Dec. 15, 2025: Trash, school impacted by cold; convention center host hotel; homeless encampment; busy meeting week

Civic Solver

This week’s puzzle is another jigsaw. It took me 3 minutes and 35 seconds to complete. I dare you to try and beat that. The link, as always, is at the bottom of the bulletin.

Quick notes

Trash collection delayed one day. Due to frigid cold and bad road conditions,
trash collection for city of Bloomington sanitation customers is delayed by one day for the week starting Monday (Dec. 15, 2025) according to the city of Bloomington. If your regular day is Monday, it will be picked up on Tuesday, and so on for the rest of the week.

MCCSC on real-time eLearning for Monday. Also due to frigid cold and bad road conditions, Monroe County Community School Corporation is moving all classes to its standard real-time eLearning format.

Weather Talk

Based on the National Weather Service forecast in text and charts here’s some advice.

Monday: When you leave this morning, bundle up with the warmest hat and coat you own, because morning temperatures will be coming off an overnight low of -2F°. Take your sunglasses, because your eyes will need some shade from the sunny skies bouncing sunbeams off the snow. The high will climb to a balmy 26F° but the wind will cut right through you with gusts up to 25 mph.

Tuesday: You will still need to bundle up good to start the day, because the overnight low from Monday will be around 20F°. But the temperature will reach a high of 38F° during the day. Sunglasses will again be in order to ward off the rays from the big fireball in the sky.

Sign up for weather alerts: Monroe County emergency alert system.

Roundup of recent articles

• Monroe County property transfers through Dec. 10, 2025.  This report includes new property transfers in Monroe County that haven’t previously been reported by The B Square, with dates ranging from Nov. 17 to Dec. 10, 2025. The data in this report comes from Beacon, the county’s online geographic information system for property and parcel data.
• Sunday Funnies: Hawk v. Fish.  Hawk says: Fernando Mendoza is some kinda hero. he shoveled the snow off all the bricks on Kirkwood. Cleared the snow off the courthouse steps before it froze. He should get some kinda award. What does Fish say??
• As convention center rises, Bloomington council bristles at potential host hotel land donation.  As construction begins on Bloomington’s convention center expansion, there is still no deal for a host hotel. At a joint work session, councilmembers criticized the mayor’s administration as the RDC considers donating city-owned land to help bridge a long-known funding gap.
• Photos: Downtown Bloomington dances as Latin jazz big band takes over Blockhouse Bar.  Blockhouse Bar in downtown Bloomington hosted a packed Latin jazz dance party Friday night, led by trombonist Vick Luna and a 20-piece big band. The high-energy set kept the dance floor full throughout the evening.
• Monroe County halts Thomson encampment eviction, no new date set; 30-day notice mulled.  Monroe County commissioners say there is now no specific timeline to clear the homeless encampment on the county-owned Thomson property, indefinitely postponing a previously scheduled Dec. 15 removal. Commissioners signaled support for longer notice periods, potentially 30 days
• Bloomington police: Woman arrested after alleged bomb threat to dispatch center.  Bloomington police say a woman who phoned in a bomb threat Wednesday was identified and arrested within an hour. Officers traced the call to a woman who was booked on a level 6 felony intimidation charge after allegedly threatening to attack the county’s emergency dispatch center.
• Monroe County warming centers ready to open Saturday with temps set to plunge below zero.  Warming centers in fire stations and library branches will open across Monroe County starting Saturday, as forecasts call for lows of zero or colder from Saturday night into Monday morning. The centers do not offer overnight shelter. Snow is expected to start Thursday evening.

On the calendar

Special city council meeting on Hopewell. Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson has called a special meeting of the city council for Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. in the Allison Conference Room at city hall to talk about the Hopewell development, specifically Hopewell South. The mayor can call a meeting, because one of the basic powers of the city executive under state law is to call meetings of the council.

For B Square background, see: Bloomington eyes more housing in Hopewell project—but zoning code changes are needed to maximize potential For a quick illustration of the difference in density that could result from a proposed zoning change, in the meeting information packet, compare page 33 to page 34. Wednesday’s 4 p.m. gathering of councilmembers is supposed to be a joint meeting with Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC).

It makes sense for RDC members to sit in on the presentation on Hopewell South, because at their regular meeting 5 p.m. Monday (Dec. 15), which starts an hour after the joint meeting with the city council, the RDC will be asked to approve a conceptual comprehensive and coordinated design of Hopewell South Blocks 8, 9 and 10 in advance of a PUD rezone request.

Host hotel land availability. In addition to the Hopewell South item, back on the Bloomington redevelopment commission’s (RDC’s) 5 p.m. Monday (Dec. 15) agenda will be a resolution establishing the RDC’s position on the College Square property it owns at the southwest corner of 4th Street and College Avenue. For B Square background, see: As convention center rises, Bloomington council bristles at potential host hotel land donation

The RDC and Dora Hospitality, who have been negotiating for over a year about use of the College Square property for a host hotel, are supposed to report on Wednesday (Dec. 17) to the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) on the status of the negotiations. It looks unlikely that the two parties will report they’ve reached agreement.

Convention center skybridge: Complete Closure of College Avenue. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 16) agenda for the Bloomington board of public works is a request for the complete closure of College Avenue south of 3rd Street from Jan. 26, 2026 through Feb. 12, 2026 to install the skybridge connection across College from the expansion building to the existing facility.

Collective bargaining agreement with bus drivers. On the 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 16) meeting agenda for the board of Bloomington Transit are a raft of familiar items for a year-end meeting, like a resolution approving use of vending machine proceeds Bloomington Transit, and election of board officers for next year. More significant is the approval of the collective bargaining agreement with the bus driver union. Not on the agenda, at least not yet anyway, is a possible vote on the acquisition of land for the construction of a new operations facility to replace the one on Grimes Lane.

County council. I don’t see an agenda posted yet for the Monroe County council’s 5 p.m. Tuesday (Dec. 16) meeting. But when it’s available, it should appear under the previous link.

Host hotel, public art updates. On the agenda for the Monroe County capital improvement board’s (CIB’s) 3 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 17) meeting is an update on the host hotel. Dec. 17 was the deadline given by the CIB to Bloomington’s redevelopment commission and Dora Hospitality to produce an agreement for a host hotel deal. It does not look likely that there will be a report of a done deal. Also on the agenda are several other updates related to the ongoing construction. One of them is about the public art project. Another update will likely included outcome of the board of public works meeting (see Tuesday above) for the College Avenue road closure for the skybridge construction.

Towing, one-house historic district, annexation. On the 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (Dec. 17) meeting agenda for Bloomington’s city council are two ordinances on towing that were put off from the council’s previous meeting. For B Square background, see: Bloomington may increase towing fee limits, end partial payment option, start storage clock quicker. Also on the agenda is an ordinance that would establish historic district protection for the Ivan Adams House. In other business, the city council will consider the annexation and rezoning of a single parcel of land into the city of Bloomington. At its previous meeting, the council approved the fiscal plan in connection with the proposed annexation.

Meet Murdoch!

This very, very good boy is a border collie mix. Here’s what the shelter staff have written about Murdoch:

Looking for a chill senior guy who does well with dogs, cats, and kids? Look no further than Murdoch! This handsome pup loves bones, snuggling, and going to bed. He currently lives with his foster family, who describe him as "very quiet and cuddly" and says he "will put himself to bed before everyone else." If that sounds like the dog for you, come in to schedule an appointment to meet him!

Photo Finish: Courthouse square

The Photo Finish items are drawn from the B There section of the B Square website.

Thanks for reading. I hope your week is off to a great start!

Dave Askins
734-645-2633
dave@bsquarebulletin.com

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