Unknown Speaker 0:05
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU I'm Joe Hren with WFIU WTIU news this week. It's a new month. That's July we're joined by Columbus Mayor Jim Lindop. Hello, and welcome. Welcome,
Unknown Speaker 0:19
Joe. Glad to have you back.
Unknown Speaker 0:21
Thank you. I hope you had a good fourth I hear said you have a had what a firework show over the weekend and maybe some other festivities,
Unknown Speaker 0:28
or there were several firework shows, you know, a couple that were sanctioned and several that weren't. But we the the ordinance that we have in Columbus says that, you know, you're good up to 11pm. And most of the most of the stories I've heard indicate that that was that was followed there was pretty close to it. But yeah, we've we had a couple of community wide events, and those were well attended. And it was just kind of fun, not only to be out, but I just have a little fun on a warm evening. Yeah, celebrate our Independence
Unknown Speaker 1:00
Day. Just want to remind everyone, you can submit your questions to news at Indiana public media.org. Or you can tweet us at Ask the mayor haven't seen in a couple months, we had some scheduling issues on my part, I was on vacation. And I think you were out too at some point. So it is nice to catch up and appreciate your time. But I wanted to kind of start with something that I kind of kept seeing on Twitter and and from the newspaper down there in Columbus about the COVID levels. Were going back up again. Oh, everywhere they are, but cases in the hospitals seem like that they were starting to go up again. I was hoping you could give us a little bit. Kind of fill us in on what's going on there.
Unknown Speaker 1:43
Well, yeah, they're You're right. I mean, the numbers are creeping back up. They're not back to where, you know, they had been, I mean, in terms of hospitalizations, we, at one point saw numbers that were in the 50s. And now we're seeing numbers that are in the high single digits to the low teams. And yeah, it's it's disappointing, that we seem to be taking a step backwards. But I think it's kind of the natural progression, which is that we're just going to have to learn to live with this. And, and so we need to be cautious all of us to when we're in and around crowds or with people that you've you don't know. And just make sure you're vaccinated when the time comes. And, and if you feel uncomfortable, like excuse yourself or wear a mask, you know, just be cautious.
Unknown Speaker 2:31
Other news I saw just this past week, we actually had a crew over there to cover the governor's visit to Columbus, it was an official kickoff for allocating ready grant funds and I believe Nexus Park got close to $7 million. But these are all shovel ready projects for around the state. This is of course, just one project they're in Columbus can tell us a little bit about the governor's trip to Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 2:58
Sure. Number one, it was 6 million, we would have like 7 million. And if there's an extra million, we'll find a place to put it. But yeah, when ready started, we were asked to submit projects that were shovel ready, shovel worthy, and were aspirational. And so our first shovel ready project was Nexus Park, it's something that had been in the works for really a couple of years. And it kind of been slowed by the pandemic. And so we went to the Ready program or the project with a submission that would use their their funding to pay for certain public aspects of the building. Now there'll be an outdoor park, there's always some infrastructure in mind as a fancy word for things like drainage, you know, being able to drain the parking lot and, and to the extent that necessary to rebuild a parking lot. There'll be some interior spaces that will be used for some some community activities for which there may be a charge, and then we'll have some discounted fees to be paid by by those who qualify. And so that allows us to use some of the ready money because at the end of the day, the seeds are federal dollars. And so there's typically some kind of a means testing that, that works its way into the calculus. And so it allows us to make the project move a little quicker. I mean, one of the questions I got from Secretary commerce Chambers was, you know, without ready with this project have gone forward? And, and the answer is, well, you know, parts of it would have, because this was a shovel ready project and we were prepared, we were prepared to build the Fieldhouse component. But we also anticipated that there would be several phases to this phase, it's I want to say two through six or two through seven. And what ready has allowed us to do is to compress all that and we'll be able to open pretty much the entire facility on day one, and that's, you know, that's kind of exciting and makes it really as as beneficial to the community as it can be. But we were really pleased. While there were other projects It were submitted before Nexus Park. And there were some approvals given. This was the first formal public announcement that they made. And the fact that they came to Columbus to do it was kind of heartening, as well as the fact that just, they're willing to invest in the project. I mean, they they see the value. And so it was sort of like, hey, you know, let's get in on this to kind of thing of course, when it comes to money, we appreciate money, but there's always room for more. And so, so yeah, we very much welcomed the governor's attendance, as well as Secretary chambers. And their willingness to explain the fact that part of what Reddy wants to do is to improve the quality of Indiana's communities. And I made the comment that builder excuse me, businesses, companies moved to states, but people moved to communities. And so Indiana has done a good job of recruiting businesses to Indiana, but our communities need to be prepared to recruit individuals. And so yeah, it's important for us to offer the recreational and entertainment amenities that people expect today. And, and this investment by ready will make a big difference in Columbus. So yeah, it was just an exciting day, it was fun to have them down. I mean, I you know, you don't get to talk or I don't get to talk to the governor that often. So when I do, it's up. It's a great to great chance to impress him with, with all what all we got going on here in Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 6:26
I believe the city even announced the contractor Correct? For Nexus Park.
Unknown Speaker 6:31
Yeah, we've been well, we've worked for some time now with force construction, they're going to work under design and build, contract. And so we meet with them weekly, trying to work through some of the issues with respect to, you know, material selection, and you know, final design, that kind of stuff. And you do that. And you make that off and really to make sure that we stay stay on budget, that we don't inadvertently design something that will be proved to be a costly endeavor, you know, in the end, so we want to stay true to the original budget, because the end of the day, you only got so much money, a lot of that this.
Unknown Speaker 7:06
Just really quick, what's the timeline on that?
Unknown Speaker 7:09
Well, we hope to break ground or begin demolition of what was the former goodies space, sometime in August, I mean, so at the start of next month, and then hopefully be done with the field house by the end of 2023. And so we will hopefully be able to hire some people in anticipation of booking events, they're in first quarter of 2024.
Unknown Speaker 7:34
So that ready grant program that we've been talking about what is a regional effort, what other items are maybe just a couple that are really high on your list that you're excited about
Unknown Speaker 7:47
your work for ready. It's a partnership or our region is partnership between Bartholomew Jackson and Jennings counties. And so we've got, I'll say, a half a dozen, but I could be mistaken about the number of projects in each one of the counties that sort of have a regional approach to them. So in Jennings County, for example, they've talked about improvements, country, Squire lakes, there's a housing development down there that, yeah, it's got a mixed reputation. And so part of what the, the folks in Jenny's county need to do is to improve the quality that exists in that, in that little community in that subdivision. There's also an opportunity for a park in North Vernon that would come out of a former old can't take the word want to use but a quarry. There's an old quarry that's downtown there in North brand and it may come up or opportunity or there's an opportunity there to make it into a really neat to a park with some wall climbing, you know, activities, rock climbing, younger people enjoy that. So we've got got a chance there to have something that you just wouldn't expect to find in Indiana. In Seymour, there's a couple of projects associated with the hospital and some residential construction back here in Columbus again. And in addition to Nexus Park, we've talked about the Hotel Conference Center that we hope to build downtown, we've talked about improvements with the riverfront and, and some other housing related type activities as well. So it's an opportunity. And again, for the three counties, it's $30 million. We had, we had asked for 50, we've been told that that was the original amount that you could apply for. So you know, we're a little chagrined initially to only get 30. But when you take a look at it on a per person basis, it was the second highest award that the state of Indiana had. So I feel pretty good about what that says about their confidence in us and being able to deliver and, and so I think that's part of the reason that they came here first. I mean, our community has a reputation of being able to pull off big projects. And so, so yeah, we were happy to be their poster child. And, you know, hopefully that we get several more announcements like this one.
Unknown Speaker 9:59
And the governor kind of hinted to that to, at least in our interview with him that there might be more money coming up. So we'll have to wait and see. Talk about a little bit about City Council meets tonight. This is Tuesday. We do the show on Tuesday because it plays back on Wednesday. But maybe you can kind of preview for us a little bit about to second class city status that the city is looking at what does that mean? And I believe is there a vote tonight?
Unknown Speaker 10:25
Yes, there is. There will be a vote tonight on what we call second reading. The the item in front of us is an ordinance. And in general ordinances are read and voted upon twice before they are finalized or before they're considered to be law. Indiana divides its cities into three classes, you know, they call them one, two and three, surprisingly. And there's only one class one city in Indiana, and that is Indianapolis, that in general the class two cities are those were the population above 35,000. And the class three cities are those with a population below 35,000. And Columbus crossed the 35,000 threshold in 2000. The the census for that year indicated our population was around 39. And so we've had the opportunity for about 22 years now to class up if you will, and go from three to a two. Our population now is about 50,000. And by best we can tell that makes us the largest class three city in Indiana, because we've never quite gotten around, you know, to make the switch. So we introduced an ordinance at the last city council meeting, it was approved six to one. And I anticipated similar result tonight. I mean, you don't know till you know. But we've not been given any indication that some of the people are going to change their votes, the basic difference will be there'll be a change in some elected positions, we will go from seven, city council members to nine and we will change the clerk treasurer's role, it'll be split into a clerk's role and to a into a controllers role. The clerk will be elected. Much like the clerk treasurer is today. And the mayor is today the clerk will be elected, the comptroller will be appointed, there'll be hired. And it really it'll be much like what we have, say in our engineering department where we hire a professional engineer to to manage the you know, the engineering department in the planning department, we hire a professional planner or urban planner to manage that department. So in the finance department, we will hire a controller. And hopefully, that will provide us going forward with maybe the financial oversight that we're looking for, you know, the City of Columbus has an $84 million a year operation. And that's just a lot of money. There's a lot of moving parts. And we need to make sure that we've got quality folks in that role. We've been very fortunate over the last several decades to be well served by clerk treasurer's our current clerk treasurer Luann Walmer. And her predecessor immediate predecessor, Brenda Sullivan, both very capable ladies and and done a wonderful job. Brenda's predecessor was when wasn't quite as good a relationship. I mean, it was a little difficult. And as we look around to other communities in Indiana that have made this switch, we often find that that was sort of the defining item, you know that communities wanted to get a little bit, a little bit different professionalism in the in the clerk treasurer's Department not trying to say anything wrong with what we've got, but just trying to be prepared for for what comes next, as I say increased growth on a budget. That's already a significant amount by itself. So So yeah, I expect that that will come forward tonight. And you should know the answer sometime around 6:20pm this evening.
Unknown Speaker 14:02
All right. Well, to follow up on that. I also want to get your take on I believe there's a tax abatement for meridiem. Internet, high speed internet has been something that has gone through Bloomington city council, we talked to the mayor about Mayor John Hamilton in Bloomington. And it sounds like a very similar proposal in Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 14:24
Right, the John Hamilton called me at this point, I don't know, a year ago or been in quite a while and indicated that, you know, Bloomington had been looking for more robust internet service for some time, had not had any success and finally come up with this company called meridiem. Who was interested in coming to Bloomington, in South Central Indiana, but needed a little bit bigger field to play on. And so wanted to make $100 million investment, which, you know, it's a lot of money and really sort of seeded what you could spend in Bloomington. And so Jon's thought was, well, maybe the folks in Columbus might have an interest in the call me and sure enough, you know, we are interested. We also added to the collaboration of Martinsville and Shelbyville, so that redeem could sort of see it could could achieve its investment target. And we've added further the county of Bartholomew. So what we're looking at now is a collaboration among Bloomington, Columbus, Shelbyville Martinsville and Bartholomew county to install high speed internet through route fiber to the home is the phrase we use. And this will be one gig symmetrical means one gig up I'm getting down. And it's kind of important in today's world, because I think we talked earlier, there's really two things from our perspective that are driving this one is elearning, one of the things we learned during the pandemic was some of our students struggle to have adequate internet or to have internet number one at home. And then for that internet to be adequate, adequate in terms of speed, this will take care of that, you know, the the one gig will be available for a fee. But for a reduced fee, or no fee, you get to 50 gigabytes, excuse me megabytes up and down. So you know, an opportunity to improve or enhance the opportunities for elearning. The second thing we talk about is remote workers, you know, Columbus as well as Bloomington and the other communities. So in that I mentioned, are interested in trying to attract remote workers. And one of the things that will be a requirement is world class internet speed. And then you can't work remotely and not have access through zoom or WebEx or one of these other platforms to whatever kind of meeting or data that you need. So so we feel it's kind of important for Columbus, and the other communities feel similar to have that investment to have that option here. So our city council will be asked to abate that property taxes that would otherwise be charged over the next 20 years. So the unusual request, I mean, this will be the only requests we've received of that nature. You know, we routinely grant tax abatements And part of what we tell ourselves is that, but for the abatement, the investment would not happen. And there's no clear case of that than right here. I mean, if we're not able to provide meridiem with a little bit of relief from property taxes, you know, they're just not going to do this. And so it's a requirement, if you will, for all the communities to kind of work together. And what we've been we've faced with the main 95% abatement for 20 years is the same economics that have been present in Bloomington, you know, Shelbyville and Martinsville and Maine, it's really no different than than what those communities have, have already offered or provided to meridiem. Let me turn took the route of pursuing a tiff bond, we're gonna go with a tax abatement, which is fine, my understanding what they did in Martinsville and Shelbyville. And it's just another way of getting at the same thing, you know, which is to minimize the tax that these people would pay. I think one of the things, though, to keep in mind, and I don't know how closely you followed the last legislative session, but state of Indiana has identified the business personal property tax for extinction. I mean, there was a bill, there's been bills introduced, but the one in the last session, had some had some push behind it to eliminate the business personal property tax, and had the legislature been able to find a way to replace that revenue. I think that tax would have gone away. So you know, and I've been told, and you hear lots of different things, but I'm pretty confident that the legislature will do everything it can to find a way to get rid of that tax sometime in the next couple of years. So the thought that, you know, we're looking at a 20 year arrangement is probably a little bit far fetched. I just don't think that tax is going to be around that long. So, you know, if you think that we've given up 4 million or so dollars, is not going to be that great release. I don't think so. So, so Yeah, way where that'll come before our city council tonight and we'll see, you know, whether the council wants to go ahead and follow the lead that Bloomington, Shelbyville and Martinsville have already set forward.
Unknown Speaker 19:18
And this is the first reading. Yeah. Yeah. to that. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 19:23
The council will have had to act on this and, and it's a little convoluted, I mean, there's a couple of decisions that have to be made in preparation and then economic revitalization area has to be declared and be defined as the wire or the fiber optic cable. And then then we get to the actual abatement.
Unknown Speaker 19:41
And I know we only have a few minutes left but I did want to ask to about that. I know a little bit came up in Bloomington City Council I mean, you have private Comcast AT and T who say that they've been laying fiber for years or feel like that there. This is an unfair, competitive advantage for meridiem and other providers? I mean, is that something that or that they've already hit 85% of people in? Well, Bloomington for say, I don't know about Columbus. Things like that might come up to it. Have you thought about that?
Unknown Speaker 20:18
Yeah, they, you know, I AT and T and Comcast are, you know that we're glad they're in the community. And yeah, they provide 100% coverage in Columbus, you know, you can get the internet, wherever you are. Now, the price of the internet and the quality, the speed will vary based upon where you are in. And we've not been shared, though no plans have been shared with us, for reader, those providers to, you know, to address the areas that I would consider to be brown. We don't have a black areas in Columbus, but we've got a couple of brown ones. And so Meridian has come forward and is willing to do that. And so that's why that's why their arrangement is what it is.
Unknown Speaker 21:00
Before we go i i have to ask because the convention center, you mentioned this earlier in our interview today, I wanted to kind of just quickly revisit that in Columbus, no Terre Haute just opened, there's Monroe County is stalled. But their hopes now I'm starting to hear of returning to it this year, Columbus took a pause after the pandemic, they hired a consultant to study the need parameters for one there. Did that come out?
Unknown Speaker 21:28
Yeah. Yeah, as you mentioned, that we had a plan. And And technically, you know, I thought we were, you know, pretty close to signing documents to, to get the developer and the hotel chain on board, and the pandemic intervened. And that all got set aside for about two years, and are a little bit longer than average. I think we were, I think that started in March of 2020. So now we're in July of 2022. And so we Yeah, wait, you're right, we hired a consultant, the same guy we had talked to previously to come back and sort of help us reconsider, number one, whether a Hotel Conference Center still made sense. And then number two, what the appropriate size should be I mean, you know, we want to try to size it correctly with respect to the the types of events that might be held there and, and their frequency. And so the consultant said, Yeah, you know, that the world has changed, business travel has changed. But the convention business that we were talking about the number of visitors and so forth, you know, would still continue to support what we want to do in the downtown area here. And in fact, he suggested that we build it a little bit bigger than what we had previously discussed. So we've taken that information and shared it with the developers that we had previously identified. And we're going to meet with them again tomorrow, hopefully, you know, the conversations will continue. And, you know, we can see where this project goes. But yeah, it's that's been a bit a bit of a challenge to, you know, to keep that project alive. And I'm glad to be able to bring it back forward and get a little momentum behind it.
Unknown Speaker 23:07
Thanks so much for your time. Any other last minute announcements or anything else you'd like to say?
Unknown Speaker 23:12
No, I just, you know what caution everybody to stay out. Stay for say, excuse me, stay safe from the heat. You know, we're here in Columbus, we've got number of public buildings, and I always mentioned the commons. It's air conditioned. And if you have a need to get to air conditioned place for a little while, feel welcome to go down there. And the great thing about the Commons is there's entertainment. There's always kids running around there on the playground, and so you can just, you know, watch them and sort of enjoy your time there as well as just a cool so, you know, take care of yourself.
Unknown Speaker 23:43
Thank you. Hope to see you next month.
Unknown Speaker 23:45
Take care we'll do bye
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU I'm Joe Hren with WFIU WTIU news this week. It's a new month. That's July we're joined by Columbus Mayor Jim Lindop. Hello, and welcome. Welcome,
Unknown Speaker 0:19
Joe. Glad to have you back.
Unknown Speaker 0:21
Thank you. I hope you had a good fourth I hear said you have a had what a firework show over the weekend and maybe some other festivities,
Unknown Speaker 0:28
or there were several firework shows, you know, a couple that were sanctioned and several that weren't. But we the the ordinance that we have in Columbus says that, you know, you're good up to 11pm. And most of the most of the stories I've heard indicate that that was that was followed there was pretty close to it. But yeah, we've we had a couple of community wide events, and those were well attended. And it was just kind of fun, not only to be out, but I just have a little fun on a warm evening. Yeah, celebrate our Independence
Unknown Speaker 1:00
Day. Just want to remind everyone, you can submit your questions to news at Indiana public media.org. Or you can tweet us at Ask the mayor haven't seen in a couple months, we had some scheduling issues on my part, I was on vacation. And I think you were out too at some point. So it is nice to catch up and appreciate your time. But I wanted to kind of start with something that I kind of kept seeing on Twitter and and from the newspaper down there in Columbus about the COVID levels. Were going back up again. Oh, everywhere they are, but cases in the hospitals seem like that they were starting to go up again. I was hoping you could give us a little bit. Kind of fill us in on what's going on there.
Unknown Speaker 1:43
Well, yeah, they're You're right. I mean, the numbers are creeping back up. They're not back to where, you know, they had been, I mean, in terms of hospitalizations, we, at one point saw numbers that were in the 50s. And now we're seeing numbers that are in the high single digits to the low teams. And yeah, it's it's disappointing, that we seem to be taking a step backwards. But I think it's kind of the natural progression, which is that we're just going to have to learn to live with this. And, and so we need to be cautious all of us to when we're in and around crowds or with people that you've you don't know. And just make sure you're vaccinated when the time comes. And, and if you feel uncomfortable, like excuse yourself or wear a mask, you know, just be cautious.
Unknown Speaker 2:31
Other news I saw just this past week, we actually had a crew over there to cover the governor's visit to Columbus, it was an official kickoff for allocating ready grant funds and I believe Nexus Park got close to $7 million. But these are all shovel ready projects for around the state. This is of course, just one project they're in Columbus can tell us a little bit about the governor's trip to Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 2:58
Sure. Number one, it was 6 million, we would have like 7 million. And if there's an extra million, we'll find a place to put it. But yeah, when ready started, we were asked to submit projects that were shovel ready, shovel worthy, and were aspirational. And so our first shovel ready project was Nexus Park, it's something that had been in the works for really a couple of years. And it kind of been slowed by the pandemic. And so we went to the Ready program or the project with a submission that would use their their funding to pay for certain public aspects of the building. Now there'll be an outdoor park, there's always some infrastructure in mind as a fancy word for things like drainage, you know, being able to drain the parking lot and, and to the extent that necessary to rebuild a parking lot. There'll be some interior spaces that will be used for some some community activities for which there may be a charge, and then we'll have some discounted fees to be paid by by those who qualify. And so that allows us to use some of the ready money because at the end of the day, the seeds are federal dollars. And so there's typically some kind of a means testing that, that works its way into the calculus. And so it allows us to make the project move a little quicker. I mean, one of the questions I got from Secretary commerce Chambers was, you know, without ready with this project have gone forward? And, and the answer is, well, you know, parts of it would have, because this was a shovel ready project and we were prepared, we were prepared to build the Fieldhouse component. But we also anticipated that there would be several phases to this phase, it's I want to say two through six or two through seven. And what ready has allowed us to do is to compress all that and we'll be able to open pretty much the entire facility on day one, and that's, you know, that's kind of exciting and makes it really as as beneficial to the community as it can be. But we were really pleased. While there were other projects It were submitted before Nexus Park. And there were some approvals given. This was the first formal public announcement that they made. And the fact that they came to Columbus to do it was kind of heartening, as well as the fact that just, they're willing to invest in the project. I mean, they they see the value. And so it was sort of like, hey, you know, let's get in on this to kind of thing of course, when it comes to money, we appreciate money, but there's always room for more. And so, so yeah, we very much welcomed the governor's attendance, as well as Secretary chambers. And their willingness to explain the fact that part of what Reddy wants to do is to improve the quality of Indiana's communities. And I made the comment that builder excuse me, businesses, companies moved to states, but people moved to communities. And so Indiana has done a good job of recruiting businesses to Indiana, but our communities need to be prepared to recruit individuals. And so yeah, it's important for us to offer the recreational and entertainment amenities that people expect today. And, and this investment by ready will make a big difference in Columbus. So yeah, it was just an exciting day, it was fun to have them down. I mean, I you know, you don't get to talk or I don't get to talk to the governor that often. So when I do, it's up. It's a great to great chance to impress him with, with all what all we got going on here in Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 6:26
I believe the city even announced the contractor Correct? For Nexus Park.
Unknown Speaker 6:31
Yeah, we've been well, we've worked for some time now with force construction, they're going to work under design and build, contract. And so we meet with them weekly, trying to work through some of the issues with respect to, you know, material selection, and you know, final design, that kind of stuff. And you do that. And you make that off and really to make sure that we stay stay on budget, that we don't inadvertently design something that will be proved to be a costly endeavor, you know, in the end, so we want to stay true to the original budget, because the end of the day, you only got so much money, a lot of that this.
Unknown Speaker 7:06
Just really quick, what's the timeline on that?
Unknown Speaker 7:09
Well, we hope to break ground or begin demolition of what was the former goodies space, sometime in August, I mean, so at the start of next month, and then hopefully be done with the field house by the end of 2023. And so we will hopefully be able to hire some people in anticipation of booking events, they're in first quarter of 2024.
Unknown Speaker 7:34
So that ready grant program that we've been talking about what is a regional effort, what other items are maybe just a couple that are really high on your list that you're excited about
Unknown Speaker 7:47
your work for ready. It's a partnership or our region is partnership between Bartholomew Jackson and Jennings counties. And so we've got, I'll say, a half a dozen, but I could be mistaken about the number of projects in each one of the counties that sort of have a regional approach to them. So in Jennings County, for example, they've talked about improvements, country, Squire lakes, there's a housing development down there that, yeah, it's got a mixed reputation. And so part of what the, the folks in Jenny's county need to do is to improve the quality that exists in that, in that little community in that subdivision. There's also an opportunity for a park in North Vernon that would come out of a former old can't take the word want to use but a quarry. There's an old quarry that's downtown there in North brand and it may come up or opportunity or there's an opportunity there to make it into a really neat to a park with some wall climbing, you know, activities, rock climbing, younger people enjoy that. So we've got got a chance there to have something that you just wouldn't expect to find in Indiana. In Seymour, there's a couple of projects associated with the hospital and some residential construction back here in Columbus again. And in addition to Nexus Park, we've talked about the Hotel Conference Center that we hope to build downtown, we've talked about improvements with the riverfront and, and some other housing related type activities as well. So it's an opportunity. And again, for the three counties, it's $30 million. We had, we had asked for 50, we've been told that that was the original amount that you could apply for. So you know, we're a little chagrined initially to only get 30. But when you take a look at it on a per person basis, it was the second highest award that the state of Indiana had. So I feel pretty good about what that says about their confidence in us and being able to deliver and, and so I think that's part of the reason that they came here first. I mean, our community has a reputation of being able to pull off big projects. And so, so yeah, we were happy to be their poster child. And, you know, hopefully that we get several more announcements like this one.
Unknown Speaker 9:59
And the governor kind of hinted to that to, at least in our interview with him that there might be more money coming up. So we'll have to wait and see. Talk about a little bit about City Council meets tonight. This is Tuesday. We do the show on Tuesday because it plays back on Wednesday. But maybe you can kind of preview for us a little bit about to second class city status that the city is looking at what does that mean? And I believe is there a vote tonight?
Unknown Speaker 10:25
Yes, there is. There will be a vote tonight on what we call second reading. The the item in front of us is an ordinance. And in general ordinances are read and voted upon twice before they are finalized or before they're considered to be law. Indiana divides its cities into three classes, you know, they call them one, two and three, surprisingly. And there's only one class one city in Indiana, and that is Indianapolis, that in general the class two cities are those were the population above 35,000. And the class three cities are those with a population below 35,000. And Columbus crossed the 35,000 threshold in 2000. The the census for that year indicated our population was around 39. And so we've had the opportunity for about 22 years now to class up if you will, and go from three to a two. Our population now is about 50,000. And by best we can tell that makes us the largest class three city in Indiana, because we've never quite gotten around, you know, to make the switch. So we introduced an ordinance at the last city council meeting, it was approved six to one. And I anticipated similar result tonight. I mean, you don't know till you know. But we've not been given any indication that some of the people are going to change their votes, the basic difference will be there'll be a change in some elected positions, we will go from seven, city council members to nine and we will change the clerk treasurer's role, it'll be split into a clerk's role and to a into a controllers role. The clerk will be elected. Much like the clerk treasurer is today. And the mayor is today the clerk will be elected, the comptroller will be appointed, there'll be hired. And it really it'll be much like what we have, say in our engineering department where we hire a professional engineer to to manage the you know, the engineering department in the planning department, we hire a professional planner or urban planner to manage that department. So in the finance department, we will hire a controller. And hopefully, that will provide us going forward with maybe the financial oversight that we're looking for, you know, the City of Columbus has an $84 million a year operation. And that's just a lot of money. There's a lot of moving parts. And we need to make sure that we've got quality folks in that role. We've been very fortunate over the last several decades to be well served by clerk treasurer's our current clerk treasurer Luann Walmer. And her predecessor immediate predecessor, Brenda Sullivan, both very capable ladies and and done a wonderful job. Brenda's predecessor was when wasn't quite as good a relationship. I mean, it was a little difficult. And as we look around to other communities in Indiana that have made this switch, we often find that that was sort of the defining item, you know that communities wanted to get a little bit, a little bit different professionalism in the in the clerk treasurer's Department not trying to say anything wrong with what we've got, but just trying to be prepared for for what comes next, as I say increased growth on a budget. That's already a significant amount by itself. So So yeah, I expect that that will come forward tonight. And you should know the answer sometime around 6:20pm this evening.
Unknown Speaker 14:02
All right. Well, to follow up on that. I also want to get your take on I believe there's a tax abatement for meridiem. Internet, high speed internet has been something that has gone through Bloomington city council, we talked to the mayor about Mayor John Hamilton in Bloomington. And it sounds like a very similar proposal in Columbus.
Unknown Speaker 14:24
Right, the John Hamilton called me at this point, I don't know, a year ago or been in quite a while and indicated that, you know, Bloomington had been looking for more robust internet service for some time, had not had any success and finally come up with this company called meridiem. Who was interested in coming to Bloomington, in South Central Indiana, but needed a little bit bigger field to play on. And so wanted to make $100 million investment, which, you know, it's a lot of money and really sort of seeded what you could spend in Bloomington. And so Jon's thought was, well, maybe the folks in Columbus might have an interest in the call me and sure enough, you know, we are interested. We also added to the collaboration of Martinsville and Shelbyville, so that redeem could sort of see it could could achieve its investment target. And we've added further the county of Bartholomew. So what we're looking at now is a collaboration among Bloomington, Columbus, Shelbyville Martinsville and Bartholomew county to install high speed internet through route fiber to the home is the phrase we use. And this will be one gig symmetrical means one gig up I'm getting down. And it's kind of important in today's world, because I think we talked earlier, there's really two things from our perspective that are driving this one is elearning, one of the things we learned during the pandemic was some of our students struggle to have adequate internet or to have internet number one at home. And then for that internet to be adequate, adequate in terms of speed, this will take care of that, you know, the the one gig will be available for a fee. But for a reduced fee, or no fee, you get to 50 gigabytes, excuse me megabytes up and down. So you know, an opportunity to improve or enhance the opportunities for elearning. The second thing we talk about is remote workers, you know, Columbus as well as Bloomington and the other communities. So in that I mentioned, are interested in trying to attract remote workers. And one of the things that will be a requirement is world class internet speed. And then you can't work remotely and not have access through zoom or WebEx or one of these other platforms to whatever kind of meeting or data that you need. So so we feel it's kind of important for Columbus, and the other communities feel similar to have that investment to have that option here. So our city council will be asked to abate that property taxes that would otherwise be charged over the next 20 years. So the unusual request, I mean, this will be the only requests we've received of that nature. You know, we routinely grant tax abatements And part of what we tell ourselves is that, but for the abatement, the investment would not happen. And there's no clear case of that than right here. I mean, if we're not able to provide meridiem with a little bit of relief from property taxes, you know, they're just not going to do this. And so it's a requirement, if you will, for all the communities to kind of work together. And what we've been we've faced with the main 95% abatement for 20 years is the same economics that have been present in Bloomington, you know, Shelbyville and Martinsville and Maine, it's really no different than than what those communities have, have already offered or provided to meridiem. Let me turn took the route of pursuing a tiff bond, we're gonna go with a tax abatement, which is fine, my understanding what they did in Martinsville and Shelbyville. And it's just another way of getting at the same thing, you know, which is to minimize the tax that these people would pay. I think one of the things, though, to keep in mind, and I don't know how closely you followed the last legislative session, but state of Indiana has identified the business personal property tax for extinction. I mean, there was a bill, there's been bills introduced, but the one in the last session, had some had some push behind it to eliminate the business personal property tax, and had the legislature been able to find a way to replace that revenue. I think that tax would have gone away. So you know, and I've been told, and you hear lots of different things, but I'm pretty confident that the legislature will do everything it can to find a way to get rid of that tax sometime in the next couple of years. So the thought that, you know, we're looking at a 20 year arrangement is probably a little bit far fetched. I just don't think that tax is going to be around that long. So, you know, if you think that we've given up 4 million or so dollars, is not going to be that great release. I don't think so. So, so Yeah, way where that'll come before our city council tonight and we'll see, you know, whether the council wants to go ahead and follow the lead that Bloomington, Shelbyville and Martinsville have already set forward.
Unknown Speaker 19:18
And this is the first reading. Yeah. Yeah. to that. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 19:23
The council will have had to act on this and, and it's a little convoluted, I mean, there's a couple of decisions that have to be made in preparation and then economic revitalization area has to be declared and be defined as the wire or the fiber optic cable. And then then we get to the actual abatement.
Unknown Speaker 19:41
And I know we only have a few minutes left but I did want to ask to about that. I know a little bit came up in Bloomington City Council I mean, you have private Comcast AT and T who say that they've been laying fiber for years or feel like that there. This is an unfair, competitive advantage for meridiem and other providers? I mean, is that something that or that they've already hit 85% of people in? Well, Bloomington for say, I don't know about Columbus. Things like that might come up to it. Have you thought about that?
Unknown Speaker 20:18
Yeah, they, you know, I AT and T and Comcast are, you know that we're glad they're in the community. And yeah, they provide 100% coverage in Columbus, you know, you can get the internet, wherever you are. Now, the price of the internet and the quality, the speed will vary based upon where you are in. And we've not been shared, though no plans have been shared with us, for reader, those providers to, you know, to address the areas that I would consider to be brown. We don't have a black areas in Columbus, but we've got a couple of brown ones. And so Meridian has come forward and is willing to do that. And so that's why that's why their arrangement is what it is.
Unknown Speaker 21:00
Before we go i i have to ask because the convention center, you mentioned this earlier in our interview today, I wanted to kind of just quickly revisit that in Columbus, no Terre Haute just opened, there's Monroe County is stalled. But their hopes now I'm starting to hear of returning to it this year, Columbus took a pause after the pandemic, they hired a consultant to study the need parameters for one there. Did that come out?
Unknown Speaker 21:28
Yeah. Yeah, as you mentioned, that we had a plan. And And technically, you know, I thought we were, you know, pretty close to signing documents to, to get the developer and the hotel chain on board, and the pandemic intervened. And that all got set aside for about two years, and are a little bit longer than average. I think we were, I think that started in March of 2020. So now we're in July of 2022. And so we Yeah, wait, you're right, we hired a consultant, the same guy we had talked to previously to come back and sort of help us reconsider, number one, whether a Hotel Conference Center still made sense. And then number two, what the appropriate size should be I mean, you know, we want to try to size it correctly with respect to the the types of events that might be held there and, and their frequency. And so the consultant said, Yeah, you know, that the world has changed, business travel has changed. But the convention business that we were talking about the number of visitors and so forth, you know, would still continue to support what we want to do in the downtown area here. And in fact, he suggested that we build it a little bit bigger than what we had previously discussed. So we've taken that information and shared it with the developers that we had previously identified. And we're going to meet with them again tomorrow, hopefully, you know, the conversations will continue. And, you know, we can see where this project goes. But yeah, it's that's been a bit a bit of a challenge to, you know, to keep that project alive. And I'm glad to be able to bring it back forward and get a little momentum behind it.
Unknown Speaker 23:07
Thanks so much for your time. Any other last minute announcements or anything else you'd like to say?
Unknown Speaker 23:12
No, I just, you know what caution everybody to stay out. Stay for say, excuse me, stay safe from the heat. You know, we're here in Columbus, we've got number of public buildings, and I always mentioned the commons. It's air conditioned. And if you have a need to get to air conditioned place for a little while, feel welcome to go down there. And the great thing about the Commons is there's entertainment. There's always kids running around there on the playground, and so you can just, you know, watch them and sort of enjoy your time there as well as just a cool so, you know, take care of yourself.
Unknown Speaker 23:43
Thank you. Hope to see you next month.
Unknown Speaker 23:45
Take care we'll do bye
