- Well, it's the witching hour, so I will call the meeting of the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board
- of February 18th, 2026 at 3 p.m. to order. I wanna make a brief announcement that good news and bad
- news about Mr. Baer. Good news is he got sworn in as a member of the board. The bad news is is that
- by state statute, if you attend two meetings remotely,
- you cannot participate or vote in another meeting until you attend in person. So this being the third
- meeting that Mr. Baer is attending consecutively remotely. When we had our special meeting on our January
- meeting, he cannot participate in our meeting today, nor can he vote in our meeting today. However,
- when we get to comments from the public, he's allowed to participate as a member of the public. So when
- we get to comments from the public, I will specifically ask him if anything has not yet been said in
- this meeting that he would like to say to all of us. So with that, and you can't count towards a quorum,
- not that we, you know, we've got a quorum, so we can't even call his name today. So I see that he's
- there, at least I see JB and I assume that's Mr. Baer.
- So I will ask Jace to take the role. John Weichart. Present. Doug Bruce. Here. Jim Silverstein. Here.
- Joyce Pulling. Here. Adam Teese. Here. Galen Cassidy. Here. Okay, thank you. Item number two is approval
- of consent agenda, which includes the minutes of our January 21st meeting, the minutes of our February
- 5th meeting, our claims, and the financial report. And if we could have a motion to approve that,
- So we have a motion for approval. Is there a second? Second. It's been seconded. So are there any questions
- or discussion or comments about the minutes or the claims or the financial report? OK, seeing and hearing
- none, item number three, Treasurer's Report. Oh, yeah, we better vote on it, hadn't we? OK, so why don't
- we vote on it? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jim Soberstein? Yes. Joyce Polling? Yes. Adam Tease?
- Yes. Galen Cassidy? Yes. OK, thank you.
- Now, on to the Treasurer's Report. Mr. Silberstein, do you have any report you'd like to make? Jeff
- Underwood has spent a lot of time bringing me up to speed on numbers. And for my first Treasurer's Report,
- I have to say I have no report. OK. I would say that's an excellent job by both of you then. Very good,
- very good. Item number four, President's Report. I wanted to report to you that I have approved a change
- order for a sanitary extension due to unforeseen
- elevation in the amount of $23,479. Approved that yesterday. The sanitary extension was an unforeseen
- condition in the sanitary line pipe elevation that was exposed to meet IDEM's minimum regulation slope.
- An additional 20 feet of pipe section had to be replaced, and that's why we have this additional cost
- of $23,479.
- So I approved that with the authority to approve such change orders under $25,000. And I think we have,
- Deb, I think we have now a cumulative running total for the log that we wanted to show.
- So we will forward this to all of you when the meeting's over, but we will keep a running total for
- you, a log of these contingency change orders. And as you can see, we are now a contingency use to date
- of 634, 658, which represents 26% of the contingency budget. I wanted to mention that we only had one
- this month.
- mid-February, obviously already, and we expected if we would have contingency change orders related
- to the construction project that we would have had as we were coming up out of the ground. So I can't
- anticipate that we'll never have another one, but we certainly are having fewer, and we're dealing with
- fewer issues, fewer unforeseen circumstances as we move forward. So happy to answer any questions that
- you might have.
- about today's, the one I mentioned today for $23,479 or for the running total. All right, seeing none.
- Construction update, Weddle Brothers, Mr. Sherry. Thank you, John. Andrew Sherry, project manager with
- Weddle Brothers. Share my screen.
- Okay, so a few things to talk about today in the presentation. I wanted to run through some safety,
- the connector details as far as what was done over the last few weeks with the bridge connector that
- we've got done, construction progress, upcoming activities, and then side note with the building information
- modeling as we progress into the interior side of the building and all the systems and everything that
- we're trying to do, just show the background and the pre-planning that's going into that level of detail.
- From a safety standpoint, so we currently have over five separate contractors on site. They may have
- third parties involved. We're averaging around 30 to 40 employees every day on site. That could have
- an influx whenever we have concrete pours or different activities. This will continue to increase as
- we start additional scope and activities. So as we free up more masonry work, we're free up more interior
- work. Those crews will continue to grow in size. We've had over 150 participants in safety orientation.
- That's employees and visitors to the job site.
- We're working in all areas of the project site. So the south lot, the roof, the elevated decks, we have
- concrete bores going everywhere, subgrade prep and underground utilities. We are all over the project
- site. A lot of planning, a lot of logistics, a lot of safety mindset that's went into this. So the other
- day we were walking the job site and just in the main exhibit hall we had seven pieces of heavy equipment,
- excavators, skid steers, boom lifts,
- So again, we're pulling all these employees into approximately 30,000 square feet of an area, doing
- all these different activities. And again, no safety incidents to report. Just great kudos to the whole
- team that's out there, the safety mindset. We start off every day with a daily hazard analysis. Not
- only our careers, but we require all of our subcontractors to do that.
- We document that and save that. So they run through what they're gonna do that day. What are potential
- hazards and how can you eliminate those potential hazards? So again, I think that it's had a great turnout.
- It's very tight project site, but great success. So at any time there are around 15 to 18 pieces of
- heavy equipment on the job site. This does not include the days that we have concrete trucks, vehicle
- job trucks, or additional vehicles, testing agencies, things like that. So with two main entrances to
- the job site,
- That's a pretty substantial feat. Here are a few photos I just wanted to include. In the top left picture
- you can see just around the sanitary line and the deep foundations. On the south side of the project
- there are four large excavators here with our material lay down. On the right hand side this is some
- of the bedrock that we did whenever we exposed the existing sanitary line.
- And then on the bottom left, it's hard to see, but that's the seven to eight pieces of heavy equipment
- where we're doing our slab on grade sequence one and sequence two. So trenches are open. The utilities
- are stepped up through the ground. There's just a lot of different moving parts and pieces. Connector
- details. This was a huge milestone for the project. We had around 12 working days, not including weekends.
- The crews were able to complete structural steel erection, structural steel detailing, including all
- welding, the adjustments.
- Roof and floor decking concrete pouring and final fall protection cables and posts so If anybody remembers
- the snowstorm that we had that was the day that we planned on doing our closure was that Sunday night
- We had to work with the limited travel restrictions with crews out of Indianapolis for our barricades
- and things like that We ended up closing college down on Tuesday, and we still hit our same end date
- that we showed in our schedule of June of 2025 Again that was a
- A great feat, a lot of pre-planning, a lot of long days for the crews out there. Wednesday that we started.
- Wednesday that we started, I think, that we started, I think, 22 or 22. And that's the day that they
- set the columns. And then every connection on the bridge out there had about 60 inches of welds. So
- not only after that was erected, both of together, but the welding and all the detailing that went into
- that, again, just a great feat.
- would like to note that city engineering did note that over the entirety of our closure that we had
- no complaints. So that was a great milestone there too. We didn't know what to expect. There was a lot
- of communications, a lot of planning that went into that. While we had the road closed, we were calling
- them on a constant basis and saying, hey, you know, we have this, especially with the snow. We had city
- crews with the plows and stuff help us whenever we went to
- to close the road down, they plowed, they oversalted the roadways. There was just a lot of help. So
- here are a few pictures on the left hand side here, you'll see the crane set up right in the middle
- of college, about 120, 130 feet high at that point. In the middle picture, you'll see what it looks
- like up there prior to them pouring the floor. So that's looking from the east towards the west. And
- then the concrete pump on the right hand side whenever the day that they pumped that Thursday, the day
- before we opened up.
- Construction progress, so structural steel update. All structural steel around the main exhibit hall
- has been set besides the back of house area. So the kitchen, the mechanical spaces, that is what we're
- calling sequence seven. That follows the sanitary line and all that south work. So crews are now working
- on final detailing, the clips, welds, the pour stops. So after they erect that, they have to put pour
- stop down, all the decking so we can pour the concrete out. The low roof and high roof decking has started
- on the building, including the exterior patio.
- On this photo in the bottom, you can see the patio area that has been decked. And then this picture
- was from last week. They're actually flying through on roof decking. We're really hoping to start putting
- roofing material on the project within the next three weeks. If we remember, the slide on grade had
- five total sequences. So sequence one has been poured. Sequence two is scheduled to be poured tomorrow.
- That means that the whole eastern half of the project will be poured in concrete.
- and have a floor. And then sequences three through five will be between now and April. So one thing
- I wanted to note on the slide lawn grade preparation. So we see the underground, we talk about
- the underground and stone and then pouring concrete, but here are just a few activities that we have
- to do. So we get in and install our deep utilities in Backville.
- Then we come in, put the geogrid down in all of our compacted stone, roll that in with heavy equipment,
- install all of our shallow utilities and backfill, so all of our conduits, things like that. Then we
- fully encapsulate under slab with a vapor barrier. We tie rebar, place forms along the perimeter, and
- then isolate every column. So every column out there is isolated from the actual pour itself. And then
- we pour the concrete. And then the next day, they come in and saw cut. So there's a lot that goes into
- that process. Here are a few pictures.
- On the top left, you can see the Northeast restroom. And then, so that's our deeper rough ends. On the
- right-hand side, this is after we placed the geogrid and the stone, so they're running some of our conduits
- for our floor boxes. On the bottom left, it's hard to see, but that's all the rebar. So the rebar and
- the slab is on baskets. It's six inches on center both ways. And then again, our formwork. And then
- the bottom right is the sequence one pour.
- The building envelope masonry work has started with the brick work starting this week along registers
- lot on the southeast side of the project. This picture was from last week is probably six foot tall.
- I think right now they're 22 ish somewhere in there. Exterior column wraps are starting today.
- So our framing, sheathing and exterior wall rough ends, which is electrical and plumbing are taking
- place. Our roof deck continues with roofing installation starting again in approximately three weeks.
- Interior work with the slab pours, we're able to jump on the interior walls too. So this picture was
- taken right after lunch this morning. This is the first course of the south corridor on the interior
- side. Interior masonry walls are starting today. We'll follow our slab progression, which is
- a counterclockwise orientation. Our in-wall rough-in, so as they lay these masonry walls, mechanical
- and electrical and plumbing is starting also. So they build up, they rough that in. And then door frames
- are being installed today also.
- All doors, frames, and hardware are on this week, and we have door frames starting today in these walls.
- Our exterior facade, so our masonry work is to be completed at the southeast side of the project, and
- then we'll continue up to each elevation. So this is the southeast side looking north. The left-hand
- side there is the brick that we expect to be done within the next two weeks, and then those column wraps
- right there are what are starting today.
- We will also be placing blocking and prep work around all of the curtain wall systems. We expect the
- curtain wall systems to be on site in April. We'll start getting everything installed there. And then
- exterior framing will progress on the east side and then go to the north elevations for our brick and
- our column ramps. So building information modeling, BIM, as we like to call it. Again, this is something
- that it's 3D rendering that all systems go into the building
- They model this. This allows us to identify clashes where different systems may hit, and then change
- our plans and alter the plan for the system. So again, this allows for clashes to be identified early
- in the process prior to us coming in, installing these, and then saying, hey, back to the drawing board.
- What do we need to do? After areas are designed virtually in BIM and issues are resolved, areas are
- signed off for prefabrication. We have the whole underslab signed off.
- These are being prefabricated in shops. A lot of this work is taking place in the south lay down lot,
- south of the hotel here. But they create these puzzle pieces in large sections, bring those over, and
- then install exactly to how this was modeled. So it helps enhance our schedule. We currently have duct
- work, overhead piping, electrical runs, and other scopes being built off site in order to deliver and
- install when the project is ready. Again, another thing that we do in this model is we take into account
- even down to the thickness of the insulation. So the pipe insulation, the ductwork insulation, the overall
- end user maintenance standpoint, can people get in these cable trays and access it. So all that detail
- goes in here. Again, build that and then build it inside. This picture here.
- is basically if you took a cut at the roof line above the kitchen in the back of house, that is all
- the existing or that is all the new systems and equipment that will actually be installed.
- So fire protection, cable trays, low voltage, duct work, anything that you can think of that is everything
- that will be above the ceiling in the back of house. This next picture is the high roof. So above the
- exhibit hall in this, you'll also see all the long span trusses. So we get down to the level of detail for
- duct work to go in the web spacing of those long spans that are out there, how everything ties together,
- how do you insulate it. So again, this is just a neat picture to see all those systems in their entirety.
- I think better than the BIM model. We want to go ahead and talk about our hard hat update video. I was
- able to co-star with Mr. John Whitecard in. He got a lot of work done on site that day. So we'll see
- how this one plays out. Co-star. Co-star.
- Here we are again. I've taken a little break from all the work I've been doing here on site and we're
- going to take another tour and see what's been happening.
- Here we are again, I've taken a little break from all the work I've been doing here on site. And we're
- gonna take another tour and see what's been happening. Hello again, John Weichert, president of the
- Capitol Improvement Board. I'm here at the construction site for our expansion project. Amazed at all
- the progress that's been made since our last hard hat edition.
- Today's actually the last full day of the closure of College Avenue, and we're excited about that. I'm
- under the bridge that connects the two buildings. I'm looking for Andrew Sherry from Weller Brothers.
- He's going to join me today. Oh, Andrew, there you are. What are you doing up there? Waiting on you
- to come see the best view in town, John. Well, come on down and tell me what's been going on. We can do that.
- Andrew, the sky bridge will probably be the most identifiable project activity everyone can see. And
- it is such an exciting new downtown feature. So tell me about what we are seeing and what is happening
- here. Yes, so as you can see in the last week, week and a half, there's been a lot of work that took
- place here between the structural steel, all the concrete work, all the prep that had to go into this
- for this closure to hit these days that we've been planning for. We've got the existing floor that we
- have to match.
- We've got the new concrete. We've got the ramps. As you can see here at the top of all this structural
- steel at these intersecting points, we've got 60 inches of weld. So a ton of detailing that people may
- not think about, but there's a lot of work that goes into this as we progress and try to get to the
- final product. You know, and symbolically, Andrew, we've talked about this at the bridge, but it's literally
- a bridge between the past and the future. As we look across at the current convention center and look
- at this new construction, this is not really a break from the past. It's a connection.
- Absolutely. Obviously, this building, the expansion behind us is a monumental piece. But another big
- piece of that is matching the historical aspect of the existing building. Progressing with our slab
- here, we've got our nice hole covers to protect our floor boxes. Because once we get this next slab
- poured, we're going to bring a bunch of scissor lifts in here and start detailing all this decking,
- all these long-span tresses. Because right now, there's a ton of other members to be tied in up there.
- They'll remove all this temporary bracing and such.
- our existing, our new utilities existing in the slab, we want to protect them. Yeah. Not breaking things.
- But again, our first section of the dance floor. So. Well, that's good. Yeah. And all this, all these
- stones, what we paid extra for, right? Actually, this step was the base contract. The step underneath,
- that's what we paid extra for. Oh, it tore you down? Yeah. Yeah. So basically, you had a foot of the
- stuff that you see right now on the geogrid. And you'll be able to see it over here whenever we get
- into these trenches. But the step right underneath that is what they wanted to fix.
- So yes, a lot of stone. Thank you. Oh, look at all of this. Yes, sir. Quite a bit of masonry work already.
- Yeah, last time we walked this a few days ago, we were five or six foot high. You see the work that
- this group can do in three days. That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. Well, last time I was here, I
- offered to be a hod carrier and they didn't take me up on it, but I'm glad I didn't get
- hired for that. As soon as they heard that, they started flying through it. They worked more quickly
- because all they needed was my help, right? Yeah. Well, this is very, very impressive. Yeah. And actually,
- again, I think we talked about it before, but next week, we're looking at next Wednesday, they're going
- to come in here and lay out. But this will be our interior wall. It dives into the center line of these
- columns here. So it follows this saw cut joint. We'll have a little frame set in here, everything.
- the door friends of the project in your wins that it's just it's just amazing so you know we're out
- here originally and we were this was pretty much just a level ground and you describe these things to
- me it was hard
- It's hard for me to visualize it. We're in here now and it's happening. It's just amazing to look at.
- Yeah, so when will the masonry work take place? And when will they come out and put the brick down?
- And how's that fit into all the scheduling? Yeah, so we're looking at having like this wall down here
- on the south side of the project done next Wednesday. At that point, they'll jump in and bring the block
- guys in, have this interior wall done, and then immediately the exterior brick, red brick starts. And
- there'll be a couple of weeks' worth of work for them to face that all.
- So here's one of the main entrances. And where's the reception area going to be right here? Yeah, the
- reception desk will be right here. Whenever you walk in the project or the building at the end of it,
- we'll have a main entrance over here and a main entrance at that corner. So you'll come in. There'll
- be a vestibule here, double set of doors, lights. You open the doors, and here's your desk. So this
- is the Northeast entrance here. Yes, sir. And you're coming right in off of Walnut Street, third. And
- here's the reception area. Yep. Yep. And then you have open corridors, your restrooms.
- And then again, right now, we can see this beautiful exhibit hall. Basically, this column line in is
- all exhibit hall, so you'll have your walls all the way to deck, and you'll have various doors that
- you can go into that. We're coming around from the reception area, and this is the exhibit hall. Yes.
- So again, you'll have sets of doors here, and then you'll come in. This column line here is the break,
- so you'll have corridor, and then you come into the exhibit hall here.
- The exhibit hall, again, we're approximately 30,000 square feet of finished space, wide open ceiling
- space. We'll have foldable partition walls, so this could be an open area, basketball courts, things
- like that. Or you can have different rooms with our folding partitions that come out. You know, and
- I didn't realize how large an open space it could be until you're standing here within it. Yes.
- This is a huge, huge area. Yeah. I mean, these long span trusses that we talked about for a long time,
- we're able to accommodate that load. We've actually got decking. We're starting decking right now. And
- I say we, but Indy Steel, All Met, the steel iron workers are starting decking over there. But our goal
- is to start doing all the roof decking over this. We have roofing material in the lot. As soon as we
- get this decking down, we're going to put a roof on it. And again, our goal is to get this building
- enclosed. Yeah. I'm sorry, it's not just athletic events we can have.
- 1,400 people to sit down, dinner in the city, or concerts or lectures, and get a couple thousand people
- in Harry Eaton's. That's a great space. It'll be a great space. So Andrew, next time we're here, what
- are we going to see next time? I think that's a loaded question. We're going to see a lot. But we'll
- see interior walls here, our masonry walls we talked about earlier. We're hoping to see interior framing
- from floor to deck. We'll have decking places on all of our elevated surfaces.
- and then slab on grade, we'll see a lot. Great, great. Well, Andrew, thank you for taking time out of
- your busy schedule for the other tour. And we look forward to seeing all of you for the next Hard Hat
- Edition. Someday we can see volleyball tournaments taking place in this space where we're standing.
- We're going to play Devils, me and you, versus we've got to find two people. Yeah, maybe an Oval 75
- league of some kind. RF. Yeah, OK.
- For anybody who was worried about safety, I didn't even have the keys to that piece of equipment. So
- don't be concerned. Well, yeah, I ask that they knew better. Okay, thank you, Andrew. Any questions
- for Andrew about the construction update? All right, working group updates, wayfinding.
- Thank you. Eddie Layton, which is an associate. And I have Karen Gilmore with me as well. She's our
- graphic designer who's working on this. So we wanted to come to the CIB today. We're kind of at the
- end of our design concept phase. And so we want to share progress. And then at the end of our presentation,
- ask for approval of that design concept. So like any good design project, we start with goals. And so
- these goals are not too dissimilar to the goals for the building design, but have a specific angle towards
- the signage and wayfinding
- Things like that should be simple and not overly complex, given visitors coming to the convention center,
- be able to find a way around easily. Want to work with the building, so be timeless. Include the colors
- from the building and that go with the building. Want to be memorable and unique, of course. Durable,
- so Talisha and her team don't have to maintain it and worry about that.
- flexible and adaptable. This space is going to be very many different things to different people. And
- so the signage and wayfinding needs to work with all of that. I want to leverage technology as much
- as possible to new building. And we wanted to make that exciting. I want to be consistent with the branding
- and all the work that was done to create some of those graphics. It should make sense that the building
- should reflect that. And we do know we're, just as we were talking about in the video, we're connecting
- to the existing building. We need to make sure that
- The signage is replaced in this building. The package can be complementary. But even if the decision
- is to utilize existing signage, the new items make sense as well. So we look at the schedule. We started
- back in November with our design concept work. And so we've been through the last couple of months with
- the way finding committee to refine the design. So we're here today in February to ask for that approval.
- the next line item under that, and the key milestones is the variance approval. Similar to the building
- where the UDO was, we needed some variances to meet the UDO, because the UDO is not written around convention
- centers. You don't have 50 different convention centers in town, but you have one. And so similarly,
- the UDO signage requirements for our zoning, there's just, we don't meet them all the requirements,
- or there's things that we'd like to do that are not included in the UDO. So we've had a meeting with
- Jackie at the city,
- have reviewed kind of what we're thinking and talked through that process. So the current plan for that
- is that we will be submitting to appear in the March hearing, which means we need to submit at the end
- of February, which we've intentionally left some time there in the schedule as we're working towards
- the May completion schedule for the construction drawings. If we need to push to the April PZA hearing,
- we have time to do that, but we'd like to leave that option open at this point.
- So one of the big things that we're getting into much more detail as we work towards the construction
- drawing portion of the project is the actual locations. We need to start with locations to be able to
- pick the types of signs, but we're going to get much more detail into the specific locations. I just
- wanted to share with the group kind of what we're thinking in terms of general areas. So we're going
- to start outside, and I will zoom in because I realize that's kind of small on the big screen. So we're
- looking at, start maybe on the west side of campus,
- The existing building, the existing parking lots, there's our existing signage in many of the parking
- lots already that we'd want to look at replacing some directional signage. We want to look at, I mean,
- in the College Avenue, replacing the existing ground-mounted message sign, which we'll see what that
- looks like, as well as the, looking at the building sign on this building. We've talked about just taking
- that sign off and leaving the Graham Auto Sales,
- piece there is kind of like an homage to the past of the building. We also acknowledge that if you're
- coming to this campus for the first time and parking in the main parking lot, you may not know where
- the entry is. It's not immediately obvious from back there, and so we might want to add some signage
- to the backside of the building. The big thing, though, is along College Avenue, knowing where to turn
- into the parking area,
- One of the requirements from our building variances was that we needed a sign at the loading dock entry
- to alert pedestrians to truck traffic and that sort of thing, but also just for trucks to know this
- is where you turn in. The expansion is going to have signage. Obviously, we've talked about building
- signage on the corners of the entries, wayfinding signage for people walking and driving around campus
- and where parking can be found and that sort of thing.
- So as I mentioned, we're going to get into much more detail on those locations as we determine quantities
- of signs and the exact messaging of those. So right now, we're just looking at types. The same exercise
- is going on inside. Entries into the exhibit hall rooms, a directory signage at the entry is important,
- a restroom signage. But all the questions that Talisha and Lisa and her team get asked, where is this?
- Where is that? We want to make sure the signage is helping as much as possible.
- There's not always someone there to answer those questions. So as I mentioned, one of our exercises,
- we're working with the committee to schedule a meeting probably late April or early May to really walk
- through every location there's going to be a sign. What is it going to say? Which of our sign types
- is it going to be? Which I'll share in a second. And that will help with determining the quantities,
- which is what the big package will look at. And one of the things we're looking at as well in terms
- Phasing is all the signage done at once, is it done in groupings and alternate amounts so we can work
- that out from budget perspective. Looking at upstairs as well, of course, both floors are important.
- So then really the item I wanted to share with this group and get the approval for is the concept. So
- we wanted to start with what was already given to us from the branding package, which was a great starting
- point. The building,
- The logo, the font, the color scheme, it wanted to be consistent with all of the information that Bloomington
- Convention Center is using to sell the space. So when a customer is coming, they've already seen these
- colors, they've already seen the logos, and it's all very, you know, cohesive to the design.
- So we went even as far as the angle. That was a very important design concept, the roof line of the
- building. And so that angle finds itself in the signage. So this is all of the exterior signage concepts
- we're looking at for different types of signs. Starting at the left, these signs would be the things
- you would find along College Avenue, for example, leading you into the parking lot or pointing out where
- entrances are.
- The blue line here, so one of the variances we need to request is for signs taller than 48 inches, and
- that's one of the requirements in the EDO that we don't meet currently. So this would be a metal sign,
- a vertical blade sign on a stone plinth. In the parking lot, there's already existing signage attached
- to many of the light poles for parking. And one of the things that talking to a general group is that,
- you know, maybe that's one way to designate the
- The convention center parking versus hotel parking, perhaps, just with a different sign color or type,
- that sort of thing. The sign here in the center, that would be the replacement for the message sign.
- And being able to go to a digital sign would help with ease of changing, but messaging, of course, being
- able to do more than one thing at a time. There's multiple groups here.
- Obviously, there will be restrictions on how fast that can change from a distraction point of view.
- That's a requirement we'll have to face. A similar materiality and form. And then on the building itself,
- we had had a placeholder in the building design for a sign above the doors. And so just using the logo
- from the type font, typeface from the logo for that there seemed to make sense.
- So, and all the exterior signs were planning on being aluminum, painted aluminum, so very durable,
- long-lasting, and will be, you know, around for as long as the building is. Moving inside, one of the
- things we heard over and over again with the way funding committee is we need to keep the messaging
- as simple as possible. So, these are just some examples of different types of signs. Right now,
- they're not, in this graphic, you know, the different signs
- might be different scales, and not as all, depending on where they're located. For example, the ceiling
- mounted sign, which based on the text that's here, this might be what's in the connector on the first
- floor when you walk in from the parking lot, telling you if you go to the right, you're going to the
- courtyard. If you go to the left, you're going into this building. If you go straight ahead, you'll
- hit the new building. That might be a three by six foot sign that's hanging from the ceiling. That's
- a larger scale sign. Something like this directory sign,
- that might be next to the reception desk when you first walk in, that would be a much more kind of pedestrian
- small scale that you're up close to. So that's one of the things we're studying is how large should
- these signs be and based on their content and legibility. Things like the meeting room signs and the
- restroom signs that are above entries into the spaces, those would be higher and larger so they're visible
- from further away. And just trying to keep a consistent,
- approach to the text and the logos and that sort of thing to be very clear. So what does that look like
- in the space? So this is just a quick rendering example of, you know, pre-function rendering you guys
- have seen before with some of these signage pieces added. So there's things like the meeting room sign
- that has a digital calendar display on it for that day, what events are going on. There's letters over
- top of it.
- dimensional characters, you know, just calling out attention to the exhibit hall as well as the ceiling
- mounted sign that is visible from far away. So if you're in a, if this area is crowded and you're down
- at one of the entries, you'll see that exhibit room A hanging up high and nowhere to go. Restrooms are
- a different color. So that's something we've heard asked a lot. It's a very common question.
- And then things like the large text, kind of just to help you way find where you're going, where the
- elevators are, where an information desk might be. Just examples of things that we're thinking about.
- So that's what we've got for today. Our next steps, as I mentioned, is with your approval, we'll move
- into the construction documents phase. We'll work on kind of cataloging, like I mentioned, every single
- sign, what it says, where it goes, how it's made, that sort of thing, using kind of these types and pieces.
- Thank you. Thank you. Deb, would you help me? We've had a working group that's been working with Schmidt
- on this. We've had several meetings. Can you identify everybody who's been involved in this working
- group as we've gotten to today? Yes. On the committee has been President Whitehart, Jim Silverstein,
- and Joyce Poling have been part of it. During the design process, I will say there were several options
- that were provided to the committee for their input, and so that has been
- part of as typical for any design process and has been reviewed by the committee. And then they gave
- them clear direction. And then this is what came back. So just share that. And included in the committee
- of Convention Center staff. Convention Center staff are also part of, excuse me, yes. They are also
- part of it. Yeah. Talish and Lisa. So Eddie's asking us today for approval of the design concept so
- that they can move forward with this plan. And so I would ask if there's a motion for the design concept.
- moved. So we've had a motion second it's been moved and seconded so is there any discussion or comments
- or questions Mr. Teese? It looks great the only thing I would add is there are potentials that someday
- rooms spaces would be named that happens often over time and it's good to think about that graphic now
- rather than later like oh hey we got to append this to this so I would just ask that the team be
- Anticipatory of what is the font size, shape, tone when things might get named, as opposed to, I didn't
- think about that. I don't know where we're going to put that. Do that now, because I think that's highly
- possible in this kind of environment. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? OK, so we have a motion
- and a second. Mr. Paris, would you?
- Take the roll. John Weichart. Yes. Doug Bruce. Yes. Jim Silberstein. Yes. Joyce Pulling. Yes. Adam Tease.
- Yes. Galen Cassidy. Yes. Thank you. Also under working group updates, and we won't always have updates
- from each group. We just have a placeholder for them each month. Furniture fixtures and equipment, is
- there any update this month? Yeah, just to really.
- So thank you for providing the word to that contract. We had some initial meetings with delicious and
- her team. One of the, there's really been only one sort of major change from what we had and it's a
- good thing I think for the budget at least is that the catering team is actually going to provide all
- the utensils plates glasses so.
- We can take that out of our budget, which is a good thing. But there's more coming. There's scoping
- by realist strategies, as well as budgeting. There is going to be a small group, I believe, of the CIB
- with Talisha staff that will be reviewing that later in March, and then more updates to come.
- Thank you. Arts installation. Bead Advisor Galen, is there any update this month? Yeah, just another
- quick update.
- We all five finalists are underway working on some proposals and we're actually gonna begin welcoming
- a few of them over the next few weeks here to town to get to know the community a little better and
- meet with members of the recommendation committee as well. So we're excited about the next steps.
- Thank you. I didn't ask any questions about any of these updates that you. All right, thank you.
- Item number seven, old business. Let me report out under old business that since our February 5th meeting,
- Mayor Thompson has been in contact with me and wanted me to mention today that the Thompson administration
- will fully support providing the south properties at no cost to the CIB for project development. These
- land parcels are owned by two different city entities. The Board of Works owns
- one or two of the parcels redevelopment commission, the others, I may have the numbers backwards, but
- those are structured public decisions that are made by those boards and commissions. So the administration,
- the Thompson administration and the mayor are working towards the most seamless transfer of those parcels
- possible with the intention to provide the land value as an incentive to the expansion project. So that's
- a development since our last, I would also mention that Mr. Whitlatch has formally communicated to the county
- our request for their review of parcels for donation as well. And I've been advised that the county
- commissioners are looking favorably at transferring parcels, the parcels to the west, that's a parking
- lot now, as well as looking at the parcels that are further south of our current south parking lot to
- second street. That would also require county council approval.
- So they are also moving forward with our request to see what other properties may be available for donation
- for the project. Once we've been advised of all the properties transferred to us, we can look
- at a comprehensive land use plan to include a hotel and parking needs, any opportunity for land exchanges,
- as has been suggested by the City Council, and the best
- benefit of a comprehensive scope of the project for the best benefit of the comprehensive scope of the
- project. And then we can consider a new RFP for a hotel after we've identified the land that we own
- for the project and what other uses we may need to make for the land. So I wanted to provide that as
- an old business update. Any other old business that you wanna bring before? Is there any timeframe
- that you're aware of when they might have those parcels transferred over to us, just so we can go forward
- with the RFP? No. Obviously, it'll take some time. So the first thing that has to happen, if I understand
- correctly, is I think the mayor's goal is that the parcels will all come under one ownership. They're
- currently under two, the Board of Works and the Redevelopment Commission. I think her goal is for the
- Redevelopment Commission
- to own all those parcels and then at that point to make the transfer to us, to the capital improvement
- board, but I don't have a timeline for it. The county process may take a little longer because it would
- require the county commissioner's approval and then in public meetings and the county council would
- have to consider that and move it forward as well. So it's hard for me to say when that might happen.
- I guess I would be hopeful that it's odd for me to even think we're almost to the end, next week will
- be to the end of February.
- But I would be hopeful by the end of March, perhaps all this can be more clear for us and where we are
- and what ownership we might have. I do want to mention, though, that as we've discussed, the project
- is multifaceted. So we have an expansion, we've got a renovation, we've got parking to consider, we've
- got a hotel developer to select and a location to select. So I think as soon as we know
- what land we own, that will lead us to what do we want to make available for which part of those projects.
- And we all recognize the importance of parking to this project. And so we have to be very mindful and
- thoughtful as we move forward about how we identify what pieces of land we own and for what purposes.
- So I think that'll then drive us to what the RFP is going to look like for a new hotel developer. Any
- other comments or questions?
- Any other old business from anyone? New business, any new business from anyone? Comments from board
- members. Any comments from board members? Comments from the public. And let me first ask Mr. Baer, now
- participating as a member of the public, if he has any comments he would like to make about our meeting
- today. And now we would happily invite them. And Jay, do you have anything you'd like to add?
- Yeah, thanks very much, Mr. Weickart. Sorry I couldn't be with you today. Just a couple of
- quick acknowledgments. I just want to say how lucky I think we are to be working with Andrew and Eddie
- on this project. Their work has been exceptional and their ability to communicate highly complex issues
- to everybody involved has been really spectacular. So we're really fortunate to have the team that we
- have and big thanks to Deb.
- for working on our behalf to keep everybody together as well. I absolutely love the signage. I think
- it's spectacular. It's really, really spot on. The consistency of the angles and mirroring the roofline,
- I think, is really going to be a signature and a really nice wayfinding package. And I just say, I imagine
- that there's some folks who are a little frustrated about what appears to be sort of back to square
- one with regards to the hotel. And in truth, yes, it probably would have been great if we had all the
- land figured out
- before we did the first RFP, but at some level we didn't know what we didn't know. And we thought the
- land piece of this would be easier than it has ended up being. But I'm delighted that we're sort of
- back on track and everybody understands how important it is to truly think of this project holistically,
- not just as a convention center, but as a convention center with a hotel and with adequate parking.
- So all's well that ends well. And as you always say, survive in advance. Thank you.
- Any other comments from the public? This is an opportunity, if you would so like, we afford two minutes
- of time for anybody from the public who would like to make a comment. I'm sure. Isville Piedmont Smith,
- the City Council member. Yes, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Whitehart.
- I was heartened to know that the land ownership and what land the city and the county governments are
- willing to put towards the project that seems to be working out. I recognize that the hotel is an integral
- part of this project. So I agree with Mr. Baer that
- despite some fumbles, we seem to be moving ahead and that's good for the community. Just a comment on
- the signage, in particular the interior signage. I just hope that accessibility for people who are visually
- impaired is being considered or is hopefully a default by default part of the signage in Braille and
- such and good
- high contrast seems to be the case for what's being proposed. Also, another accessibility issue that
- some people may not think about, but if patterns in carpeting or in the wall covering is too busy, sometimes
- that can be a problem for some folks as they make their way around the facility. So I just hope that
- a wide view is being shared and implemented in regard to accessibility.
- Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Any other comments from the public? OK, all right. Seeing and hearing
- none. Our next board meeting is scheduled for March 25th, and that's out of sync because of spring break.
- So I think it's maybe the fourth Wednesday of March at 3 PM here in the Convention Center.
- And that being said, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. We are adjourned.