Representatives from the City of Bloomington will join County Commissioners next month to continue their conversation on convention center expansion. Their meeting on Nov. 9 comes little more than a month after the mayor’s office declared that negotiations had failed.
Representatives for the commissioners and the mayor’s office confirm that Bloomington director of public engagement Mary Catherine Carmichael and city councilmember Sue Sgambelluri will both attend the county’s weekly work session that Wednesday.
Negotiations previously stalled on whether the expansion would be managed under a capital improvement board where the county has veto power or through a nonprofit run by the city.
The city announced plans this month to build a new center on city-owned property.
Carmichael says the city will not consider a capital improvement board and hopes the county can agree that progress is essential.
Listen: Struggle over the Monroe Convention Center expansion continues
“The thing I would love to walk away with would be that we just all agree that this is a really great, important project that needs to happen and agree that we're going to make it happen and have demonstrable progress by the end of 2022.”
An agenda has not yet been released for the meeting.
