City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL JULY 12. 2021 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on July12, 2021 in the Hammond City Council Chambers. Council President Dave Woerpel presided. City Clerk Robert J. Golec facilitated. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited by all. Invocation by Katrina Alexander ROLL CALL PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel ELECTRONICALLY PRESENT: None ABSENT: None TOTAL: 9 MAYOR'S ADDRESS Mayor McDermott - As you'll notice in your packet, Megan, the City Controller, prepared our gaming report update. We just finished the second quarter. Interesting numbers, I'm gonna go through them if you don't mind. You'll notice that we've tooken $5.4 million in collection, 62% of that goes to the C.I.B., $3.4 million; 15% of that goes to Mayor's Gaming, $811 thousand; each 6 Council District gets $13 5 thousand; Gaming Advisory Committee gets $216 thousand; Rainy Day Fund gets $216 thousand. We reported last month that that was the first month in operation for Hard Rock Casino. Obviously, in your first month of operation you do big numbers. Hard Casino in only two weeks almost equaled what Horseshoe Casino did. Which is, I don't know, scary, I guess, if you're in Hammond. Because, you know, that's our competition. That's our newest competition. So, we were real interested to see what our June numbers would be and I have great news. I wanted to thank Megan for compiling these numbers. This is the first full month head to head with Hard Rock Casino. Hammond Horseshoe came in at 158% of it's normal monthly average. Which is phenomenal. I mean, this goes back over the last five years. It's like a moving average. June, 2021 was our highest revenue month in the past five years. I don't know how Hard Rock did but we did very well. It's great news. It's our first official month competing head to head with Hard Rock Casino and we made inore money than we ever have. Federal Railroad Administration, we had our second meeting with the FRA. We were in this meeting with members of the Hammond Police Department, the Chief of Police, the Assistant Chief of Police, Capt. of Patrol, Rob Bunner, and Lt. Pat Vicari. I want to recognize Pat Vicari again. He is really the ear of the Federal Railroad Administration. It's pretty incredible. I've never seen anything like it I want to again, I thanked Lt. Vicari last time I came before you and talked about this meeting. He's really established a rapport with them and they're listening to us. We had another meeting. Norfolk Southern was in attendance through their Government Affairs Rep and their local rep, I don't know what his title is but he was a great guy. IHB had people there. Representative Mike Andrade, one of our State Representatives, was there. Along with myself and my administration. I let loose, basically. I told them I didn't believe this was going anywhere. That we've had these conversations before. I said the things that our residents would want me to say. It was actually a little rough. We'll see if it gets better. But we we mostly complaining about, in this case, about IHB and especially Norfolk Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - Southern and the crossings in Hessville. Those are the ones that really prompted this whole thing. I had my Lakeshore Chamber State of the City last week. I appreciate there were a number of Council people in attendance that day along with over two hundred people that bought tickets to it. It was sort of a mirror to the State of the City I did already downstairs in City Hall. It's the informal State of the City. I want to thank Dave Ryan, the Executive Director of Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce for putting that together. I think it was a good day. Updates and then I'm gonna end up with the Park Board meeting I had last week. Updates on previously covered topics. Special Events Committee did our city wide fireworks display. I'd appreciate your feedback on whether you liked it or not. I liked it personally. I couldn't really see it excellent because there was a lot of trees. But I liked the whole idea of it. Festival of the Lakes starts tomorrow night, as you all know, with the main stage acts. We've already actually started the Festival of the Lakes with the kickoff party Friday night. I know a number of you were in attendance. Along with the Roadie Run SK that we held on Saturday. Tomorrow starts the carnival and the main stage entertainment with Old Dominion; Twista, Busta Rhymes and Nelly is on Wednesday; Limp Bizkit is on Thursday; Festival of the Lakes Golf outing is on Friday; REO Speedwagon's on Friday night; we have fireworks Friday night; Gospel Breakfast is Saturday morning; Sammy Haggar, Saturday night, followed by fireworks; the polka fest is on Sunday at the Hammond Marina; Hot Rod and Custom Car show is on Sunday at the pavilion; Latin Night, Los Tucanes de Tijuana is Sunday Night, July 18th . Pre-sale tickets, already, $540 thousand in pre-sale, which is incredible. We've never done this well on our pre-sale. Which is pretty awesome. It helps minimize, you know, the amount we have to raise during the festival. Councilman Tyler, myself, have been working real close on neighborhood traffic study update. The traffic study after the last Council Meeting has been implemented. It's been silent. I got a couple of letters thanking me, actually. I haven't really gotten a lot of push back. Basically, we have the Ste Line shut down south of Highland Street all the way down to 165th . The only way in and out of that neighborhood from Illinois is to come around on Hohman or to come south from 165th . So, I went through the neighborhood yesterday actually, anticipating today's meeting, it was very, very, quiet. Which is nice, it's a nice quiet neighborhood now. Last week I attended the Hammond Park Board after the Hammond Day/Memorial Park shooting that we had on July 3rd . I want to start off and say that we recognize that the reasons behind Hammond Day are pure, I'm saying this. After a two hour Park Board Meeting I understand that the intentions behind Hammond Day are the best. I believe that 99% of the people who attend Hammond Day are excellent people and want nothing but the best for our city. However, we have had problems two years in a row at Martin Luther King Park and then this year, being completely accurate, about three hours after Hammond Day, across the street in Memorial Park, there was a shooting that resulted in two death. Keep in mind this was July 3rct,so we left our police officers in an awkward position that night, in my opinion, because it was July 3rd . Memorial Park had hundreds of people, by all estimations, I knocked on doors, talked to the neighbors in this neighborhood. They said there was anywhere from 3 to 500 people in Memorial Park after Hammond Day. Which is accurate. Accurate, meaning the shooting didn't take place at MLK Park. It happened on the same day as Hammond Day, a couple hours later. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible here because there's a lot of emotion involved. We had two shootings that day. The first shooting was at MLK Park. Right around the same time as Hammond Day as it was wrapping up. It was a non-fatal shooting. I believe it hit somebody in the hand. Two years before, on Hammond Day, we had a shooting at MLK Park, which was the last time they did this. Also, non-fatal shooting in 2019. So two years in a row at MLK Park we've had a shooting. Right around the same time as Hammond Day. This year we had a fatal shooting on July 3rd at Memorial Park. I made a post that probably didn't help matters. It didn't Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - help matters, being accurate. It pissed people off. I was upset, obviously, after the 2019 non-fatal shooting at Hammond Day, we were watching and we talking real close about 2021 Hammond Day and when we had a shooting that resulted in two deaths, I was pissed off and I posted something that probably inflamed the situation. For those of you I offended, I apologize. I sincerely apologize to those I offended. And I know I offended some people because I said Hammond Day there was a shooting, after Hammond Day, and a lot of people in the community took exception with that and I apologize. There was a shooting at Memorial Park in the aftermath of Hammond Day is how I should have worded it. I didn't. So I failed in that regard. However, we do have problems with Hammond Day's and how large it's grown and the fact that it's in a park that probably can't accommodate this crowd. It's a big crowd. Estimations anywhere from six hundred to a thousand people. I wasn't there. Councilman and Councilwoman, is that fairly accurate? Councilman Tyler and Council.woman Alexander - Not this year. Councilwoman Alexander - Half of that. Councilman Tyler - No, like 200 to 300. Mayor McDermott - Two to three hundred at any one time, but over the full day, a lot of people? Councilman Tyler - Yeah, I'm not sure. Councilwoman Alexander - It was in and out. Roughly, but not at the same time. Mayor McDermott cont. - I'm not trying to inflame the situation. I had a two hour Park Board meeting. It was the first Park Board meeting for Laurie Dedelow, who I recently appointed to the Park Board, and she is probably wondering why she ever got involved in the Park Board after that first meeting. But, I want to say that the Park Board meetings are usually closer to a half hour. It was four times longer because I partially inflamed the situation. However, Hammond Council, I think we have to take a look at what's going on in our parks and· make sure that when we have events, that the events are well secured and, you know, we don't have incidents that cause our Hammond Police Officers problems. Because it's not fair that, you know, when we have Hammond Police Officers patrolling our beats in the first district, you know, and then we have a big event that happens down by City Hall, the only way for us to properly handle it is to pull the police officers out of the first, out of the fifth, out of the fourth, and bring them to MLK Park, which leaves the rest of our city exposed. So, problems we're having, Hammond Day has grown massively since it first started. I do have a lot of complaints from the neighbors around MLK Park about grilling, parking issues, vehicles driving in park areas, drinking. There's no doubt that was happening. And the thing about drinking, I'm not a teetotaler, but this is in our park, and if excise gets involved, I mean, we're in jeopardy, all of the fests we do. You know, if it's in our park, I don't know what kind ofliability we have ifwe know drinking's going on. And there was. I mean it's a fact. We cleaned up the park. There were hundreds of bottles. Unauthorized loud music that was not permitted. It was not the organizers that brought in this loud music that caused a lot of problems. It was another group. Which is another problem. Is that we have the early crowd that shows up to Hammond Day, which is an older crowd, Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. • quieter crowd. Different type of music even. Like jazzy type of music. And then we have a younger crowd that shows up late. Some of the problems we have, Hammond Day is scheduled on the busiest weekend of the year, July 3rd weekend. I mean, I'm not a fireman or police officer but I know enough about Hammond Fire and Hammond Police to tell you that July 2nd , 3rd,4th , and 5th are probably the busiest time you could ever have as a police officer or firefighter. And we're holding this humongous festival at MLK Park right in the middle of the busiest weekend we have. These are things we have to look to going forward if we're going to have Hammond Day. If we're gonna have Hammond Day I think it's possible for us to do this. I want it to happen because I know there's good people that want it to happen but we got to make changes. I mean this is a huge warning sign, two kids are dead because of something that happened across the street but still, I think we got a lot of work to do. Going forward, ifwe hold it again, I would suggest the following changes or required conditions must be met before any permits are issued. Require appropriate levels of security, it's private event, private events have security. If there's a sectional basketball game at the Hammond Civic Center, those are Hammond cops, usually, or a Lake County Sherifs Officer, hired by the private event. It's not our responsibility to take police officers from different parts of the city to police that event. That's something we need to look at. Appropriate level of security for a big fest. I mean, it's not a fest it's a party but it's a big party in the 3rd District. Change the weekend to one that isn't the 4th of July. I mean, this is an easy change. It's our busiest time of day. It's our busiest time of year, and we're putting a humongous festival that's taxing our manpower even more. Change the location, possibly. I know it's important to have it.at MLK Park.'! know it's important but it mioght be too big for MLK Park. We have a pavilion. We have other parks that are bigger spaces that I think that we should talk about. Regulate alcohol consumption. Alcohol is not permitted in Hammond parks. The only park that it is permitted in that I know of, unless you go through excise, is the Pav during the Festival of the Lakes. Because we have special permits for that. I mean if you're going to be drinking in a park you have to go through the State Excise and if you don't do that you're jeopardizing all of us. You're jeopardizing the city of Hammond, liability-wise. You're jeopardizing all the hard work we do with excise and I don't think any ofus can say with a straight face can say there wasn't alcohol being consumed. So that's my report to you, Hammond Council. I just summarized for you in five minutes what took two hours for me to learn from the residents of Hammond and they were pissed at me. A lot of people were pissed at me. There were some people that agree with what I'm doing. I'm just trying to make everything safe, and when two kids come to our city and they get killed, I think it's time for us all to take a step back and ask us what we're doing. Councilman Tyler - This is going back to the traffic study. I have been getting complaints as we expected from more people from Highland St. I guess part of what to do is get more patrol on Highland to try to stop some of the speeders. So if we could work with H.P.D. to get that. Mayor McDermott - We've got the Captain of Patrol right behind me, this is great I drove it again yesterday, as I indicated, Councilman Tyler, and literally looking very closely at the streets I was driving through. You know, cause usually when you're driving through you're not paying attention. For those of you who live on Highland and think that we screwed you. I mean, I would probably be salty if I was on Highland too and the whole State Line got shut down. But we just didn't pick Highland Street to just say, "Sorry Highland, too bad." It's called a collector. For engineer's, they know what this means. But the easiest way for us to tell which streets are collectors is to look at the main drag, Hohman Avenue, and if there's a stop light, that's a collector. That street Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - is supposed to accommodate more traffic than Detroit or Wildwood. That's why Highland Street was chosen to be the Collector for the traffic that goes past the closed streets. You know, if I lived on Highland I probably wouldn't be thrilled with Mayor Tom right now. But that's why Highland Street was chosen for this and I don't want anybody to get mad at the Councilman or think that anybody on Highland Street were trying to pull one over on you. That's just the reason why. Councilman Kalwinski - I want to go back to the railroad. I want to say thanks to you and everybody involved because working with the railroad can be frustrating. Mayor McDermott - Yes, sir. Absolutely. Can I say something real quick. The lady that we're working with, Tina, she's incr.edible. And she really seems like ... like I've never been to this level before. We've had two meetings with the FRA and the lady, Tina, is like a Federal employee and she's sort of taking it to the railroads. Like why are you guys doing this? Can't you do this? It seems like a different tone. I'll keep you guys in the loop though, Councilman mark. Councilman Kalwinski - Who does she work for? Mayor McDermott - Tina is from the FRA. She was appointed to that position, obviously, through the Federal government, right? Councilman Kalwinski - So, as you know, Whiting is a no blow zone anymore, so going through Whiting it's quiet. There's a swell of Robertsdale residents asking if that could be considered at Calumet by the Horseshoe. Because if that were quiet no blow zone all of Robertsdale and Whiting would be quiet. So I'm just bringing that to you because you're talking about the railroad. Mayor McDermott - You know, it's possible to do quiet zones. There is a lot of work that has to be done. If you'll notice when you go through Whiting railroad crossings they have the blocks, the double sided gates, and they block. So, it's possible to do these things and I'm sure if you and me get together with the City Engineer we could talk about .... We've looked at them in the 2nd District before down by Renaissance, I get a lot of push back from the residents because they are literally right on the tracks there. But these are possible. I don't know with that particular crossing but I'd be willing to look at it if you were. Councilman Torres - Yeah, talking about silent zones, a few years back in '17 we did the Sohl Avenue/Willowcourt. Spent over $30 something thousand just for the study, engineering, and they are expensive to do. I have four major railroads going through my district and all of them are residential areas. Starting with Southshore, CFX, IHB Michigan. A couple weeks ago, I was supposed to bring it up at last Council meeting, I forgot, about the silent zones. The railroads, even when they go through Calumet, straight, they start blowing their horns in the 800 block of Logan and that disturbs a lot of people and of course the sound just does not cause waves, these waves that irritate a lot of people. Some people actually get sick about it. It becomes medical. Especially wheri they are sleeping at night and these horns are going at whatever decibels they are. And I know it's loud enough because I live, from Sohl Street and Willow Court, I live at the 4700 block of Prepar_edby Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Councilman Torres cont. - Torrency and I can hear that horn that far. Which is almost four blocks, five blocks. So, something, Hammond is about the only city that doesn't have silent zones and we should start thinking about that even though it is costly. Just the Willow Court one came out to about $1.3 million. Mayor McDermott - Yes, sir. I remember that. It wasn't as cheap as we thought it was gonna be. But I'm willing to look at these and I agree. If the Council Districts are willing to look at it and fund a study so we could get a final cost, we could figure out how to bring to the Capital Improvement Board. Councilman Kalwinski - Imagine this, the CSX tracks from Columbia to Stateline, there are eight crossings and the whistle has to blow three times per block for each crossing. So the angry engineers after 2 a.m. will blow long and hard at least three times, sometimes more between crossings and you're talking twenty four plus whistles per train going through residential neighborhoods. That's difficult. Councilman Torres - Are these talks with the railroad ongoing now that you have a connection? The other problem I got is overgrown weeds along the railroad. I understand the city can not go further than ten feet into the railroad from the street to the railroad. Public works cut their portion but they can not go further. These weeds are four feet high, they never cut them. Mayor McDermott - Yes, sir. I don't know if this is the right venue to bring weeds up though. I think we should focus on the crossings right now and we could beat them up with letters and stuff like that on-the weeds, Councilman. I'm willing to be aggressive with city services. We've done this before. Like over on Kennedy when you're going over 80/94, INDOT for a long time, they been doing way better lately, but I know for a long time they would just let the weeds grow and it was right in the middle of Kennedy. I told Gary in Public Works, just go cut it. I don't care. It's not our job but it's our city and it looks like crap. Councilman Torres - Well, I know the city and I don't know if they can do this. Cut it and put a lien on it, just like they do private property. Mayor McDermott - I'm not sure ifwe could lien the railroad. But I get where you're coming from, Councilman. Councilman Torres - Something got to be done because that makes the city look terrible. Not only that but in North Hammond, with that rodent problem, those weeds were attracting rodents. Councilman Emerson - Although we don't have a lot of trains in the 4t\ I hear them every morning from other districts but we're going to have one, the Westlake Extension, so I brought up at a an earlier meeting with the Southshore people, are we considering quit zones for the train? Mayor McDermott - Any other questions? Sorry to keep you for so long. I appreciate you guys. See you out there at the festival this week. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12. 2021 READING OF THE MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved to accept the minutes from June 28, 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 June 23, 2021 through July 7, 2021. Claim #3011 through #3403, 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 21-23 An Ordinance to Appropriate Funds in the Hotel/Motel Innkeepers Tax Fund for the Hammond Park Department. No One Spoke COMMUNICATIONS Councilwoman Alexander- On July 22n<l,from 3 to 5pm, there will be a ribbon cutting at Hammond Central and it is open to all to come. So, we wanted to make sure we announced that. Thank you. Councilman Emerson- You all should have received the Festival ofthe Lakes brochure. And on that brochure, at 5:30 tomorrow, July 13th , it states, opening ceremony Post 168 of Hammond will be presenting the colors and those, the colors ... the colors for those that don't know are the United States Flag, the POW Flag, the state of Indiana Flag and the Post 168 Flag. It's an honor to be asked to do this for the official kick off to the Festival of the Lakes this year, especially after the absence of the festival last year due to the COVID Virus. I want to thank the Mayor for getting the Festival of the Lakes going this year. And past Commander Ernie Dillon did a great job in planning this event. Councilman Torres, Councilman Spitale and Don Brandt and myself will also be participating in this event after the posting of the colors, the national anthem will be played by a group Dan Cummins, Alex Akers, and Nick Degelars. I also want to thank Donna Muta, President Woerpel for their role in organizing the Festival year after year they've done it except for last year. There are also so many people that work behind the scenes at the Festival of Lakes. So, if I forgot anyone, thank you all. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12. 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS Council as a Whole Committee - Councilman Torres - will be bringing out 21-24. Council as a Whole Committee - Councilwoman Venecz - will be bringing out 21-23. Community and Crime Watch Committee - Councilwoman Venecz­ Watch at Mt. Zion Pleasant View Plaza will be in August Edison Community Watch; September Irving Community Watch; September Hessville Crime Watch; August Councilwoman Venecz- I would like to announce that fireworks are officially over. The last day that you could legally shoot off fireworks was July 9th . So, if anyone in your neighborhood, and you need to have the address, you can't ask the police to follow the smoke. You need the address. If anyone is still shooting off fireworks, please call 911 and let them know. Coming up on August 3rd , National Night Out, in 2021, in Hammond, will be celebrated from 7 to 9pm. 37 years ago, National Night Out started by neighbors turning on their porch lights and sitting on .their front porch of their homes. Given the events of the past year and the uncertainty that we were facing, we decided to return to where we started. So, on August 3rd from 7 to 9pm, please tum on your porch light sit outside, visit with your neighbors. The Hammond Police officers will be patrolling our streets and if they see anyone in neighborhood, they're going to stop and say hello and visit with you for a while and we ask that you thank them for their service and thank them for protecting us. So, this is just a way that our residents can connect with the police department. And as I always say, community is not just about me, it's about us. Thank you. Capital Improvement Board - Councilwoman Venecz- Met on July 6th . These are the items that were approved and discussed the Summer Street design phase 2 from Willis to Indianapolis Blvd was approved in the amount if $317,765.00. Hohman Ave re-stripping from Douglas to 165th was approved in the amount of $10,000. JF Mahoney Reconstruction and Florida Ave. construction was approved for $7,950 for Geo Technical Design. The amended change order was approved for funding allocations for Schneider Ave. storm sewer construction, supplemental was approved in the amount of $65,735, contingent on approval of the Mayor. There was discussion about the sewer separation on the 6700 block of Alexander. And the next meeting will be July 19th with a work study session at 4pm and the regular meeting at 5pm. I would like to point out for our residents regarding the Capital Improvements Board, today three people, three council people, who serve on the Capital Improvement Board got a call from a resident who was referred to each of the council people who served on the board regarding an incomplete lighting project. Blaming the Capital Improvements Board for the project not being completed. I want to be clear that Council people are responsible for trees, lighting, parks, park buildings, grounds, or park equipment. City portions of matching federal and state grants, community events, and other community engagement district economic development. This Ordinance was passed back in September. So, nearly a year ago, by a vote of eight to one by this Council. So if any resident has any questions regarding trees, lighting, parks, City events or economic development, their district council person is who they need to speak to regarding that and not the Capital Improvements Board. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 8 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 ORDINANCE 3RDREADING- FINAL PASSAGE 21:.23 An Ordinance to Appropriate Funds in the Hotel/Motel Innkeepers Tax Fund for the Hammond Park Department. Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for passage. Councilwoman Venecz- This is an annual transfer of money from the Innkeepers Tax of $29,089.65 to the Hotel/Motel Fund. The funds will be used for special events, promotions, in the City of Hammond. 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. 9512 PASSED 21-24 • An Ordinance Reclassifying Certain Lands in the City of Hammond for Zoning Purposes and Amending Ordinance No. 8514 (An Ordinance Establishing a Zoning Plan for the City of Hammond Including the Regulations and Maps to Administer the Zoning Plan in Order to Provide for Orderly Growth and Development Within the City, All in Accordance with the Comprehensive/Land Use Plan, as Amended) for Property Commonly Known as 5551-53 Claude Avenue Councilman Torres, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for passage. Councilman Torres- This is a development of two empty lots at the corner of Thornton and Claude Avenue redeveloped by the Redevelopment Commission, was suggested by the downtown redevelopment plan as part of the neighborhood upgrade for that neighborhood. So, this is just part of the development in that neighborhood. 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. 9513 PASSED INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES None Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 9 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 RESOLUTIONS 21R-23 A Resolution Authorizing the Hammond Police Department to Apply for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Alexander, moved for adoption. Councilman Spitale- This Resolution is to authorize the Hammond Police Department to apply for this grant. This is created for a purpose of training equipment for the Hammond Police Officers and the amount requested for is $30,390.36. 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. R23 ADOPTED NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilman Torres- I just want to thank the Redevelopment Commission for developing and the Park Department, that neighborhood park and was known as the Jacob Square on Thornton and Claude. I also want to thank Mayor for providing most of the money, and I want to thank Councilman Tyler also for contributing, it's on our border of our respective districts. That was very kind of him to contribute. And of course, the Planning Department which is a branch of Redevelopment. So, I just want to thank everybody. Councilwoman Alexander- As before, I have the COVID numbers from last meeting. For 46320, we have an additional 34 cases; for 46327, we have additional 24.cases; 46323, we have an additional 36 cases; 46324, we have an additional 59 cases; 46394, we have an additional of 29 cases. A grand total of 182 new cases from last meeting to this meeting I do not have updated vaccine numbers as the website is down for that. But we are still sitting roughly around less 40% for Hammond in vaccines. Council President Woerpel- Just a quick question on those numbers. Are those steady going up or going down compared to the last meeting? Councilwoman Alexander- From this meeting to last meeting the numbers did go down about 75 cases from last meeting. So they are going down we still want to encourage people to research about the vaccine and make an informed decision. Um still, you know, keeping your distance if you can, because we're not out of this. We do know that there's new variants out and we don't know what the effect that it will have. But of course, we're in this together and as long as we continue to mask up when possible, if needed, it's your choice. It's not. something that we're enforcing on you but making the right decisions to make sure that we can get out of this pandemic. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 10 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont. Councilman Tyler- Several ofus were planning on participating in a Back to School giveaway on Sunday, August 15th . I just wanted to bring that to the rest of the Council, if anyone else is interested in participating, this, of course, would be for students in the area. Mostly students from the School City of Hammond planning on giving away 500 book bags filled with school supplies. So if anybody else wants to contribute, then we can sponsor as an entire Council. If not, then we can just list individual Council people on that event. But it will take place on Sunday, August 151\ at the Hammond Sportsplex. Thank you. PUBLIC EXPRESSION No One Spoke. Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Tyler, 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 11 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. JULY 12, 2021 2021 HAMMOND COMMON COUNCIL ATTENDANCE RECORD OF ELECTRONIC AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE May Uune Uuly ~ug !Sept bet Nov Dec 24 14 28 12 26 9 23 13 27 25 8 22 13 27 Katrina Alexander p p p p Dan Spitale p p p p Janet Venecz p p p p Mark Kalwinski E p p p Pete Torres p p p p Barry Tyler E p E p Bill Emerson p p p p Scott Rakos p p p p Dave Woerpel p p p p Initials RG RG RG l+& ~~ NC- 1Pc1;- 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. Dave Woer , P Hammond Common Council AT~~ RobertJ.Goied, City Clerk Time: 6:50 cb/dw Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 12