County’s side of convention center interlocal accord OK’d, now to Bloomington city council, mayor
On Wednesday morning, final approval of a key four-way agreement for the expansion and renovation of the Monroe Convention Center took another step forward.
At their regular Wednesday morning meeting, the three Monroe County Commissioners gave unanimous approval to the interlocal agreement that addresses the way that the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) and the different local government units will handle the expansion project.
The existing convention center stands at 3rd Street and College Avenue.
The Monroe County council, which is the fiscal body for county government, approved the interlocal agreement last week.
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson says she supports the current version of the agreement, which has been revised since the one that her predecessor, John Hamilton, and Bloomington’s city council approved last year.
The revised interlocal agreement is supposed to appear on the city council’s Feb. 28 agenda.
One of the specific terms of an earlier version of the interlocal agreement, which was adopted by the Bloomington city council and the mayor last year, outlined the way appointments to the convention and visitors commission (CVC) would be handled.
The way CVC appointments are made is laid out in state law. Under state law, two of the five seats are appointed by the county commissioners and the remaining three seats are appointed by the county council. So an interlocal agreement signed between city and county governments could not delegate a statutory duty of county elected officials to some city entity.
But in the previous version of the interlocal agreement, the county council’s CVC appointments came with a wrinkle. Under the previous version of the interlocal, the county council had to consider the recommendations for appointments that were made by the city council and in one case was required to select one of the four suggestions made by the city council.
It was that clause of the previous version that made the county council reluctant last year to sign off on the interlocal agreement. The revised version does not prescribe any role for the city in what are supposed to be appointments by the county government under state law.
Also covered in the interlocal agreement is how the annual CIB budget is to be approved, which includes a role for city and county government:
[T]he CIB shall work with both the City and County Councils in developing its annual budget to reach agreement among the parties prior to presenting the budget for official approval. The parties shall coordinate with the CIB so that it will present its budget to the City Council for review and approval prior to the County Council Budget Session and will present its budget to the County Council during a County Council Budget Session. In the event the County Council does not agree with the budget approved by the City Council, the two Councils shall work to come to agreement on a budget that both Councils can approve. If the Councils cannot agree on a budget by December 1st, the budget for the then-current year shall be the budget for the succeeding year.
At Wednesday’s meeting, county attorney Jeff Cockerill compared the CIB’s annual budget approval process to the way the budget for the 911 dispatch center is handled. The dispatch center is a joint operation of city and county governments.
Another topic covered in the interlocal agreement is the way the real estate for the convention center expansion project will be assembled:
The CIB shall request from the parties such transfer of ownership of property assets as are needed in its judgment successfully to complete the Project, including property needed directly for such structures or needed to help finance them, and on such terms as needed. The Parties shall in good faith review and negotiate regarding such requests.
The negotiations between the CIB and the city of Bloomington over real estate could include $7 million that the city paid for the former Bunger & Robertson property, at 4th Street and College Avenue. That parcel is envisioned as a likely location for part of the expansion.
The biggest part of the property was purchased in summer 2019 for about $5 million. The northeast corner of the parking lot of that property was purchased for $1.9 million in March of 2023.
It is the countywide 1-percent food and beverage tax, which has been collected since 2018, that is supposed to pay for the convention center expansion. The 2023 year-end fund balance of Bloomington’s food and beverage tax share is around $17 million. If $7 million has to be peeled off the top of that sum, to reimburse Bloomington for the Bunger & Robertson property, that would mean a significant reduction of the convention center project budget.
The $7 million was drawn from TIF (tax increment finance) money and authorized by Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC). The other big project in the works for the RDC, which will tap TIF funds, is the redevelopment of the Hopewell neighborhood.
During Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson’s remarks, given at the January meeting of the Democrats Club at DeAngelo’s, she indicated that more money could be needed for Hopewell than previously thought.
Thomson put it like this: “I think we may have to look at some of the requirements [for Hopewell], which either are going to need heavier subsidy, or we’re going to need to adjust our expectations for what we’re going to get there.”
On Wednesday, Bloomington’s corporation counsel Margie Rice responded to a B Square question by indicating that the Thomson administration had yet not reached a position on potential reimbursement for the Bunger & Robertson property.
In their remarks on Wednesday, county commissioners recalled the years-long history of the idea for the project. Commissioner Penny Githens said, “This is just excellent, excellent news. We have been working on this for years. This all started even before I was sworn in as a commissioner.”
Commissioner Lee Jones said, “There were times when it seemed like it might be impossible to get here. And then it’s pretty exciting to have finally managed it and hopefully things will start moving forward quickly.”
Commissioner Julie Thomas said, “I think this is reflective of sort of turning the page and really progress being made.” Thomas continued, “Our communications with the new administration, new city council members, everything is going very well and I think the community should take heart to see this.”
