Unknown Speaker
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren from WFIU WTIU News. This week. It's the first week of the month. And as always, I'm joined by Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop. Hello, and welcome. Welcome, Joe, good to be here. Well, I think everyone is kind of talking about wanting to know about this winter storm that's approaching, of course, it's changing. Yesterday, we were talking about would be four inches and the Bloomington Columbus area now I'm hearing maybe up to seven inches. But I think it's still early, what are you hearing? And is the city preparing for the winter storm?
Unknown Speaker
Well, there's plenty of jokes in there about weatherman, you know, and, and the accuracy of their forecasts. And so we're sort of seeing the pitch them head to themselves all across the board. But right now, what we're expecting, or what we're being told to expect are met this morning, with our Department of Public Works. Rain on Wednesday, and then over the night of that will, temperatures will drop, and that will convert to sleet, and then to ice, and then to snow. And so we just have to wait and see in terms of the volume, you know how much we get of all that, you know, we've been we've seen or heard three inches to 12 inches. So again, the numbers, you know, the activity bounces around a little bit. But the bottom line is that our DPW folks are, you know, prepared. I mean, they've identified a number of contingencies. They've identified the people who would would act or react as drivers. And not only includes folks in the Department of Public Works, but some utilities, crews and parks department crews. I mean, if the snow gets big enough, it's not adequate to just push it to the side, you know, we've got to get some front end loaders out there and, and actually pick up snow and take it down to the White River and dump it in there. But we've identified the crews that will be assigned and they've all been put on notice that they are on call all weekend. So So yeah, so everybody's watching just to see what happens. And we'll like I said, Well, we'll react is the, I guess appropriate word to whatever conditions come about. It'll be difficult for us because we can't prepare me can't put any kind of product down in advance of the storm because it would all be washed away. Or with pith covered with ice. Sometimes we have to scrape the ice and move the product to the side of the road as well. So it'll be a little bit of a challenge. But our guys are our guys are prepped and ready to go. And they told me to we got 900 tons of salt. And we've got 700 tons on order. By you know, the the the demand is pretty consistent across the Midwest and particularly out east. You know, so, you know, we're trying to, to get that stuff delivered. And it's a challenge, you know, but I think 900 times good is through this weekend, and then we'll we'll see what happens.
Unknown Speaker
Is that a I was gonna ask about that. Is that just a salt? Or is it a mixture of Brian and I it's like every city or county uses sand or something different?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, we do not use sand. They were concerned that they'll fill up the wastewater Stormwater drains. And so we don't use any sand in our mix. The county for Bartholomew county used to use sand but I've heard that they're not going to do that this year, just using the salt. The brine works well. When when you can get it down at the appropriate time. But I don't think that's on the agenda for this storm.
Unknown Speaker
Quick update on, you know, COVID numbers have seemed to plateau and maybe a slight decrease in some areas. But you know, good news, although we're still talking that we're at that kind of all time high. Maybe I don't know seeing some post holiday numbers now coming down. And just any more information, any new data that you're getting any more vaccination clinics or testing clinics, maybe that are open that people should know about?
Unknown Speaker
No, we're trying to do what we can to open up the the avenue for testing. It seems like we've got a lot of people who get the sniffles. And you want to check to see if they've got COVID. And I appreciate that because it means that they've got some care and concern, not just for them, but for the people around them. And that's something we've been preaching since they started but but the numbers that we're seeing, as you sort of alluded to, they tend to bear out what we had been told early on, which is that with respect to Homer cron, we would see a spike a sudden, you know, ramp up of infections and hospitalizations. And we saw that and so what we're hoping to see is what they've seen in the UK and some other countries where, you know, following the spike is a quick plateau and then, you know, a precipitous drop. And so we're hopeful that, you know that that leads to these as to, you know, the same result. But we're just cautiously optimistic at this time, I really feel badly for the healthcare professionals in our community, I think that they're being asked to do a significant amount of work. And I know it's been taxing and challenging for them. So I appreciate it. I hope they understand how truly appreciated they are, by those of us who are, you know, watching what they're doing and encouraging, you know, everybody else to get masked and vaccinated, even though sometimes that falls on deaf ears, I think we're one of somewhere in Bartholomew County, somewhere around 58%. of the eligible people are vast, but we need to do better. But sooner or later, it's, it's going to wash through here and, and we'll be moving on. But my sense is, well, I say we'll be moving on well, we'll be moving on with an increased realization of how difficult a disease this can be, and what it can do to to you, as an individual, and by extension to the family and friends that you've got around. So not unlike influenza, like some of the other childhood diseases that we're familiar with. I think we're going to live with this for a while. And hopefully people will, you know, change their attitudes with respect to vaccinations,
Unknown Speaker
any update or been able to spend the American relief plan funds or any direction given on how to start allocating that?
Unknown Speaker
I don't think we've got any update. We announced a few weeks ago, what the city had planned to do with the dollars allocated to it just don't have that handy. But But yeah, we have taken a look at that we've there was an article in the paper today about what the county has spent, and we're on a little bit different track, part of what we've been advised to do is to hang on to some of the money in anticipation that there may be another twist in the road, you know, coming up. And so we've announced our plans and nothing new, you know, on that.
Unknown Speaker
We've been reporting, the final group of Afghan evacuees have left Camp Atterbury, just from your perspective, and what you've heard, I know you're Columbus, the cities is pretty close down the road, there is 65, what have you heard anything about how that process went? How the state handle that, and then how much Columbus and the city got involved?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the court in the city of Columbus really didn't get involved at all. For us, it was kind of or almost a non event. And that really isn't where we had expected to go, we expected to be involved we expected to be asked to to help, you know, participate in it, the not necessarily the welcoming, but the the integration of these people into our society here in the United States. And, and that asked never came. Now there were a few churches here in town that reached out and adopted a couple families, if that's the right word. And I understand that that's, you know, that's moving forward. And these are folks who already have some level of English proficiency, and needed a little bit of help in terms of trying to figure out how to navigate life in Columbus, Indiana. But from in terms of the effect on our community, really was pretty minimal, you know, we didn't get much in the way of the impact of reports, you know, what was going on, and add a bearing. So, the fact that it said it came and it went, you know, without a lot of dislocation for among locals, I think is something that we can be very pleased about the people who I did have a chance to, to interact with some of the army personnel that are stationed out there. I mean, these are very capable people. And, you know, they were given a rather difficult task at almost the last minute. And, and it just sort of showed, you know, how, how capable they are. They were able to, to arrange for housing and to arrange for medical care and food and whatnot. And, you know, got those people processed and, and relocated throughout the country.
Unknown Speaker
Any any, any indication about how many were able to find work and housing there in Columbus?
Unknown Speaker
No, I was told three families. So I couldn't tell you whether that's 12 people we were 20 Or three, I don't know.
Unknown Speaker
You know, I'm anxious to hear more on what you know about last time. You did a really good job of explaining the business personal property tax cuts that were being proposed at the Indiana General Assembly. And I asked Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett and Bloomington John Hamilton the same and I don't know you guys are all on board, and on those cuts with no replacement funds. So it's been a month since we talked and I know the House bill passed. But has anything else changed?
Unknown Speaker
Not that I know of. I mean, I think there were a few minor tweaks to the House bill. But my understanding is that in the Senate, there's a little bit more of a, I would, from my perspective, as a mayor, I will say correct understanding, but, you know, every Everybody's got their own perspective, but at least an understanding that the rug you pull out from under not be somebody else's something, something somebody else's standing on. And so that notion is kind of welcome here. You know, we've been told and I don't know how accurate this information is, but it would cost the Bartholomew county taxing entity several million dollars, if, if that went away. And so if the change what if, excuse me, if the 30% that's being discussed, what to zero? And again, I you know, that's a, it's a really difficult number to model. I mean, I spent a career, you know, in the tax area, and I've seen it from the taxpayer side. And it's a it's a difficult tax to administer, I must admit that. And from a, from a practitioners perspective, it would make sense for me, to me for it to go away. But we just can't end it in one year. I mean, that would be a severe dislocation, not only to the city, but the county, the schools, the library, you know, any place that receives tax receipts from the tax on business, personal property, we've got a TIF district that is funded entirely by business, personal property tax. And so, you know, there none of those questions were answered with respect to well, what do we do? You know, how do we manage, you know, what you've left us. And so with? What I guess I've learned is that it looks like some cooler heads are going to prevail in the, in the Senate. And we'll just have to wait and see how that all turns out.
Unknown Speaker
I was talking with municipal consultant DAX Norton in Nashville, and he's Teves, he was more concerned about a Senate bill that would about food, and it's the food and beverage tax and about them sunsetting that tax after 20 years. And he, of course, Nashville, Brown County us heavily, because a lot of their money through tourism. And I would assume Columbus, the same Have you have you looked into that? At
Unknown Speaker
all, I really haven't followed that we don't have a food and beverage tax. And so for us, it's a little bit out of sight, out of mind. But in general, I mean, that's you get that notion from time to time at the General Assembly, which is that, you know, you the people who live in a particular area may have made a decision that they deem is in their best interests. And, you know, here comes somebody from the General Assembly who, you know, deems it not to be in their best interest. And so, you know, they think they can they can override, and they can I mean, it's certainly within their realm of opportunity, that authority, but to sunset attacks like that, after 20 years is that make much common sense to me. I mean, if if the voters in a particular area want that tax to go away, all they have to do is elect people who will make that tax go away. I mean, they don't need a directive from from on high. At the same time, you know, that that particular tax kind of makes some sense. I mean, you again, we would not pursued it here, and we're following the county, but I would tell you, it's a bit of an elective tax, it's only charged on prepared foods. And so if you don't eat prepared foods, you know, if you buy your foods at the grocery store and fix them yourself, prepare them yourself, but you don't pay the tax. So to a certain extent, there's an element that most people appreciate, which is that I can choose to pay or not. It's generally a small tax appoint a percentage, you know, so if you've got a $5 meal at a fast food restaurant, it's, it's a nickel, and and again, so it's a tax that not a lot of people will even notice, not to say that that makes it right. I mean, it's just saying that you notice your property taxes on your house, okay, you notice your income taxes that come taken out of your paycheck, this one is pretty as much less consequential, and a good portion of it, as we we anticipate is paid by people who don't live here, you know, people who are visiting and passing through and therefore they are able to finance some of the improvements that that that that that tax pays for. And so there's a variety of arguments in favor of it. That's why you've got several of them around the around the state. But just to pick a number out of the sky and say it's going to go away after 20 years is you know, well, hard to understand.
Unknown Speaker
I guess you can kind of say the same about the innkeepers tax,
Unknown Speaker
right? Yeah, we do have an innkeepers tax, and yeah, it did funds, you know, activities related to visitors. And again, it's it's not paid generally by the people who live here it's paid by people who visit here. And it's selective. I mean, you, you don't I would never want to admit this out loud, but you don't have to stay in for phone accounting, right. I mean, if that's a problem, maybe there's a county that does not charge that, although I'm pretty confident they're very few. But it likewise, I mean, we use that to fund certain activities. And it's really hard for me to think that we're going to go tell the visitor center that they've got a cease operation after 20 years. It just does not make sense. And
Unknown Speaker
I know looking ahead to the conference center that you're planning on building, is that part of the funding coming from the innkeepers tax?
Unknown Speaker
No, no, that would be funded by the property taxes that are generated by the, by the facility.
Unknown Speaker
And from what I understand that all is starting to come together, we're very early in that. But the court services building, also known as the probation department has a opening coming up soon. And that frees up space for the new conference center.
Unknown Speaker
Is that right? Right. Yeah, the dominoes are starting to fall, you know, in terms of our downtown development. You're right, we have a building under construction right now, that is south of the jail. And it will house a court services department or who we commonly refer to it as the probation department. That activity Probation Department is currently occupying a building at third in Lafayette. So when we move into or when the probation department moves into the new building, which we expect sometime around May 1, then we will move to demolish the old building at the corner of third and Lafayette, we anticipate being able to move on Hotel Conference Center and parking garage on that block sometime this year. But, you know, it's still kind of hung up in the COVID fog. You know, business travel is still a little bit of an unknown, and we expect business travel to be a big proponent or a big portion of what goes on in that facility. So it may take us a while yet to, you know, and unravel all that and figure out what the the new economic modeling looks like so, so we will we do have the money and we will tear down the old building, it will be without a tenant. And without any occupancy, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to keep it there becomes more of an eyesore than any kind of an asset. So we will, we will move to do that. And if nothing else, we'll just let people park on that for for a while.
Unknown Speaker
Speaking again, of the Conference Center, can you kind of go by what other tourism and hotels and maybe even Of course, you know, the Commons, which is a huge facility there in downtown Columbus, you know, the effective use of of that, and how that can maybe compare to what a conference center could do?
Unknown Speaker
Well, it's it's a tough question to answer. But what we've done is, you know, talk to some people who are in that business, there's consultants as well as developers. And then you also talked to the folks at Marriott and Hilton, I mean, they obviously, you know, understand what the various needs are. And from that you estimate the number of keys or rooms, you know, that you have, and I want to say we were somewhere around 250, which is a pretty good sized place, a lot of the places you see out at the interstate, you know, can be 100 plus or minus in terms of rooms. But they also estimate for US based upon the activities that we used to have with the Clarion and just sort of what they know, you know, in terms of how they assess the local business, travel climate, what size ballroom we ought to have, and I want to say we were focused on 9000 Square feet, which is which will adequately handle 600. You know, roundtables with now say eight seats of table could could be 10. But that at any rate, you know, everything is sort of sized, you know, to kind of sort of fit together. There were four breakout rooms, and I'm for drawing a blank on the size of those rooms. But, you know, the opportunity was to provide for, you know, smaller meeting spaces, and like I say, for breakouts if a group wanted to do that. So basically what you're talking about, in general is a regional type Conference, which is distinguishable as I've learned from a convention or an event, you know, so the comments that we have here in Columbus is suitable for any event, you know, there's really only one activity that you can do at a time. It's all got to be in that one big room. You can sort of break up into, you know, subgroups but you're in the one you're still in the same room. You know, you have enabled been able to date any, any advantage by Trying to cloister up in a in an individual room as in a conference, excuse me going to convention, you may have multiple activities underway at the same time. You know, you could have two or three groups so they're all meeting and you know, never the twain shall meet kind of thing at a conference center where we will be, we would expect to have a larger group. In many cases, a regional one. The Clarion was was a good draw for groups across the state of Indiana. Columbus is not in the middle of the state like Indianapolis, but we're close to it. And and we've got a few amenities here that people enjoy. I mean, not just the architecture, but you know, some of the the comments or the the playground associated with it, Zuhair, COEs, you know, those were always things that people enjoy visiting. So we were able to draw those kinds of crowds. We'd like to get back into that business but, but nonetheless, we sort of got to get through where, where we started the conversation, which is the, you know, the Omicron variant on this pandemic, and get a feel for what level of business travel we can anticipate. And then from that, you know, make some decisions about how you size, the hotel, how you size, the conference center, and then of course, how you pay for it.
Unknown Speaker
We just have a couple of minutes left, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to give us an update on I know there's some a lot going on with the Urban grocer and apartments downtown. And of course, next is park that we've gotten a couple emails from from viewers and listeners as well.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, the Domino's as I mentioned, the downtown here have begun to topple over or at least to wiggle and the apartment and urban grocers one of those along that line. On the 26th of January, which is not on one day last week, we were able to close on the transfer of land to the developer, Florian Collins, and we were able to close on some bonds that were needed to, to help fund the construction of what will go on there. They will begin here, oh, within about a month, they're going to move. I don't know if it was 60 tons, or 60 tracks, I know the numbers tend to tend to run together, we're going to bring in a lot of filters. There are some places in that on that site. That will all begin here. As I said around March 1, maybe a little bit later, they'll start construction, we will get somewhere around 200 apartments in that facility along with a small grocery store. And when I say small, I mean I'm talking 12 to 15,000 square feet. So we don't know yet who the operator will be that's flirty and Collins they're going to be the landlord. So it's it's a bit of who the who they decide to lease to. But But yeah, we're anticipating, you know, being able to see more real equipment than then not not just on on the court services building site, but over there at the apartment, urban grocer. And that will follow along pretty shortly after that with what we call the 1821 Trail, which is, you know, legacy project from the Bicentennial that we had, but really is just a rebuild of first street from the site on Lafayette Street East toward excuse me west, towards the railroad track and data Water Street. You mentioned Nexus Park, and yes, we're moving forward there as well. We have got several public meetings lined up that will start I want to say February 15 and go on out from there. We have retained the drawings was kidding me. We've got conceptual drawings, you get something, there's a certain lingo that goes with this and I sometimes get turned up with it turned around with it. But we have the conceptual drawings. This morning at the Board of Public Works, we approved to issue a request for qualifications. This will go to companies that may be interested in a design and build contract. Once we get responses to the RFQ. We'll evaluate those and those responders who are deemed to be capable and for lack of a better word, they'll be asked to bid on design and build process that will build the field house and do some interior renovations there at the mall. So So yeah, we're moving forward. And again, you want to look at in terms of Domino's will begin to see some of those drop next in two weeks on 15th.
Unknown Speaker
All right, the time always goes by so fast. So much going on in Columbus. Really appreciate your time. And hope to see you again next month. Thank you Take care and those listening don't forget you can submit your question to news at Indiana public media.org Or join us on Twitter. Ask the mayor See you next month. Bye
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren from WFIU WTIU News. This week. It's the first week of the month. And as always, I'm joined by Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop. Hello, and welcome. Welcome, Joe, good to be here. Well, I think everyone is kind of talking about wanting to know about this winter storm that's approaching, of course, it's changing. Yesterday, we were talking about would be four inches and the Bloomington Columbus area now I'm hearing maybe up to seven inches. But I think it's still early, what are you hearing? And is the city preparing for the winter storm?
Unknown Speaker
Well, there's plenty of jokes in there about weatherman, you know, and, and the accuracy of their forecasts. And so we're sort of seeing the pitch them head to themselves all across the board. But right now, what we're expecting, or what we're being told to expect are met this morning, with our Department of Public Works. Rain on Wednesday, and then over the night of that will, temperatures will drop, and that will convert to sleet, and then to ice, and then to snow. And so we just have to wait and see in terms of the volume, you know how much we get of all that, you know, we've been we've seen or heard three inches to 12 inches. So again, the numbers, you know, the activity bounces around a little bit. But the bottom line is that our DPW folks are, you know, prepared. I mean, they've identified a number of contingencies. They've identified the people who would would act or react as drivers. And not only includes folks in the Department of Public Works, but some utilities, crews and parks department crews. I mean, if the snow gets big enough, it's not adequate to just push it to the side, you know, we've got to get some front end loaders out there and, and actually pick up snow and take it down to the White River and dump it in there. But we've identified the crews that will be assigned and they've all been put on notice that they are on call all weekend. So So yeah, so everybody's watching just to see what happens. And we'll like I said, Well, we'll react is the, I guess appropriate word to whatever conditions come about. It'll be difficult for us because we can't prepare me can't put any kind of product down in advance of the storm because it would all be washed away. Or with pith covered with ice. Sometimes we have to scrape the ice and move the product to the side of the road as well. So it'll be a little bit of a challenge. But our guys are our guys are prepped and ready to go. And they told me to we got 900 tons of salt. And we've got 700 tons on order. By you know, the the the demand is pretty consistent across the Midwest and particularly out east. You know, so, you know, we're trying to, to get that stuff delivered. And it's a challenge, you know, but I think 900 times good is through this weekend, and then we'll we'll see what happens.
Unknown Speaker
Is that a I was gonna ask about that. Is that just a salt? Or is it a mixture of Brian and I it's like every city or county uses sand or something different?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, we do not use sand. They were concerned that they'll fill up the wastewater Stormwater drains. And so we don't use any sand in our mix. The county for Bartholomew county used to use sand but I've heard that they're not going to do that this year, just using the salt. The brine works well. When when you can get it down at the appropriate time. But I don't think that's on the agenda for this storm.
Unknown Speaker
Quick update on, you know, COVID numbers have seemed to plateau and maybe a slight decrease in some areas. But you know, good news, although we're still talking that we're at that kind of all time high. Maybe I don't know seeing some post holiday numbers now coming down. And just any more information, any new data that you're getting any more vaccination clinics or testing clinics, maybe that are open that people should know about?
Unknown Speaker
No, we're trying to do what we can to open up the the avenue for testing. It seems like we've got a lot of people who get the sniffles. And you want to check to see if they've got COVID. And I appreciate that because it means that they've got some care and concern, not just for them, but for the people around them. And that's something we've been preaching since they started but but the numbers that we're seeing, as you sort of alluded to, they tend to bear out what we had been told early on, which is that with respect to Homer cron, we would see a spike a sudden, you know, ramp up of infections and hospitalizations. And we saw that and so what we're hoping to see is what they've seen in the UK and some other countries where, you know, following the spike is a quick plateau and then, you know, a precipitous drop. And so we're hopeful that, you know that that leads to these as to, you know, the same result. But we're just cautiously optimistic at this time, I really feel badly for the healthcare professionals in our community, I think that they're being asked to do a significant amount of work. And I know it's been taxing and challenging for them. So I appreciate it. I hope they understand how truly appreciated they are, by those of us who are, you know, watching what they're doing and encouraging, you know, everybody else to get masked and vaccinated, even though sometimes that falls on deaf ears, I think we're one of somewhere in Bartholomew County, somewhere around 58%. of the eligible people are vast, but we need to do better. But sooner or later, it's, it's going to wash through here and, and we'll be moving on. But my sense is, well, I say we'll be moving on well, we'll be moving on with an increased realization of how difficult a disease this can be, and what it can do to to you, as an individual, and by extension to the family and friends that you've got around. So not unlike influenza, like some of the other childhood diseases that we're familiar with. I think we're going to live with this for a while. And hopefully people will, you know, change their attitudes with respect to vaccinations,
Unknown Speaker
any update or been able to spend the American relief plan funds or any direction given on how to start allocating that?
Unknown Speaker
I don't think we've got any update. We announced a few weeks ago, what the city had planned to do with the dollars allocated to it just don't have that handy. But But yeah, we have taken a look at that we've there was an article in the paper today about what the county has spent, and we're on a little bit different track, part of what we've been advised to do is to hang on to some of the money in anticipation that there may be another twist in the road, you know, coming up. And so we've announced our plans and nothing new, you know, on that.
Unknown Speaker
We've been reporting, the final group of Afghan evacuees have left Camp Atterbury, just from your perspective, and what you've heard, I know you're Columbus, the cities is pretty close down the road, there is 65, what have you heard anything about how that process went? How the state handle that, and then how much Columbus and the city got involved?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the court in the city of Columbus really didn't get involved at all. For us, it was kind of or almost a non event. And that really isn't where we had expected to go, we expected to be involved we expected to be asked to to help, you know, participate in it, the not necessarily the welcoming, but the the integration of these people into our society here in the United States. And, and that asked never came. Now there were a few churches here in town that reached out and adopted a couple families, if that's the right word. And I understand that that's, you know, that's moving forward. And these are folks who already have some level of English proficiency, and needed a little bit of help in terms of trying to figure out how to navigate life in Columbus, Indiana. But from in terms of the effect on our community, really was pretty minimal, you know, we didn't get much in the way of the impact of reports, you know, what was going on, and add a bearing. So, the fact that it said it came and it went, you know, without a lot of dislocation for among locals, I think is something that we can be very pleased about the people who I did have a chance to, to interact with some of the army personnel that are stationed out there. I mean, these are very capable people. And, you know, they were given a rather difficult task at almost the last minute. And, and it just sort of showed, you know, how, how capable they are. They were able to, to arrange for housing and to arrange for medical care and food and whatnot. And, you know, got those people processed and, and relocated throughout the country.
Unknown Speaker
Any any, any indication about how many were able to find work and housing there in Columbus?
Unknown Speaker
No, I was told three families. So I couldn't tell you whether that's 12 people we were 20 Or three, I don't know.
Unknown Speaker
You know, I'm anxious to hear more on what you know about last time. You did a really good job of explaining the business personal property tax cuts that were being proposed at the Indiana General Assembly. And I asked Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett and Bloomington John Hamilton the same and I don't know you guys are all on board, and on those cuts with no replacement funds. So it's been a month since we talked and I know the House bill passed. But has anything else changed?
Unknown Speaker
Not that I know of. I mean, I think there were a few minor tweaks to the House bill. But my understanding is that in the Senate, there's a little bit more of a, I would, from my perspective, as a mayor, I will say correct understanding, but, you know, every Everybody's got their own perspective, but at least an understanding that the rug you pull out from under not be somebody else's something, something somebody else's standing on. And so that notion is kind of welcome here. You know, we've been told and I don't know how accurate this information is, but it would cost the Bartholomew county taxing entity several million dollars, if, if that went away. And so if the change what if, excuse me, if the 30% that's being discussed, what to zero? And again, I you know, that's a, it's a really difficult number to model. I mean, I spent a career, you know, in the tax area, and I've seen it from the taxpayer side. And it's a it's a difficult tax to administer, I must admit that. And from a, from a practitioners perspective, it would make sense for me, to me for it to go away. But we just can't end it in one year. I mean, that would be a severe dislocation, not only to the city, but the county, the schools, the library, you know, any place that receives tax receipts from the tax on business, personal property, we've got a TIF district that is funded entirely by business, personal property tax. And so, you know, there none of those questions were answered with respect to well, what do we do? You know, how do we manage, you know, what you've left us. And so with? What I guess I've learned is that it looks like some cooler heads are going to prevail in the, in the Senate. And we'll just have to wait and see how that all turns out.
Unknown Speaker
I was talking with municipal consultant DAX Norton in Nashville, and he's Teves, he was more concerned about a Senate bill that would about food, and it's the food and beverage tax and about them sunsetting that tax after 20 years. And he, of course, Nashville, Brown County us heavily, because a lot of their money through tourism. And I would assume Columbus, the same Have you have you looked into that? At
Unknown Speaker
all, I really haven't followed that we don't have a food and beverage tax. And so for us, it's a little bit out of sight, out of mind. But in general, I mean, that's you get that notion from time to time at the General Assembly, which is that, you know, you the people who live in a particular area may have made a decision that they deem is in their best interests. And, you know, here comes somebody from the General Assembly who, you know, deems it not to be in their best interest. And so, you know, they think they can they can override, and they can I mean, it's certainly within their realm of opportunity, that authority, but to sunset attacks like that, after 20 years is that make much common sense to me. I mean, if if the voters in a particular area want that tax to go away, all they have to do is elect people who will make that tax go away. I mean, they don't need a directive from from on high. At the same time, you know, that that particular tax kind of makes some sense. I mean, you again, we would not pursued it here, and we're following the county, but I would tell you, it's a bit of an elective tax, it's only charged on prepared foods. And so if you don't eat prepared foods, you know, if you buy your foods at the grocery store and fix them yourself, prepare them yourself, but you don't pay the tax. So to a certain extent, there's an element that most people appreciate, which is that I can choose to pay or not. It's generally a small tax appoint a percentage, you know, so if you've got a $5 meal at a fast food restaurant, it's, it's a nickel, and and again, so it's a tax that not a lot of people will even notice, not to say that that makes it right. I mean, it's just saying that you notice your property taxes on your house, okay, you notice your income taxes that come taken out of your paycheck, this one is pretty as much less consequential, and a good portion of it, as we we anticipate is paid by people who don't live here, you know, people who are visiting and passing through and therefore they are able to finance some of the improvements that that that that that tax pays for. And so there's a variety of arguments in favor of it. That's why you've got several of them around the around the state. But just to pick a number out of the sky and say it's going to go away after 20 years is you know, well, hard to understand.
Unknown Speaker
I guess you can kind of say the same about the innkeepers tax,
Unknown Speaker
right? Yeah, we do have an innkeepers tax, and yeah, it did funds, you know, activities related to visitors. And again, it's it's not paid generally by the people who live here it's paid by people who visit here. And it's selective. I mean, you, you don't I would never want to admit this out loud, but you don't have to stay in for phone accounting, right. I mean, if that's a problem, maybe there's a county that does not charge that, although I'm pretty confident they're very few. But it likewise, I mean, we use that to fund certain activities. And it's really hard for me to think that we're going to go tell the visitor center that they've got a cease operation after 20 years. It just does not make sense. And
Unknown Speaker
I know looking ahead to the conference center that you're planning on building, is that part of the funding coming from the innkeepers tax?
Unknown Speaker
No, no, that would be funded by the property taxes that are generated by the, by the facility.
Unknown Speaker
And from what I understand that all is starting to come together, we're very early in that. But the court services building, also known as the probation department has a opening coming up soon. And that frees up space for the new conference center.
Unknown Speaker
Is that right? Right. Yeah, the dominoes are starting to fall, you know, in terms of our downtown development. You're right, we have a building under construction right now, that is south of the jail. And it will house a court services department or who we commonly refer to it as the probation department. That activity Probation Department is currently occupying a building at third in Lafayette. So when we move into or when the probation department moves into the new building, which we expect sometime around May 1, then we will move to demolish the old building at the corner of third and Lafayette, we anticipate being able to move on Hotel Conference Center and parking garage on that block sometime this year. But, you know, it's still kind of hung up in the COVID fog. You know, business travel is still a little bit of an unknown, and we expect business travel to be a big proponent or a big portion of what goes on in that facility. So it may take us a while yet to, you know, and unravel all that and figure out what the the new economic modeling looks like so, so we will we do have the money and we will tear down the old building, it will be without a tenant. And without any occupancy, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to keep it there becomes more of an eyesore than any kind of an asset. So we will, we will move to do that. And if nothing else, we'll just let people park on that for for a while.
Unknown Speaker
Speaking again, of the Conference Center, can you kind of go by what other tourism and hotels and maybe even Of course, you know, the Commons, which is a huge facility there in downtown Columbus, you know, the effective use of of that, and how that can maybe compare to what a conference center could do?
Unknown Speaker
Well, it's it's a tough question to answer. But what we've done is, you know, talk to some people who are in that business, there's consultants as well as developers. And then you also talked to the folks at Marriott and Hilton, I mean, they obviously, you know, understand what the various needs are. And from that you estimate the number of keys or rooms, you know, that you have, and I want to say we were somewhere around 250, which is a pretty good sized place, a lot of the places you see out at the interstate, you know, can be 100 plus or minus in terms of rooms. But they also estimate for US based upon the activities that we used to have with the Clarion and just sort of what they know, you know, in terms of how they assess the local business, travel climate, what size ballroom we ought to have, and I want to say we were focused on 9000 Square feet, which is which will adequately handle 600. You know, roundtables with now say eight seats of table could could be 10. But that at any rate, you know, everything is sort of sized, you know, to kind of sort of fit together. There were four breakout rooms, and I'm for drawing a blank on the size of those rooms. But, you know, the opportunity was to provide for, you know, smaller meeting spaces, and like I say, for breakouts if a group wanted to do that. So basically what you're talking about, in general is a regional type Conference, which is distinguishable as I've learned from a convention or an event, you know, so the comments that we have here in Columbus is suitable for any event, you know, there's really only one activity that you can do at a time. It's all got to be in that one big room. You can sort of break up into, you know, subgroups but you're in the one you're still in the same room. You know, you have enabled been able to date any, any advantage by Trying to cloister up in a in an individual room as in a conference, excuse me going to convention, you may have multiple activities underway at the same time. You know, you could have two or three groups so they're all meeting and you know, never the twain shall meet kind of thing at a conference center where we will be, we would expect to have a larger group. In many cases, a regional one. The Clarion was was a good draw for groups across the state of Indiana. Columbus is not in the middle of the state like Indianapolis, but we're close to it. And and we've got a few amenities here that people enjoy. I mean, not just the architecture, but you know, some of the the comments or the the playground associated with it, Zuhair, COEs, you know, those were always things that people enjoy visiting. So we were able to draw those kinds of crowds. We'd like to get back into that business but, but nonetheless, we sort of got to get through where, where we started the conversation, which is the, you know, the Omicron variant on this pandemic, and get a feel for what level of business travel we can anticipate. And then from that, you know, make some decisions about how you size, the hotel, how you size, the conference center, and then of course, how you pay for it.
Unknown Speaker
We just have a couple of minutes left, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to give us an update on I know there's some a lot going on with the Urban grocer and apartments downtown. And of course, next is park that we've gotten a couple emails from from viewers and listeners as well.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, the Domino's as I mentioned, the downtown here have begun to topple over or at least to wiggle and the apartment and urban grocers one of those along that line. On the 26th of January, which is not on one day last week, we were able to close on the transfer of land to the developer, Florian Collins, and we were able to close on some bonds that were needed to, to help fund the construction of what will go on there. They will begin here, oh, within about a month, they're going to move. I don't know if it was 60 tons, or 60 tracks, I know the numbers tend to tend to run together, we're going to bring in a lot of filters. There are some places in that on that site. That will all begin here. As I said around March 1, maybe a little bit later, they'll start construction, we will get somewhere around 200 apartments in that facility along with a small grocery store. And when I say small, I mean I'm talking 12 to 15,000 square feet. So we don't know yet who the operator will be that's flirty and Collins they're going to be the landlord. So it's it's a bit of who the who they decide to lease to. But But yeah, we're anticipating, you know, being able to see more real equipment than then not not just on on the court services building site, but over there at the apartment, urban grocer. And that will follow along pretty shortly after that with what we call the 1821 Trail, which is, you know, legacy project from the Bicentennial that we had, but really is just a rebuild of first street from the site on Lafayette Street East toward excuse me west, towards the railroad track and data Water Street. You mentioned Nexus Park, and yes, we're moving forward there as well. We have got several public meetings lined up that will start I want to say February 15 and go on out from there. We have retained the drawings was kidding me. We've got conceptual drawings, you get something, there's a certain lingo that goes with this and I sometimes get turned up with it turned around with it. But we have the conceptual drawings. This morning at the Board of Public Works, we approved to issue a request for qualifications. This will go to companies that may be interested in a design and build contract. Once we get responses to the RFQ. We'll evaluate those and those responders who are deemed to be capable and for lack of a better word, they'll be asked to bid on design and build process that will build the field house and do some interior renovations there at the mall. So So yeah, we're moving forward. And again, you want to look at in terms of Domino's will begin to see some of those drop next in two weeks on 15th.
Unknown Speaker
All right, the time always goes by so fast. So much going on in Columbus. Really appreciate your time. And hope to see you again next month. Thank you Take care and those listening don't forget you can submit your question to news at Indiana public media.org Or join us on Twitter. Ask the mayor See you next month. Bye
