliveries and erections starting
in December of these long span trusses. So again, each span
will be delivered in the three sections fabricated on site, set into place. Be a lot of picking, setting,
moving the crane, picking, setting. Again, 26,000 pounds, we have 21 total long span trusses on the
site. So that will really make the building take shape. All the sequence one, two, and three that we've
talked about today that we have in place are ongoing. We'll be prepping to receive these. So pretty neat.
Following that, as the crane gets out of the way and we set all these long-span trusses, we're going
to start pouring slab on grade, prepping for underground, solve our sanitary, our storm, drain lines,
things like that. So we'll get these long-span trusses about midsection of the building. This blue and
this purple that you see on the east side will be the first sections that we pour. Again, mechanical,
electrical, and plumbing, underground is all going to go into place.
followed by stone and geogrid, which is just a reinforcement on top of the subgrade to help with structural
stability. And then we have these slab on grade pores broke out into five main pores. They may be detailed
out a little bit more. This, the south east side, which is where the kitchen area is, there's a ton
of underground that goes into that area. So we may break that out into two pores, but from a general
idea, this is where we're standing now. Um,
A big piece coming up in the beginning of the year is the connector. So we are going to start prepping
at the end of this year within the next few weeks for demolition over here next to the existing convention
center to start with ground improvements, which is the drill rig and the aggregate piers that we did
originally on site. Then we will follow that with foundations. And then in the January into January,
February timeframe, we're going to start setting steel with the connector. So we're working through
our MOT changes. I know that it's been
five months since we've talked about all these plans, but we're going to work through the college closure,
get that approved and then set this for the decking, open the road back up and then in March, spring,
early summer, whenever we follow with the glass and the brick will enclose the connector and do it again.
Yeah, sorry.
What is it? Oh, maintenance of traffic plan. Yes. And the maintenance. I was like, did I say something
else? And the maintenance of traffic plan must be approved by the city, right? Yes, absolutely. And
then it will, they will be noticed. We'll make sure that everybody knows what's happening. We're going
to send flyers out, but there is going to be a closure college in order to set the bridge, right? I
think that probably goes without saying, but we need to save for everyone's benefit, including the public.
There will be a time where there is restrictions
everyone's safety when the bridge is set absolutely and then it will go down to a if it's approved by
the city the maintenance of traffic will come down to a limited lane yes through a lot of next year
and we work through these plans with our initial approval for the MOT plan that we have out there the
maintenance of traffic plan that we have out there currently so we're working with our representative
Kyle Ball on that and talking through this process and really finalizing what those dates are going to be
what that means and when we can close down, open and again, get that approved. Yeah. About how long
will college actually be fully closed? We had it on the original schedule for about two weeks. That
is in order to accommodate setting the structural steel, detailing the structural steel, placing slab
on deck and pouring that to open it back up. We're working through some of the connection details, bolted,
welded, those types of aspects to see
And we prepped that on the ground and kind of minimize that closure. But we're still in that planning.
That's good. And the meeting where this will publicly be reviewed is one in December? So we're finalizing
that now. So we've reached out to Kyle Ball, BRCJ, myself. And we haven't finalized that date yet.
So we've hesitated from showing a proposed maintenance of traffic plan here because it does have to
go through another public body before it gets approved. And then once that is approved, then we can
share it out. And what time of year might the lanes be closed? By schedule, we're looking at the end
of January, beginning of February. Yeah, I think it's also just
there's two parts to this, right? There's the full closure that we're talking about, and then there'll
be partial lane closures and that partial enclosure, at least right now we believe, correct me if I'm
wrong, will go in through the summer. Yeah. So after we do the full closure, we're hoping to have college
at one lane to allow for us to get the rest of our demo done. And then as we get into these summer months,
be prepping for curbs, asphalt placement, sidewalks, those types of things.
And again, we'll have, you know, over the duration of this project, we'll have two closures to college,
one to erect the steel, pour the decking and then to enclose the connector. Absolutely. Understood.
Which is why we're bringing it up now, right? Anticipation. It's never fun. It's going to be exciting
to watch, but it won't be exciting to drive. Yeah. The people placing the barricades are nervous too.
So that's a,
Those are the updates that I have for the project currently and some upcoming milestones. Any other
any other questions for Andrew? So with this closure, are there any other items? I know this is early
in the project, but signals, traffic signals and things I know that we're going to be updated. Are those
items that may be done at the same time as this closure or maybe the second closure that could be coordinated
with the city? Yeah, so there's, I think, five different MOT plans for this project. We won't do any
of the other road work currently with this closure. That will be next summer fall when we get into the
third street remediations and things like that. Any other questions? Thank you, Andrew.
The next item, arts project update. And I see Galen Cassidy and Holly Warren are both with us today.
So welcome and happy to hear your update. Yeah, there's the handheld over there. Okay. Hey, everyone.
I am Holly Warren. I am the Assistant Director for the Arts for the City of Bloomington.
This is Jeff Underwood on my t-shirt. This is a little mainstay from his city days. So I'm happy to
report that the call for qualifications closed on Monday. We received 180 applications for this call.
Yeah. So very good. Probably the most call.
responses we've had to a call like this. So very proud, also a little overwhelmed right now. So of those
180 applications, 14 were international and eight were from local Bloomington artists. That's actually
a good number from Bloomington considering the type of scale and qualifications that we're looking at
for this call. So even with that high number of applications, we're still pretty hopeful that we're
gonna be able to get that narrowed down to our five finalists before
the end of the year. So Galen and John have both given me the blessing to do a first pass of
those applications, and that's going to get us down to about a pool of 75 people. All of the applicants
are strong. We're just seeing many applicants in this pool, while they're doing really good work as
muralists or people who do kind of one-off sculptures, they're not necessarily ready to
integrate their work into the type of architecture that the expansion is going to have. So we're really
looking to focus in on those applicants who know how to put their work in a built environment. And then
we will ask the review committee to look at those. I'm hoping between 60 and 80 applications to get
us down to five. And the process that we'll use to do that is we'll assign first, second, and third
reviewers for applications. So everyone will only be looking at about 30 applications total.
They'll be using a rubric that's been approved by the Bloomington Arts Commission to help us score,
and then we'll meet twice before December 16th to just kind of duke it out and see where we land as
far as those final lists. So, feeling very good, we got some really
amazing applicants for this, just people who are really considered to be at the top of the field when
it comes to public art, doing work that is interactive, engaging, respectful of the public. So I'm really
happy, and I really think we're going to get something that's really fantastic. And I'm happy to answer
any questions you have. Oh, that's a surprising number to me, but I'm pleased to hear it. Any questions?
Thank you. Thanks. Good job, Galen. Nice report. All right, next item, hotel update. And I know we have
Anne Killian Hanson is online, I believe, and was going to give us a hotel update. Is that doing? And
Anne is the Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development and the Executive Director of the Redevelopment
Commission for the City. Hi, good afternoon.
Yes, I wanted to provide a brief update as to where things remain right now. I'm sure everyone is curious.
The RDC has remained committed to supporting the convention center hotel project.
Despite offering a significant contribution, a very large funding gap does still exist. We've analyzed
our capacity and have been diligently looking for additional financial support to fill the gap and so
far without luck. So without additional participation from other partners, we appear to be running out
of options. We do hope to have a written response on behalf of the RDC the first week of December.
Happy to answer any further questions. I hope everybody could hear that. I didn't hear it extremely
well. So you're and if I understood correctly, you're you're expecting the first week of December that
she'll have a response. Is that correct? Yes, we should have a formal written response the first week
of December following our RDC meeting scheduled for December 1st. Okay, thank you. Any any questions for Ann?
Thank you, Ann. Well, we're on the hotel update and I want to report I've already advised the city team
and Vince Dora of the fact that today I'm asking Jim Whitlatch and Deb Koontz to reconvene our original
RFP evaluation group for the hotel to revisit the original RFP to see if
since about 18 months have passed, what revisions or additions may be necessary to that RFP, and to
do that before our December meeting. I realize, and I'm hopeful that the parties, as they continue to
move forward, will have success in their conversations. But by December, over 14 months will have passed
since we've made the referral of Dora Hospitality to the city.
And I don't want us to lose any more time in the event those discussions are not successful.
Having said that, I want to make clear, and I've advised the city and I've advised Vince as well, that
if the city team and DORA cannot agree on the Bunger Robertson property to move forward with the hotel,
that simply means that the DORA and the city have not agreed on the Bunger Robertson property.
Dora has still been formally selected by the CIB as our hotel developer, so that given the authority
we have under both county ordinance and the interlocal agreement. So two things, I've asked Vince to
be prepared to advise us in the event that Vince and the city are not able to reach agreement on the
Bunger Robertson property, to advise us
if he wants to revisit the parcels that we made available in the original RFP, if the Bunger Robertson
discussions do not bear fruit. So having reconvened and revisited the RFP does not mean we're going
to reissue it. It simply means that we would reissue it if DORA, whom we have formally selected as our
hotel developer, were to tell us that they see no path forward in their development for a host hotel.
So if they were to tell us that the discussions with the city over Bunga-Roberson have not been successful,
and as they've reevaluated both the south and west parcels that we made available in the original RFP,
if they were to tell us at that point that they are not interested in moving forward, it would only
be at that time that we would reissue an RFP. And in the last 18 months, if that were to
To happen, I just want to remind that we had seven hotel developers who responded to our request for
qualifications, three that responded when Vince did to the request for proposals. 18 months have passed.
Situations may have changed. There may be others. I'm hopeful that Vince and the city can still make
this work, because I think we all agree that the Bunger Robertson property is probably the best and
most suitable for this development. But if they can't,
We need to be prepared to move forward. So that is why I'm asking Jim and Deb to reconvene the committee,
revisit that original RFP so that we're prepared and we don't lose any more time if it becomes necessary
for us to reissue it. Happy to answer questions if you have them about that. Kim? Yeah, so as part of
this task of bringing the committee back together and looking at the RFP,
Is the committee also going to look at what our requirements were to make sure that they're still relevant
and possibly consider? Yeah, no, I think the charge to the group is to revisit that original RFP to
see if it needs to be revised, to see what, if anything, and what additions we may be able to add to
it at this point. I would mention that one of them is that since that original RFP, there's been a market
analysis done.
And perhaps that market analysis that we've done or an executive summary of it might be part of what
would be part of a new RFP. But I'm asking Jim and Deb to reconvene that group and let them come back
to us in December and make any recommendations they need to on revisions. And again, I want to repeat,
I'm hopeful of success in the current negotiations between the city and DORA on the Bunga Robertson
property, but I just want us to be prepared in the event we need to be.
Yes, I guess I. I hope that Dora and the city when they're analyzing this for the RDC, when they're
analyzing this funding gap. Don't aren't assuming that that bridge that the bridge has to be part of
the project. I know that certainly adds costs. That was never one of our requirements. That's something
that we've built or anticipated in our design. I don't know to what degree that
that add on features into the funding gap. And let me mention that in my conversations with the parties
that we have mentioned, and the original RFP did mention a connection between the hotel and the expansion
project, but we were talking about how are you going to connect between the South or the West? What
are your plans to do that?
any plan that would require a bridge like the one we have between our expansion and the current building
were not a requirement of that plan. And in fact, we've not designed our own design for renovation that
would include a way to do that. As I've spoken to the parties, I've said to them, you know, whatever
we can do to help with a re-scope or answer questions about what should be in a host hotel. You know,
for instance,
a rooftop bar. Would that be a nice thing to have in a hotel? Yes, it would be. Is it something that
should be absolutely required in a host hotel? I think not. So we're happy to revisit that. And I've
told them we're happy to revisit that. And in conversations with them, I've suggested that we would
consider re-scoping what they have been proposing to include
you know, not to include a bridge, not to include a rooftop bar, not to include underground parking
because there was never a guarantee there could ever be underground parking, you know, to downsize perhaps
a meeting room space that's available. And by their analysis, we potentially saved at this point, $15
million on the project just by considering doing those things. So our contribution to the project, we
have no cash incentives to give to this project.
What we have to give to the project and what we've offered to give to the project is savings, cost savings.
And so what we proposed thus far would appear to be cost savings of $15 million to the project. And
we continue to be available to help with that as long as we're able to, until we get to a point where
we're no longer designing what we thought we were going to be designing. So again, both parties are
aware of that.
Both parties understand that, and I wish them well, and I hope they have a successful conclusion to
this process. Any other comments? If DORA Group and the City don't come to an agreement between now
and our next meeting, are we giving DORA Group a certain timeframe to decide on the other properties,
the other locations?
Well, we haven't because that would be a step, you know, a step after the step to say, let us know by
December, if you can make this happen. I have, I have asked Vince to, what I've said to him is you don't
have to answer now, but we would like to know in December, if this can't be worked out with the Bunga
Robertson property for a signal from you, whether you have interest in the South and West properties.
So, so hopefully there, there won't be any more time lost in that consideration.
time is of the essence because we already know there's at least a two-year gap between the hotel and
the convention center opening and it's getting longer with every day. I mean it's more than two years
right now. It's two years plus two months plus whatever else we do between now and the RFP. So two and
a half, three years. Yeah I think everybody agrees we're two and a half years away because you know
the time required for design and all the approvals and construction so
You know, we by December were 14 months into the referral was still that same two and a half year time
frame moving ahead to have a host hotel. So I mean, we all know the challenges. We all know what,
you know, what we're facing. So it's just incumbent upon the two parties to either agree what they can
do with the Bunger Robertson property or to end that conversation and let us continue with Dora on the
other properties if they had interest.
Any other comments, questions? Okay, thank you. Any old business to be brought before the board?
Seeing none, new business. I'm going to kick this back to Sarah, who I think wants to make an introduction.
Well, I just wanted to introduce Karen Gilmore. Karen, wave to the people.
Karen is our senior graphic designer. We'll be leading the wayfinding portion of the project. And so
I figured she wanted to sit through a board meeting today. And you'd all want to put a name to a face.
So welcome to the team, Karen. Thank you. Congratulations. We're so happy it's not Eddie. Yeah. Oh,
I didn't see you sitting there, Eddie.
All right. Next item of business, comments from board members. Any comments from board members? Okay.
Seeing none, comments from the public. And if anybody from the public would like to make a comment,
you have a two minute opportunity to do so. I'm sorry. Christopher M.D. from the chamber. Christopher,
go ahead, please.
Mr. Royhart, thank you, Board. This is Chris Turnfee from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce,
now that I've unmuted. I just wanted to bring up an issue that sort of affects the convention center,
affects this convention center quite a lot, and that is the College and Walnut Corridor. The Planning
Department had an open house the 28th and 30th of the last month on it, as they had two options that they
sort of had laid out and one option took the entire city council chambers, the other one took the hallway,
and it's a big, large engineering project. We had members of the plan staff and the administration in
our advocacy council last week to sort of talk about it. And just want to give this board an update
on where they sort of see it, that they are taking input right now. If you go to their website, you
can do a Google form, but it is very specific and long in process.
Um, if you look at the two options, they have the one way, uh, that is, uh, what it currently is, but
that does subtract 82 parking spots. And then they had the, uh, two way conversion, which is, uh, I
know disrupts a lot of what we're used to here in Bloomington. So what we have, uh, sort of put out
to the planning department, they were very receptive of is a.
more of not an open house, but a presentation of what they're thinking, why they're thinking this, and
getting input then from members of the community, specifically the business community. So we can have
a little bit of a back and forth on that. We're still looking at something that's four to five years
away. And another option that is on the table too is to do nothing. So I just want to make sure that
this board is aware of where we're at a little bit on that project.
And, but the other thing is that it would be starting at least talking with one of the planners on the
south end of that corridor, which of course you are part of that and with the convention center expansion.
But if you have any questions, this is Christopher from the chamber, reach out to me. I will take your
calls, emails or anything else. I'd be happy to talk further about this, but appreciate the time.
Thank you, Christopher. And who else did we have? Oh, and John West.
Thank you very much for giving me a little time to make a few comments. I'm John West. I am a commissioner
on the Redevelopment Commission and also the designee from the Redevelopment Commission to help negotiate
the hotel project. I concur with what I see as a consensus that this whole process is taking a long time.
You know, I apologize, it's methodical. It takes a while. And it's not the only project that the RDC
is involved in. And we've only got so much time. But that said, it's unfortunate that we're at the 11th
hour here. We have spent quite a bit of time with City Legal and the controller's office to come up with
or try to come up with every possible funding mechanism that's available to us. So when we come to our
conclusion, it's not taken lightly. And we want this project to happen. We think that the Bunga Robertson
property is ideal for the hotel. But funding is what it is.
I would suggest that if the CIB determines to reboot and go back to the drawing board and the Bunga
Robertson property is designated as the possibility for the location, then maybe we ought to rethink
the process a little. Instead of creating a hotel wish list,
and then kind of sending it to the city and the RDC to help to get it funded. Let's work with us first,
figure out what kind of funding we have available to us, and then we can pursue a plan that kind of
matches the funding. And then we can maybe not spend another 13 months doing this all over again.
Thank you. Thank you, John.
Anyone else? Okay. Next item is our next board meeting is Wednesday, December 17th, 2025 at 3pm. I often
say you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here and we are now adjourned.