- It looks like it is 11 a.m. So I will go ahead and call this meeting to order. Can we get a roll call,
- please? Lenny Bush? Here. Gretchen Knapp? Here. Liz Feidl? Here. Sydney Zulin? Here. Julie Thomas? Galen
- Cassidy? Here. And Mark Bell?
- Do we have anyone present with us over Teams? I don't see anybody. In that case, can we move to approval
- of summary minutes as presented for the meeting of September 26, 2025? I so move.
- Okay, we have a motion and a second for approval of summary minutes as presented for our September 26th,
- 2025 meeting. Can we get a roll call for the vote or I guess all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed,
- same sign. Great. In time with the bell, welcome in.
- So just for the vocal record, we have Julie Thomas joining us, Commissioner Julie Thomas. And now we
- can move on to items number four, update on food and beverage revenue totals for county and city. Good
- morning. The cash balance as of today for the county is $2,511,924.67. And the city cash balance as
- of Monday, October 27,
- totaled $18,510,386.58. Thank you. OK, moving on to the review and approval of the 2024 annual report.
- I am not connected to the Wi-Fi. My apologies, everybody. I was
- tasked with the 2024 annual report for Fabtech. It is very consistent with last year, just some updated
- numbers for 2025 monthly revenue and expenditures. And I am so sorry because my computer is not connected
- to the Wi-Fi. Thank you. You are so awesome.
- Thank you. Okay, so a lot of it is just information that was included in last year's annual report with
- the addition of some updates in the 2024 cycle from the CIP in the narrative summary, which can be
- found on pages five and six. Then there is a 2024 revenue details as distributed, broken down into the
- total amounts received by city and county. And for 2024 expenditure details, the county spent $6,000
- on the Harrodsburg Heritage Day Firework Display, and the city
- spent $600,382 on architecture and engineering services paid to Schmidt Associates and $384,720 on legal
- controller communications and owner's rep service paid to the Capital Improvement Board. Does anybody
- have any questions? So can that be shared with the group here?
- It's an attachment or something. Yes, it was included in the packet. Oh, OK. I'm sorry. Yes. All right.
- Sorry. I missed that part. No problem. I think it went out in a later email with a revised packet. Oh,
- that one. OK. Yes. Should we know that Mark has arrived? Oh, yes. And Commissioner Mark Bell is present
- with us. So now we have perfect attendance. Yeah, we got past the parking problem. Well, you know.
- So now I can't find it, but there's a language issue, pretty minor, just grammatical on page five. I'm
- just trying to find it again. The other thing is I would like to have added to this, there was some
- difficulty because there are a number of
- restaurants that have both city and county locations, and all of the books are run out of one versus
- the other, right? And at some juncture last year, and I hope the auditor's office can help us with this,
- it was determined to just do a flat 90%, 10% split for
- you know, clarity and ease for the auditor's office trying to weed through, is this a city, is this
- a county location? I would like that inserted in the report just as a reference point because this becomes
- a historical document. And I may have missed it and it may be in here. But I would like that added. And
- you know I don't I don't have the details on the date but you can kind of see by the the split city
- county split when it started because it becomes a very clear 10 percent versus 90 percent so I would
- just like that memorialized in here and it doesn't even have to be this year's because I don't have
- the information but next year is fine and I'm still looking for the
- was it in the grammatical or the uh wording issue you were looking for i'm wondering if it was the second
- to last paragraph from the bottom where it says that um uh in 2023 the city continued to receive loan
- payments uh blah blah blah and neither dispersed funds nor request no i guess that is right never mind
- yeah i remember that one
- to say I did not see a reason to reinvent the wheel. So I used. No, no. I think that's the purpose of
- this, is it becomes an accurate historical record of everything that's happened to date. And then you
- add in, here's what we've done this year. I can't find it, so it must not be huge. It was a singular
- plural thing. To address your other point,
- Would it be all right to just make a note to include it in the next year's report? That'd be fine. That'd
- be fine. I just don't want it to be missed again. Thank you. Totally get it. Thank you. In that case,
- is there a motion to approve this report? Motion to approve. Thank you. So we have motion by Commissioner
- Knapp and a second by Commissioner Bell. Could we please call the, or I guess all in favor, please say
- aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed? Same sign?
- Great, thank you. That passes. And now moving on to other discussion items, revised food and beverage
- plan for Monroe County, 2026 to 2027. Who is meant to go over that? What did you want to say, Luhu?
- Commissioner Thomas, you weren't here when they did the vote, though. I was here. Like, they did the
- vote and you walked in. OK. Do we have some? Sorry, go ahead. Do we have someone to?
- over the revised food and beverage plan from Monroe County for 2026 to 2027. They're asking for the
- revenue numbers.
- What are you asking for? On item six, other discussion items includes the revised food and beverage
- plan for Monroe County for 2026 and 2027. I did not add this to the agenda, so I'm not sure. We revised
- this because the county council decided not to support the nature preserve.
- Before I begin with that, I'd like to note that despite the fact that we had a vote in public comment
- at the previous meeting on both the plans, it's absolutely not legally necessary to do so. This is an
- advisory body that provides input, but a vote isn't necessary because these plans go through other bodies
- before they get here.
- so happy to take comments on it. But what we did is to avoid losing this great gift from the Huntington
- family of 409 acres. We wanted to ensure that we had the requisite
- basic preparatory work done so that the public could go to the property and and enjoy it at least minimally.
- I would I would ask the we have attorneys working with the trust on all of that but one of the requirements
- is that we provide basic
- infrastructure to get the public there safely so they can access the property. And so there are a number
- of things that need to be addressed. Some of them required by the trust, some of them for safety sake.
- There's also an opportunity to create two parking lots, one off of Knight Ridge Road 446, the other
- off of Smith.
- And to do that, we're also going to go ahead and have, this is all parks department, county parks department
- that's providing all of this work. We're going to go ahead and proceed with the dog park as well. But
- the idea is to have the basic equipment, basic trails, some basic landscaping, the surveys, stormwater reviews,
- The driveway permits for both streets, Knightridge and Smith. The basic parking lot structure. But there
- are a couple of structures on the property itself. And for safety sake, we are going to be
- facilitating their removal and I'm going to be very vague about that because I don't know what that's
- going to look like yet because the historic preservation board is still working on it, but we cannot
- have structures on the property for the safety of the public that are dilapidated as these are. These
- are dangerous structures.
- So that's part of it as well. Yes, so I can give you, and there's a minimal signage just announcing
- that this is the Nature Preserve, Monroe County Nature Preserve, et cetera. So what I did to revise
- the plan, and this was approved yesterday by the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, is that we updated the,
- So we reduced the fund total so that it was more accurate. So there's additional funding listed at the
- top on this revised plan. We reduced some of the spending out of the fund for the Quarry project and
- then added in this $905,000 to make it all work. And actually we have,
- It's a total of the two projects together, $2,455,000, which gives us $15,000 cushion. But of course,
- every month, additional funds are added. So we will be fine. And with all of the questions and
- of certainty over the county's decisions regarding the North Park property for the justice facility.
- I'm hopeful we can get moving on the Quarry project, but some of it hinges on which entrance do we start
- with? And that hinges on is the county buying the other property or not?
- There are still a lot of things to work out. Yeah. There's a question. Do the two projects between the
- Huntington project and the CORE project. Can you speak into your microphone? Thank you. Sorry.
- There you are. Hello. Thank you. So between the two projects, will that absorb all the funds in the
- county food and beverage budget? In the next couple years, it'll absorb what's in there now.
- But then again, every month they're accruing additional money. So the thought is, if there's too many
- in there now, that's actually being dedicated or pledged to these two projects, thinking that ongoingly
- the next year you'll have, I see, another. Yeah. Yeah. And the Huntington Trust does provide a stipend
- for the maintenance of the Monroe County Nature Preserve. And it should be sufficient to keep that
- that's not going to be a concern for the property going. Um so that's not going to be a concern. It's
- just getting it. Ready to be public ready for the public safely. Um. The um, Corey Park project, I think.
- May may require may well require additional funding, but it would be
- um, our limestone history for the county that would be indoors. Part of this is already going for an
- outdoor, uh, securing outdoor historic equipment. Uh, so we're looking to develop an indoor outdoor,
- um, uh, limestone history museum. So it looks like by having the quarry project, it looked like you
- had the availability of obtaining grants that you wouldn't otherwise be able to have. Yes.
- So that's a huge get that you can have federal and state grants available. Absolutely. We actually had
- had a, of course, we all know that that's all in question now, but we did have a regional opportunities
- initiative grant, but the council had not acted quickly enough to purchase the last piece of property
- and we lost that $250,000 grant. But I think in better times, I mean, as this goes along, I don't know
- what it's going to become, but
- As it moves along, I could see catering restaurant, the limestone symposium, poetry readings, weddings.
- I mean, you know, the sky's the limit for what this could be because it's almost 100 acres. We certainly
- are also going to do some, at least a small but significant educational piece on PCBs because this property
- does about a
- we're going to include that in the project. But there's so much in flux because we don't know which
- entrance to start at. So we're going to have to work through that. And then eventually developing a
- capital improvement board or 501C3 or something to manage it into the future. This is not a Monroe County
- Parks project, unlike the Huntington
- Monroe County Nature Preserve, the Huntington Trust property. The Quarry Project is a county project.
- Multiple phase. Right. So the Huntington Project, you mind me taking some time here? But this is one
- thing that the county folks are interested in, particularly the Huntington Project, because it's kind
- of nestled in where we are. Yeah. So do you have a time? I mean, if somebody asked me, well, how soon
- is something going to get started?
- Do you have any idea when the project at least will be involved with the public? Well, we're certainly
- going to have updates from our parks department at our commissioner meetings coming up. I'm sure part
- of it is weather dependent. If you look at the list of the things that have to get done. But the plan
- is to at least have it accessible to the public next year. Next year. Yeah. Not necessarily going to
- be these amenities galore, et cetera.
- but at least to get the walkers, birders, hikers out there. So you have parking and you can access the
- property and the dog facility possibly. Possibly the dog facility.
- So I have a question about the Quarry Project, and I know this is all visionary and not, you know, set
- in stone. No pun intended. Well put. Thank you. Yeah. But so what we're visualizing here is this park
- would totally be funded by the food and beverage tax. Correct. I mean, that's sort of like the convention
- center. To start. To start. To start. Because I think if we do
- Like the Convention Center, I think once it gets off the ground and decisions are made and we get public
- input and we figure out what direction to go in and see how things are popular, maybe some things aren't,
- that it could become in some way self-sustaining as well with some commercial input.
- You know, I was just I was curious because I know it, you know, taking on another huge chunk of food
- and beverage, especially because the county's point, I know the county cannot fund and sustain this
- thing either. So, you know, I just want to kind of see that this would be the county would be this would
- pretty much probably be where all their money would go for the next two years, at least.
- Um, and, and then, and then from there, but the, but the hope is when you add things in, like the limestone
- symposium, or you add in other projects that have a commercial connection, um, or organizational foundational
- connection that you end up with, um, parts of the project to become, um, self sustaining as well. So
- that's the hope, but we are, we do understand that.
- The budgets are limited, but we need to start somewhere. Absolutely. Thank you. So these both sound
- like cool projects and I take your point that you made earlier that a vote isn't necessary and it's
- already approved. So just for my learning benefit and for the public, because this does use up
- the bulk of your the funds that have been piled up over time so you'll accrue more money over time but
- this is probably your best chance to spend 2.4 million sure and both of these are essentially parks
- nature projects i'm just curious about um what kind of
- feedback, outreach you've had with county businesses and residents about what other kinds of uses they
- would like to see going forward and thinking in particular of county business owners like Mr. Bell,
- whose businesses pay into this tax fund and trying to be sure that their investment in the community
- pays off for them in the long run. And maybe it sounds like you know a little more about that. So just
- clarifying, is this money collected by the customer?
- Yeah, so you're paid by the customer, collected by the. Yeah, you're the one percent of our customers.
- It's like a sales tax. Yeah, you're the pass through and then you pass that along. OK. Yeah. Thank you.
- Well, I think it's I think it's similar to the idea of having
- a convention center downtown and if your business is in Ellitsville, how are you going to benefit from
- that? That's why there's a separate county tax or portion of the tax collected. What I like about this
- is that the Huntington project is really a one-off in terms of this is a one-time expense,
- to get it on its feet and to then, at that point, the annual trust payments take over and help defray
- the cost of maintenance. And again, a parks project. But we really don't want to lose this gift to the
- residents of Monroe County. No, not at all. Because it was dropped out of the general obligation bond.
- I think the Quarry project offers
- so many opportunities for commercial investment and interest. For example, actually putting restaurants
- onto the property is one option, but certainly the fact is that we see that that lack of having a limestone
- history museum is so
- It's such a big hole for our community because we don't have anything like this. We don't have anything
- that celebrates who we are historically as Monroe County, and it is so important. So, but as I mentioned
- last time, part of the plan involves and includes that community,
- survey before we start the master planning process. And so it's a matter of, at that point,
- then prioritizing, understanding capital costs, and putting together what the community wants, both
- business and residents, with what we can afford to do, what we think will do well, and making those
- decisions along the way. And then adding to it as we go along. It's certainly not going to be like this
- Huntington
- property, a one-and-done, this is going to be a long-term ongoing investment, ongoing development, because
- it is 100 acres. It's not really buildable 100 acres, but it is 100 acres, and there are a number of
- quarry sites on it. So the potential is really unlimited for the economic development aspect of it. Go ahead.
- We've already approved the limestone, the quarry project for master plan and all that so there's really
- nothing for us to approve here on that it's really
- the Huntington project that you're coming to us for approval, correct? Well, for commentary, because
- approval isn't necessarily necessary anymore. We'll try to know last time. But yes, so that's the only
- change. But we did drop late 50,000 off of the estimate for probably 2027 for that initial development.
- Because one of the things we have to do is we have to secure historic equipment to maintain it.
- maintain its historic integrity, but also to keep it safe and keep people safe. So we shaved a little
- bit of money off of there at the outset. But we know there's going to be more investment that's going
- to be needed. But we'd like to see this become something self-sustaining as soon as possible as well
- with commercial input and a variety of activities that could attract a range of people.
- Based on what you're saying, am I correct in understanding that county businesses have not yet been
- engaged? We haven't even done the master plan survey yet, so no. OK, thank you. So I'll wait. I'll wait.
- Well, I just want to have a I know this advisory, so this is just a point of interest.
- But with these two huge projects absorbing basically all your funds, and basically when you say, what's
- accounting going to do, you can now say simply there's two things. A thought would be to somehow carve
- out some amount. The mind just comes in like $50,000. You say there's going to be a fund available for
- more than one kind of interest rather than these two projects, which would be to say that I can think
- of a dozen things
- or just take two things that can be done to really help in a major way the restaurants and the hospitality
- facilities that provide these funds, whether it's helping them with marketing, which is becoming more
- and more digital and not everybody has a digital experience or capabilities. That'd be one. Helping
- with planning. Yeah.
- hiring one person could be our county person, because there's all kinds of people for the city which
- needs it and brings it along. But there's nobody for the county, really. Like when I talk with Mike
- at the bureau, he kind of says, you know, I'm here for the, you know, the convention center. That's
- really what I do. It means there's nobody in the in his facility that really focuses on the county.
- And there aren't funds for that.
- So I'm just saying is that there's a lot of other things that could be major help, but it's not a lot
- of money compared to the main two mains in there. Um, so rather than absorbing all the money, possibly
- taking 90% of it and allowing 10% to go in like, Hey, what is it that's advisory board could come up
- with? If we talked with really the people that at the four winds, you know, us here, uh, to say, Hey,
- are there there's needs that you maybe haven't expressed because you didn't know where to express them.
- And we could kind of like as an advisory board say here's some other priorities that could help out.
- Because I can't tell you that ever since the pandemic. I mean, I'll speak for myself. We've
- we've significantly struggled to say
- You know, I hate to say to the public record, but the bottom line is, is that ever since we got back
- in business and 20, we're still about 40 percent capacity. Yeah. I'm open four days rather than seven
- down the street. The scenic views open just Friday and Saturday and Sunday. Right. And there's a lot
- of reasons for that that don't relate necessarily to the pandemic, of course. But when you're struggling
- that much, sometimes just takes a little bit.
- to make a major difference. Absolutely. So I just say that where we would go would be only here. I can't
- imagine where you would go because you don't have the ability to get grants any longer. The federal
- government's shut off all the kind of funding that was available. So where do you go for some small
- bit to make the difference? I'm just saying. So no, and I appreciate that point. And I think since COVID,
- the inflation and everything's changed. You know everything's changed. You know that. I'm not telling
- you anything you don't know.
- But here's the thing. It's interesting that you raised Visit Bloomington because it's supposed to be
- Visit Bloomington in Monroe County. And the innkeeper's tax pays into the Convention and Visitors Commission,
- which pays for management of the convention center, marketing, which includes marketing, but also Visit
- Bloomington and Monroe County.
- So I think one of the first things that needs to happen and I will, you know, Ms. Feidl and I can pass
- this along to the council member. There seems to be some confusion about who the council member is who's
- on the CBC board. It's either Councilor Henry or Councilor Crossley. But one of them is on there and
- I think we should ask them
- to raise this issue with the CDC, and I'm sure between us we can do that, because that is also county
- money that's supposed to go back out to the county. This isn't just about, let's support the convention
- center and the city. It is supposed to be Bloomington and Monroe County. So I think that that's an excellent point.
- um I don't you know a plan is a plan and a plan is very it's a starting point we have to account based
- on state statute for what we think we're going to spend money on um and um I hear what you're saying
- and um I look forward to um getting further into this project planning a bit more so that we and then
- getting that community engagement done and then we can
- we're going to have to reshuffle and figure out what we want to invest in. And it may be that it turns
- out to be 100,000 toward the limestone equipment and 700,000 then gets into a plan for something else.
- Who knows? So it's open, but we do have to have a plan. So I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you.
- I have a question.
- commissioners. Commissioner Thomas brought up the 2.455 million for the total. I wonder if you could
- give us the breakdown of that amount. Um okay. So, um. So we get that out here.
- I think I'm done already. For the Monroe County Nature Preserve, let me give you, ask the city any of
- these questions, but go ahead, it's fine. I'm ready to answer these. I haven't been here to ask those
- questions, I'm sorry. Just let me get a chance. No, no, this is all good.
- I just have to find my web page. It's OK. Maybe we can go on to something else and come back. Would
- that be better for you? It's here. I got it. OK. Thank you. So we'll start with the nature preserve
- since that's number one on the list. So the first items include toxic material. This is regarding demolition
- of structures. I'm just more interested in the total of each project amount.
- So you mentioned the 2.455. I just want the total breakdown for each project. That's it. I don't need
- every line item. OK. OK. So Monroe County Nature Preserve is $905,000. Thank you. For the Quarry project,
- we have $750,000 allocated for developing a master plan, which includes community survey and consultant
- of sorts, and site safety improvement at 800,000. And that relates to access points, parking, but also
- the equipment, securing the equipment so that it doesn't fall on people. Got it. I appreciate the breakdown.
- Thank you. Yes. There you go. Thanks. It's on there. Perfect. I just wanted to get it out. Oh, yeah.
- No, I think that's good. I forget that.
- that I did not get this uploaded till late last night.
- Well, I appreciate all the detail and your patience in answering questions. And I guess in closing,
- I would just say, even though these are pass-through funds from county businesses, they are the face
- of it. And their success fuels the success of the funding for any future efforts you would do. So I
- encourage our friends at the county to keep talking to business owners and residents about what would
- fuel the growth of those businesses that provide this revenue. And our experience in the city, and I
- I'm sure yours has been, too, that we assume that tourism in general is going to be good, and that when
- people come to town for an event, it's going to have an impact on our businesses. But it really varies
- by event. We have events that have a smaller group of people come to town, and boy, they go out,
- and they eat, and they stay in hotels, and they go to events. And then other events, people come to
- town, and you can't really tell if you're a business owner on Kirkwood that there's any boost in traffic.
- So as you build these, great.
- public beautiful places I think it'll be important to make sure that you know what does that tourism
- really translate to and dollars and and can you help it along so I appreciate your efforts and thinking
- about how can you integrate the business community in the in the success of these and and support their
- growth so that you can continue to get some great funding to continue doing more great projects absolutely
- I think it's uh it is that um collaborative relationship that develops over time and
- Yes, you see one really great successful event. You replicate it, but you don't want to replicate it
- too often because then it's going to start dwindling in success. It's a dance, as you know. Is it possible
- to have it, or maybe it exists, I don't know where it is, a directory of the restaurants and the
- Well, people that pay in to the fund for the city and also the county. Do we have a directory? So if
- I want to contact to say the people, the auditor's office will have will have that information because
- they collect the money. Yes. So do they have like a directory so I could go into the auditor's office
- and say, can I have the directory for the restaurants and the hotels to pay in for each one of them?
- There you are. She said, like, over here.
- We do. I will have to look into getting that information to you. It is actually a confidentiality agreement
- that a few of us signed. So I'll run that through legal. And if they can confirm that it's acceptable
- for me to distribute that, I'm happy to. OK. Would that be something to be digital, so you just download
- it? Or would I need to come to your office and you just give me a directory? Is that the possibility?
- You don't know yet. You can do both or either. Whatever your preference is, I'm happy to provide however
- you would like.
- If I got my druthers like a nice little folder I'd like to contact the people for wins or whatever and
- just say hey give me some input and here's a form or whatever sweet have some ideas your actual genuine
- responses as opposed to me just thinking them up definitely yeah if possible i would also like that
- but electronically i think and i think um um just keep in mind that the convention of visitor center
- commission sorry is is um
- is paid for out of innkeeper's tax, which is the tax on hotel rooms across the county. And that is a
- really good source for projects and assisting with tourism-related small short-term projects, advertising,
- marketing, et cetera. And I really think we need to develop that, and they're going to be quicker. They're
- going to be able to help you more quickly. As an aside,
- I want to have a little festival. I want to have a three day festival. And all of a sudden I got caught
- in the mire of what it takes to do a festival. It's not an easy thing. And then I found out a whole
- program in Nashville. I mean, they've been doing festivals, obviously, for a long time. And we have
- the Lotus Festival, which is unique. But I thought, well, a county festival. So then I found out that's
- a huge undertaking. And if you want to, there are people that do it. I mean, at Nashville, there's a
- commission that basically put on their festival.
- I thought, well, that'd be funny, a county. And then I thought, well, wait a minute, we are the commission.
- We could do this. Yeah. Well, it wouldn't be us because it's outside of our purview. But that doesn't
- mean we couldn't create something. Yeah. So let's talk. Send me a note. Let's talk. I think it's a great
- idea. Two new ideas, a director and a commission. Can I just clarify? I mean, we're not voting on this,
- right? That's correct. So what is the purpose
- of our group with this. I mean, we approve expenditures and we're hearing about an expenditure, but
- we're not voting on it. Is that right? We have legal here. We don't have legal here right now. But the
- way that the ordinance is written for this commission, it is advisory. But it is ideas like this that
- we just heard.
- that may not even be related directly to food and beverage money, but related to other things. So I
- appreciate having the opportunity to have this discussion. Well, you know, Julie, if you want, I mean,
- obviously we could vote just to make a statement if you want to put a motion. So last meeting we voted,
- but that was not necessary? It wasn't necessary as it turned out. Right. But not necessarily unhelpful.
- It could happen. It doesn't mean it can't happen. It just means it doesn't have to happen. So I'm not
- leaving. I guess I'm just a little confused. I thought we were approving expenditures. I know we don't
- come up with these plans and they all go through a bunch of other bodies before, but I thought we did
- vote to approve. And we're hearing about, I mean, at least for, I believe, the first time about the
- nature preserve expenditure here. So
- I guess at some point, I'd like some clarification on that. But obviously, we're not going to vote on
- this now. Would you prefer to vote? No, I think I don't have enough information. So I'm just confused.
- I'm stating that.
- It's also confusing for me, but I'm also always confused by the weird ping pong back and forth.
- You know, it comes from our city council to here and then back to city. That process is confusing. So
- maybe at one of our future meetings, we could have city legal and county legal give us an overview of
- remind us of what is our raison d'etre and our extent of our powers and all of that. That would be a
- perfect segue to our next item, the meeting schedule for next year.
- I think that's a great suggestion. Here's why, because we do have a capital improvement board, but this
- group was formed before the capital improvement board was formed. This group was formed when the food
- and beverage tax was first collected because we have to follow the state statute on that.
- So I think it would be a great agenda item to have that discussion. I don't know typically what we do
- for the meeting schedule.
- You've been here as long as I have, so correct me if I'm wrong. I've been here since the beginning.
- Me too. Me too. We're founding members. But just from my memory, and I'm not going to say that, what
- happened was we actually were a voting board. And what happened was they changed the statute, and they
- all this about having the state and that's when we had to start doing these reports and telling when
- we were spending money because they'd had some problems with malfeasance in other places that they hadn't
- spent their food and beverage money correctly and blah blah blah blah blah and that's when this kind
- of got as they put in all these requirements that
- that the county had to do to keep the tax enacted. They took away our responsibility. This board, they
- made us advisory and everything is predicated on these reports that come from
- I don't know if they come from the council or if they come from the commission, but that's how we became
- not the end all be all. We have to approve this.
- So they had like a veto power. We didn't actually enact it, but we could vote it down if we felt it
- was not appropriate. Correct. That's the way I understood it. But that's no longer the case. That is
- no longer the case. And you raised some interesting points about how we got here. It's a historical
- thing. But I will say that I do think that we typically don't meet until there is
- that's something that changes and. Based on where we're at with our current plans and yes, this board
- does have to vote on the. Um the financial plan, right? The expenditures and the right. So we voted
- on the annual report. Sorry annual report. We vote on the we did vote on that. Um so, um.
- the need to meet to approve something and that will probably come out of the city.
- Um, and I'm okay not setting a date, um, unless we want to set a date for maybe our next year's meeting.
- Um, I did speak with, um, commissioner Fiddle before the meeting and when we spoke about, um, three
- meetings that all fall on the second Friday in the month after a completed quarter. Um, I proposed that
- we just set these three meetings and if we, if there's no reason to meet, we can cancel them, but just
- to make sure that it's on everyone's schedule.
- people's calendar so you have would be great so you okay so share those please they are friday april
- 10th 2026 at 11 a.m. friday july 10th 2026 at 11 a.m. and friday october 9th 2026 at 11 a.m. yes july
- 10th thank you so this is the second friday in the month after a completed quarter okay
- And then the last meeting is Friday, October 9th. Okay. And at that one, you would, you would have to
- have the annual report. So it may be that's our only meeting next year potentially.
- OK, I think I think the staff honestly is has trouble sometimes getting everybody's schedule pinned
- down. So we'd like to get something on the calendar and have people say these days. That's right. Everybody
- loves the council meeting. So let's go put it on the calendar and we'll take it off until a Friday meeting.
- Yeah. I think I guess I'm not.
- really clear on why quarters. But some of the staff told me that they had done the quarters before.
- I don't know how long ago. I haven't been here. That's probably when we had to
- And my recollection is we only came together when we had to approve some sort of expenditure. And just
- for my fellow restaurateurs here who are going, why in the world am I sitting on this board when we
- really can't do anything? I think it's very important for the restaurants to know what's going on. And
- even though we can't say no, it's very important that we as representatives of our industry
- sit here and say, no, I don't think so. That's a bunch of hooey. And I'm willing to say that. So that
- is why I continue to serve on this board. But it sounds like those comments are better sure for meetings
- that have already happened, really. And we need to be more proactive about those things if we don't
- agree with some. Because at this point, there's nothing we can do about it. It seems like. I think quarterly
- meetings would give us the opportunity to ask questions and really
- stay more up to date on how the funds are being decided on. Even more importantly, maybe meeting before
- the commission, because really, Julie is our connection with the commission and what she can take back
- like the advisory board voted and said this and they would like to have one hundred thousand dollars
- cut out and da da da da. She can say something that we affirmably did. Well, you said it was twenty
- five thousand dollars, whatever the amount was. We came up with an idea.
- And it was able to be expressed in commission because she was here. And we never meet, and she can't
- take anything back. It's just her idea that she thinks we might want to approve. And why wouldn't we
- want to be the quarrel, let's just say. And I'm hopeful that you all continue to serve also as a conduit
- into the community. Once we have consultants and then we start that process of bringing the public in,
- um to provide input on the quarry project that that could be um really significant but my i have gear
- spinning in my head because of what you suggested so i really would like to talk to you soon about that
- so give me a call awesome awesome because i will say like in all politics you get old enough you realize
- Being able to vote and vote to negative, to vote down a veto is probably very difficult to get done.
- But to be persuasive, if you've got a good idea, can be very powerful. And that's where I think getting
- the input from people like Letty, by the way, who've been here from the beginning, who have a lot of
- good ideas. And frankly, old folks like myself, who've been around for a while,
- can have input if we, if we have it properly, it's all about the timing. It was after the fact. Well,
- then we did nothing. And that's what Galen was saying is if it's after the fact, well, why me? Because
- it's already been decided. We're just, uh, an afterthought. I think what we want to say is like, well,
- give us some opportunity to kind of get some better input and we'll give better input, which can be
- persuasive and give power to your point of view. Like if we really love the dog,
- program going into Huntington, then you ought to know that. If we wanted, instead, to have a soccer
- field, you ought to know that. And we ought to be responsible for giving that input. And right now,
- it's not happening. Right. And we can't do athletic fields. But I want to answer. But also remember
- that you have access to a number of other
- I think there are a number of points of resource in the community to help your small business, and I
- encourage you to take advantage of that as well. And we have Christopher MG here from the Chamber of
- Commerce. I mean, I'm sure he'd love to have a discussion about what he could do to help you out. And
- so I think there are a number of those resources available.
- and in addition to what goes on here. So it's really, you know, the only thing that we've really spent
- money on so far in the county, and that's why we have amassed such a large amount of money, is the grant
- program that we did for small businesses during COVID, and it included a couple of social service agencies inside
- the city of Bloomington that do encourage tourism, which we hope would help filter over and encourage
- people to spend money on local businesses. So I think we as a community are so much stronger when we
- work together.
- We've had to overcome a lot, but I don't see that ending. I don't see these rainbows in the sky coming
- for anybody. And that's really hard. And so we have to figure out what we can do to keep our businesses
- going and make sure that we're all vital. OK, thank you. It is approaching 12, and I do think that we
- in the spirit of timeliness should wrap up our comments and go to public comment. I just have one more.
- Great. So thinking about the issue with finding out how to go to the fact, I respect that comment a
- lot. And so I wonder if it would be prudent to think that the commissioners, whoever who might be deciding
- things like this elsewhere before we find out about it, if they could give us a heads up that that's
- coming down the pike, right? Is that? Yeah.
- and city council the same, but of course you made the decision on a bond to pay for the convention center.
- So you really probably don't have a lot coming forward, but we certainly can keep everybody apprised.
- That's correct. I think that would be great. And then whoever from here or other people that you know
- connected that might have something to say about it could attend the appropriate meeting where the decisions
- are made. That's what I'm trying to get at. Thank you. The heads up about that. So just to the matter.
- question, which is scheduling. I would be delighted to put three meetings a year on my schedule. That
- would be fine. And if they are these dates or a little bit earlier to accommodate some other important
- meetings where we might want to give input before those happen, great. And I fully support the idea
- of let's get them all on the calendar now, because I'm sure, like many others, my calendar is terrible.
- And so it would be great to just get them. Can we so move? Can I so move?
- a motion and a second to approve the 2026 Fabtech meeting schedule for three meetings Friday April 10th
- at 11 a.m. July oh Friday July 10th at 11 a.m. and Friday October 9th at 11 a.m. can we please get a
- roll call or I guess we don't have to do a roll call vote all in favor please say aye all opposed same sign
- rate that passes and I know it's not on the schedule but I do think we should probably just have an
- opportunity for public comment so if there's anyone in chambers please raise your hand and if you are
- on teams please also raise your hand any takers please state your name and you will have three minutes
- Good morning, commissioners. This is Christopher from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. I
- enjoyed the conversation today. I thought you were actually a voting authority like Mr. Cassidy did
- as well. So I learned something today that you were advisory now. And I think the one thing when you're
- talking about the food and beverage tax is it's for tourist purposes. So having that lens on
- what is going to lure tourists or be an attraction to tourists out of towners. And what that does is
- support local businesses and the food and beverage tax, so it's self-serving and self-rotating. So I
- think we should have that lens, especially on the Huntington Preserve properties. We move forward with
- that. And looking at the county and seeing if there might be some other little things that this might
- pay for that would sort of enhance that, I know
- Ms. Whitmore over at the parks does a wonderful job, especially with the award-winning job the county
- did with the ARPA funds on doing some Karst improvements. I was talking with Cutter's travel parent,
- and they host half of their tournaments at Karst Park. So they are home as a parent of a travel
- baseball parent, we have zero here in Monroe County that I did of the 10 tournaments. I'm at North Vernon
- three times of those, and I never knew where North Vernon was until it was on schedule. So people would
- rather come to Monroe County. They'd rather come to Bloomington. So just keep that lens in mind as we
- move forward with this. I appreciate your time. Good meeting today. Do we have any other takers in person
- or on teams?
- Great, then that will bring us to our final portion of the agenda, which is adjournment. And I adjourn
- this meeting. Thank you all for being here.