Bloomington city council letter looms, CIB wraps up convention center construction manager interviews (2024)

On Tuesday morning, members of the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) interviewed three firms who want the job of construction manager for the Monroe Convention Center renovation and expansion project.

A decision on the choice between F.A. Wilhelm Construction; Shiel Sexton; and Weddle Bros. Building Group could come at the next meeting of the CIB, on Wednesday, June 12.

It was just the first of two days in the spotlight for the convention center expansion project.

On Wednesday, June 5, Bloomington’s city council is expected to consider the draft of a letter, which it might adopt, expressing the city council’s view on 21 different aspects of the convention center expansion.

The points in the letter range from use of on-site fossil fuels, to inclusion of space dedicated to monthly or biweekly youth and/or senior activities.

Also on Tuesday, the CIB agreed on a proposed revision to its 2024 budget, which the city council approved only recently, at its April 10 meeting.

The biggest difference between the proposed new budget and the one that was approved by the council two months ago is another $255,000 to pay for the CIB’s owner’s representative on the project, which is JS Held.

Because the revision will use as yet unappropriated food and beverage tax funds, the revised budget proposal will need to get a review and non-binding recommendation from the food and beverage tax advisory commission (FABTAC), before the city council can consider a revised CIB budget.

At Tuesday’s meeting, CIB treasurer Eric Spoonmore described a timeframe that includes a FABTAC review after mid-June, and city council consideration of the revised budget at the end of July or in early August.

For Tuesday’s interviews, Deb Kunce of JS Held briefed CIB members on the scoring rubric they would be using and submitting to her by week’s end.

CIB members were supposed to score the three firms in five basic categories: approach; proposed team and staffing; local experience; large project experience; and XBE participation.

An XBE firm is one that has been historically disadvantaged, including minority- and women-owned businesses.

All three firms gave presentations followed by questions from CIB members. The allotted time for each interview was 50 minutes—so things were wrapped up by around noon, after starting at 9 a.m.

All three firms talked about their ability to self-perform some of the contracted work. But Indiana state law prohibits a construction manager from doing more than 20 percent of the project as self-performance. Even that 20-percent limit has to be competitively bid along with other firms who want to do the work in a particular bid package.

F.A. Wilhelm operations manager Aaron Bishop touted the firm’s size as an advantage. As the largest contractor in Indiana, Wilhelm has a good perspective on the labor market, Bishop said. He continued, saying that Wilhelm understands the “lay of the land” for the labor market better than any of its competitors out there.

Shiel Sexton vice president of corporate development Shawn Mulholland floated the idea of building both the convention center expansion and a hotel. “We wanted to provide you something to think about,” Mulholland said. He described Shiel Sexton as one of the largest hotel developers and builders in the Midwest, because of its relationships in the hotel industry.

Mulholland said that one of Shiel Sexton’s partners is negotiating to build the hotel that is now planned for the Trades District. Mulholland told the CIB, “We wanted to take an opportunity to propose that same team, expediting a convention hotel, to coincide with the convention center expansion project as well.”

The mechanism to expedite that process would be through legislation that was passed by Indiana’s state legislature in 2022, Mulholland said.

Weddle Bros. highlighted its local connection to Bloomington. The company was started here 78 years ago and still maintains its corporate headquarters in Bloomington, CEO Lee Carmichael told the CIB. The company is also 100-percent employee owned, Carmichael said.

Weddle Bros. project executive Chris Ciolli mentioned his eight years of experience as director of building operations for Monroe County Community School Corporation.

Weddle Bros. vice president Kelly Abel described his connection to the 1923 building where the current convention center stands, at 3rd Street and College Avenue, which became the home of Tom O’Daniel Ford in 1961. “I drove a 1976 Ford off this lot!” Abel said.

Weddle project manager Andrew Scere underscored his local connection by asking where the food and beverage tax revenues come from, which are supposed to pay for the convention center expansion. He answered his own question by saying, “It’s me at Trojan Horse!” The 1-percent tax applies to all prepared foods and beverages sold in Monroe County.

Also as a part of the local connection, Scere told the CIB he is currently working on a project with Schmidt Associations, the convention center architect which has been retained by the CIB. The project is at Wright Quad on the Indiana University campus.

CIB members are supposed to turn in their scores to JS Held’s Deb Kunce by the end of the week. She will average the scores, factor in price, and deliver to the CIB a recommended “best value” for its June 12 meeting to consider.