Bloomington mayor vetoes CIB resolution
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Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton has vetoed a resolution passed by the Bloomington Common Council to establish a Capital Improvement Board that would oversee an expansion of the Monroe Convention Center.
The mayor expressed his continued desire to establish a 501(c)3 nonprofit to manage the expansion, saying it would offer “better opportunities to amass and deploy sufficient financial resources to design and build a signature downtown facility.”
Last month, the Monroe County Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance to establish a CIB, but it required the support of the city council and the mayor by Jan. 1, 2023. The council passed the resolution giving its support earlier this month.
In his veto message to council members, Hamilton said in the short term, the expansion project needs an entity that can effectively oversee design, financing and construction. He said a CIB is “inherently cumbersome and unwieldy,” adding it would be unlikely to undertake the complex tasks of expansion.
“I do not believe a CIB is the best path forward because it is not likely to succeed in designing, financing, and building a signature, efficient, state-of-the-art downtown expansion that will bring the desired benefits to our community,” Hamilton said. “I reach that belief in light of both the inherent structural and procedural qualities of a CIB and the past history of efforts to pursue this path.”
Opponents of having a nonprofit oversee the expansion have cited concerns about transparency surrounding the project.
In a memo sent last month, the city proposed a series of steps to ensure accountability and transparency in the convention center’s operation if a nonprofit moves forward, including creating a specific advisory board for the expansion, holding monthly meetings open to the public, and adhering to Indiana Open Door Law practices.
In his veto message, Hamilton said a nonprofit could be more nimble and efficient than a CIB in the short term.
“It offers better opportunities to amass and deploy sufficient financial resources to design and build a signature downtown facility,” he said. “Food & Beverage tax revenues should provide the majority of funding, but additional public and private sources may well be needed to achieve the overall excellence and impact that our community expects and deserves.”
The mayor did note that a CIB could potentially be used for long-term operation of the convention center after the expansion is completed, but only if it was “designed fairly and operated in good faith.”
You can read the mayor’s full veto message by clicking here.