City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL FEBRUARY 8. 2021 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on February 8, 2021in the Hammond City Council Chambers. Council President Dave W oerpel presided. City Clerk Robert J. Golec facilitated. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited by all. Invocation by Councilwoman Alexander. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel ABSENT: Torres TOTAL: 8 MAYOR'S ADDRESS Mayor McDermott - Good evening, City Council and all the residents that are watching. I'm gonna be giving a real quick update. I want to remind everybody that all flags are being flown at half mast at City Hall right now and all City buildings in honor oflndiana's former First Lady Susan Bayh who passed away on Saturday, I believe. I'm not sure if it's a State wide mandate but we're doing it here locally. Obviously, she was a great first lady and we' re gonna keep them at half mast until she's buried, I think it's Wednesday or Thursday. I wanted to pint out that we've had a number of moves in Hammond Park Department lately. You'll hear more about them. Some of these just happened. Salina Baez was the Recreation, basically Citywide Recreation Supervisor. We changed her title and moved her to the Sportsplex where she is now working as a Sportsplex Recreation Supervisor. She's still gonna work with children mostly, but it's a lot better location to work with children is the Sportsplex which has thousands of children walking through every weekend. So, we thought that she would be better served working out of the Sportsplex and reporting to Kim at the Sportsplex. Juan Soto is now the Supervisor of the Jean Shepherd Community Center. He was the number two, he has been moved up to number one. He's done a great job over there. Craig Faught, a lot of people know Craig. He came from Public Works and he was working at the Sportsplex as a Supervisor. Craig Faught has been transferred from the Sportsplex to, basically it's called the Outdoor Recreation Supervisor. Which is basically the Baseball Tournament Director for the City of Hammond. I think last year we made over $100 thousand from baseball tournaments being played in our city and it's becoming a bigger and bigger part of the Park Budget and we need somebody watching that and Craig is perfectly suited for this job and he's very excited. That's happened lately. I know most of you, over the weekend, realized that the Hammond Fire Department had a huge fire. The 6100 block of Hohman Avenue. The conditions were brutal. It seems like every year we have at least one fire like this where it's a big ice cube when you get done. This weekend was no different. I want to send out my congratulations to the Hammond Fire Department, in two different shifts, who fought that blaze at 6100 block of Hohman. Although the building was a total loss, the Fire Department did a great job fighting it and we appreciate their hard work. When I went out there it was -6 degrees and they were out there hours before I got there. It was brutal. Literally, everything was frozen when they got done. I want to remind the Hammond Public that car jacking's across Northwest Indiana are unacceptably too high. Higher than almost at any time that I could remember as your Mayor. I want to point Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - out that a majority of the car jacking's aren't car jacking's at all. It's simply sealing a car that's warming up. A lot of our "car jacking's" are categorized as a car jacking but they steal your car from your driveway when you're warming it up in the morning. This is an alarmingly number of cars that are taken are taken right out of your driveway with the keys in the ignition. Another area of ... and this isn't just a Hammond issue. The Hammond P.D. gave me a video last week to watch, it was right next door to the Munster Donut, right there on Calumet and Ridge. It was at the BP Gas Station right there. Lady got out, she was warming up while she was filling up, she got out of the car, they walked up to her with a gun, got in the car and just took off. Right there, that quick, she had her car running. If she doesn't have her car running and the doors are locked, that doesn't happen. So I want to put everybody on extra alert. You should be talking to your family about this. You should be talking to your kids about this. Places to be particularly careful, gas stations, closer to the Illinois border, Anywhere close to the highway. Think about it as a bad guy, ifl get your car can I get on the highway within a couple seconds and get the hell out of here? If so, you're probably in an area where you should be watching out. I watch out, obviously, anytime I'm filling up my car. But along the state line being particular ... and I'm not talking just Hammond. I'm talking along the state line in Munster, in Dyer, in St. John, where this is happening. Anywhere close to the Illinois border it's happening. Along 80/94 it's happening. Be on guard. This is happening right now. The best way to protect yourself is to protect yourself. I didn't know if anybody had any questions. That's pretty much my report for right now. Councilman Torres is now present. Councilman Torres - My question is, you said the difference between a car jacking, and a hijacking, and an auto theft, if there's somebody around the car, like it's gassing but standing outside that's a car hijacking, instead of pointing the gun and telling the person ... Mayor McDermott - I don't categorize statistically, I don't. But I do know ... I don't know how the Police Department categorizes. If somebody is armed and takes your car versus they steal it out of your driveway. The point I was trying to make, I don't want anybody to get distracted, the point I'm trying to make is a large number of our cars that are stolen, are stolen right out of your driveway. That's the point I was trying to make. Too high. Stolen out of a gas station, okay. You know your warming up, you go in to get a cup of coffee, you come out and your car is gone. That happens too much. It happens right out of your driveway. Happens too much. We do unfortunately have situations where people are armed and they try to take your car as well. That's obviously a car jacking. I don't know how they categorize either but the point I was trying to make, Councilman, is a lot of the stolen cars in our city are accessory negligence on our part. You know, leaving your car running with the keys in the ignition, for instance. That's all I'm trying to say. Councilman Torres - I might be wrong but it used to be if you're being threatened at the time, it is a hijacking. If you're not no where near the car then it's an auto theft. Mayor McDermott - It could still be the way, Councilman, I'm not sure. I don't categorize it. I just read it. Thank you. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8. 2021 READING OF THE MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to accept the minutes of January 25, 2021 and place on file. AYES: ALL APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to approve claims from January 28, 2022 through February 3, 2021. Claim #345 through claim #595, inclusive. ROLL CALL VOTE (claims) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 CLAIMS APPROVED PUBLIC HEARINGS 20-30 An Ordinance Establishing Economic Improvement District and Authorizing and Approving other actions with respect thereto Tom Dakich, Data Center - We appreciate your support on this. This has been ... there's been a lot ofleadership on this issue. This is the first time we've done something like this in Hammond, it's rarely used through the State of Indiana. I just want to thank everybody for diving into this issue and making all of us better on the wayt that we've approached it. Councilman Kalwinski has been a leader on this matter. The Mayor and his staff have really helped to find the issue. I think that Ice Miller has been fantastic about it. I think some of the things that we learned in this process are going to translate to other places throughout the State and other partnerships. So if you see your way fit to pass this, we'd appreciate it. It's an important part of the development and the expansion of the data center. My partner here, Kirk Offel, is here today to answer any questions if need be. But we thank you very much for your consideration. You have been very thoughtful on this. Mayor McDermott - I'm here speaking on behalf of the Data Center's proposal for EID Bonds of $36 million. We have vetted this project more than any project I've seen in the last decade going before the Hammond Council. This has been before numerous attorneys, numerous elected officials, everybody had their say, I think. Obviously, I'm not gonna speak for Councilman Kalwinski. This is the 1st District and we wanted Councilman Kalwinski to have a heavy say in this. I think Councilman Kalwinski will indicate that we've aired this issue out. Obviously, I'm not speaking for him, I am here, I think, the vision for a campus of Data Centers at that location is a great vision for our city. I think it's gonna help bring more tech jobs. It's gonna bring more construction jobs to our city. I can tell you that when State Line Generators shut down at this location we had no plan. They caught us off guard, we had no plan for what was gonna replace the State Line Generator. So I think that the moves that we made l,y building Indiana's first Data Center at that location. Following it up, you know, the proof of concept, following it up with the Data Center, the next phase that we're building now. I don't think it's a stretch at all to think that we'll have multiple Data Centers at this location, probably within the next Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 PUBLIC HEARINGS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - decade. I don't think that's a stretch at all. If Hammond is known as the City in Northwest Indiana that houses multiple Data Centers, I'm fine with that. I think that's a good thing for our city. I think it's a good thing for our reputation across the state. And I tell you I met the gentlemen that are here, both Eric and Tom, are fine quality people. They know what they're talking about. They know what they're talking about in regards to the Data Center. We forced them to jump through hundreds of hoops. I'm not kidding. The Council is aware of this. We put them through the process. Because we wanted to make sure that, you know, come hell or high water, the City of Hammond is going to be protected in this, and I think, by all accounts, Hammond is gonna be protected, you know, after these bonds are issued. Which is what my major concern was. So, I do want to say, Thank you, to Tom, and to Kirk, and the Data Center Group for jumping through the hoops. It was important. I want to say thank you for working with us and answering all of our questions and we had dozens and dozens of questions, and I think after a lot of hard week here we are before the Hammond Council for your approval on this. I just want to make it clear that the City Administration supports this proposal and I'm looking forward to signing the legislation once you pass it. So, thank you very much. COMMUNICATIONS Councilman Torres - Last Wednesday, I wrote a couple ofletters. One to Controller Flores, asking for a meeting to discuss ... last Council Meeting she told me in the hall that my District was quite a bit of money in the deficit with the Gaming Money for projects and I disputed that. So I asked for a meeting with her and I haven't gotten it yet but I was told by the Chief of Staff, Mr. Taillon, that we're gonna meet Wednesday, he and Ms. Flores and I to discuss that matter. The same day I wrote a letter to the Mayor advising him of this meeting and he did write back saying that, yes, he's gonna let the Chief of Staff and Ms. Flores, resolve the problem. I just wanted that on record, thank you. Councilwoman Alexander - I'm here to update on our Covid numbers from last meeting to this meeting. 46320 has an additional 25 cases; 46327 additional 45 cases; 46323 additional 18 cases; 46324 additional 43 cases; 46394 an additional 17 cases. That's 148 cases. I just want to continue to remind everyone to wear your mask and continue to mask up as much as possible. Wash your hands and socially distance as much as possible so that we can continue to work our way out of this pandemic. We know the vaccines are available for those that are sixty five (65) and up. Schedule to get your vaccines if you choose to. Let's continue to fight this fight that we're fighting in Hammond. COMMITTEE REPORTS Council as a Whole Committee - Councilwoman Venecz - Brought out 21-02 and 21-03. Council as a Whole Committee - Councilman Kalwinski - Brought out 20-30. Community and Crime Watch Committee - Councilwoman Venecz - Hessville C.W.; Feb. 18; 6 p.m.; Jean Shepherd Center Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8. 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Community and Crime Watch Committee cont. Councilwoman Venecz cont. - We are trying to be very careful and we are not holding any meetings as of right now. We will be having a virtual Crime Watch Citywide Crime Watch Meeting coming up very soon. You can visit the Hammond Police Facebook page and view the last meeting. As a matter of fact we discussed what the Mayor was talking about tonight, and that is the car jacking's and precautions that we can take. Council President Woerpel - Mayor, would you mind sticking around and re-explaining what we talked about at the last meeting as far as the redistribution of the Gaming Money? You could do it now if you'd like. Mayor McDermott- For the public that's listening right now. The way we would always spend money, Gaming Money in particular, prior to last year and the pandemic hitting was on January 1st,let's just say, 2010 comes around and on January 1, 2010 the Council and the Mayor were expecting to get, I don't know, let's call it $33 million of Gaming Revenue and we would budget accordingly and start spending money on January 1si_ Spending the money that we expected to get. In normal years we would spend that money and you would get the expected money you were anticipating. However, sometimes, let's say, you spent $30 million, you were expecting to get $30 million but you only received $25 million that year. You overspent $5 million that year and you would roll into the next year $5 million upside down. Where as you spent the money you were expecting to get, you could make matters much worse. But that's the way government sort of works. We do it every year with property taxes, right? Like, the money we're spending right now on Police Department salaries is money we're expecting to get through tax, and we do, by the way. Because we bill our residents and they pay their taxes and we use their money to pay salaries. However, in Gaming we proposed to do something different. I've been talking to the Council Members and it's just a mind set shift where, if we agree, because we froze during the pandemic, we all know that. It was·the right thing to do. It was a hard thing to do. We haven't spent Gaming money since February of this year. We did a whole year of not spending Gaming money and we rolled into the end of 2020, after paying all of our expenses, with $4 million in the bank. It's give or take a couple bucks but let's just call it $4 million. Now, the boats are open right now. They're not making what they used to make. So what we're proposing is a mind set shift from the Council and Mayor, where we look backwards instead or forwards. So every quarter we release, in this case, we have $4 million in the bank, so we release this $4 million, we put it through the equation we all worked out with, I think, 62% of it going to Capital Improvement Board; 15% of it goes to the Council Districts; 15% of it goes to the Mayor; a portion of it goes to the Gaming Advisory committee; a portion of it goes to the Rainy Day Fund. But doing it backwards. So we know we have $4 million in the bank at the end of 2020, so we do $4 million right now, (unclear) it through there. It goes through the equation. And they have that money now. So, let's call that $2 million. Sorry, this is getting a little in the weeds. It's gonna take them awhile to spend that $2 million. It doesn't happen overnight. So we go to the Capital Improvement Board members and we say, "You got $2 million. You can spend it. It's in the bank." They start making contracts and they start spending that money. They won't spend that money probably until June, July, when it will actually be spent. In that entire time we have $4 million sitting in the bank, drawing interest. We look wealthier than we are, because it's sitting there, it's gonna be spent, it's just not spent now. Then, by the way, at the end of the first quarter, the numbers should be much more. Because the boats are getting back to normal. So let's say the next batch, at the end of the first quarter, we release $6 million and it Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8. 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - goes into the different equations ... all I'm saying is if just do that easy shift, and it's easy now, we did the hard part, we spent a year off not spending money. That's the hard part. Ifl would have come to you guys three years ago and said, "Hey, let's take a year off', you would have told me I was crazy. But we had to do it because of the pandemic, so now let's do the right thing, let's just spend backwards. We spend what we actually have. I think that's the right way to do it, personally. And we've already done the hard part and the next meeting, I know Megan's not here, she had a family situation come up so she couldn't be here today, but the next meeting you should have a resolution pending before you that splits up the first chunk, which is right around $4 million, and then at the end of the 1st quarter you have another resolution before you that splits up the next chunk. Then after the 2nd quarter we'll do the same thing. But what it's gonna do to our bank accounts is inflate them by millions of dollars. Because the money is actually there. We're not spending expected money, we're spending what we have. We're expecting to get that money this year and we'll release it a quarter at a time, but now we're spending backwards and not spending forward. I'm so sorry to the residents at home that I just put to sleep. But Council President Woerpel asked for this explanation. But, I think it's a good idea. You'll get the first check coming very soon and we worked out the equations on the Gaming ordinance when we created the Capital Improvement Board. Council President Woerpel - The reason I ask is this goes to an e-mail I received after the last meeting asking if we were redoing the Gaming money yet again. Rather than give me the long winded explanation, I wanted you to come up there. Mayor McDermott - I think it's smarter because we've already done the hard work. It'll inflate our bank accounts. And when State Board comes in here and they look at our bank account balance and it's five figures, you know, back in the old days, when they come in and look at our.bank balances now it's gonna be seven or eight figures. We're gonna spend that money, but it's in the bank account right now. It just makes things look better. Credit rating is better. We're not going to over spend ourselves. Unfortunately, during my time as Mayor, I've experienced issues with that as well. Where we spent too much money and had to dig ourselves out. We've done that. I've learned lessons from the past and I think this is the smart way to go forward, and I hope you agree with me. But I do want to be very transparent with this. And every quarter we are gonna come to you and we'll talk about the number and if you don't agree with the number, we'll dig on how we came up with that number. But once we all agree this is the number, put it through the equation, and start spending the money. Councilman Torres - This year the District got approved for 2021, $404 thousand per District. Okay, I'm just doing it from the top of my head ... Council President Woerpel - Just to clarify, I think he's going by the example. Councilman Torres - Yes, what's in the book. In addition, the 2020 hasn't been allocated yet. So, we still got money from the 2020 to be added to that. Mayor McDermott - 2020 is what we're talking about right now. At the end of 2020, I just call it 4th quarter because we didn't spend anything. 4th quarter 2020 on December 31st when we closed out our books in the City of Hammond we had $4 million sitting in the bank, unspent. Money that we could spend right not. We could Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - spend on Capital Projects. If we spent a whole nother year sitting on Gaming and doing what we did in 2020, we'd probably have, I don't know, I don't know how much we'd have, it's be a lot because things are starting to get back to normal with our tax draws. So, what we're talking about, Councilman, is going backwards. But, I know that there's two Council Districts, and I know that you have a dispute on what you feel .... and I don't know whether you're right or wrong on that. I'm letting my Chief of Staff and my Controller work with you on that, going back to that point. I know that there are two Council Districts that had money in the bank at the end of 2019 and we made sure that those two Council Districts kept their money in the bank and then basically we're rolling into 2021 fresh, like everybody is at zero basically. Councilman Torres - Well, I don't see how I could be in a deficit because everything is approved. You'll only deal with two departments. That's the Park Department and the Engineers. Before any penny is spent it's approved by either one of them. They check with the Controller, make sure that money is there. If it's not there, you're not gonna spend it. So I cannot understand how I could get that deep in deficit. The other question is, how often does the Gaming money from the boats come in? Mayor McDermott - Monthly. Councilman Torres - So by March you're gonna have ... they're running. The boats are running. Mayor McDermott - They're down 30%-ish, they're doing fine but they're not doing what they were doing a year ago. Councilman Torres - That's understandable. Mayor McDermott - Right, of course. We expect much more. Like, we had $4 million at the end of the 4th quarter, I think it will be double that. In that ball park, for the next chunk. Councilman Torres - But is that money 2021 money gonna be released as soon as it comes in? Mayor McDermott - Yes, sir. At the end of March, once we put that resolution before you we'll be ready to .... This one's taken a bit, unfortunately. But once we get this system up and running it's gonna be much more frequent and it's gonna be very transparent, Councilman. Council President Woerpel - So I can clarify, we're having as resolution come in front of us real soon for the 2020 money. Sometime in April there'll be one for the 1st quarter. Does that answer your question? Mayor McDermott -And then sometime in July there will be one for the 2nd quarter. Councilman Torres - I'm still not clear whether 2020 and 2021 are gonna be the lump sum of that resolution. Mayor McDermott - The resolution that you have, that will be at the next Council Meeting will be a 2020 resolution. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Councilman Torres - So the 2021 will not be included, that will be in April. Mayor McDermott - Yes, sir. Councilman Kalwinski - I just wanted to know the status of the two bonds we took out in 2020. Where are they now? Was any of it spent? Did we give it back? Mayor McDermott - Good question. I'm not sure exactly, I'll be honest with you. I know that we did a TIF authorization and I think it's one of those that's like a line of credit. In fact, I had a conversation with Megan specifically about this. I'm trying to remember the number, but we authorized it in the middle of the pandemic and obviously at the time we had no idea what we were facing, right? It was a tax anticipation warrant, excuse me. It was $6 million, but it was like a bank line of credit. Like, we were authorized to pull $6 million. We wouldn't have to go through apy paperwork to get it. We never needed it. So even though the Council authorized it and I signed off on it, we never used a single penny from that, Councilman Mark. Which is wonderful. Ifwe would have, we would have had to pay it back during the year but we didn't pull from it. Councilman Kalwinski - So, in the future do we anticipate holding that line of credit or paying it back? Mayor McDermott - I wish Megan were here answering these question. I see no reason why it needs to be open. Because now our tax draws an~ close to what they normally are. Our Gaming Revenue is down. Our water is down. You know, as compared to normal. But like, we are starting to get back to normal on the financial end, you know. But I appreciate you bringing that up about Tax Anticipation Warrant that was authorized by the Council. But, like I said. It was like a line of credit that they didn't have to pull from. You're authorized to pull from it, you just don't pull from it. Councilwoman Alexander - Two things. Mayor, when dealing with the water, can we get an update regarding what we asked for regarding the low income families. Two, can we get updates on what we actually have in the bank accounts. Council President Woerpel - It's coming in the next resolution, correct? Mayor McDermott - I don't know, we have like a hundred bank accounts. We have a lot of bank accounts, I don't know the exact number. Going back to the first question, about the low income. We had our first round of bills go out. I had very few complaints so far. We are going to monthly billing in the Hammond Water Department. We are prepared to assist residents that have trouble paying their bill. We have people that are specifically assigned to that. We are talking about funding it with the budget. But I want to make this clear that, you know, NIPSCO doesn't talk to you for too long if you don't pay their bill and we're not special because we're Hammond Water. You know, if someone's not paying their bill, that's a problem. If they're not paying their bill on any temporary help, it's temporary help. It's not permanent help. Like, NIPSCO doesn't negotiate with you if you're not paying your power bill. They don't say, "Oh, I like Tom. He's not paying his bill but I like Tom. Keep Tom's lights on because he's a good dude." They tum my lights off, just like everybody else. So Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 8 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - like, you know, it's unfortunate that some people are in the situation where that may be a trouble. Obviously, if they're having trouble for a month or two, we could probably try to help them but at a certain point, you know. And I want o make something clear to the Council, even though we raised the water rates in our City, we're still the lowest rate in the State of Indiana. We are, the lowest, okay. I know we have issues with our customer communities. But the customer communities, even after our rate increase, they're buying water ·at the cheapest rate in the State of Indiana. These are facts. If you run the customer community and you are watching right now, you're buying water that nobody could match our price. Nobody. Indiana American, can't match our price. East Chicago, can't match our price. Chicago, can not match our price. While we're talking about it, one thing did change. The Joliet water situation. They chose to connect to Chicago. I know you all know that. I want to thank a lot of people that worked very hard to try to make that a reality. I know Dean did a lot of work. I know Kevin did a lot of work. The Law Department did a lot of work. It was a great try. We went for it, we lost. Our proposal was harder because it was $300 and something million extra. So we knew all along it was a tougher. But I think you guys would rather see your Mayor and the Administration taking swings and misses than never taking swings at all. So, that would have been a great deal for us by the way. And it would have been a great deal for them also. But it didn't turn out the way we hoped. Councilman Kalwinski - Thank you, Mayor. Always informative. It's good to get the updates. I've had a few residents approach me about the monthly water bill. Asking about when you prepay there's a fee every time for every payment. If you go through your bank or your credit card. Mayor McDermott - We were talking about this at the staff meeting last week. Councilman Kalwinski - So that's gonna double for people who are doing that. They're asking can there be a resolution to that extra fee. I didn't need answer now. I just wanted to bring it to your attention. Mayor McDermott - No, Councilman Mark, I appreciate you bringing that up. We had this conversation at staff last week, about this very issue. About how, like, it's a high fee when you're talking about a low bill it's a high fee. I think Water Department's .... Phil? Phil Taillon, Chief of Staff - After the meeting that we had at staff, where this issue came up, we set a meeting to work this out so that people that are paying their bills online or using debits for their account are not gonna get the fee. We know there's systems out there where it can be done. But we got to make sure we don't just immediately jump over to something different. But we're aware of the problem and we are addressing it right now. Councilman Kalwinski - So that will happen in the future we just don't know when it will be so we can inform our constituents. Phil Taillon - Yes, we got to go through that process and make sure we're picking out a better system where people are not gonna get charged. But we all agreed, including Mayor, that should not be the case. That because that you're paying online or something that you're getting charged $2 or $3 extra. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 9 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Capital Improvement Board - Councilwoman Venecz - We met on February 1si_It was a relatively short meeting, There were only two items that came up. Coincidentally, from Council President Woerpel. He sent in two requests, one for Alexander Avenue and the other for Schneider and my complements to you. When you sent in the requests you gave details and figures. Those projects will be added to the list and taken under advisement. The next meeting will be on February 16th at 4 p.m. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PASSAGE 21-02 An Ordinance to Amend Ordinances 4872, Am. Ord. 8715, 8717, 9133 also known as Chapter 122 of Title XI of the Hammond Municipal Code relating to Peddler and Pop-up Vendor Licensing in the City Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for passage. Councilman Spitale - This ordinance is relating to the peddler and pop up vendo_rslicense. This is only used for. merchandise sales only with this group. This ordinance is revised and updated with new forms and processing. This ordinance does not refer to food trucks. Thank you. ROLL CALL VOTE (passage) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9494 PASSED 21-03 An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. 8514, Being: an Ordinance Establishing a Zoning Plan for the City of Hammond in Order to Provide for Orderly Growth and Development Within the City, All in Accordance with the Comprehensive/land Use Plan; for Purposes of Amending Title XXI Signs to Incorporate Revised Provisions for the Prohibited and Temporary Signs Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for passage. Councilwoman Venecz - This particular ordinance amends the sign ordinance that is in existence. It addresses inflatable signs, The big blow up balloon type things. Those are now prohibited. There is a prohibition of having signs on benches. Also we are looking to amend the temporary sign usage to thirty days to include a gap period. Initially you can make a request for a temporary sign for a period of thirty days. If you are looking to get an extension for the posting of that temporary sign, you must have thirty days in between the end of the first thirty day period and the beginning of the second thirty day period. That's called the gap period. You will only be granted permission for temporary sign usage for a total of two times within a year. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8. 2021 ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (passage) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9495 PASSED 20-30 An Ordinance Establishing Economic Improvement District and Authorizing and Approving other actions with respect thereto Councilman Kalwinski, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for passage. Councilman Kalwinski, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved to amend in 20-30A in its entirety, replacing 20-30, also adding the Petition to Establish the DX Hammond Economic Improvement District in its entirety including all the exhibits date 1/4/21. Councilman Kalwinski - This has been a long laborious process. A learning process even for an old Councilman like myself. It's been a pleasure getting cooperation from the Administration, the Data Center Group, Tom Dakich, and especially I want to tip my hat to Atty. Berger, the attorney for the Council who was studious in exploring how to get this through and get it done correctly so we didn't face a glitch down the road. And I want to thank all the other attorneys involved, Kevin Smith, David Westland, outside attorneys as well. I just recently received a letter of recommendation and approval from Hammond Redevelopment Commission President Tony Hauprich giving a glowing, detailed, pitch for the Data Center from the Hammond Redevelopment Commission and all of its members. So I want to thank them to. I have not run across anybody who has had an issue with the EID that is being proposed, even though it is a new process for the City of Hammond and I suspect that down the road we may be seeing more of this kind of activity and will be even better prepared for it when it comes across the table again. So thank you to everybody and let's move on with this. Mayor McDermott - I agree with Councilman Mark. A lot of hard work went into this. In situations like this when you're dealing with companies, if anything goes wrong between the Council and the Administration, it's bad things for the project. And it was (unclear) that we were cooperating together the whole time. So I do also want to thank Atty. Berger, and Mark, and everybody on behalf of the City Council that worked with the Administration to make sure that even though we had a lot of questions and a lot of uncomfortable phone calls with Mr. Dakich about why it was. taking so long. But I know, like he knew, it was moving in the right direction. We just wanted to be safe. I just want to say thank you to the Council, to Tom, and the Data Center Group and let's go ahead and vote on this thing. ROLL CALL VOTE (amendment) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 AMENDMENT ADOPTED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 11 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 ORDINANCE 3RDREADING - FINAL PAS SAGE cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (passage) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9496 PASSED (as amended) INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES 21-04 To Appropriate Funds in the Hotel/Motel Innkeepers Tax Fund for Economic Development Purposes in 2021 Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on March 08, 2021 at 5:00p.m.,with a Public Hearing on March 08, 2021. AYES: ALL 21-05 Appropriating the Proceeds of the Annual Action Plan and Dealing with other matters pertaining to the Expenditure of Plan Proceeds for Program Year 2021 Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on March 08, 2021 at 5:l0p.m.,with a Public Hearing on March 08, 2021. A YES: ALL Councilman Torres- I have a few questions for Owana, she happens to be here, head of the CDBG. On Exhibit A, which is the last page of this ordinance. Okay, I noticed that you have project or delivery and emergency, for example, is $30,000 emergency? It's the 3rd line down, and then you have $10,000. I noticed that application was they asked for 50 and then the total of that, well, first of all what do you mean by project projected? Community Development Director Owana Miller- $30,000 is for the emergency program. The delivery of $10,000 is for staff salary. Councilman Torres- Okay, so they asked for 50, but you could only give them 30? Owana Miller- Exactly, ultimately we gave them 40. Councilman Torres- Well, 40, because that's your cost delivery. Owana Miller- Exactly. Councilman Torres- So you don't always give them what they ask for? Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 12 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Owana Miller- It all depends on the total budget we get in Federal Government. Councilman Torres- Okay, whatever you can afford? Owana Miller- Exactly. Councilman Torres- Okay, I just had a question on that. And the total CDBG budget is $4,159,519. Owana Miller- That's for CDBG, HOME and ESG dollars. Councilman Torres- All 3 programs are combined? Owana Miller- Exactly. Councilman Torres- I wanted to get the CDBG, I would have to add projected cost and the delivery then if... Owana Miller- Exactly, yeah, it's a little bit more than $2.1 million. Councilman Torres- Thank you. 21-06 Appropriating the Proceeds of the CARES-ACT and Dealing with other matters pertaining to the Expenditures for Round Two (2) Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES-ACT) Program Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on March 08, 2021 at 5:20p.m.,with a Public Hearing on March 08, 2021. A YES: ALL 21-07 Appropriating the Proceeds of the CARES-ACT and Dealing with other matters pertaining to the Expenditures for Round Three (3) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act (CARES-ACT) Program Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Alexander, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on March 08, 2021 at 5:20p.m.,with a Public Hearing on March 08, 2021. AYES: ALL Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 13 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. 21-08 Recognizing Rev. John H. Parrish Sr. as the First Black Councilman in the City of Hammond and Designating both the 1000 and the 1100 Blocks of Cleveland Street as "Honorary Rev. John H. Parrish Sr. Street" Councilman Tyler, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on February 22, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.,with a Public Hearing on February 22, 2021. AYES: ALL Councilman Torres- I had the honor and privilege of serving with Councilman Parrish between '88 and 1991, serving 4 years together. He was a man of integrity, faith and very humble. My first caucus meeting that year in '88, I introduced myself and asked him how he preferred to be called, Councilman or Reverend, he said my name is John Parrish and you can call me John. The next council meeting I had figured it out. I told him that while in the building and during council business, I would refer to him as Councilman, and in public, I would refer to him as Reverend. He simply said, "okay", and after that, uh, of course, throughout the 4 years, we had a good relationship and that was his last years of service. But a true gentleman at all times and, to me, very humble. But he always represented his district with dignity and truly represented the best way he could. We got a few projects done together, him for his district, and we worked together on getting lights for Memorial Park at that time, we would get them from the Enterprise Zone, and we did. I got some for Irving Park, but we worked on that project together. So it would be my honor to be added on as a third sponsor to this ordinance. Thank you. Councilman Emerson- I had the privilege of meeting Reverend Parrish, Councilman Parrish, when I was Director of Greater Hammond Community Service quite a few years ago. And he explained to me that we had a meeting of the board, and the door happened to be closed, and he gave me a tutorial of the Sunshine Laws and what they meant and how you were not to have the door closed at any meeting and to that he gave me an education in that Thank you. RESOLUTIONS 21R-07 A Resolution Authorizing the Hammond Fire Department to Apply for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for adoption. Councilman Rakos- This is a resolution authorizing, like you said, the equipment for next year. It's a federal grant. Estimated this would cover 90% of the cost of new equipment for an amount of $290,000, which would leave Hammond responsible for the $29,000. This is money that's already in the budget for the Fire Department and it's a grant that they apply for every year through the Federal Government. ROLL CALL (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R07 ADOPTED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 14 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 21R-08 A Resolution of the City of Hammond Authorizing the Filing of an Annual Action Plan Application and Designating Signatories for Payment Voucher on Letters of Credit for the 2021 Annual Action Plan Programs Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for adoption. Councilman Spitale- This Resolution is just to apply for the funds for the annual action plan. It comes before us every year. ROLL CALL (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R08 ADOPTED 21R-09 Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hammond Authorizing and Designating Signatories for Payment Voucher on Letters of Credit for Round Two (2) Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act (CARES-ACT) Program Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Rakos, moved for adoption Councilman Spitale- This is the right for the round 2 of the emergency grant. ROLL CALL (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R09 ADOPTED 20R-10 Resolution of the City Council of the City of Hammond Authorizing and Designating Signatories for Payment Vouchers on Letters of Credit for Round Three (3) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act (CARES-ACT) Program Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Alexander, moved for adoption. Councilman Spitale- This is just to apply for round 3 of the CDBG. ROLL CALL (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. RlO ADOPTED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 15 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8. 2021 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilman Tyler- I would like to acknowledge that, of course, February is Black History month. I know that given Covid, a lot of the programs and celebrations across our City, across our County, have been made virtual. So I want to encourage members of the public, please continue to attend those. Seek out lesser-known Black History facts and learn about a comer stone of what makes our Country what it is. I do also want to call out our Community Development Office who will be airing a special Black History month program later on this month. More information will be released soon in the future. But this year their program is acknowledging our own leaders in education across the City of Hammond and in the School City of Hammond. So it's great to see a lot of educators, teachers, assistant principles and principles throughout the City get recognized. I also would like to call out that we are not to ... I don't wanna say that we're not as progressive or ahead ofracism and a lot of these firsts as we like to think that we are. In my lifetime, I know that I've met a lot of these individuals in our City, the ones of course that are being acknowledged now, bq.t even the ones we've acknowledged in the past. For example, Miss Annie Hicks, who in 1960, became the first black school teacher within the City of Hammond. The late Dr. Watkins, who, of course, was the first black school superintendent within the School City. Dr. Milfred Miller, who was the first black principal in the City of Hammond. Donna Hildreth who was the first black Librarian. Miss Albertine Dent, who was the first black school trustee for the School City of Hammond. So I just want to celebrate those individuals as well and to encourage people to, like, search out those facts no matter what. Try to figure out a way to break down barriers and figure out ways for us to come together and work together as ·a society. Thank you. Councilwoman Alexander- I echo Councilman Tyler and what he just stated. It was absolutely true. We do want to continue to encourage people to look at those facts. There's a lot out there. And we're definitely not far from things happening, not only in our City, but just around the world. And I know that one thing is to continue to unify to make our world a be~er place. Councilman Torres- It's a minor point, perhaps, but I believe the Mayor's been talking right after roll call and I believe that if it's not on the agenda, so we're technically supposed to suspend the rules for that. But I have ... Council President Woerpel- Councilman Torres, the Mayor can approach and speak to the Council at any time he wants to. Councilman Torres- No, let me finish please. But to just make it so he is on the agenda. Just put State of the City for the Mayor or representative. I believe anybody who talks without being on the agenda whether it's me or the Mayor or anybody has to have the rules suspended. I mean that's just my opinion. Council President Woerpel- Councilman Torres, I'm not gonna argue with you, but the Mayor can address the Council anytime he chooses. Councilman Torres- But if.. Council President Woerpel- But by Robert's Rules of Order. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 16 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. FEBRUARY 8, 2021 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont. Councilman Torres- I know that, but if he's added to the agenda under State of the City, right after Roll Call, then he's automatically on the Agenda. I don't think it needs a motion or anything, but you can approve the agenda as President, so if he's added on there then he's automatically on the agenda. Council President Woerpel- Thank you, for your advice. Is there anything else under New and Unfinished Business? Councilman Spitale- I'd like to thank a great job done by Owana and those that might have been helping with her for our Martin Luther King Day Program. It was up this year we all couldn't go to it because of the COVID, but it was a great program. Council President Woerpel- Councilman Kalwinski, I have a question on 20-30. And that was an appointment by the council, do you make it since it's in your District? Do you wanna make a recommendation or how do we go about doing that? Councilman Kalwinski- I think at some point a Resolution with names will come forward. When the Mayor and the Council figure out those names. Council President Woerpel- Okay, I just wanted to know the process for making that appointment. Councilman Kalwinski- It won't be long. Because I think they want the names so we'll get to it. Mayor McDermott- From what I understand my appointees have to be approved by the Council. So I can put them up and just like with Human Relations Commission and other board spots. So my appointees will come to you and your appointee will be decided amongst you. So you will have input on all three. PUBLIC EXPRESSION None Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Torres, moved to adjourn. A YES: ALL ATTEST: ~W.resident Hammond C~mmon Council Robert J. Golec, City Clerk Time: 7:20 p.m. cb/dw Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 17