Good afternoon. Let me call this meeting of the Monroe County Capital Improvement Board, October 15th,
2025 to order. And I will ask Mr. Whitlatch to take the role, please. John Wykart. Present. Doug Bruce.
Here. Jeff McKim. Here. Joyce Polling. Jim Silverstein. Here. Adam Teese. Here. And Jay Baer remotely.
Here. That's remotely Jay Baer right there on the screen.
Let me mention, and I want to thank the staff of the Convention Center. For those of you who keep track
of such historical things, this is the two-year anniversary of our first meeting of the Capital Improvement
Board. And they have very kindly provided a cake. Go ahead, I'll do that again. This is the second year
anniversary. Now you may applaud again. Very good. And they have provided a cake in the back of the
room to commemorate this. And so they will now, at least I think,
Cut the cake and you're welcome to get up and grab yourself a piece of cake and help us celebrate our
second anniversary of meetings. Let me also recognize that there are a number of dignitaries who are
with us today as well. Piedmont Smith just joined us. You folks who are very important people know who
you are, so just give each other a nod and a wave and then we'll move on to recognition other than that.
So thank you for being with us.
Item number two is approval of the consent agenda, which included the minutes of the board meeting of
September 17th, claims and financial report. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved.
Okay, so moved by Mr. McKim and seconded by Mr. Silverstein. Any questions, discussions about that?
Seeing and hearing none, would you take the role, please? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes.
Jeff McKim? Yes. Joyce Poling? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes. Adam Teese? Yes.
Yes. Thank you. Item number three, Treasurer's Report. Mr. McKim, anything to report? Nothing to report.
Thank you. Item number four, President's Report. Since our last meeting, I want to report to you that
I have made two approvals on the construction project that are within the limits you set for me for
approvals between meetings. One was for
below grade abandoned well remediation at $2,270. The second one was for adding additional aggregate
piers to accommodate the foundation change required by the increased size of the sanitary sewer at $11,350.
So be happy to answer any questions you may have about those. I will
Let you know that we're working on with with Weddle Brothers and JS held a report form, kind of a running
report form on these change orders that affect the contingency budget. And I will begin to provide that
next week or next for next month's meeting as part of the consent agenda so that you'll be able to keep
your own running track of what's been approved and what we're what we've worked on together.
So thank you. Item number five, construction update. Andrew.
Yes, sir. Andrew Sherry, project manager with Weddle Brothers. Share my screen here. So just a couple
things to talk about, just the overall construction progress to date, foundation work, which is obviously
ongoing heavily right now, and then the upcoming activities that we're kind of preparing for. Construction progress.
We've completed all ground improvements on the expansion side. We do have some that will take place
with the connectors. We set up some fence and do our logistics plan on this side of college. Foundations
are in progress. So footers, foundation walls, anchor bolts, all the moving parts and pieces there.
Underground utilities are going to be starting, specifically the underground detention system, which
is five foot in diameter pipe near the loading dock area. We start getting deliveries on that tomorrow.
We are preparing for structural steel, and then we're also preparing for underground mechanical, electrical,
and plumbing rough-ins, so to prep for our slive on grade. That'll take place as we start our structural
steel, set up our crane, and kind of mobilize from the east towards the west. Foundation work, so concrete
footers have been poured around the perimeter, the east and the north side. Hopefully everybody's seen
that. If not, take a look. It's pretty neat.
We do have interior spread pads that are progressing on the interior portion of the building. Over 500
lineal feet of foundation walls have been formed and poured as of this morning. Obviously more going
on today. And we're pouring concrete at least once a day, if not twice or three times. So a lot of things.
Nearly 40 sets of anchor bolts have been completed and set in concrete. We're setting those every day.
And that's just preparing us for our structural steel delivery, which we're anticipating at the end
of this month as far as sequence one. So then it'll start staggering in. I think we have 20 something
sequences in total that is broke out in bigger portions of the project. But then we have the long span
trusses, which each of those individual members are around 26,000 pounds. So we have those as their
own individual sequence because we'll build those on the ground, pick those and set them and then work
our way out of the building.
Upcoming activities, again, structural steel. So material will start arriving near the end of October.
In November, we will start seeing structural steel being set. On this picture, on the left side of the
picture, that'd be the east side of the project. That's where we're going to start a sequence one, kind
of wrap the registered lot area, and then work our way out to the west. Underground detention system.
So again, the stormwater, we're going to start getting semi-loads of five-foot pipe tomorrow.
That work we're hoping to start on Monday, Tuesday, so a lot of excavations taking place down there.
And then again, our underground rough in with mechanical, electrical and plumbing. We've had a lot of
coordination to see what we can set, what our cranes will reach, what protection we need for that, and
then how we can start to come into these winter months and start pouring siphon grade and really start
to button things up. So all great things. Thank you.
OK, thank you, Andrew. Any questions for Andrew about construction progress? Any comments? OK,
thank you. Item number six, alternate bid recommendations. And I'm going to ask Mr. Teese if he will
give us a report from the evaluation committee that reviewed the ultimate bids that we still have left
on the project. Certainly happy to do that.
folks from the CIB met. We talked about the alternates with our honors reps and with our construction
firm. What it really comes down to is the four alternates that were remaining that we had discussed
at our previous meetings are really relevant to the existing building. They're largely relevant to long-term
issues that are related to building maintenance as opposed to our new capital improvement project that
we're doing across the street.
We looked at our finance and our budget aspects of the project and the committee at this time recommends
to this full group that we not accept any of the alternates, that we progress further through
the construction project which will let us really understand our contingencies better and then be able
to make a more informed financial decision later on in the project. So at this time the
group that gathered would make a recommendation to the full CIB to not accept any of the remaining four
alternates, and happy to answer any questions that all of you might have about the deliberations. Why
don't we do this? Since it's a recommendation, let's have a motion to accept the recommendation in a
second, and then we can open the floor up for questions or discussion. So is there a motion to accept
the recommendation? Second. Okay, so it's been moved and seconded, and now we can open the floor up
for questions.
Discussion, yes. Well, can you just remind everybody what the four alternates that we are rejecting
are? Sure. Window replacement on this building, tuck pointing or masonry work, kind of a little of both.
And then two, they're related to our air handling system in this building. And then what's called up
a makeup air unit or a fresh air unit related to this building. So they're both kind of HVAC related
for the last two.
Any other questions? Just for clarification, as I understand it, those four items probably would have
been necessary for the old building, regardless of the new project. Yes, over time. Maybe not immediately
today. We're enjoying comfortable air in the building, but over time, yes.
I think as I thought about these alternates, a couple of them certainly would fall to me under the definition
of deferred maintenance, be that the masonry or the windows. And I think it gives us an opportunity
not only to reevaluate where we are in our budget when we get further into the project, but also to
have conversation with other potential funding sources
on how we might be able to fund these projects moving forward. Remember that these projects were all
part of what would have occurred in 2027 after we finished the new construction project. So I'm happy
to be involved in conversations with other funding partners about what we are not able to fund out of
our $52 million budget, whether resources may be available to help us
fund all four of these because all four of them. Certainly our projects we'd like to be able to fund
like to be able to move forward. So I'm committed to having those conversations and I know others have
been volunteered to be involved in them as well. So that would be my. Those are my comments about it.
Oh yeah, Mr. Bear. Just a point of clarification. Setting these aside today does not preclude us from
picking these alternates back up at a later date, we just might need to re-bid them. Correct. Yeah,
Mr. T said that was correct. Thanks, Ed. So we're not rejecting them. We're simply kicking the can down
the road a bit until we have a better understanding of where we are. Can we give a clarification to
that, please? It wouldn't be a re-bid process. It would be a change order process that we would go through
at a later date. Yeah. Thank you.
Any other questions or concerns? All right, we have a motion and a second to accept the recommendations.
So Mr. Whittlehatch, if you would take the role. Microphone works, but John Whitehart? Yes. Doug Bruce?
Yes. Jeff McKim? Yes. Joyce Polling? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes. Adam Tease? Yes. And Jay Baer? Yes.
Okay, thank you.
Item number seven, wayfinding and signage design and implementation. I think Mary, Mary, you're going
to handle this recommendation? Yes, as we are assigned by the CIB, we solicited RFPs for the wayfinding
services for the project. We sent those out to eight different firms and we received five responses
back on October 6th. We had clarified through addendum questions that they may have had.
Uh, so those, there were five proposals. They ranged in, um, a fee structure from 78,000 up to $153,000
for those services. Two were from out of state. Three were from the Indianapolis area. Um,
The recommendation of the committee, the committee was served by John and Joyce and Jim to some extent,
although he was out toodling around some island somewhere. And again, ourselves were involved in that
process. And so through that process, we evaluated each and looked at their schedules, et cetera.
The recommendation of the committee is to award that to Schmidt Associates. They had a fee of $78,041
plus reimbursables of $5,000. So that was a very reasonable response and we are happy to make
the recommendation. Okay, so do we have a motion to accept the recommendation? Second.
Moved by Mr. T, seconded by Joyce Poling. Now we can open the floor up for questions, discussion, comments.
Anything from board members? All right, seeing and hearing none, Mr. Whitlatch, would you take the role,
please? John Weichart? Yes. Doug Bruce? Yes. Jeff McCann? Yes. Joyce Poling? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes.
Adam Tease? Yes. Jay Baer? Yes.
Okay, thank you. Item number eight, Arts Project Update. Our Beat Advisory Group, I see Gail and Cassidy
and Holly Warren are both back with us today. You hear me?
Thanks for your time today. So again, Holly and I are part of the Beat Advisory Committee. Last time
we were with you last month, we were in the middle of a feedback session that has concluded. So we're
here today to talk to you about those takeaways and the next steps for the B group in terms of the art
selection process. So I'm going to hand it over to Holly to talk about those takeaways here.
Thanks, Galen. Hi, everyone. Thanks for the next slide. Perfect. So we had a great feedback session.
Thanks for all of you who participated. We had over 30 people in our in-person feedback session. That's
the most we've ever had at one of these, so that was great. We got almost 200 responses to our online
survey, also great. And we also talked to many members of the community on the street to learn more
about what they wanted to see. It was very heartening, because everybody had great things to say. We
usually get a couple of grumpy folks,
everybody was really happy and excited about this. And so what we did is,
I'm so sorry. Let me move over here. I was worried about that. OK, sorry about that. Thanks, Isabel.
So I just wanted to share what our overall takeaways were and what we will be including in our call
for artist qualifications, which will go out very soon. So what we saw was people were very interested
in seeing something that would reflect Bloomington's past and present, as well as our values of inclusivity,
creativity, diversity, and open-mindedness. Folks also want to see something that
contributes to the identity of the convention center as a place that is engaging, inclusive, safe, and
accessible for all ages and backgrounds. People are very interested in seeing something that sparks
curiosity, joy, and reflection. They want to see a work of art that people are going to admire, photograph,
share, and return to. There is also a request that when possible, we think about sustainable options
and doing functional artwork, thinking about lighting, seating, things like that.
that will be potentially gathering in or around the convention center will actually be able to use.
They also, of course, want it to be an excellent work of art. I think we all want that. And finally,
like all pieces of public art, we want it to be low maintenance, durable, and I love this. We want it
to withstand time
weather and trends. We are really looking for something that's timeless here. So we're really happy
about that. And then if you can advance to the next slide. So now that we've concluded our feedback
session, the next step is to release a call for artists qualifications across the globe to our public
art expert networks to make sure that the most qualified artists and artists teams are seeing this call.
And as a reminder, this call
qualifications is not a call for actual proposals for the art. This is just for artists and artist groups,
architects and designers to show us what they've got to do something amazing. We were originally intending
on putting this call out on October 6th. We're a little behind, but with your blessing, we would like
to go ahead and release this call for qualifications tomorrow. Will extend the deadline by about a week
just to make sure ample. There's ample time for folks to submit their applications, and even with that
extended deadline, we will still be on track to finish our first review period of applications by I
think mid December. So the invitations to the finalists will be out before the end of the year. So we
will still be on track with that little change. And then as a reminder, that will take us through the
end of 26. And then the finalists, we're going to recommend about five of them. We'll have until mid-March
to show us their proposals. At that point, our recommendation committee will
review those proposals. We'll also do another round of public feedback to learn what people think about
the designs. And then we'll make a final recommendation to this committee. We're hoping in April to
be able to make an audit, an offer to the artists that we all agree is the best fit for the project.
And then I want to talk a little bit more about the finalists and the budget. So if you could advance
to the next slide. So after some conversations in the past couple of weeks with some industry experts, we agreed
raise the amount of money given to the finalists for this project to receive as an honoraria for doing
the work. Now, the reason why we're doing this, this is pretty much an industry standard. To be able to compel
artists to take the time and use their skills to give us a proposal, we want to give them a little money
for that labor. And again, this is industry standard and we vetted these amounts that we would be giving
each of these five finalists. It's $5,000 with many experts in public art, both locally and around the
nation. So again, we are recommending that those five finalists that will come out of this first round
of application review, which each receive an honorarium of $5,000 to submit their final
proposal. In addition to that, we'd like to offer out-of-town artists, so these are the finalists who
don't live in Bloomington, reimbursable travel expenses up to $1,500 to be able to come to Bloomington,
see the town, meet with some of our stakeholders so they really get a sense of what the community is,
so they can ensure that as they're composing their proposals that they're really capturing our spirit.
So with that, and I also want to point out, so that amount of money, which is just over $30,000, is going to
be separate from the amount that we're going to make the arts project actually worth. So we're going
to make the call itself $400,000. And that will include the fee for the artist that we ultimately choose,
fabrication fees that will also include install fees, insurance, shipping, and also a contingency fee.
We'll also expect that the artist is going to hold a chunk of that $400,000 back for any unexpected
expenses. So with that $400,000 for the call and that just over
and travel, that will take us to $432,500. And then we've still got that nice check of $87,500 left
to expand the permanent art collection in the Convention Center expansion. And again, that that's something
that we're going to start working on after the expansion opens, and that is going to be art by local
artists only. We see this as a great opportunity to be able to value our local artists. And then if
you could move to the next slide,
Next slide. So again, next steps are, we're hoping to release the call tomorrow. It's pretty much set
to go and be released to all our networks. Pretty soon after that, we're going to assemble the members
of our recommendation committee, just to review this process with them and talk through the rubric that
we're gonna be using to review the first round of proposals. And we just wanted to share the members
of the recommendation committee with all of you today. So it will be Galen, myself, and then it will
be Jennifer Mouye,
from the BEAD subcommittee. It will also be Adam Teeth and Joyce Poland from the CIB committee. Thanks
for you two both for agreeing to be on it. It will also include Christina Elam, who is the current chair
of the Bloomington Arts Commission's Public Arts Subcommittee. It will also include Rob Shakespeare,
who many of you I sure know. He's an awesome public art and light installation artist, also a member
of the Bloomington Arts Commission. We are truly honored to have Maya Michelson, who actually created
my position
here at the city. She's now the executive director of the Indiana Arts Commission. She'll also be joining
us on the committee, as will Natalie Almanza. She is a member of the public who works at Indiana University
and also a former chair of the Bloomington Arts Commission's Public Arts Subcommittee. We are in great
hands with this recommendation committee. And that's all I have to share, but I'm happy to answer any
questions you have. Thanks. Yes. Thanks. Yeah, so in the first cut where you're just looking at artists,
Are you basing the decision entirely on past performance, or do they present some sort of vision for
the project? It will all be past performance. It will all be a qualification. So they'll be asked to
present their CVs. They'll also be asked to present formal projects that they have worked on. And they'll
be asked to answer questions about, did you stay within your budget? What was the process?
What challenges did you have to overcome? What is your experience working with stakeholders in the community?
And what is your experience reflecting communities that you might be parachuting into to make sure that
they see themselves in the art? And again, this is pretty industry standard when we do two step calls
like this one. Thank you.
that happens to me every time. I had a conversation with Maya Michelson recently about another matter,
and she mentioned to me that the costs that are proposed here for proposal submissions for travel are
in fact industry standard, that artists would expect this, that they're used to that. And so that was
certainly not surprising to Maya that that's part of the recommendation.
My only second observation is the reason I've always said Janice from Clash Gallery is because I've
never known how to pronounce her last name. I told her that one time and she gave me a poem that she
had written that helped me learn how to do that. So I can be happy to share that with all of you at
another time as well. So thank you, Holly. Any other questions for Holly about the proposal? So I think
we're all in agreement to charge forward.
So thank you very much for your presentation. All right. Thanks again, everyone. Item number nine, hotel
update. Jane Coopersmith is here from the city of Bloomington from the economic and sustainable development
department. So Jane, welcome. Is it on?
Is this thing on? Not yet. I think it's on now. Yeah, Jane Cooper Smith, Director of Economic and Sustainable
Development for the City of Bloomington. As you all know, the CIB selected a hotel developer about this
time last year, and the city is engaged via the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission in those negotiations.
The adults are still talking is how I would summarize it. The lawyers are negotiating terms. I'll be
meeting with Mr. Dora on Friday to discuss some potential details of the project, but we remain committed
to moving through negotiations as does the Dora and Lauderbeck team. So nothing major to report at this
time. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Jane. Item number 10.
old business. And if I may, and I first want to thank Jane for attending these meetings monthly and
for giving us these updates. I will tell you I've shared with you some email correspondence. I've had
conversations with both Mr. Dora and Jane and I have had some conversations back and forth recently.
It has been one year
since we selected Dora as the hotel developer. And one year ago this month that we referred Dora to
the city, and we use the terms interchangeably, the city, the Redevelopment Commission, to begin discussions
about their interest in the Bunger Robertson property. And at the time we made the referral, we mentioned
then that the developers who had responded to our RFP told us that this process was probably a three-year process.
the time we got through design and then through construction before we would have the doors open to
a new hotel. So a year has passed and we are still three years away from the same thing we were away
that was the distance in time that we had a year ago. Vince Dora told me that by the time we talked
through some timelines that design activity
is probably at least six months worth of work and we're still in the two and a half years of construction.
So I indicated to both Vince and to Jane and to others that although we appreciate their efforts and
we appreciate their intentions and we appreciate the fact that everyone has been well-meaning in trying
to move this project forward,
that it's clear from what everybody tells us that certainly there are some issues that have to do with,
as understandably so and not unsurprisingly, funding for the project. There are questions about, potentially
questions about design and what exactly ought to be in a full service hotel and what could be scaled
back to meet some of the financial goals that the parties would need to meet.
And I've shared with them, we understand that. We've gone through that same process with our own construction
project. We had the design and expansion based on how much money we had. And we had $52 million for
construction. So our design fit the $52 million budget. So we understand that as they move into design,
that budget and design have to come together, have to marry together. And we're certainly willing, as
I've told both parties,
to consider what they come up with in terms of does the design that's being proposed meet our definition
of what we were looking for in a full service hotel. But a year having passed, what I am asking now
and I'm going to ask the board to endorse is that we notified the city of Bloomington and the RDC and
Dora the hotel developer of our requirement that the CIB receive a formal joint agreement
upon report from the city and Dora with a path forward including timelines for design and construction
phases and a time schedule for development of the hotel and that we received that report from them by
no later than our December 17th regular meeting. So basically a 60-day timeline for us to receive much
more specific information and to signal to us
that we are actually moving forward and that we can expect forward movement and we can expect design
and construction to actually take place. If the two parties are not prepared to make this report by
the December CIB regular meeting, the CIB will consider the options available to it to fulfill
its responsibility to select a host hotel, including reissuing the RFP for a hotel developer. And I
will simply add to that that
both the county ordinance that created this body and the interlocal agreement between the four governmental
parties working together with us to move this project forward. The CIB has the responsibility to select
a hotelier for this project and to move forward successfully to having a host hotel. And we need this
information in order to fulfill that responsibility.
So again, I'm asking for a report back from the two parties by not later than our December 17th regular
meeting with timelines for design and construction phases and a schedule for development of the hotel
by that meeting. So I'm asking for your endorsement that would permit us to move forward with
that notification to the two parties. And I would ask that endorsement in the form of a motion if you're
inclined to make such.
So moved. Second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion or further comment
from any board members? Mr. McKinnon. And so I think I heard you say this, but did both the city and
Dora were aware that this, that you would be making this kind of statement? Yes. Okay. Yes, I made both
aware. Yes, I made both aware.
Any other questions, comments, concerns? Okay, we have a motion and a second. John Weichart? Yes.
Doug Bruce? Yes. Jeff McKim? Yes. Joyce Poling? Yes. Jim Silverstein? Yes. Adam Tease? Yes. Jay Baer?
Yes. Okay, thank you. Next item, new business. Is there any new business to be brought before the board?
Comments from board members? Any comments from board members? Comments from the public? The public is
welcome to make any comments. We asked that you hold those comments to a two-minute time limit. I see
Jane Coopersmith is making her way back up to the microphone. Welcome back, Jane. Hello, everyone.
Long time. No problem.
I just wanted to talk to you briefly about Bloomington's identity and kind of how we are looking at
this broadly in the city from an economic development perspective. We really see the beeline trail as
the spine of our great community from the Switchyard Park on the south to Hopewell. And then obviously
being adjacent to this new convention center is really incredible. And then going north, we have the
trades district and
and then even further north than that, we're working on a new project that, if approved, would be called
the Stadium District. This is the area surrounding Miller Showers Park, and it is a gateway to our Ferris
City. And we feel that the branding of this district would be really helpful in promoting yet another
neighborhood node in Bloomington and will help those businesses advance themselves. And also it will help
visitors kind of identify, you know, this part of Bloomington as being really near the stadium
and appropriate for sports destinations and stuff like that. Why is this important to the CIB? Well,
we also think the stadium district and the entire area, if approved, name the stadium district and the
entire area on the north side would be really critical during this window before the host hotel is open
in that we'll have an identifiable neighborhood and potentially be able to work with
private shuttles or Bloomington Transit in order to transport visitors from that district down here.
So feels like there's a lot of opportunity there. And then rewinding back to the trades district,
which is, you know, north of here and south of the Miller Showers area. I also wanted to extend an invitation
to a block party there on November 7th from five to eight. We hope you can all come join us and see
what's happening with the CCC grant. Thank you. Thank you, Jane.
Any other comments from the public? Yes. Mike McAfee from Visit Bloomington is making his way.
Any other comments from the public?
All right. Seeing none, our next board meeting is Wednesday, November 19th, 2025 at 3 p.m. back here
in the Convention Center. With that, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. And we are
adjourned. Thank you.