City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL JANUARY 13, 2014 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on January 13, 2014 in the Hammond City Council Chambers. Council President Michael Opinker presided. City Clerk Robert J. Golec facilitated. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited by all. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Markovich, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Uylaki, Higgs, Emerson, Hinojosa, Opinker ABSENT: None TOTAL: 9 Councilman Kalwinski, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved to open nominations for the election of 2014 Hammond City Council officers. Councilman Kalwinski opened nominations for President. Councilman Kalwinski nominated Councilman Michael Opinker. Council President Opinker - Any other nominations for President? Nominations are now closed. Councilman Kalwinski opened nominations for Vice President. Councilman Kalwinski nominated Dan Spitale for Vice President. Council President Opinker - Any other nominations for Vice President? Nominations are now closed. Council President Opinker - On the vote for President. All in favor? All opposed? AYES: ALL Council President Opinker - On the vote for Vice President. All in favor? All opposed? AYES: ALL Councilman Kalwinski, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to return to the regular order of business. AYES: ALL READING OF THE MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Kalwinski, moved to accept the minutes of December 9, 2013 and place on file. AYES: ALL Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Councilman Markovich, supported by Councilman Hinojosa, moved to accept the claims from December 4, 2013 through January 8, 2014. Claim #1 through claim #466, inclusive. ROLL CALL VOTE (approval) AYES: Markovich, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Uylaki, Higgs, Emerson, Hinojosa, Opinker NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 CLAIMS APPROVED PUBLIC HEARINGS None COMMUNICATIONS Councilman Higgs read correspondence from the Bethany Childcare and Development Center. Councilman Higgs read correspondence requesting donations for a family that lost everything in a fire. Councilman Higgs read a memo to the Council from the Engineering Department regarding the 2014 construction season. Councilman Higgs read correspondence from Gary Gleason regarding the consolidation. COMMITTEE REPORTS None ORDINANCE 3RD READING - FINAL PASSAGE None INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES 14-01 Repealing Ord. 7983 and Ord. 8022, also known as Section 33.02 of the Hammond Municipal Code Councilman Uylaki, supported by Councilman Kalwinski, moved that the proposed ordinance go to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee. AYES: ALL Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. 14-02 Amending Ord.’s 6049, 7472, 8620, 8638, 8669, 9181, 4611, 7593, 7931, 8537, 4977, 7931, 8537, 4977, 7931 and 5000, also known as Sec.’s 37.020, 37.025, 37.027 and 37.028 of the Hammond Municipal Code as it pertains to Employment Policies for Hammond Firefighters Councilman Uylaki, supported by Councilman Kalwinski, moved that the proposed ordinance go to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee. AYES: ALL Councilman Higgs - I know in caucus the Mayor said that he’s gonna present another proposal to the Fire Department but yet still initially when we did the budget, and I’d like to point that out, initially when the budget was presented before the council at one point I asked the Mayor, “Before we pass the budget, will this affect the firefighters negotiation?” The Mayor told me “no”. Now we’re here with ordinances to change the handbook. Initially had it been told to us that the negotiations weren’t final maybe some of the decisions that were made in the budget would have changed. Maybe not, that’s questionable. But yet still he told me at that point it wouldn’t affect anything and here we are now in the process of possibly having to change the rule book as it stands for the firemen in the city. That’s my main concern as it relates to this particular ordinance. Council President Opinker - All in favor? All opposed? AYES: 8 NAYS: 1 RESOLUTIONS 14R-01 Adopting and Approving an Interlocal Agreement for Consolidation of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in Lake County, IN Councilman Hinojosa, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for adoption. Councilman Hinojosa - This resolution is so that the seventeen 911's that we have right now, stations, would go down to two 911 stations. Councilman Higgs - I think initially with the consolidation with the Sheriff’s department I think this is the purpose of this were the cities have consolidated and made it more feasible for answering 911 calls. I guess this is putting it in force that Hammond is in agreement with the procedure and process. ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) AYES: Markovich, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Uylaki, Higgs, Emerson, Hinojosa, Opinker NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION R01 ADOPTED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 RESOLUTIONS cont. 14R-02 Confirming the Re-appointment of Heather N. Garay as a Commissioner of the Hammond Human Relations Commission Councilman Uylaki, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for adoption. Councilman Emerson - This is a reappointment of Atty. Garay and she is the attorney for the Human Relations Commission and has done a great job and I spoke with her, you all have her resume. We are mandated to have an attorney, I suppose, obvious reasons on the Human Relations Board. Councilman Higgs - We have a Commissioner in the audience, if we could allow him, I just have one question for him if it’s acceptable. Could we allow him to speak for a minute? Council President Opinker - Sure. Councilman Higgs - Mr. Cheeks, as it relates this attorney, how do you feel her capacity as leading in the Human relations in working with the Human Relations Commission? Commissioner Alvin Cheeks - Very talented young lady. I had the opportunity of traveling with Ms. Garay to Texas and participating and discussions with the Federal Government. Dealing with the Human Relations Commission is ver tough sometimes dealing with a lot of the issues that exist. A lot of the stuff that we do is confidential but I could tell you this, a lot of people get help because of having an attorney there and what the Hammond Human Relation does if that answers your question. Councilman Higgs - Thank you, Mr. Cheeks. ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) AYES: Markovich, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Uylaki, Higgs, Emerson, Hinojosa, Opinker NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION R02 ADOPTED NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilman Higgs, supported by Councilman Hinojosa, moved to send a letter to the Mayor’s Office, the Board of Works and the Law Department in regards to Bethany Childcare Development. There are some interested buyers in this particular property and if they would give them adequate time to see if they are totally interested in purchasing it and if they are, give them the opportunity to purchase the property and to redevelop it in my district, I so move. AYES: ALL LETTER SENT : January 14, 2014 Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Councilman Higgs read correspondence regarding INDOT and the condition of Cline Avenue. Councilwoman Venecz - I’d like to announce some upcoming Crime Watch Meetings. Thur., Jan. 16th Hessville C. W. Jean Shepherd Center 7:00 pm S. Ham’d C. W. 7:00 pm Tues., Jan. 21st E. Ham’d Pullman C.W. Ophelia Steen Center 6:30 pm Wed., Jan. 22nd Columbia C.W. 6:00 pm For those of you who are interested in knowing what’s going on in your neighborhood, I urge you to attend some of these meetings. Councilman Higgs - Certainly we all know that Dr. King’s celebration is on January 15th. Let us not forget the hard work that was put in as he was a leader and pioneer in civil rights active. I can truly say he has impacted my life in terms of fighting for civil rights and injustice in America. So certainly let us not forget Dr. King in his memorance. Councilwoman Venecz - At our last Council Meeting which was on December 9th, Ordinance 13-55 was introduced and ultimately passed transferring funds from several line items in the City Council’s budget. We needed to reduce the amount of money that was transferred by $9,300 due to a discrepancy. The discrepancy occurred when a $9,300 claim was pulled at the final meeting of 2012. That claim was ultimately approved in January of 2013 and that claim was paid from the funds of the 2013 budget. It was suggested that the funds were lost. They were not lost. It was an end of year snafu that we did not really address properly at the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. So I just wanted to clarify that. Councilman Higgs - I just want to add one other thing. I know that you are the president and I believe in respecting those that are in leadership capacity but as one of your colleagues I just ask that if Debbie is not gonna be present in the office, if we could just be notified. Because a lot of times there are issues that may come up in particular districts or things that need to be submitted in a timely matter and now that we only have one secretary serving nine people, it’s very important that at least we be notified. So I just ask that we be notified if she’s not gonna be present on a particular day, I know emergencies may occur and it may not happen all the time but if could, if we know that she’s not gonna be present or be in the building on a particular day if we could just be notified. Council President Opinker - Thank you, Councilman Higgs, I’ll take care of that. Councilman Markovich - That claim of $9,300, what was that for? Councilwoman Venecz - That was a claim that was pulled at the end of 2012. If I recall, it was a claim submitted by Atty. Berger. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont. Councilwoman Venecz - I wanted to thank our Public Works Department for the great job that they did during this recent storm. We have over 26 miles of roads to plow and we have over 25 thousand homes in the city of Hammond who each expect their street to be cleaned immediately. Mother nature didn’t give Public Works much of a break but I think they did a great job and I would just like to say thank you. Councilman Markovich - I can concur with Councilwoman Venecz and even the Mayor. I mean we got hit with a lot. A lot of us, you know, you can complain all you want but it’s an act of God, it’s an act of nature. I mean, I was stuck for a day and a half, couldn’t even get out and so forth and that. It’s tough to do, I mean especially for emergency personnel and everything and it’s just one of those things that we’re trying to do the best we can with what we have and that’s about it and people just have to realize that. Try and be patient. Like they told you, stay off the roads. Don’t go anywhere. You didn’t have to go anywhere because if you went somewhere you end up getting stuck. I mean a lot of businesses were closed and so forth, restaurants, and sometimes you just have to use common sense and just bear with it and then hopefully things will work out in the long run. I’m sure I’m not saying anything different from the Mayor, or I’m not speaking for the Mayor but for the Council. It was just a tough thing to do and a lot of people needed their snow shoveled. I was just telling Councilman Emerson, I couldn’t even clean the sidewalk from the front to the back of my house because of three foot snow drifts but I took the path of least resistence where the wind blew it and ended up digging a path on the grass and sometimes that’s the things you have to do. Winter’s not over yet but hopefully we won’t get too much more of this and from what I understand this has probably been the first time in twenty years, it’s the coldest weather we’ve had since twenty years is what they were saying on the newscast. PUBLIC EXPRESSION Ola Smith - In regards to snow removal, no, you did not do the best job that you could do. There were cars that were blocked in by the snow plows and then after being blocked in were ticketed. Col. Anthony Daggett - Encourages the Council for 2014 to try to project out as we move forward. The Mayor will be presenting his State of the City address giving us an idea of where the city has gone, where it’s currently, and where it will be going in the future. Maybe the Council might want to consider something along those lines, some projecting into 2014. Alvin Cheeks - Hammond has a problem with coyotes. They are making dens very close to the schools. Is in strong support of Bethany and would like to see their property get developed. He and a crew of volunteers helped many people with the snow with funds coming from a private donor. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JANUARY 13, 2014 PUBLIC EXPRESSION cont. Councilman Hinojosa, supported by Councilman Markovich, moved to adjourn. AYES: ALL Michael Opinker, President Hammond Common Council ATTEST: Robert J. Golec, City Clerk Minutes approved at the Common Council meeting of January 27, 2014. Time: 6:40 pm cb Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7