Local officials have been working for years to advance the convention center expansion project.
(Devan Ridgway, WTIU/WFIU News)
City council members on Wednesday night voted against Mayor John Hamilton’s veto of a resolution supporting the creation of a capital improvement board for the Monroe Convention Center expansion project.
After more than an hour of discussion, council members voted 8-1 to override Hamilton’s veto against the establishment of a CIB to oversee the project.
Councilwoman Kate Rosenbarger was the dissenting vote, reaffirming her stance from last month when she voted against a resolution in support of a county ordinance establishing a CIB. The county ordinance became void because the city failed to reach a consensus by Jan. 1, 2023.
“It is for me more about the question of, ‘Should this community be building an expanded convention center? And I think the answer to that is no,” Rosenbarger said.
Rosenbarger was not the only council member who voiced an alternative opinion.
Councilman Stephen Volan expressed openness to a 501(c)(3) for some city properties besides the convention center. He also said he’d consider rescinding the project’s planned funding source, the food and beverage tax, if city council could not reach an agreement.
“At some point, if there’s going to be a convention center, we have to find some way to manage it. The 501(c)(3) could theoretically be involved in the CIB. I’m kind of agnostic at this point.”
Volan continued, “No one’s going to get everything that they want. But I think we can come up with a management scheme that will let everyone walk away feeling at least adequate about it. But I don’t want to continue this debate. Let them both exist, and let’s work it out.”
Councilman Ron Smith suggested bringing in a professional mediator to bring about a resolution.
“I think we need professional help,” Smith said. “To get this project done, something has to change. Let’s figure out how to do that so we can move forward. Otherwise, I think we’re going to be back here next year at the same time talking about the same issue.”
A CIB is a public body established by county governments which finances, constructs and operates capital facilities or improvements.
Local officials have been working for years to advance the convention center expansion project, and both city and county officials have expressed their support for the creation of a CIB.
But Hamilton's administration has said much of the cost of the expansion project would fall on the city if it were run by a CIB and that a 501(c)(3) a more effective way to manage it. County leaders are concerned that a nonprofit wouldn’t be subject to the same open-door laws as a CIB.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael doubled down on that argument at Wednesday’s meeting.
Councilman Dave Rollo, in expressing his support for the CIB, questioned the mayor's preference for a nonprofit and said a failure to reach a colloborative approach with the county would be a "tragedy."
He continued, "I'm mystified that, although I understand the mayor has a different opinion, that he would veto a resolution that is the express view of this legislative body. That seems nonsensical to me. But, I guess it's his perogative."
What the city council’s vote last night means for what kind of body will oversee the project moving forward depends on action from county officials, according to Kaisa Goodman, public engagement director for the City of Bloomington.
“The county government has the capacity to legally create a CIB. That’s in their purview; they don’t need the city’s approval to do that. Nevertheless, the ordinance that passed this fall, basically, in layman’s terms, created a CIB if the mayor and the city council approved it, which was optional.”
The ball is now in the county's court, Goodman said.
“You know, I think that in terms of the politics of it … regardless of what happens, regardless of whether, you know, a CIB or a 501(c)(3) is in charge of this convention center, we’re really just at the beginning. There’s a lot to be figured out.”
Recently, a bill was introduced in the Indiana General Assembly that seeks to place limits on the food and beverage tax. If passed, Senate Bill 37 would end food and beverage taxes across all counties in Indiana in 20 years, on Jan. 1, 2043, or on the date by which all bonds or lease agreements outstanding on May 7, 2023, are completely paid – whichever comes later.
The bill would also require each local government body that imposes a food and beverage tax to report distributions and expenditures to the state annually. It is authored by state senators Mike Gaskill (R) of Indiana’s 25th District and Travis Holdman (R) of District 19.
The food and beverage tax started collecting money for the convention center expansion project in 2018. To date, it has collected more than $14 million.
