City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL JUNE 14, 2021 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on June 14, 2021 in 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 PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel ELECTRONICALLY PRESENT: ABSENT: None TOTAL: 9 MAYOR'S ADDRESS Mayor McDermott- Hello, Council. Thank you for letting me address you. I got my normal Mayor's Address and then at the end of it, by agreement, we have Megan Flores going to do a quick presentation on the Recovery Act proceeds and how we could use them and how we can't use them and some items we thought we sort of, you know, said, hey, these kind of things would fit in. So, it's all for your consideration and information. I know a lot of you have the packets already so hopefully we can scoot through the presentation and then if there's questions, we can fire them to Megan so it might take a couple minutes longer than normal tonight because of that. So, anyway, my report to describe the last 3 weeks since the last time we got together, I had numerous meetings in regards to the closure of the Franciscan Hammond Hospital. Our staff with the administrators from Methodist Hospital had great meetings. We have follow up meetings with Methodist Hospital. We've had contacts from the University of Chicago that's interested in helping to fill the void. I think these are encouraging. We're you know, meeting with them. I appreciate Councilman Barry for the lead on that and I've also had. Seems like University of Chicago started recording us right now. They went through the councilman and an attorney from Indianapolis, so I thought that was encouraging. I met with the mayor of Cal- City again in regards to this and his administration regarding how it affects Calumet City disproportionately actually even greater than it affects our city. Franciscan Hammond Hospital is about 75% Calumet City residents or Illinois residents. So, obviously the impact of the closure of course, it hurts our ... but it disproportionately affects Calumet City and I know Mayor Thaddeus is very concerned about that. He's only been there for a month or two and I think that we've got a great relationship. We started out very well I had a very good relationship with the outgoing Mayor Michele as well so we can keep working with our neighbors in Illinois. We also met with Franciscan leadership last time I spoke with you that hadn't occurred yet. Kevin Leahy, who is the CEO of the entire hospital chain came to City Hall with Sister Jane Marie Kyle Bellamy, and members of our administration and apologies were made for the lhour notice numerous times they didn't want it to go down the way it did and it went down the way they didn't want. My take away from that meeting is they have a solid excuses for why they feel that they're making the right decisions. They're hemorrhaging money. They say the doctor's don't wanna practice here. I don't really necessarily agree with that. I think the doctors want to practice in hospitals that have been reinvested in our hospitals have not been reinvested in. So, of course, if I were a doctor and I got a chance to operate a shiny new emergency room in Munster, you know, doctors's office in Munster, old one Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont.- that was built 100 years ago in the City of Hammond I'd probably want to go to the newer one. But this is a tough situation, obviously. I think that Franciscan wants to work with the City. If I had to guess, they want to give us some type of land money and they want us to shut up and I'm violating that by even talking about it right now, but they really want us to sort of accept the fact that they made a decision and move on which is sort of what our Congressman wants us to do also. He told me I was kicking and screaming about this and basically, we're a bunch of whiners just get over it. So, anyway, it's not a great situation obviously we're doing the best we an on a good note. North Shore Health Clinic opened in the old Walmart. I thought that was a good sign. Another health care facility investing in our City. They relocated from 165th in the boulevard to the old Walmart. I thought that was really positive. So, anyway, that's in regards to the Franciscan. Obviously, more meetings will be had in the future . I imagined quite a few more meetings will be had in the future. Met with Mayor Steve Spebar from the City of Whiting. He's the new Mayor in Whiting not all new. I mean, within the last year, and the President of the Whiting Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce, Tom Dabertin in regards to a proposal they had where they were asking ifwe would be open minded to having the Pierogi Fest parade which is Friday after the Festival in Forsyth Park and go straight down 119th . They want to clear out Downtown Whiting. They don't want the crush of people in Downtown Whiting for the parade. So they thought by stretching it all the way through to Hammond. Basically, the parade will really start they'll line up in Forsyth granted they'll go through that neighborhood there in the Water Gardens but when they cross Calumet that's where they really expect people to start attending. So, I thought it was a positive actually having the, I mean the Pierogi Fest parade in our City for the 1st time. We've signed on. I hope nobody's really too offended by that. I thought it was a really good idea and I thought it was neighborly. Mayor Steve is a really good guy and I'm hoping we can have a better relationship than the outgoing mayor had with the City of Hammond. He sued me twice in like 5 years so he sued us twice in 5 years. So anyway, hopefully Mayor Steve and I get off on a better foot. I actually offered our services to him for the Pierogi Fest parade. I hope nobody has too many qualms with that. I have received a letter, I imagine Council Mark probably did. There's one gentleman that lives in Whiting Robertsdale area, I believe in the Water Gardens that is not happy about this. But anyway. Next subject. If no one wants to talk about that anymore, Kevin Smith, Corporate Counsel and I attended multiple police briefings and we spoke to every patrol officer in the Hammond Police Department. Over the last couple of weeks went to multiple briefings talking about the food truck ordinance that you all passed, the vendor ordinance, in just talking to them about how much we support them, we, the City, and how much, you know, technology is helping and how much we want them to be cognizant of the fact that when they get in police chases, it's a liability to the city and obviously, you know, I talked about being a police officer in 2021 the way I see it, now, body cams, how important they are and use of you know, deadly force and stuff like that. So, I think it's good to talk more often with the officers and I probably didn't do it as much as I should have in my first couple of terms. So, I'm really trying to focus more on talking to the firefighters and the police officers on a more regular basis. So, I thought that was great. Special Events Committee is working hard the festival lineup is secured. I'm sure you all heard by now that we had a change in the Wednesday act. The Wednesday act was supposed to be the Ojay's but because of an illness, the lead singer of the Ojay's couldn't make it which materially changed the contract we had with the Ojay's because he was the only original member. So without the original member you're sort of getting the Ojay's cover band and we weren't paying Ojay's cover band prices. So, we by mutual agreement, we decided to punt on that show which left us scrambling and we proceeded to go after Busta Rhymes and Nelly and secured them both the same night which is amazing. They asked who opened for who they wanted us to pick it. We said, you guys pick it yourself and by agreement, these head liners, Busta Rhymes agreed to open Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont.- and Nelly's going to close that night. So, we're already selling tickets for all these events. We already set a record for the presale tickets as of this morning $325,000 in presale tickets to all the shows not to just one. The leader by far is Sammy Hagar. So, for those of you who are watching, there's a limited number of tickets available if it sells out, you cannot get in. I don't care who you are, what your relationship is. Obviously, I'm not talking to any of the Council people, they get tickets. But for members of the general public, sometimes you want to wait til the last day, make sure the weather is perfect, or make sure you know joe blow didn't give u a free ticket wouldn't wait on a couple of these shows. They're going very very heavy, heavy demand. So Old Dominion, surprisingly heavy demand for that one also which is good news for Phil Taillon the Chief of Staff. That show was his idea. So, don't forget on the 4 th of July, we have the citywide fireworks display taking place at multiple locations across the city. We try to strategically pick each location so that theoretically, we could all sit in our backyard and watch the city firework show that's taking place on the 4th of July. Obviously, it's sundown. Hardrock Casino opened May 14th . In 18 days, the Hard Rock was open they did $21 million dollars in win. In comparison, we operated for a full month here at Hammond Horseshoe. $31 million dollar win in a full month, biggest casino in the State of Indiana by far still obviously, Hardrock was only open for 18 days. So, how you know obviously they're going to do very well in their first couple of weeks of being open. It's going to be very interesting next month when I get my report to you on June's numbers, I think that's when we're going to start to get a real good idea of who's winning, who's losing, did the landscape change because right now, it appears that the pie just got bigger which is the best hope. We don't wanna take off each others plate but right now, it appears the pie got bigger. Ameristar did about the same as they always, do $27 million win. At Blue Chip, did what they do usually $13 million. So right now everybody is winning. I don't know if that's going to be the case in the future but obviously we all want to watch that closely because it really ties into us and how much we're giving to the Capital Improvement Board for capital projects. I will update you next month on that. Last month, we talked about Kenwood School neighborhood traffic study, Councilman Tyler and I commissioned to remind you, we put up temporary blockades with the boundaries to the North of Highland Street and State Line. Excuse me, no Highland Street to the North of State line Avenue to the West Hohman Avenue to the East in the South boundary was 165th . We shut all streets from State Line except for Wildwood, which was a mistake and I think we acknowledge that. We sent out our survey to the respondents, ask each house to complete one survey and send it in. We had 218 responses and that's a pretty solid response rate. I'm going to go through a few of the questions. Even though you use State Line Avenue on multiple occasions are there other local routes acceptable as an alternative? If State Line Avenue closes 85% answer yes, that's ... we don't like to do this if it's like 51 or 52 % to me, it's gotta be overwhelming. Question 3, do you believe closing State Line Avenue from Cleveland, Kenwood and Detroit Streets will make your neighborhood quieter? 80% answered yes. I think 80% is pretty persuasive. Question 4 do you believe closing State Line Avenue from Cleveland, Kenwood and Detroit Streets will make your neighborhood safer. 81%, answer yes, pretty persuasive. Question 6, how do you feel about closing access to State Line Avenue from your neighborhood? 77% are somewhat or strongly agree with the closure 18% somewhat or strongly disagree with the closure, I think in this case and these things have gone both ways. This is obviously overwhelming in support of the closures. I want to pass to Councilman Tyler for comments on how you see the world after this survey results came back. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Councilman Tyler- The only thing I'll share is that there were 218 surveys that went out. We got 104 responses. Mayor McDermott- Oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Tyler- Of the total household ... Mayor McDermott- I'm sorry. Councilman Tyler- But even with that Mayor, I think you're correct. So, like you shared that last question, how do you feel about closing access to State Line Avenue from your neighborhood? About 77% of the people who took the survey said that they were either strongly agree or somewhat agree. So, I think to your point, this is the right thing to do at this moment and to include Wildwood, it was one of the biggest pieces of feedback that I received from several residents. Mayor McDermott-Agreed Councilman. Councilman Barry and I talked about this. We should've ... with the weakness I've learned this when we close State Line South of 65th . If there's even a chance of somebody getting a car through if they get it through. We had a front yard which is a little area where they could've snuck through and we shut down State Line. They snuck through it and it turned into a shortcut. This guy's front yard was literally a shortcut. So, what we did when we shut down the temporary barriers, we left Wildwood up and thinking of course, everybody's going to follow the law and they're not going to go against a one way street right? Wrong, we did the same thing to the alley on Wildwood and people would use that as a shortcut. So, the fact is, if this is going to work, we can't have any openings. So, the next step we're going to take and this is what Councilman Tyler and I agreed to is we're going to shut down as of tomorrow morning. We're going to have public works put temporary construction barriers up on the entire closure which is what we're talking about, which is let me go through real quick. Cleveland, Kenwood, Detroit streets but we're also going to include Wildwood and the alley and we're going to start up the design process tomorrow. Council Emerson- Before I was in office, the 4th also had Calumet and I want to say 174th . And the vote, you're right the vote does not necessarily have to go this way that they voted it down. Mayor McDermott- Right. I still regret that. Still think that neighborhood sort of messed up on that but we honored the wishes of the neighborhood it wasn't overwhelming. It was like 55%. This is like 78%. But I agree Councilman that was an issue. I thought I thought we did a good job but the residents didn't like it and we punted. Councilman Mark and I just got through with one in his district where it didn't go as anticipated and we punted. One in my neighborhood didn't go as anticipated and we punted. Parkview up in the 1st district, that won't work. This one appears like it's going to go and State Line Avenue south of 65th . So, anyway, I'm not trying to take more time than I have to. Megan Flores submitted a document to you all. Councilman Tyler I didn't mean to cut you off. Do you have anything else on that? Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR ADDRESS cont. Councilman Tyler- The last thing I just want to share is that, you know, we've had some complaints about residents that live on that block of Highland Street knowing that this will increase the amount of traffic that they will see heading East and West between State Line and Hohman and I just want to let them know that we are aware of that and of course, monitor that to make sure that of course it to the best of our ability with the police department that you know, people are abiding by the speed limit. but we do know that traffic will increase on 165th to and well, you know, if it does increase traffic challenges or accidents, then, of course, we'll adapt accordingly in the future if that happens. Mayor McDermott- To echo what Councilman Tyler is talking about of course 165th is a major street state highway. Highland is what is called engineered to speak is a collector and you can tell it's a collector because it has a stoplight on Hohman. Okay, all the other streets don't have stop lights on Hohman which means they're not designed for heavy traffic. They get heavy traffic. They're not designed for heavy traffic for the residents of Highland hate this decision. Your street is designed for heavier traffic than Detroit than Wildwood. That's this isn't us picking winners and losers. This is your street was designed for this. So, I imagine people on Highland aren't going to love this. I imagine the people on 165th . Well there's not a lot of houses on 165th but we realized that traffic is going to get moved to Highland to Hohman and 165th but that's what the neighborhood voted for overwhelmingly. Councilman, you have anything else? Councilwoman Alexander- Just a question for Councilman Tyler and Mayor. Have you also thought about Forest Avenue? What's that going to do when they're coming off 165th and that tum down that they do when they fly down that street. I know some residents were concerned about that as well. Mayor McDermott- Right. Look you're talking about Forest and 165th when you're turning right. It'll will clear up usually with the next light. That's good news but I mean, we had this in effect for a week. Was it a week? I mean and by the way Councilwoman, what we're doing is temporary. I mean, it's temporary in the fact that we're designing the permanent fix but ifwe put barricades up and we're getting tons ofresponses, we can go back to the drawing board. We can tear them out. You know, that's the nice thing about this that's it's more permanent but it's still not permanent. We can pull them out ifwe had to. So, ifwe run into problems, I think it's something we need to talk about for sure, Councilwoman. Councilman Tyler- We've looked into Councilwoman having a conversation with the Engineer Department putting up more stop signs. We've even talked about speed bumps and to be honest, those things don't normally slow people. Speed bumps might but they also can do damage to some of our city service vehicles well. So , if it does continue to be or it becomes a bigger problem then we can address it then. I don't anticipate the speeding to continue. I think what was happening was people were seeing, they didn't know that all those streets were cut off so they were still trying to find a way to cut through. Now that we'll have these barriers up for a longer period, I think it'll eliminate a lot of that traffic that will actually be coming through the neighborhood in general. Councilwoman Alexander- Thank you. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR ADDRESS cont. Council President Woerpel- Mayor, I just want to tell the rest of the council and for the new viewers and we actually have people in our chambers tonight. This address the Mayor gave us started out of necessity because of COVID. And it turned into something very positive that we heard a lot of good about and even though we're all back in now chambers now, I've asked you to continue with this address and we've added it to the agenda and it's just part of the open communication and you've agreed to you know, continue with the address and if you're not available you're, you know, someone designated will. But that's why it's now on the agenda and it will be part of our regular order of business. Mayor McDermott- I appreciate it Councilman and I prepare for it. I look at it as a summary to what ve been doing for the last couple of weeks. So, anyway, I'd like to bring up Hammond City Controller Megan Flores to do a quick presentation with you all on the packet that you got on the American Rescue Plan and to make yourself available with any questions you have. Hammond City Controller Megan Flores- Good evening, Council. As mayor mentioned, you all hopefully have received your packets and had a few moments to go through them. They are a little in depth but I tried to give you as much information in a summary format as possible. So, I will just go ahead and give a brief summary verbally for that and then, if you have any questions, of course, I'm here to answer them. So, on March 11th President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. This provided roughly 65 billion dollars of direct aid to every city, town, and village across the country. The City of Hammond has been allocated roughly $51.39 million of AARP A dollars. This money is being distributed to us in two ways. One, we have already received it back in May and then the second one will be coming in May of 2022, the Treasury Department has released guidance on the use of these dollars. In the interim, final rule to summarize, ineligible uses include federal matching requirements, premium pay pensions, infrastructure that is not directly addressed in ARP A, rainy day funds, financial reserves, outstanding debt and the satisfaction of any obligation in relations to settlement agreement, a judgement, or a consent degree. Eligible uses are a little bit shorter of a list that we have necessary water and sewer projects, broadband infrastructure, lost revenues COVID-19, economic impacts, COVID-19 pandemic responses workforce, and personnel. The plan to spend these dollars must be adopted by you as a the Council by the end of 2024 and the dollars are required to be spent down out of the ARPA. Fund that we've created by the end of 2026. The packet like I said, goes into a little bit of detail on these various buckets of eligible uses and as mayor mentioned earlier, also included in the pack is a listing of projects that are have been on the to-do list for the city for some time now or the on the wish list that are directly ARPA eligible on that summary. It also shows you which buckets those fall into and there's also a listing of projects that are on that same to do list that are technically ineligible and we included this list because the revenue replacement portion of this money allows a lot of money, allows a lot of flexibility for us to move things around. We've been told in every webinar that I've attended to be, you know, strategic when using these dollars. So, for an example of a strategic use would be taking applicable expenses out of the general fund, paying them out the ARP A fund and then thus increasing the general funds ending balance and reducing the reliance of the general fund on gaming. So, ultimately, gaming dollars would be more accessible to us and then, of course, you know, anything that we do to increase the general fund but end of year balance is also going to increase our bond rating the next time we have to go. So, at this point, if you guys have any questions, I'm happy to answer. I know it's a lot. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Council Emerson- ARPA revenue replacement is that pensions? Megan Flores- No. So, revenue replacement dollars is essentially to replace whatever was lost in collections throughout various miscellaneous revenues and property taxes in 2020 in comparison to 2019. So, your packet will kind of go into detail about what points in time we're allowed to do that calculation and the equation basically sets 2019 collection numbers as the base year and then , we can take that amount and increase it by 4.1% to reflect the growth rate and then we deduct each year. So, the initial year. I've done some initial calculation. We have about 14 million identified right now that's conservative. So, we're just talking 2019 numbers, multiplying it by that 4.1 % growth rate and then we subtract 2020 and of there's a loss then that's how that's identified. Councilman Kalwinski- So, the amount oflosses we projected as a result of the pandemic projected? Megan Flores- Projected or experienced? Councilman Kalwinski- Experienced. Megan Flores- Yes, actually a large chunk of that is gaming. Mayor McDermott- Megan's trying to do and doing and doing very well is the ARPA money we're getting is very limited. It's very strict on how we spend that money. So, revenue replacement money is not as strict. So, if we could prove we have 14 million in damages, that money could used for a wider variety of things than other money that we're getting right? And if the least restrictive money that we use is gaming and we can spend that on mostly anything that's related to the City of Hammond and ifwe can free that up, that's even better. So, we're trying to be strategic on how we use this money for specific projects that we're going to do. You know, like downtown Hessville. You know, can we use this money some how to do that if we can. If we can't, you know, projects that we're committed to and we're going to pay for other ways ifwe can use ARPA money for it and we free up other money that's less restrictive. Councilman Kalwinski- So, what entity oversees our spending? Mayor McDermott- The City Council ultimately, it's ... Councilman Kalwinski- Does it go before the State? Then does it go to the Feds? Megan Flores- Yes, so there are quarterly and annually reports that are going to be required for us to send to the Feds, but of course this is a audit as well. So, we'll be audited by State Board of Accounts or the representatives at the end of every year. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Councilman Tyler- So, Megan, in terms of the lost revenue from last year and I know we've kind of mentioned gaming revenue. So, for example, if we as a council requested that we use some of these funds to account for the loss gaming that we the district council people had last year for projects in our districts and that's something we can work with you on to propose? Megan Flores- So, the great thing about the lost revenue is it doesn't stay fund specific. It is just across the board and it goes into one big bucket as revenue replacement dollars and then you can use money out of that bucket an any of applicable expenditures. Mayor McDermott- That's where it gets tricky Councilman Barry is loss ofrevenue dollars which is less restrictive. You can use it on roads, cyber security services, environmental remediation, school, or educational services, provision of police, fire, other public safety services. So, if it went to the Council District account like we used to do, it wouldn't really work that way because you have wide latitude of the council district gaming money that is not afforded by this. They still track the revenue replacement money just because in now, I think there's a project in the !81 lead remediation project and by good nature, I think we need to commit to it. That's something I know Capital Improvements is talking about right now and ifwe know we're going to use that, an environmental remediation is one of the area you could use revenue replacement money. Would it be smarter for us to use revenue replacement money for that project we're going to do anyway, freeing up the money that we would have to use to do that project gaming. You know what I'm saying? So, ultimately, ifwe can plug it into one of these categories, it' in our best interest that we free up the money that Councilman Barry talking about is the unlimited money, basically is you could use district gaming money for virtually anything in your district, right? This money is still tracked even if its revenue replacement. Councilman Tyler- Mayor. I guess I'm thinking that like there are some projects for example, I mean, roads are stated here that we could use that lost revenue for us ... Mayor McDermott- So, I get it but these have to be spent out of this fund. That's another right... Megan Flores- I think I understand what you're getting at Councilman Tyler but yes, as Council, you can adopt part of the plan to just state that we would be allocating a portion of the dollars that have been identified for revenue replacement to roads or if you know you can even assign it to the Capital Improvement Board for, you know, the applicable uses but that's 100% allowable. Councilman Tyler- Okay. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 8 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott- Obviously, this is a subject we're going to talk a lot about. And I would like to first off the creation of the Capital Improvement Board was, I think it's gone very well. I imagine you have to talk to the three members of the council that are on there but I think most votes on the Capital Improvement Board seven to zero which is how I personally like it when I took over as mayor, all the board votes were four to three or three to two with the Mayor raming through the agenda. You know, so hopefully we can all like agree on good projects to spend this money on and not turn into you know, Jerry Springer show like other cities are experiencing. So, this is a gift. This is a gift from God and a gift from Biden. I'm not going to call him God but this is still huge for us. These are projects that like the Hessville Bridge, there's trains stopped every single day forcing people to drive all the way around on Cline Avenue. It's like this bridge is the savior. The State committed to it. We didn't know how the heck we're going to pay for our end. This is a gift and I hope we can all agree on the good use of these projects which will free up the other money so that you can spend that in the district. Councilman Tyler- I have one more question. So, for example, in the 3rd, I know we're supposed to complete the MLK Park project, right? So, Tapper Street between Highland and Lyons, I know last year, I know last year ... I mean the money was pretty much set aside. We had talked about it. We discussed it was supposed to happen last year but it didn't because of the lost revenue in the pandemic. So, where do I see that? Its not on this current list. Mayor McDermott- We're not saying this is the list. At the end of the day, it was more like illustrative of projects we need to do if we need to add more projects to it councilman, lets do it. Councilman Tyler- In your mind, do you see that project? Mayor McDermott- Ifwe can afford it, we can plug it into a category. You know, I'm all for it Councilman, first off, the park is gorgeous and it's highly used which is great and if you know that was definitely apart of it that we didn't finance. Councilman Tyler- Okay. Mayor McDermott- By the way, I see this park every day of my life. It's jammed packed with people. I dare say busier than Hessville Park and that's a big statement because Hessville Park is packed. So, it's a gorgeous park. I'd love to. Councilman Kalwinski- I agree with you that there will be a lot more discussion and questions. I mean, I got this at 5 o'clock so ... Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 9 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott- Councilman Mark. This is just for presentation. This isn't the list. Councilman Kalwinski- So by the same token, Councilman Tyler has a park that needs fixing. I have a pool that needs to be out in the ground is that something it could be used for too? Megan Flores- No, unfortunately, the only portion of Councilman Tyler's project that would be applicable for ARP A dollars would be the sewer and the water underneath the road. Everything else as far as an expansion or added parking have to fall in either CIB or his budget or other dollars that can be identified. But unfortunately, no, we cannot use it towards the pool. Mayor McDermott- And interestingly, going back to the point about the road. So, lets say Tapper, the top of Tapper doesn't need to be fixed. It's like we just poured it last year but the sewer part of Tapper needs to be completely renovated. Question is, can we use revenue replacement money to do the whole street because we need to get to the utilities underground? Have you researched that? Megan Flores- No further guidance has been released on that. As of right now that category is liberal and it does say, you know, including but not limited to. So, we're just trying to figure out again how liberal the federal government Is going to be when it comes to that terminology in these projects. Mayor McDermott- So, the Capital Improvement Board 7000 block of Schneider, we've been talking about that for a few years. We don't have the money for it you know, because the sewage and the utilities underground need to be replaced. We could probably use replacement money to do that like Tapper. However, pools and parks aren't in this which limits us but we could free up money in other areas to do that kind of stuff, Councilman Mark. This has turned into we have a lot of discussion on this. This is just the initial proposal. The list that we put together is an initial list. These are going to be talked out, you know, even the YMCA project in your district doesn't fit in the category, you know, so there's some stuff that we want to do that doesn't fit in this category. We gotta figure out how to finance them but this is helping with a lot of the things that we need to get done. So, okay. We didn't intend to take as much of your time. I wanted to point that out but we did want to get this to you because Megan's been working really hard getting up to date on everything. So, that's my report for the City Council. I appreciate it very much Mr. President. Councilwoman Alexander- I want to actually thank Megan for this report. It was extremely phenomenal with the information that was given. So, thank you for the time that you put into giving us this information. Megan Flores- Thank you and I also included a listing of resources at the end of the packet. So, The interim rules there. AIM is giving webinar presentations about this all the time. Actually, any financial group really is at this point this is the hot topic across the country. And if you have any questions, please feel free to email me. It's usually the easiest way or give my office a call and we can try to schedule something. Thank you. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 10 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to accept the minutes from May 24, 2021 and place on file. ROLL CALL VOTE (approve minutes) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MINUTES APPROVED APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to approve the claims from May 19, 2021 through June 9, 2021. Claim #2488 through #2862, inclusive. ROLL CALL VOTE (claims) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 CLAIMS APPROVED PUBLIC HEARINGS 21-20 An Ordinance Amending the Wholesale Rates Charged for Water Services to Indiana Customer Communities John Haynes- I'm representing the Indiana Customer Communities. I respectfully request that the council adopt document 21-20 as presented rates were negotiated in good faith and arm lengths bargaining with the Hammond team believe they are fair and support the adoption of the Rights. Thank you COMMUNICATIONS Councilman Rakos- I'd like to announce and invite everyone to live in the Ville Street Fest on Kennedy Avenue. It's on Friday, June 25 th, from 5pm till 1lpm and Saturday from June 26th from noon to 11pm. Councilwoman Alexander- Just want to remind the students who just graduated to complete their College Bound application by July 2nd , they are due. So, we want to definitely remind them to get those applications in as soon as possible. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 11 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 COMMUNICATIONS cont. Councilman Tyler- I just want to share. I think everybody has seen this flier already but this Saturday, June 19th , we'll have the Juneteenth celebration at MLK Park from 10 am to 2pm sponsored by of course, our Mayor, the City of Hammond and the Juneteenth Committee. I think that's exciting because you know, last year was the first year that we made Juneteenth, a holiday here in the City of Hammond. And so this is following that I know that a lot of our students who just graduated will be there sharing words on the importance of Juneteenth celebration. So excited about that. Also, want to share that Hammond Day is Saturday, July 3rd at MLK Park as well. So excited to see that back up and running after taking last year off. And lastly this week, School City of Hammond celebrated all of their graduations at Wolf Lake Pavilion and I was able to be the commencement speaker for Hammond's ceremony and just to see all of the students there and see the parents there and hear about all the wonderful stories that came from all 4 of the School City of Hammond's graduations, I think it was a wonderful sight especially given that, you know, 3 of our high schools will be closing next year, as they combine schools for Hammond Central. So, it's just a great way to celebrate the work in history of Gavit Clark and Hammond High over the years. COMMITTEE REPORTS Councilman Spitale - Council as a whole will be bringing out 21-20 and 21-21. Councilwoman Venecz - I would like to read the upcoming Community and Crime Watch Meetings. On Thursday, June 17 the South Hohman Ave Neighborhood Watch will meet at Trinity Lutheran Church on 173rd/ Hohman at 6:30pm. I do know that our new Chief of Police and Asst. Chief of Police are going to be guest speakers. Please come out, meet some of the neighbors and even if you don't live in the neighborhood, please come out and share your thoughts with the group. Upcoming meetings are pretty inconsistent, Community Watch at Mt. Zion Pleasant View Plaza, the next meeting will be in August, Edison Community Watch will meet in September, Harrison Park Crime Watch is looking at a meeting in July or August, so look for the announcement on that. Hessville Crime Watch their next meeting will be in August, Irving Community Watch will meet in September and as usual if you see anything that seems suspicious please call 911. Because community is not just about me, it's about us. Also, I would like to announce that the City of Hammond security light program is back, sponsored by Mayor McDermott, Hammond Community Watch, Hammond Community Deyelopment and Hammond Urban Enterprise Association. As in the past, anyone who owns and lives in their home in Hammond can get a free dusk to dawn light paid for by this program. Installed by a licensed electrician, all you have to do is pay for the electricity month to month. Applications will be received in person only, between July 6 and July 9, on the 3rd floor of City Hall in room 312. You must supply proof of your home ownership and a valid driver's license or State ID. So bring a copy of your tax bill that genuinely gives all of the information that is needed. Quantities are limited so, it is on a first come first serve basis. Last week I attended the Whiting/Robertsdale Crime Watch and this time of the year is a very very common complaint and that is fireworks. Fireworks are not allowed in the city with the exception of two (2) hours after sunset on June 29 through July 9. On the 4th of July fireworks are permitted from 10am to midnight. This disrupts neighborhoods, pets, some veterans have a problem with the boom sounds all the time going well into the night and some of our seniors are not able to get any rest. So, please, be respectful of your neighbors, do not shoot off fireworks accept during the designated times. If you have any questions about what time the fireworks can be shot off, you can go to gohammond.com, you can call any of us Council people and we would be more then happy to reiterate the times that the fireworks can be used. Also, because it's confusing between fireworks and gun shots. Gun shots, Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 12 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Councilwoman Venecz cont-disarming a firearm in the City of Hammond is restrictedly prohibited, of any kind. If it's a BB gun, other kind, I don't know guns, but a gun. Just keep in mind, what goes up comes down. Back a couple of years ago we had a young man who was killed in his own driveway from a bullet that came down and struck him in the head. People have leaks in their roofs because bullets come down, go through the roof. I personally had a bullet through my front room window. There's no reason for that. If anybody has any questions about any of that, please feel free to give any ofus a call and once again, because community is not just about me it's about all ofus. Thank you. One more thing, I wanted to give an update on the Capital Improvements Board. We last met on June 7, we approved $2 million for the overlay program, $600,000 for the sidewalk program, $460,000 for the Schneider storm sewer, $300,000 for pavement preservation, which is, cracked ceilings, $261,511 was approved for the Robertsdale lead remediation environmental consulting for phase one (1) and phase two (2) that's regarding (18) properties. $60,000 was approved for Nies Engineering for general engineering services and $205 .44 was approved for the Purdue refuge island change order. Our next meeting is June 21. Councilman Emerson - I'm also speaking at the South Hammond Crime Watch meeting of (?) on Thursday that was neglected to be reported. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING-FINAL PASSAGE 21-20 An Ordinance amending the Wholesale Rates Charged for Water Services to Indiana Customer Communities Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved for passage. Mayor McDermott - As a reminder, this ordinance is based upon the settlement agreement we had in regards of litigation with the communities of Whiting, Munster, Highland, Griffith and Dyer. lfwe pass this wholesale ordinance, it will put to rest the class action lawsuit filed against the City of Hammond and it will result in rate certainty for us and our customer communities for the next (20) twenty years. Which is a long time, I don't think many of us will have to worry about this issue ever again, after this is passed. Are we going to have problems down the road when the rates automatically go in, no the other communities are in the process of approving these rates as we speak. I believe Whiting has already done so, the other communities are following suit. This is a complicated ordeal. This is just a rate part that we are dealing with, but there is multitude of issues that we are dealing with right now. And it's the City of Hammond that we move relatively quickly. But we are dealing with multiple communities and each community is represented by a large law firm and it just bogs everything down. This is the meat and potatoes of it that is facing you all right now. What if a community doesn't agree to the rate schedule and they tum this down, then they will stay in litigation at this point and question whether or not they want to remain customers'. Because right now without the new contracts, Griffith they do not have a contract with the City of Hammond. Obviously if they approve this and sign onto the agreement they'll have an agreement with the City of Hammond for the next twenty (20) years, with the City of Hammond Water Company, excuse me. The wholesale rate is only for Indiana communities, this does not affect Illinois contracts whatsoever, it has nothing to do with Illinois contracts whatsoever. I've heard some misconceptions that people talking about, this isn't fair, I pay $1.90 for my water at my house and you're giving it to other communities for $.95, that is patently false. It is not a shred of truth whatsoever. This is the wholesale rate we charge for a Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 13 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 ORDINANCE 3RDREADING-FINAL PASSAGE cont. Mayor McDermott cont-community in Highland. For a customer in Highland, the water comes to their community at $.95 and then the local community tax onto that with their local charges. And in a lot of cases their local charges are pushing $3.00, which means at the end of the day when the water arrives at the doorstep of this Highland home it's closer to $4.00, where as our residents retail rate is $1.90, under this proposal. That's the only real attack I've heard on this proposal is the misconception that Hammond residents are getting screwed, which is ridiculous. Hammond residents have the lowest retail water rate in the State of Indiana, period. Hammond residents have the lowest retail water rate in the State oflndiana period, even after we do this, if we do it. Last time we raised water rates on Hammond residents was in 1985. When we passed this rate increase, we had the first few days, quite a few phone calls in City Hall and as of late, nothing. You just had the opportunity to have the public to speak in regards to the rate increase and the only person that spoke was the gentleman that was involved in the class action lawsuit saying that this was a fair settlement. So, I urge the Hammond City Council to do the right thing and pass this wholesale rate ordinance. Thank you very much. I'm available for questions if you have them. Councilman Kalwinski - I think the only caveat to that is that in the beginning of this process administration mentioned that Hammond would have to pay the same rate that would be described to the customer communities. Hammond's paying the $1.90, the full freight, but even at the end of the ten (10) year term the Indiana communities will be paying a rate of a $1.60 as their increase to this. Residents in my community and my district are asking me why are we having to pay the full freight and especially the full freight right now and when the rate increase caps in ten (10) years at $1.60, the sister communities are still paying less then we are. And I don't know how to answer that. Mayor McDermott - Thank you councilman. That goes into the incorrect assertion that we'd heard out there is that this rate, the $1.60, let's call it at year ten (10), the customer communities pays is all that they are paying, which is not correct at all. They're paying $1.60 plus what their local communities charge, which could be $3.00. So, are residents are going to pay, at that time $2.10 as it goes up and at that time they'll pay $2.10 and a resident of Whiting, Whiting's got low rates, but let's say a resident of one of our customer communities will be paying $4.50 or $5.00. That's the thing is this is the right way to do it, we should have done it this way, quite frankly early on. We should have had a separate rate for wholesale communities, we should have done it initially, we didn't I take responsibility for that. Once we got ourselves involved in the litigation, my job is to listen also, and I listened and I read the pleadings of what our customer communities were saying, listened to the gentlemen, the Clerk Treasurer from Whiting that came in here and agreed quite frankly. Any other utility has a different rate for the customer and then they act like NIPSCO. Like, our house Councilman Mark, pays a retail rate for NIPSCO, but US Steel pays a wholesale rate. Because if US Steel paid the same rate we pay at our house, they'd go out of business. So this is the same kind of example that we're doing with our utility is charging a retail rate for the customer's and a wholesale rate for the bulk purchasers. And if we insisted on the retail rate for our customer communities, I'm confident to say that we would still be involved in this class action lawsuit and we would be going to jury trial and risking exposer in other areas that we didn't feel comfortable. For instance, our Illinois contracts, I don't think they were at risk, but just the fact we were talking about it put them in risk. That's no-good business for us because we have a State Legislature that will take it away. The more they read about it more they want it themselves. So, we felt that going to trial may have exposed, not that Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 14 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 ORDINANCE 3RDREADING-FINAL PASSAGE cont. Mayor McDermott cont.-you know, what we're doing is illegal, it's not, but maybe the State says hey, why is Hammond getting all this money selling water to Illinois, we want that money. And by the way as a reminder, they have (79) seventy-nine representatives in the house and we have (21) twenty-one in the democratic party, so there's no much mercy for Mayor McDermott cont-communities like ourselves, a democratic community. So, I felt the risk of ongoing litigation verses compromise, I felt that compromise was the safest route for us Councilman Mark and that's the God's honest truth. I can't speak for the gentlemen from Whiting, but ifwe insisted and stuck to our guns I'm confident to say we would not have this settlement before you we'd be going to trial. And trial we could have won, but we could have lost and somebody surely would have appealed, which means we would be doing this for (2) two more years, just limbo. They're paying $.50 forever and running up a bill, eventually. They get repaid. I get it, it's not easy Councilman Mark, I've heard the complaints and I get frustrated because a lot of what I hear is not true, but I appreciate you bringing it up. Councilman Kalwinski - But on the front end of the process, we are paying $1.90 and so the rate increases that we were gonna pay was initially proposed that we would have to pay the same rate increase that the sister communities would pay. When you look at the rate increases we're putting in, not what they're doing to their communities, but that we're putting in Hammond is paying more. And so that's where some of the residents are coming back and saying that's not what we had said, that wasn't what was initially proposed. So that is true of itself even thought the customer communities are paying more then we are. So they're saying the rate is, should we be paying $1.60 then, which is the top end of what customer communities are gonna pay. All kinds of conversations begin there and I would know it would create chaos in the Water Department, but that is what's commgup. Mayor McDermott - It's not correct, they can say it, but it's not correct. At a $1.60 the wholesale rate and then Highland, Whiting or Griffith or Munster or Dyer says ok, it's a $1.60 when it gets here we're gonna add $2.50 or $3.00 to it and it's $4.60 by the time it gets to the customer community's house. So like, regardless of what we're paying that's just what arrives at Whiting, at $.95 or a $1.60 or whatever it is, that's where it starts. By the way, this is how water works this isn't some Lake County thing, that's how water works. When we are talking about our water sales in Illinois communities we sell it to Chicago Heights and then Chicago Heights taxes on a fee and then they pass it off to Homewood who packs on another fee to send it to Flossmoor who packs on another fee to send it to Olympia Fields. This is normal stuff. I'm not saying it's improper what's going on, it starts at a $1.60 in a year (10) ten. And then people start adding to it Councilman Mark. I don't know what else to say. Councilwoman Alexander - I get what your saying Mayor. Like Councilman Kalwinski is saying is, that it looks one way. I understand your saying wholesale verses retail. So, when we are saying these numbers to the residents, they don't see a wholesale on the Hammond side, they see this number which is the $1.90 verses their wholesale on the customer communities at $1.60. So, I think that is where the ball is kinda looking a little weird for them. If they understood th~ difference between wholesale and retail, that's where I think the explanation, could be a little bit better. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 15 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 ORDINANCE 3rd READING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. Mayor McDermott - I don't know crap about my NIPSCO bill, I just pay it. I don't know if it's retail or wholesale, I just pay it. I don't think it's my responsibility to know how they arrive at my NIPSCO bill. I guess I could dig into it if I want too. All I know is that I pay a retail rate. US Steel pays a way lower rate thert I do, because US Steel pays in bulk. This is the same concept and I don't really think the residents ..... I don't know. You guys can vote this down. I mean you have that option as a council person. Which it opens a can of worms, I'm just being honest. Let's say this fails, ok we're back in a class action, which is fine because we passed the water rate ordinance and then we can tell our customer communities, sorry it's a $1.90 it's going up to $2.10, $2.30 we can go back to litigation, I mean that's the option. And this is a multiple city, multiple law firm class action lawsuit, with multiple lawyers making big money and this is a proposal thought about by, I don't know, dozens of lawyers. If this isn't good enough to pass the council, then I'll do what I can as your Mayor to get the best deal for us. But I think this is the best deal, personally. I'd like to point out, I'm a lawyer licensed to practice law in the State oflndiana, my attorney ID is 22466-45 I can appear at any Federal or State Court in the State oflndiana today ifl wanted too. My phone number is 219/853-6302 if you guys get in trouble, no I'mjust kidding. Councilwoman Venecz - This comes down to penny wise and dollar foolish. When you analyze the water bill, take out sanitary, take out garbage, take out. .. look at your water and I would venture to say that there was an increase when you divide it in half between $2.00 and $5.00. We're not talking a whole lot of money and we're talking the safety of our residents, as far as our water infrastructure. Mayor McDermott - The biggest water project we have in the City of Hammond right now is happening right before our very eyes at 165th/Columbia. That water tank was rusting out and for about a year and a half I was like water department fix your water tank, I'm getting complaints about it. And then finally they said, we don't have the credit, we can't get this done, we can't fix our own tank. We have so little money coming through the utility that we can't even do our own tank, we can get afloat with the people, but we can't do all this expensive maintenance we need to do. But that makes sense, because IURC says it cost us $ 1.11 to make a thousand (1000) gallon of water and we are only charging our residents $.55. So, if you charge half of what it cost to make it I can understand why your barely making ends meet. So the biggest water project in the City of Hammond right now is going to be gorgeous. In about a month, it's paid for entirely by the Redevelopment Commission. Which is not the way it's suppose to work. So the fact is, I get it if you're opposed to the water rate in total, I mean I think that's ... I really don't understand that thinking. If you like hey it's too much, I get it ok. But the fact is, the Water Department needs a rate increase, needed a rate increase years ago and it took me along time, as your Mayor, to finally get to the point where we are now. Councilwoman Alexander - I'm not knocking the rate increase, I don't want you to think that. Just saying what it looks like for the residents. Like we've said it before when we give them a better explanation it helps them to understand with the litigation and the things like that. We're not saying we don't need the rate increase, we do, but what we are saying what it looks like to them and giving them that explanation helps them to understand a little bit better why we're in the situation that we're in. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 16 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 ORDINANCE 3rd READING - FINAL PASSAGE cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (passage) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9509 PASSED 21-21 An Ordinance to erect No Parking Signs from Indianapolis Boulevard to 165th Street on Summer Street and Repealing any Ordinances in conflict thereto Councilman Tyler, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for passage. ROLL CALL VOTE (passage) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 ORDINANCE NO. 9510 PASSED INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES 21-22 An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Hammond Authorizing the City of Hammond, Indiana, to issue one or more series of its Economic Development Revenue Bonds and Approving and Authorizing other actions in respect thereto (415 Sibley-3 Comers Project) (Bank Calumet - NWI Project) Councilman Torres, 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 June 28, 2021 at 5:15p.m. Councilman Torres - This is a Part A and Part B development project in downtown Hammond. Like it was mentioned 415 Sibley, five (5) floor apartment building with the first (1st) floor being retail and Bank Calumet is gonna have a hundred (100) units. I see representatives of development for Calumet is here, I say you step up and brief us on it. Don Babcock - We are really excited about this project and the ability to bring a catalytic project to downtown Hammond to set an example for all ofNWI on a transportation district type of project. This project will be close to your new downtown station, within a block or two (2). So it fulfills this whole RDA mission of making the South Shore a connector with us then Chicago in a more efficient way. Plus you have speck downtown plan, this ,fits perfectly with that. If I could, I would like to bring up Anastacia Fratto she's a partner at NWI Development Group. Would you come up and perhaps describe the project? I know it's 1925 buildings, its historic icon in the community and I couldn't be more proud to work with these folks, because they are the top self of top self developers. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 17 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Anastacia Fratto - I'm the cofounder ofNWI Development Group we are based out of Michigan City Indiana. We are really excited to be part of such the transformation of what's happening in downtown. Some of our team members shared some old pictures of what downtown Hammond was like and there was a lot of activity and a lot of community assets and it still has a lot of community assets that we are excited to be part of. So our plan for this project is about 100,000 sq. feet it was a commercial building. Bank Calumet owned it so did First Midwest. Unfortunately, the pervious two (2) owners didn't take care of the property. There's about five (5) or six (6) standing feet of water in the basement for about a half of a decade. And we 're purchasing it and our plan is to redevelop it into about a hundred (100) apartments and we'll have about 10,000 sq. feet of ground floor commercial, which would be a mix between retail and also some amenities space for the residents. Our plan there is if you've been in the Bank Calumet building you've known that the lobby is really beautiful and the ceilings have been brought in from Germany. Our plan is to preserve as much as we can on the 1st floor and we are going to have a co-working space down there with some lounge areas and some different ways for the residents that live in that building to be able to have a sense of community, in addition to the retail space. We're having there. And our plan, and we have been working with the City of Hammond in talking about preserving the facade. So it's a really iconic building in Hammond and it's frankly an iconic building for the region. It's one (1) of the tallest buildings in the region and happy to report that we've been working with the State. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation for the last several months and last week we were preliminarily awarded $4. 75 million grant to bring to downtown Hammond for this building. That should be going in front of the board tomorrow. So hopefully by tomorrow evening we'll be able to confirm that the State is funding just shy of $5 million for this project. But we're excited to be here, we're excited to be part of this transformation of what your plan and vision is with the Jeff Speck plan. If anybody has any questions for us, we're happy to ... Councilman Kalwinski - What was the damage from all of that water sitting there? What do you have to do? Anastacia Fratto - So the water has been pumped, in fact, we are going to be drying it over the next couple weeks. We've had a structural engineer come out, we've done full inspections in the basement, fortunately the building was built to stand the test of time. There is clearly a lot of rust, unfortunately in the vaults, there's a lot of rust in the basement, but we're not going to have any issues remodeling or revitalizing that. And structurally the building is sound. Councilman Kalwinski - Good, you know everybody up here gets giddy about downtown being revitalized. But we also know the history in Lake County of large developments, Hampton in Highland, Kennedy Park Apartments, Mansards, Tanglewood have all seen rough days since their inception. How will we not have that experience? What can you safe guard and do that we won't land in the same predicament that those large developments, those housing developments have? Anastacia Fratto - That's a great point Councilman. So the building won't be we will have an onsite property manager. We are also have a full-time leasing manager. We are looking at parking we are going to have an offsite right across the street from Fayette.The City of Hammond owns some land there that we're gonna have has a parking lot that will be secured and lighted. Safety is a big concern of ours we work a lot with many different firms that only specialize in leasing and sort of the tenant mix that is going to occupy the building. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 18 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Don Babcock - Just a thought on that process to is, the kind of activity with Chicago will make a big difference, in terms of... I'm even a product of commuting to Chicago, my mom raised four (4) boys in Highland and she took the South Shore to Chicago every day for a better job. So we are anticipating number one (1) it's gonna be very high quality construction. It's a beautiful building. Its worth preserving and I think it's really gonna make a great statement downtown and people will want to live there. Plus, the proximity to the college, with Purdue NW, downtown the higher speed trains coming through, so that holds well for long term success. The other projects that you mentioned, I don't think any that you mentioned were right next to the railroad tracks where you get that kind of activity. We will get a refresher of people that come in routinely. Plus, they are going to be managing it so well that it will preserve the value. Anastacia Fratto - One of the things I should have added to, who we think our residents are going to be, are young professionals. So we are going to be offering a mix of from studios' to two (2) bedrooms here in the building. We have had a market study done also and completed that supports that we are going to get young professionals and live and reside here. Councilman Kalwinski - So will the management group be onsite 24/7 and will security be there 24/7? Anastacia Fratto - So, we will have an onsite manager there and then we will have security measures, fob keys we will have secured access entry. We want everybody to feel safe anywhere they're in the building, whether it's in the front vestibule area or in the rear and also the perimeter of the building will be monitored. We are also going to have secured parking. Councilman Kalwinski - Cameras on the outside of the building? Anastacia Fratto - We may have some cameras on the outside of the building we are certainly going to have some cameras facing the parking lot as well. Councilman Kalwinski - And the manager, will that person or people be living in the complex to? Anastacia Fratto - They won't, they will be employed by us and they will not be living at the complex, but we will have onsite property manager that will be easily accessible for anybody needed them. Councilman Spitale - What about the people that are renting there and they have ten (10) people coming in. How are you going to judge whether they really know Joe Blow that lives upstairs and just running through the place? Anastacia Fratto - So we'll have secured entrance we are also going to have elevator banks. So they would need to get buzzed in by somebody that lives in the building to enter. Not anybody can just walk into the residential portion. And the retail side, when the retailers are open, they to will have independent spaces and be responsible for closing and locking up in the evening as well. Councilman Kalwinski - And the public can utilize the retail part of it or is that just for the tenants? Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 19 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Anastacia Fratto - No, absolutely the public can utilize retail. Councilman Emerson - So it's exciting and I also was wondering if you've considered the percentage of potential residents that will take the train, A. To work in Chicago or B. To go to 173rd there was some talk about a shuttle bus to go to Purdue NW. So, what kind of numbers do you anticipate? You said they're going to be young professionals, will they be working downtown or are we going to have big parking lot for people to drive from wherever to take the train? Anastacia Fratto - So that's a great point. The building we're protected, I'm gonna speak to the timing of the building opening and the timing of the train. So when we're opening the building we're going to be starting demo and construction this fall and then we would be open in spring of 2023. So the building will actually be open and operated before the downtown station Hammond opens. A lot of the people that will live in this building in the beginning will find it as an affordable life style option, perhaps. They are coming from Chicago or some other neighboring communities and also the residents of Hammond and large Lake County giving them an additional opportunity to live this downtown environment. We see that when the train station actually opens Councilman, that's when we'll get more people that are commuting from that downtown station to Chicago. So if the train is projected to say open in 2025, 2026 that's when we think we'll get more folks that want to commute from Chicago. They can certainly go up, they can drive their car park it in the parking lot and take the Hammond Gateway Station now, which is certainly an option for people as well. Councilman Spitale - How is the rental, month to month, six (6) months a year? Anastacia Fratto - So we will have a one (1) year lease on the rentals. Council President Woerpel - I can't join the discussion, so I'm just going to make a comment. I join Mr. Emerson in the enthusiasm for this building and it beats the alternative of what's been there. I'm glad we've found somebody that's willing to make the investment and take a chance this building. You want to say that part again about how the Council and Mayor got together and .... Don Babcock - Just for the record if you will, as part of the application process to get the redevelopment tax credit from the State of Indiana you need to show that you have community support. And what was impressive about this community is not just the excellent economic development staff that you have here with Kevin and Phil and Ann and Megan, but also the fact that the Mayor's working well with the city and the City Council signed off on a letter of support, where every single City Council member signed off on that. As well as, the Mayor and that presented itself very very well down in Indianapolis when we were there and this city has its act together. And my previous job, NIPS CO I didn't see that very often. I would get some political wranglings between the Mayor a couple of Councilman or something and the projects just wouldn't be as solid as what we are right now, but it's obvious to me that you believe in the City of Hammond and you're dedicating a lot of time to that. And we believe in you too and we're willing to bring some money to the table to make this project a reality. Congratulations to you, I mean we're anxious to have our opening, well not opening, kinda the introductory meeting relative, it's not a ribbon cutting, it's not ground breaking either right? We'll have something in August or September once we get a few more documents signed and then we'll invite the whole Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 20 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Don Babcock cont. - community and want you all to come and join us in the celebrations in the start of our construction. Council President Woerpel - I look forward to being out there New Years Eve, thank you. Don Babcock - A compliment for your President, he and I had the opportunity to go on the one (1) region visits around the nation one of the places we went to was Denver and we come back and we were like, why not Northwest Indiana, well to make it happen in NWI, it takes leadership and working together and a great staff that can understand the finances and present a credible thing that lowers risk for everybody. Council President Woerpel - I know Councilman Torres wanted the other gentleman to speak on the other part of this. Is he still here or did he leave? Phil or Kevin you want to step up and explain that part of it? Phil Taillon - He ask me if he should stick around and I said you can if you want, but I think you answered the majority of their questions. He will be back for the next meeting for sure. But you wanted me to speak on his project? Council President Woerpel - He just wanted them to speak on their part of it and the other gentleman to speak on his part of it tonight during the introduction. Do you want to wait for him to speak or ... Councilman Torres - Well, just to describe the project I forgot to mention that it's on the old JcPenney lot. So if you want to describe it? Phil Taillon - Sure, the tree (3) corners' development is at the comer of Sibley and Hohman. It's gonna be a fifty-four (54) unit, residential market rate building, very similar to the previous project we just heard they will have retail on the bottom floor and residential on the upper floors. The retail hasn't been given yet. He's working on several different businesses that he wants to see on the bottom floor. He thinks it will work well with his development. A big difference between their project you just heard about is that the building is existing this is a new construction project. I guess one (1) concern that we have to be weary of, is that with the market the way it is right now a lot of supply costs have gone way up, so I know he's working through that right now. But he's done a great job, he's been working with our team and telling us exactly how he's addressing the issues that are out there right now. We are really excited about it. It's just not the JcPenney lot it also will encompass some of the Jefferson Hotel property that's just to the east. And as I mentioned in caucus the Dan Rabin facility that's been vacant for a very longtime will also be incorporated into this one way or another. It won't be owned by the developer but the city is working with different tenants, as far as somebody who might fit there that will work in synergy with this residential project. But it also will have some sorta transportation aspect to it based on what the building was originally constructed for. So we're very excited about it. Councilman Kalwinski - Will the buildings remain standing along the overpass, that would have been behind JcPenney and south of that? Or are they all coming down? Phil Taillon - What Rob(?) said earlier is that he has purchased the Reymundo property, so that building will be Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 21 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Phil Taillon cont. - demolished. I think he stated that he also has a deal in place for the church that is no longer active and that also is gonna come down. The only thing I'm hesitant to say whether or not he has an official deal in place for that building. Councilman Torres - The developer also mentioned that he's gonna be neighbor friendly. There's Mr. Garza's restaurant across the street and he's gonna make parking accessible to him. I know Mr. Garza was really concerned about that. He's willing to work with the rest of the retailers there and that's great. Phil Taillon - That's a great point as part of this deal, Mr. Garza entered into an agreement with the developer and there was a lot of conversation about parking for the future E building. Which, you know, we hope will be open and ... it's active to a certain point right now I know he does some events on weekends, but I think it's gonna be even ... it's gonna open up even more in the future and I'm glad you brought that up because as I mentioned in caucus I wanted to bring up that Hohman Avenue is being redesigned. It is gonna go down to two (2) lanes. There is gonna be a lot more landscaping there's gonna be parking in the middle of Hohman, as well as, parallel parking on the outside of Hohman Avenue as well. There will be additional parking available for Mr. Garza's future endeavor there. Councilman Kalwinski - So how will it be determined in time that Mr. Garza will have the right to have his customers park in that lot? Is there going to be a MOU of some sort? What will establish that he has rights to that lot for his customers? Phil Taillon - I think Mr. Fereno's development, most of the parking is technically behind the building and I think Mr. Garza's gonna be able to use all the parking that will be on Hohman. And I believe there's gonna be some parking potentially to the east side of this residential development that Mr. Garza will be able to use as well. And I think after having conversations with him and Rob, Mr. Garza got comfortable enough to sign off on the agreement so he could move forward. Councilman Kalwinski - So it's just a gentleman's agreement, nothing in writing at he can have X number of spots for his customers? Phil Taillon - I would say that he felt comfortable enough with the way the parking is gonna be situated once this development agreement is completed that he felt his business would be able to be successful. Councilman Kalwinski - So nothing firm? Phil Taillon - I don't think there's anything signed specifically that says, you get X amount of parking as part of this development. I think he just felt comfortable with where the parking is gonna be located once the development is operational. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 22 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. Councilman Kalwinski -Thanks. Councilman Tyler - Just a quick question Phil. When is the(?) completion date for both of these projects? Phil Taillon - I'm a little hesitate to answer, only because of the market issues that are out there right now. I think it looks like things are calming down a little bit and so, we are gonna be fine. I believe if you ask Mr. Fereno, you know, he wants to be opened by the end of this year. I would let him answer that at the next meeting. But I think he wants to start construction within the next thirty (30) to sixty (60) days. And we've been doing a lot of the side stuff that's not as sexy, you know, some of the utility work that needs to be done and some property acquisition that he needed to do. We've worked with CSX Railroad and we've been helping him throughout this. I would say he's gonna be under construction here fairly soon and if all goes well, he could potentially be opened by the end of the year. But it could be potentially spring of next year as well. It's a twelve (12) month construction time. Council President Woerpel - And Bulletin Road will remain intact? Phil Taillon - Bulletin Road? Council President Woerpel - It's back there, right? You see, I got you on that. You didn't know there was a road back there called Bulletin Road. Councilman Emerson - It's Bulletin Court. Council President Woerpel - Oh, Bulletin Court not Road. ROLL CALL VOTE (1st & 2nd) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION ON 21-22 PASSED RESOLUTIONS 21R-19 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 Councilwoman Venecz, moved for adoption. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 23 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 RESOLUTIONS cont. Councilman Woerpel- Anne, I just have a quick question for you. There's all kinds of names up there. Is any of them the business owners and do they wish to speak? Economic Development Director Anne Anderson- I see three at this time. You could probably give them a general option to speak up if they would like. Council President Woerpel- Does anybody have any questions on any of this? ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. RI 9 ADOPTED 21R-20 A Resolution Establishing the Policy by Which Members of the City of Hammond Common Council May Participate by Electronic Means of Communication Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Alexander, moved for adoption. Councilman Rakos- This Resolution is known as Electronic Meeting policy for the City of Hammond Council. And any other committee that might want to use it. We've adopted what we received from the State oflndiana so we can comply with their rules and move for adoption. ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R20 ADOPTED 21R-21 A Resolution Authoring the City of Hammond to Opt Out of Opioids Settlement Pursuant to LC. 4-6-15-2 Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for adoption. Councilman Rakos- The City of Hammond is still involved in litigation. Because of our situation, we've seen hundreds of our citizens die. Thousands of fire and police calls because of the Opioid addiction and pandemic. This will allow us which the State has also allowed is to opt-out of any recovery that's done by the State. It will also give us within 60 days to hop back in. I personally have questions whether or nor just to automatically go with whatever the State does on this. It gives me a pause but I think our local attorneys can help in this situation and possibly, you know, if they determine that we do want to go with State. I'm happy that they would be able Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 24 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 RESOLUTIONS cont. Councilman Rakos cont.- to do that and we can still hop back in. ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R21 ADOPTED 21R-22 A Resolution Honoring Dr. Johnny Goodlow, Jr. The Last Standing Principal Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for adoption. City Clerk Golec read 21R-22 in its entirety. Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Tyler, moved to suspend the rules to allow Mr. Goodlow to speak. ROLL CALL VOTE (suspend rules) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RULES SUSPENDED Principal of Hammond High School Dr. Goodlow- Good Evening, Council President, councilman and Councilwomen of the City of Hammond. This is indeed one of greatest honors I've ever received as an Educational Administrator in my career. I am humbled and thank you so for recognition and the Resolution to Councilwoman Alexander Councilman Barry Tyler. I thank you for ... and everybody really. I have to salute Councilwoman Alexander and Councilman Tyler for the undying support of Hammond High school . During my time, Councilwoman Alexander actually came and spoke to our scholars during our honors luncheon. And Councilman Tyler was our guest for graduation this past year and although it's a bittersweet time, it was a great time to be Wildcat and I have a great honor of being that last standing principal at Hammond High School and I thank you so much for the opportunity to the School City of Hammond, the opportunity to speak. Thank you so very much. Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Kalwinski, moved to return to regular business. ROLL CALL VOTE (regular order) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESUME REGULAR ORDER Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 25 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14, 2021 RESOLUTIONS cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (adoption) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 RESOLUTION NO. R22 ADOPTED NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilwoman Alexander- I usually would do a COVID update but I do not have all of those numbers correct for this meeting. So, I will have them for our next meeting. But I do want to continue to encourage people as the world is still opening back up that we still continue to try to be safe as possible. Get vaccinate if you choose to and continue to like I said, stay safe because it is truly important. Covid is not over yet even though the world is opening. We do want to make sure we try to keep those numbers down because they have been decreasing. Thank you. PUBLIC EXPRESSION George Stoya-Attended per Zoom, bad internet connection. Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved to adjourn. ROLL CALL VOTE (adjourn meeting) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MEETING ADJOURNED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 26 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JUNE 14. 2021 2021 HAMMOND COMMON COUNCIL ATTENDANCE RECORD OF ELECTRONIC AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE May June uly Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 24 14 28 12 26 9 23 13 27 25 8 22 13 27 Katrina Alexander p p Dan Spitale p p anet Venecz p p Mark Kalwinski E p Dete Torres p p Barry Tyler E p Bill Emerson p p Scott Rakes p p Dave Woerpel p p Initials ,6'f ~f J E=ELECTRONIC PRESENT P=PHYSICALLY A=ABSENT If the member qualifies for an exemption from the "Consecutive - 50" requirements, draw a circle around the E for that meeting/ member. ~w!;7,~ident Hammond Common Council A@~ Robert J. Golec, City Clerk Time: 7:55 dw/jt Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 27