City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON co~NCIL JUNE 22, 2020 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on June 22, 2020 in the Hammond City Council Chambers. Council President Dave W oeipel presided Council Coordinator Carmen I. Balboa facilitated. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited by all. Invocation by Councilwoman Alexander. ROLL CALL ]?RESENT: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel ABSENT: Kalwinski TOTAL: 8 READING OF THE MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to accept the minutes of June 8, 2020 and place on file. AYES: ALL APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to approve the claims from June 11, 2020 through June 17, 2020. Claim #2649 through #2948, inclusive. ROLL CALL VOTE (claims) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Torres, Tyler, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS: None ABSENT: Kalwinski, Emerson Motion carried 7/0/2 CLAIMS APPROVED PUBLIC HEARINGS 20-09 An Ordinance Appropriating the proceeds of the CARES-ACT and dealing with other matters pertaining to the expenditures of the coronavirus-aid, relief, and economic security act (CARES­ ACT) Program No One Spoke COMMUNICATIONS Councilman Rakos- I received an email correspondence from a couple in my District and another one in my district seems to be a form letter, but I want it to go on the record. "Dear Council member Rakos, sir or Madam, I'm reaching out to your office as one of your local constituents with a very important issue. We want you to know that we stand 100% with our local police officers and do not wanna see any budget cuts to their Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON CdtJNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 Department. All police officers aren't perfect, but I know that a vast majority of police officers put their lives on COMMUNICATIONS cont. Councilman Rakos cont.- the line to protect us. Do not cut the budget or punish because of the tragedy that took place in Minneapolis. We work with our local police department to improve their practices, not to defund, but to defend the police." My response to them was there's no plan to defund the Hammond Police Department, my father was a police officer in this city for 36 years. Tonight's council meeting includes an ordinance to take a temporary loan out to supplement our budget in loss of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I hope you and other taxpayers support this. Councilman Tyler- I have several, just want to announce that the Hammond Parks and Recreation Department along with the Police Department and with the guidance of Mayor McDermott are happy to announce the return of Safety Village classes for children in Hammond's miniature village in Inwood Park which is behind the Hammond Civic Center, 5820 Sohl Avenue. The classes are free and will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am to 2pm from June 15, 2020 until August 7; 2020. And those classes are free and open to all Lake County children and will be taught by officers from the Hammond Police Department that will feature a neighborhood and traffic safety along with videos on bicycle safety. I know parents are looking for things for their kids can do this summer so that could be something to kinda keep your child's attention. The second announcement, communication, I have is from the Hammond Human Relations Commission, their next meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 24th at 4:30 p.m. and it will take place via Zoom. And the last announcement I have is from the Food Bank ofNWI. They're hosting their Food Bank across all ofNWI with locations in Merrillville, Valpo, Highland, Whiting and then the last one will take place on Tuesday, June 30, 7047 Grand Avenue in Hammond. That is the USW Local 100. If you want more information you can visit the Food Banks Website. That's foodbanknwi.org/market. Thank you. Councilwoman Alexander- As of today we have 833 positive cases in the City of Hammond with 19 deaths this number is almost doubled from last month on May 18, we had 490 cases with 15 deaths as the weather is continuing to warm up and families want to get together and go to restaurants and stores. I just want to personally remind our residents to continue to mask up, continue to use hand sanitizer, and stay safe as we' re still fighting this pandemic. It's not over yet. COMMITTEE REPORTS Council as a Whole Committee - Councilmen Spitale - Brought out 20-09. Councilwoman Venecz- Due to the current situation the Crime Watch groups haven't been meeting. We did have a virtual meeting a couple of weeks ago and I do believe that we 're going to be looking into doing another virtual meeting because we're unable to use the facilities that we have in the past for Crime Watch Meetings. At this point Mt. Zion Pleasant View Plaza, Silver Birch and Golden Manor Senior Apartments will not be available for any of us to get in to meet with the Seniors. And the Ophelia Steen Center is not going open until September, for meetings, and that is where the East Hammond Pullman Crime Watch meet. Edison Community Watch and Irving Community and Whiting-Robertsdale, all meet at schools, and they're not making their facilities available to outside meetings. So we're going to have to figure out what we're going to do with that. I do know that Harrison Park Crime Watch has got a go ahead from the VFW and they will be scheduling a meeting soon. The Hessville Crime Watch will meet on July 16, 2020 at the Jei;tnShepard Center at 7p.m. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON cdtJNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 Pulaski Park Neighborhood Association hasn't heard from the American Legion just yet so they're not sure of COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Councilwoman Venecz cont- the future of those meetings. South Hammond Crime Watch will be able to meet at the Hammond Housing Authority building and the announcement will be made shortly as to when that meeting will take place. And the South Hohman Neighborhood Crime Watch will meet at Trinity Lutheran Church on September 24, 2020. So that is the update that I have for you on the Crime Watch Meetings. We never expected this situation to continue as long as it has quite honestly we weren't prepared for alternate meetings I think that as I said earlier we will probably schedule another virtual meeting in the not too distant future so we can keep all of our residents informed. Council President Woerpel- Finance Committee will be introducing Ordinance 20-10 tonight. It'll be explained by title. It's basically a Tax Anticipation Warrant because of the delay in the property tax collections and it'll be coming before us tonight on 1st and 2nd reading. My committee report from the Parks is that 2019 projects, where 2019 dollars were allocated, those projects are beginning to move forward. I believe I was told that they're back to work on the Park over there. Councilman Torres- I applied but it hasn't been confirmed by the Board of Works. Council President Woerpel- I know as far as Dowling Park went there was a fish order, as long as there is 2019 gaming dollars available our projects in parks will move forward. My understanding is that I'm broke so I'm not gonna move that much further. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING- FINAL PASSAGE 20-09 An Ordinance Appropriating the proceeds of the CARES-ACT and dealing with other matters pertaining to the expenditures of the corona virus aid, relief, and economic security act (CARES­ A CT) Program Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Rakos, moved for passage. Councilman Spitale- If anyone has any questions here we have Anne Anderson and Owana Miller here to answer any questions. Council President Woerpel- Well, it's my understanding, as we discussed in the Committee Hearing, that this Ordinance is for ... Anne can you come up and explain? Anne Anderson, Director of Economic Development- So, the City of Hammond will receive $1.89 million from HUD through the CARES-ACT. $635,000 will go to ESG Funds for sheltering, 4 shelters will be receiving that money along with some Admin fees. $1.27 million of that will be going to CDBG COVID CARES Funds and 6 recipients will be receiving that fund, and of those 6, the Economic Development Department here in the City of Hammond has created a small business Resiliency Program to help for profit businesses in Hammond get through this pandemic just fine. Prepared by. Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON.c&tlNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 Council President Woerpel- As it was discussed in the hearing we had before the meeting and this approximately pertains to 115 businesses? ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. Anne Anderson- To date 115 businesses have applied for this small business resiliency program. The deadline is this Friday and we're feeling that we will be getting more applications. Council President Woerpel- And that's the small business portion of it correct? Anne Anderson- Yes, that's correct 50 employees or less would be a small business for profit in Hammond. Council President Woerpel- Does anybody else have questions? Owana can you speak as far as the CBDG part of it? Owana Miller, Community Development Director- A portion of the funds will go to Mental Health of America, Parents as Teachers, Hammond Legal Aid, as well as We Care from the Heart and Meals on Wheels. Anne mentioned the $635,000 Emergency Solutions Grant, those will go to First Baptist Church, Claude Street Shelter, Continuum of Care, Greater Hammond, and for some Admin dollars. I Councilman Kalwinski is now in attendlance. I Council Kalwinski- How many busineJses will be getting this Grant? I Council President Woerpel- 115. Council Kalwinksi- That's applied, are they all going to get it? Council President Woetpel-That's what applied up until Friday, Anne you wanna go ahead and finish? Anne Anderson- The deadline for the small business program is this Friday. As of today, we have 115 applications in our possession. We are going through those applications, one by one, making sure that they fit all the criteria and then we will take the funds available that we have through HUD Dollars, and allocate them out to each of the approved applications. Councilman Kalwinski- I see, so how many are approved so far? Anne Anderson- At this point we haven't made approvals or not approvals yet, we're just working through what we have now. We're waiting for the deadline to stop the program and then we'll have a finite number of applications. Then, once that's received we're gonna go through each application and make sure they fit all their criteria. So we haven't made the approvals or denials at this point yet. Councilman Kalwinksi- Anne, does CDBG mandate a certain percentage go to minority business? Anne Anderson- All minority businesses are available to apply for this. They have to serve a low to moderate Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON c&oN"crL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 area in Hammond, and they check that off during the application to show us what areas they serve. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. Councilman Kalwinski- Alright so regarding the requirements from the CDBG, is there a certain percentage we 're supposed to try to meet regarding giving it to minority businesses? Anne Anderson- No there isn't a percentage that we have to meet in regards to the owner of the business. It's who their customers who they serve there customer base has to be a low to moderate area in Hammond. Councilman Kalwinski- I see, and for all these organizations that we're giv1ng dollars to, how do we make sure those dollars we're giving them are being spent on Hammond residents? Owana Miller- Each one of these organizations that we're dealing with are the main ones that we deal with on a yearly basis. They do know that with their process, they have to serve Hammond businesses. Greater Hammond Community Services, they receive funding from East Chicago as well as the State, but everything for Hammond is earmarked for Hammond. Councilman Kalwinksi- So, will you be tracking that to make sure those dollars stay with Hammond residents or in Hammond? Owana Miller- Yes, we definitely do a monitoring once a month and when they submit their invoices, we make sure that everything is in place before the invoice comes before you. • Council Kalwinski- If the money doesn't go to Hammond residents, what is your recourse? Owana Miller- Well in my line of work, they have to go to Hammond businesses, if they don't then the bill won't get paid. • Councilman Kalwinski- Okay, and for the agencies that serve people in the area even outside of Hammond, what if those dollars go to people outside of Hammond?_ Owana Miller- As I said Greater Hammond is one of the agencies that receive funding outside of Hammond. They receive funds from East Chicago, they receive funds from the State to cover statewide, so right now the only thing we are concerned about is the Hammond residents, and like I said, we monitor very closely those agencies when they submit their invoices to us to make sure that they are serving Hammond residents. Councilman Kalwinski- Alright. Council President Woerpel- This whole thing has federal guidelines that have to be met too, correct? Owana Miller- Yes. Council President Woerpel-This is part of that CARES ACT that was passed by Congress, correct? Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON c6t:JNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 Owana Miller- Exactly. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. Council President Woerpel- There's also federal guidelines we have to follow with this Ordinance? Owana Miller- Right and these agencies that I deal with all understand that and they know our guidelines as well as the Federal Government guidelines. Councilman Kalwinski- I am short on volume. I was wondering if Chris or Jake can do something about the volume, I'm having a hard time hearing? Might just be my old ears, but if they could tune it up I would appreciate it. Councilman Emerson- I have here that small businesses get·$900,000, are those Hammond businesses? Owana Miller- Yes. Councilman Emerson- Are there special qualifications? Anne Anderson- Yes, the qualifications for businesses to apply for the small business resiliency program; they have to be a for profit business in Hammond with 50 or less employees that show a definite loss in profit due to the pandemic. They have to serve low to moderate areas in Hammond. Councilman Tyler- I just want to go back to a question that Councilman Kalwinski asked, I think, what you're getting at is if there's checks and balances in place to kind of stop these organizations from spending money on residents outside of Hammond, and Owana, it sounds like you have to put in a request how they'll use that money and then give you receipts on how they have to spend that money before ... it sounds like it might be reimbursement basis, or it's like on a case by case basis, can you share more information about that? Owana Miller- Yes, it's a reimbursement basis. We have an application that each organization has to submit to us and then that application is put together and presented to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Indianapolis. Once it's approved, then we can definitely work with each organization as to what they're asking and because of the federal guidelines, we have to make sure that they're asking and requesting the proper documents from each individual. So we definitely have a number of checks and balances with our program. Councilman Tyler- Got it. Thank you, ROLL CALL (passage) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9467 PASSED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6  C I MINUTES OF THE COMMON COtJNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES 20-10 An Ordinance Authorizing the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana, to Make Temporary Loans to Meet Current Running Expenses for the Use of the General Fund and Park and Recreation Fund and in Anticipation of Current Taxes Levied in the Year 2019 and Collectible in the Year 2020 Estimated to be Received on or before December 31, 2020; Authorizing the Issuance of Tax Anticipation Warrants to Evidence such Loans and the Sale of such Warrants to The Hammond Local Public Improvement Bond Bank; and Appropriating and Pledging the Taxes to be Received in such Funds to the Punctual Payment of Such Warrants Including the Interest Thereon Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Rakos, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading and referred it to the Finance Committee with a meeting on July 13, 2020 at 5: 15p.m. AYES: ALL Councilwoman Venecz- This is an advancement on tax collections based on 2019 taxes that were collected for this period of time. The request for the tax draw from the bond is approximately 80% of the taxes that were collected in the same time frame in 2019. With an interest rate of not more than 5%. It will be repaid before the end of the year. The amount that we're looking at is for the general fund $10,436,000 and for Parks and Recreation Fund $2,198,000 dollars, for a total of $12,634.00. With an approximate interest of $316,000 dollars. Councilman Kalwinski- That $2,198,000 for Parks and Recs sounds like bond money for the pt District is that what it's replacing? Councilwoman Venecz- I couldn't understand a word he's saying. Council President Woerpel- He said the $2.1 million dollars seem like a lot and is that what we're replacing? Councilman Torres, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to suspend the rules. ROLL CALL (rules suspended for Controller to speak) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Woerpel NAYS: Rakos ABSENT: None Motion carried 8/1/0 RULES SUSPENDED Controller Megan Flores- To answer your question, Councilman, no, that is not your park bond dollars. Those are two actual separate things. So the way in which these amounts are totaled is we took the cash flows month by month from 2019. We based the percentages collected and expended month by month and took those percentages and projected out for the remainder of 2020. And then we tweaked with property tax collections and the timeliness and the overall collection rate. So, we decreased the collection rate by 12% in comparison to what we received last year and we are also anticipating a draw in August, so our draw in May was actually 40% less than what it was last year in May, so we're going to see some deficits and or these two funds the General Fund in the Parks and Recreation Fund. These are deficits projected based on timeliness of property taxes. It has nothing to do with the Park Bond dollars. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7  I I \ I MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Councilman Kalwinski- Thank you, City Controller. Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilman Kalwinski, moved to return to regular order of business. ROLL CALL (return to regular order of business) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None - ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Rakos, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading and referred it to the Finance Committee with a meeting on July 13, 2020 at 5:15p.m. AYES: ALL RESOLUTIONS 20R-12 A Resolution of the Hammond City Council Approving Certain Form CF-ls as Filed with the Common Council of the City of Hammond as the Designating Body by Applicants Previously Approved for Economic Revitalization Area Deductions from Assessed Value, Pursuant to Indiana Code 6-1.1-12.1 Councilman Tyler, supported by Councilman Torres, moved for adoption. Councilman Tyler- I just want to clarify what this Resolution is in connection to it is for the approval of the six CF 1 Funds which we have received from six companies across the city of Hammond who have received tax abatements. This form is just to make sure they're in compliance with all of the aspects of their original application and as ofright now all six of those companies are in compliance. Councilman Kalwinski- Are of the tax abatement companies on board, are there any that did not submit a CF-1 for this year? Anne Anderson- No all six companies submitted their CF-1 forms to us and County on time this year. Councilman Kalwinski- Thank you, Anne. ROLL CALL VOTE • A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R12 ADOPTED . Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 8 MINUTES OF THE COMMON c&oNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilwoman Venecz- The Celebration of the Independence of our Country is coming up on July 4th and everyone likes to celebrate. Most often it's with fireworks. In the State of Indiana it is illegal to shoot off fireworks except within a specific window of time that being between the hours of 5p.m. and two hours after sunset beginning June 29, and continuing on June 30, through July 9th , on July 4th you can shoot off fireworks between l0a.m. and 12 midnight. I would like to point out that today is Monday, June 22nd , for the past week I've been receiving phone calls about fireworks that are being shot off. I think it would be tolerable if, No. 1, if we didn't like we live in a war zone and No.2, if the celebration stopped at a reasonable time, but going until midnight is just disrespectful to your neighbors it's very difficult for us as Council people to track where this fireworks are being shot off and its equally as difficult for the police to follow the smoke in the neighborhood particularly after dark. If you know the address of where the fireworks are being shot off by all means call the police department and they will go and address the issue with the resident. But its just very difficult to track where all of these explosives are coming from so, I can only ask for your tolerance during this time, and if you do know where the fireworks are shot off from by all means call the police department, and they will be happy to visit that residence. Councilman Kalwinski- I want to piggy back what Councilwoman Venecz is speaking about. I've been getting calls from combat veterans with post traumatic stress who won't come out of their house during all of that banging that's going on right now. I've had calls from people with medical conditions for which this is troublesome with all the noise that is occurring. I've had people with children who have specials needs giving me a call about what are we doing to enforce the law? And I've had people with pets calling me about this issue. This is a far reaching issue that has really gotten out of hand, not only in Hammond, but I believe across the Country. And I'll be presenting an Ordinance down the road to make sure that people in Hammond are clear about the dates and the fireworks stores are clear about the dates and handing out those dates. And the police fully enforce, and maybe even put more time overtime into finding the people who are setting these off against the law. And the time frame it isn't allowed. This has become a hardship on special needs population and on the quality of life for most Hammond residents. I was in Washington, DC for the better part of the last six weeks. It's not different there either, but I think now it's become an Indiana, this law that seems enforceable and somehow we will have to get our hands around it to put some bite into the 12 days of the year that are allowed for fireworks and the other 300 plus days that are not. So I just wanted to give out that warning, if you will, and something that will be coming up is some work on creating an Ordinance to help us get control of this in the City of Hammond. Thank you. Council President Woerpel- I just want to say it sounds like a war zone for the last month in my neighborhood. Sounds like it's coming from 15 different directions. And I have to me three doors down from me a Vietnam Vet that suffers from PTSD and I can count on three or four calls a year from them and its kind of frustrating when there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Councilwoman Alexander- I'm gonna just piggy back that, I know even around in the 3rd District area and just all over the city are having this issue and I have received a couple of calls myself regarding that as we know that we do have the Ordinance, so I guess the real question is outside of us putting another ordinance. How are we gonna enforce what's already there? What is it that we're going to do to put in place with the things that are there to make sure that our residents even know, because maybe they just don't remember, so how can we go Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 9 MINUTES OF THE COMMON c6tJNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont. Councilwoman Alexander cont. - about creating a way for them to understand that it is wrong, to a certain season, certain part of the time, you know. We have some people that say you know what, it's fireworks, we can buy fireworks all times a year. Just because you can buy something, that doesn't mean that's it's okay to go off all the time or even after certain hours. Now, I think even with Councilwoman Venecz, and she said that if it was even in a reasonable amount of time, but when its 12 o'clock where people are going to sleep and they're constantly hearing this big booms all night, that's where we have to kiIJ.dof put something in place. Councilman Tyler- Yes, I have a few things that I would like to report out on. As connected to our Youth Committee, I had a conversation with Superintendent Scott Miller, last week and he and I would like for him to be able to come to City Council Meeting and report out on important topics that are affecting the youth across our City, as well as things that have connection to our Civil City. I told him I would bring it to the rest of you so we could discuss how that would fit into an agenda. Ifhe would give us, of course, notice beforehand, in terms when he would want to speak at which meeting. The second, this is I'm also in communication with representatives from out Police Department, giving all the civil unrest and challenges that we're facing as a country. We're kinda diving back into several other things that the Hammond Police Department has put in place to build stronger relationships with all of our city with all types ofresidents, and so we're gonna be releasing more information about some of those things connected to our Police and Fire Committee as well, and just the good work that the Hammond Police Department has already implemented and will continue to implement to makes sure that, like I said, relationships with the HPD and residents are smooth. And the last thing I want to report out on is that through a relationship with The Home Depot, and resident Amy Radolak from Hessville, we were able to get three water heaters donated to residents from my District and so right now we are holding an opportunity for residents to share with us if their hot water heaters were damaged during the most recent flood at the end of May and if they were and if they also had an inspection done by the Hammond Sanitary District and they're gonna be included in this drawing for one of these free water heaters that will also include free installation done by one of the local plumber unions. So once we have more information about who those are going to I'll be able to share that at the next Council meeting, I, like I said, we have three hot water heaters that are ready to be donated and installed so if you're a resident and watching this out of the 3rd District whose water heater was damaged, last month, please reach out to me so we can get you on this list. Thank you. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk  \ ' MINUTES OF THE COMMON COtJNCIL cont. JUNE 22, 2020 PUBLIC EXPRESSION Gaberilla Hill- I'm here because of a storm that came through on the morning of June 10, a tree fell on my car and it was a tree on city property. She informed me that she spoke with you Council President, I've actually been emailing and calling you with no answer or reply so that's why I showed up here tonight. I've been having a lot of trouble getting in contact with someone about this issue. Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved to adjourn. AYES: ALL Dave Woerp resident Hammond Common Council ATTEST: ~kftL Robert J. Go1e',cityClerk Time: 6:55 p.m. dw Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 11