City Council

MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 The regular meeting of the Hammond Common Council of the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana was held on September 13, 2021 in the Hammond City Council Chambers. Council President Dave W oerpel presided. Council Coordinator Carmen I. Balboa facilitated. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was recited by all. Invocation by Councilwoman Alexander. ROLL CALL PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel ELECTRONICALLY PRESENT: Kalwinski ABSENT: None TOTAL: 9 MAYOR'S ADDRESS Mayor McDermott - I have a pretty busy report from the Mayor. It's been three weeks since we last met. I have a lot of stuff to talk to you about so I'll try to go as fast as possible, of course if you have any questions, please. I wanted to start off with the resolution pending before the Council that covers the first phase of spending from the American Rescue Plan we put forward a budget and recommendations for a qualified shovel ready projects that we could start working on ASAP. Fifty percent of the money has already come in, so we're talking over $25 million of ARP money has already hit the books in the City of Hammond, obviously we haven't spent a penny. We need to have a resolution and a plan approved by the Council before we could begin work on this. So we put forth, like I said, A list of projects that we've had in the hopper but we haven't had the money to pay for them. The American Rescue Plan is a godsend. I want to thank the Biden Administration, Congressman Mrvan, Congressman Carson. The only two Congressmen in the state of Indiana that voted for this. Our Senators voted for it and seven out of nine Congressmen voted against it. Hammond gets, between the schools and the City, $100,000,000. Between the Schools and the City, City of Gary gets $150,000,000, probably. East Chicago gets similar amount, Indianapolis, South Bend. So, I think this is great for our City. It gives us the ability to start working on great projects right off the bat. So this is a list of the qualified shovel ready projects we've identified for the first phase that would cover about three quarters of the money, $38 million out of the $50 million available. First project is in Robertsdale. The lead remediation project. This $4 million budgeted would cover 80% of the project cost. That's a project that has been pending in Robertsdale for quite some time. It's problem up there. A problem in Whiting, a problem in Robertsdale section of Hammond, and this would cover most of the cost of that project. We have $3.5 million set aside for a new fire house in Robertsdale. Which is Clark High School field, basically, basically where the Clerk High School tennis courts are located, right next to the environmental center down there. That new firehouse would be similar to the one we built in Hessville. We have $3 million set aside for new infrastructure at Clark High School. For over a decade, the City of Hammond has been working with School City, Planning, to one day get control of those fields and create a new neighborhood over there. We've identified over a hundred parcels that we could use for new single family homes in that area, including new condo's along Calumet Avenue. $3 million and we get the infrastructure and Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 1 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - the subdivision process going. Downtown Hohman Avenue in Downtown Hammond, in accordance with the Jeff Speck plan, we set aside $5 million dollars. We've had multiple public meetings, including one this week, the public unveiling of American Structurepoint plan to slow down traffic in Downtown Hammond, I'll get to that more in a second. $5 million set aside for the new YMCA project. Technically in the 3rd District but adjacent to the 5th , used by the 4th,51\ I mean, used by most of the city of Hammond. $5 million is half of the city of Hammond's commitment to that project. The other half we're going to plan to use through TIF, and then we're gonna match $35 million for a $45 million project there. $3.5 million for a new Calumet Avenue Pedestrian Bridge between Munster and Hammond. The Little Calumet River Basin Authority is putting a million dollars towards this project. I want to thank our former colleague, Dan Repay, former 5th District Councilman for helping spearhead that $1 million donation. Town of Munster's financially committing to it as well. I'm not comfortable stating the amount out loud right now, but they've been working with us in this process and we have every reason to believe they'll be participating in this project as well. $1 million for the reconstruction of Oxbow Road, which is a couple mile stretch of road that serves no neighbors and as a result, it's become neglected and quite frankly it's hard to justify spending a million dollars on a road that doesn't go to any homes. It's always been that way, it's unfortunate. But this ARP money will give us a chance to fix that badly needed reconstruction. $500,000 for JF Mahoney Drive, which is a similar type of situation over by Jean Shepherd Center. $500,000 for a new storm sewer in the 7000 block of Schneider. Which is one of the flood prone areas of our city. We'll reconstruct that area. $800 thousand for new single family home developments on Florida Avenue in Hessville. New residential units. $3.6 million for a new Hessville bridge, to get residents over constantly stopped rail traffic crossing. This is our part. The state is putting in a lot more than that. I think the project's over $10 million and that will begin very soon. $1.3 million for software updates for cyber security updates. $1 million towards Columbia Avenue water tank repairs, the one we're finishing right now, $1 million of this money can be used to reimburse the city for what we've done there. $400 thousand for Council Chamber technology updates. You know more about that than I do. I don't know if anybody has any questions or if they want me to go through my whole report. But that's the part about the ARP Resolution that's pending before you. These projects have been planned out for, in some cases, ten years. In other cases, within the last couple of years. But like with Clark High School, at least ten years. We just didn't have the money. We didn't have the ability to get the fields. Now with Clark High School shutting down, the opportunity presents itself. Then of course, the federal government's ARP Plan. So, that's that. Proposal, resolution before you, has to pass the Council before we could begin letting the projects go. We anticipate on just about every single one of these projects, we could be hitting the ground, I mean working on this in the spring. We would be bidding these out over the summer. Start getting $38 million worth of work, in addition to what we are doing on Capital Improvements, in addition to what we are doing in our districts. So that's in addition to the federal government and the $200 plus million that's gonna be coming through the city of Hammond with the Westlake Expansion. There's gonna be a lot of work going on in our city over the next year and that was the purpose of the ARP, was for infrastructure and that's what we focused on. I actually heard about one of my employees calling some members of the Council and begging them for a bonus and I want to apologize if you received that phone call. That's totally out ofline. And that employee will get spoken to about this. Quite frankly, Hammond City employees are paid pretty well, over all. In fact, I find employees in other cities and towns coming to our city all the time because of better equipment, better pay. So I'm shocked that an employee would lobby on behalf of the city of Hammond to try to get bonuses out of the ARP money. I'm Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 2 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - totally opposed to that, I'll be honest with you, totally opposed to that. I don't think ARP money should be used for salaries in any way, shape or form. And anybody from my administration is talking to you otherwise is completely out ofline. Okay? We have a bond refinancing, it's on 3rd and final, it's already gone up for pt and 2nd . This was an interest rate play, basically. We had this bond financed in 2015 when interest rates were much higher. Interest rates are much lower now. Refinancing will result in a total savings of $2. 7 million over the life of the bond. This is just like what many home owners are doing, refinancing their homes right now with interest rates as low as they'll ever be in our lifetime probably. We're trying to take advantage of that situation. We hope that the Council supports us on that. It's up for 3rd and Final today. We have a responsible bidding ordinance, Ord. 21-33, pending before you on 1st and 2 nd Reading. This is a ordinance that is in response to a lot of state's right to work laws that have been passed over the years that have gutted unions. What this does is it insures that anybody that buds on a Hammond project of $150 thousand or more meets certain eligibility requirements in order to be considered a responsible bidder they must have things like established apprenticeship training programs in place, they must have drug testing protocols, things of that nature. This is up for 1st and 2 nd Reading and I'm not sure, I'm looking around, I don't see any of the union heads in here today. I think, honestly, if you set this up for some type of hearing, maybe ask certain heads of certain unions in the region in Indiana to come in here and give you their opinion, I think it'd be worth it, personally. Anyway, I'm not telling you what to do. But I think that there's a lot of people that don't realize this is on 1st and 2 nd Reading and they'd be very interested in talking to you about it. It's a pro-union move, in my opinion, it eliminates a lot of the scab companies that are coming in here and they are just fly by night operations bidding on our projects and if they are low bidder and they are responsible we're supposed to go with them. This would require certain things of companies bidding on our projects. Update on the Hammond Digital Crossroads Data Center, $75 million is what was first projected when we incentivized this project, to this point the DX Data Center Group reports that they went well above the $60 million they had promised, and they are at $75 million currently. Their latest expansion is now underway. The next expansion's another $16 million investment and it's gonna improve the space with 10,000 sq. ft. of new office space and 2,000 sq. ft. of new data center space. So, a $16 million expansion. This project is gonna be close to $100 million when it's all said and done, so that's good news. We had a ribbon cutting for a new corporate headquarters in Oxbow, which is in Hammond's 5th District. Oxbow, down there, you know, south of Dowling Park, south of 80/94. The Hammond business Impact moved into 2929 Oxbow Road, the first building we built down there, Impact took a large space in there and kept growing, and kept growing. They've grown so much they are leaving that first and investing $4 million into another building that is going up there, which will be their own building. The Impact Building is 14,000 sq. ft., corporate headquarters, for Impact. So, Impact is building their corporate headquarters right now and to show you how well we're doing down there, they are leaving the first building they moved into, leaving a space that's already been leased out to a company called Primary Energy out of Oakbrook, IL. They are moving their corporate headquarters from Oakbrook to Hammond, IN. In the space that Impact is leaving so that they could build their corporate headquarters. So, we're doing well in Oxbow, happy to say. We held Mayor's Night Out in the 4th District, I appreciate Councilman Emerson for hosting me. I also appreciate the Principal of Edison, Amy Yoos and Scott Miller, the Superintendent for introducing me. We had an public unveiling, as I mentioned earlier, on Hohman Avenue's redesign and reconstruction. We had it at The Hub in Downtown Hammond with about a hundred people in attendance where Structurepoint unveiled their design. It was met happily. Quite frankly, there has been an amazing amount of back and forth between interested groups Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 3 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - and Structurepoint. So we unveiled, basically, what has been approved already. But, it's a plan, if you like to use Downtown Hammond for a shortcut, you will not like this plan. If you're, like, this is my way to get from Robertsdale to Munster, you're gonna hate this plan. Downtown Hammond needs to get that traffic out of there. They need to shove that traffic were it belongs, on Calumet A venue, and stop using Downtown Hammond as a shortcut. This plan will do that. It's gonna take four lanes down to two lanes, one lane in each direction. It's gonna create new parking on the road. It's gonna create new parking in the middle of the street. It's gonna create "Share the Space" bike lanes. So, this is all in accordance with Jeff Speck's plans, the nationally renowned Planner that we hired to help us with this idea. And quite frankly, we learned so much from him in Downtown Hammond that we're taking the same ideas to Hessville right now and we have the same type of plan in Hessville. A plan from the 6400 block of Kennedy all the way to the 6900 block of Kennedy. We changed that. It was originally the 6500 block of Kennedy. But we did it a block further to the north so we could include Freddy's Steak House into this. So what you're gonna see in Downtown Hessville that's in the resolution, ready to be approved by the Council, hopefully. That we'll begin work on Kennedy Avenue and Downtown Hammond at the same time. Because both of them are facing the same types of problems. Which is ridiculously high speeds, lack of parking, and people using it as a cut through. On Kennedy they're using it to get from East Chicago to Highland, or East Chicago to 80/94, and if they see that plan, they're gonna hate it. But, use Cline Avenue. That's the moral of the story. Last, but not least, we had a 9-11 Ceremony at the flag pole on State Line, right by the data center. I want to thank Milan Kruszynski and the Hammond Port Authority and our Special Events staff for putting on, I mean, obviously, a very somber occasion, the 20th anniversary of 9/11, but our Special Events staff and the College Bounders that helped Milan put this together, I think we have the new location for, definitely for 9/11 ceremonies, but for Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, you really can't beat that location. It's right on the water with the biggest flag in Indiana flying right above you. We had a lot of help from Elected Officials. Oscar Martinez, the Lake County Sheriff did a fly over. I appreciate that. We had the Hammond Firefighters, Hammond Police Officers, in full dress. The bagpipes, the whole thing. A lot of media coverage. It was a great day. That's my update. I'm sorry it was so busy but it's been three weeks since we last talked. So, I'm available for any questions if you have it. Councilman Torres - On that $5 million for the Downtown Hohman Phase 1, is that like a down payment or is that the final estimate for that infrastructure and redesign. Mayor McDermott - It's gonna get us ... I imagine there could be run overs. Let's say it's $5.5. But we've budgeted what it's gonna cost us to go from Russell Street to the bridge with that phase for reconstruction, Councilman. It's in the $5 million ballpark. It could come back at $4.8 when we bid it out. It could come back at $5.5. But we've got $5 million of American Rescue Plan money set aside for this in that resolution. Councilman Torres - There's no chance of being overestimating and leave some left for some of the other streets around in that area. Mayor McDermott - I don't know. I'm not sure. We have to bid it out. We do have a Phase 2 on that Downtown Proposal. The Phase 2 gets us from Instead of Russell Street being the southern border, it'll be Douglas Street. That will be the next Phase and that will be more money. Hopefully, Congress passes the infrastructure bill, the Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 4 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 MAYOR'S ADDRESS cont. Mayor McDermott cont. - one trillion dollar infrastructure bill. I'm doing quick math, we're looking at a similar amount of money, at least, if the infrastructure bill passes. I mean, this is a godsend what we're dealing with here. We're able to finance badly needed projects all over the city of Hammond right now. And if that infrastructure bill that is being debated in Congress passes, we'll be doing the same type of thing in a year. Trying to figure out what projects need to be prioritized that we could get done. These are city changing projects. The hessville bridge, I mean, how many complaints, Councilman Rakos, do we get about the stopped trains in Hessville? Every day of our life. Right? This will change that. You just drive over it. I mean this is amazing what's going on. Like, I tell ya, as a Mayor, I appreciate what's going on. I know the Council appreciates it as well. But maybe we're not doing a good enough job telling our residents what's going on. This is life changing for our city. Council President Woerpel - In that same vein, Oxbow Road, the problem there, since I've been there, has always been it's a $1 million fix, when we didn't get that amount in one year. And Dean will tell you, because he explained it to me, there is a real small stretch that's like $700 thousand. It has to do with the subgrade and this is godsend because this takes care of that problem and fixes that entire road just like around Mahoney Drive. I mean, Dowling park is beautiful, but that road is like a pump track. Mayor McDermott - And Councilman Woerpel, another thing is, let's say that Capital Improvement Board did prioritize Mahoney Drive and they also prioritized Oxbow, and they said we're gonna spend $1.5 million of Hammond's gaming revenue, that would be 10% of our gaming revenue on two streets that have not one house on them. So that's a tough swallow for anybody. Of course, a district councilman with limited amount of money but even for the Capital Improvement Board. Now that we can do it here, we don't ever have to worry about those projects again because they're done, allowing the Capital Review Board to focus on other big projects that need to get done. This is, like I said, and then when I hear our elected representatives talking about we don't need this infrastructure bill, it makes me insane. Can you imagine how much of an impact that'll have on the city of Hammond. We're talking at least what we got from ARP if that passes. I mean, our city logo should be a construction helmet next year. It's gonna be busy, with the Westlake and all the ARP money and plus the Capital Improvement Board money. Councilman Spitale - Any lots left in Oxbow? Mayor McDermott - No, thank you. Right now with the new Impact economic development project, the Class A office building, that is the last space we have available for any office buildings and currently we are under construction with a new hotel, which would be the third hotel up there. Which is the last space available for hotels. Oxbow is mission accomplished. It is. I mean could have put the banner up and not looked funny. It's done. We did it. It's taken a long time but it's over. Now that they're building Impact and once that hotel's in we're done cutting ribbons. I mean, there's not a space left. We watched that one from beginning to end, many ofus. So it's nice that it's finally done. And by the way, we have others all over the city, right? We have them all over but that's a neat one to see from beginning to end. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 5 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 READING OF THE MINUTES Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved to accept the minutes from August 23, 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 August 18, 2021 through September 8, 2021. Claim #4183 through #4561, inclusive. Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to amend in claim: #4562 Ron J Prestamer Redevelopment $23,413.00 Councilman Rakos-This expense originally came before the Council for approval and a claim made out directly to Liberty Mutual back in August. And when the payment was sent to Liberty Mutual at the address listed on the W9, it wound up never getting cashed. That's when the Controller's Office got involved in trying to find out what was going on and they said they requested another W9 reflecting the correct address to mail a new check and the representative expressed that they could not do that, so she talked to Prestamer Insurance Agency. They've offered to make payment on our behalf and request a reimbursement. The payment for the insurance policy is due by Wednesday, and they're going to cancel the original check. Councilman Tyler- Just for clarification is that 4561 or 4562? Councilman Rakos- 4561. Councilman Tyler- We do have a 4561 already on the claims list. Councilman Rakos- 4562, sorry. ROLL CALL VOTE (amendment) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 CLAIMS AMENDED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 6 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 APPROVAL OF CLAIMS cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (as amended) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS: None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 CLAIMS APPROVED (as amended) PUBLIC HEARINGS None COMMUNICATIONS Councilman Rakos- HUGS is having a Mexican Day Parade on Sunday the 19th . It goes from Morton High School down Grand to 165th and Kennedy, and Kennedy to Hessville Park. It will be the 5th Annual Mexican Independence Day Parade and it will be this coming Sunday, the 19th . COMMITTEE REPORTS Councilwoman Venecz - Council as a Whole will be bringing out 21-28. Capital Improvement Board- Councilwoman Venecz - The last meeting was on September 7. We approved $9,800 for the Geotechnical design for 177th Street Oxbow road. We also approved $29,400 for Chicago Street phase two modifications to 35 manholes. The next meeting will be on September 20 at 4pm. Community and Crime Watch Committee - Councilwoman Venecz- Upcoming meetings: Thur., September 16th , Hessville Crime Watch will meet at the Jean Shepard at 6:00 p.m. Wed., September 22nd , Hammond Elderly Crime Watch will meet at the at 1:00 p.m. Irving C.W.; Fri., October pt; 9:15 a.m.; Irving School Wed., October 6th Edison Community Watch Edison School; 6:30p.m. Thur., October 14th , Whiting Robertsdale will meet at Calumet College at 6:30 p.m. Councilwoman Venecz- And as usual, if you see anything suspicious call 911. Because community is not just about me it's about us. Thank you. Council President Woerpel- Mayor, or Phil, I got a notification that the 5th District Mayor's Night Out has been changed. Is that correct? From October 5th to a different date. Mayor McDermott- Yes, I believe that's true. I'm not sure when it's rescheduled though. Council President Woerpel - I recall receiving a call. ... Mayor McDermott- My calendar is impossible. So I'm trying to accommodate everything and that was not possible to pull off that night. I think November is changed also. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 7 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 COMMITTEE REPORTS cont. Council President Woerpel- I just thought of it when she was giving the dates for the Crime Watch. Mayor McDermott- So, we'll advertise it appropriately. Council President Woerpel- Thank you. ORDINANCE 3RDREADING-FINAL PASSAGE 21-28 An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Hammond, Indiana, Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of Revenue Bonds of the City of Hammond, Indiana, to Refund Certain Outstanding Bonds Previously Issued by the City, Together with Expenses in Connection with the Issuance of the Bonds Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for passage. Councilwoman Venecz-The Bonds were originally passed in November 2014. It was originally for 10 years going through 2025. The refinancing will save us $2.685 million dollars over the life of the bond. The original rate was 6% and it will now be 3.25%. We will extend the life of the bond to five years. So the city can easily keep up with the $3 million dollar obligation per year. 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. 9515 PASSED INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES 21-30 An Ordinance to Appropriate from the ARP A Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund for Purposes of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Councilwoman Venecz, 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 September 27, 2021 at 5:15p.m.,with a Public Hearing on September 27, 2021. Councilwoman Venecz- This outlines the funding that we have already received, $25.69 million dollars deposited in our ARP Fund. There are, I believe the Mayor went through all of the projects that we will be able to do because of getting this money and so we should be very excited and grateful. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 8 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. 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 CARRIED 21-31 An Ordinance Amending Ordinance Numbers 7598, 8348, 8753, 9161, and 9357, also known as Section 93.005 of the Hammond Municipal Code, Pertaining to Ambulance Users Fees to Increase Loaded Mileage Rate Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved the proposed ordinance to 1stand 2nd reading by title. Councilman Rakos- This will increase the mileage to $17.50 per mile. There's been a while since we've had an increase in it. Due to fuel costs and equipment, an increase is needed. I will submit for a final passage and adoption at our next meeting. Mayor McDermott- I just want to point out, also with what Councilman Rakos said, this fee is a fee that's paid 99% of the time paid by insurance companies. I just wanted to point that out. This isn't a fee picked up by Hammond homeowners in any way, shape, or form. So, this is more, you know, insurance company thing. So, I just thought that was important to point out. ROLL CALL VOTE (1st & 2 nd ) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED 21-32 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: 584 Sibley Street, Hammond, IN, 46320 Councilman Torres, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved the proposed ordinance to 1stand 2nd reading and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on September 27th,2021 at 5: 15p.m. with an Intent to Consider on September 27, 2021. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 9 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (1st& 2nd) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED 21-33 An Ordinance to Repeal Ordinance 7396 and Am. Ord. 8370 Also Known as Chapter 103 of Title IX of the Hammond Municipal Code and Adopt and Enact Chapter 107 of Title IX of the Hammond Municipal Code Relating to Responsible Bidding Practices and Submission Requirements on Public Works Projects Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved the proposed ordinance to 1stand 2nd reading and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on September 27th,2021 at 5:25. 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 CARRIED 21-34 An Ordinance Vacating a 14- Foot Alley in the 5100 Block East of Hohman lying between Hohman Avenue and the Bus Lane at the Dan Rabin Plaza in the City of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana Councilman Torres, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved the proposed ordinance to 1stand 2nd reading by title and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on September 27, 2021 at 5:15p.m.,with a Public Hearing on September 27, 2021. Councilman Torres- This is just vacating an alley needed as part of the Downtown Redevelopment plan for the 5100 block of Hohman Avenue. ROLL CALL VOTE (1st& 2 nd) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 10 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 RESOLUTIONS 21R-25 A Resolution Adopting an Initial Community Investment Plan for the City of Hammond for the use of Funds Provided Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved for adoption. Councilwoman Venecz- This is just saying we agree to hear the Ordinance 21-30 to consider the distribution of the ARP Funds. 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. R25 ADOPTED 21R-26 A Resolution Authorizing the Hammond Fire Department to Apply for a 2021 NIPSCO Public Safety Education and Training Action Grant Councilman Rakos, supported by Councilwoman Alexander, moved for adoption. Councilman Rakos- This is a grant from NIPSCO for public safety education, and local public agencies, safety agencies. Hammond Fire Department, I believe it's the first time for them to also be able to get a $5,000 grant to be used for community training programming and training, and we hope to pass this for them to be able to apply for the grant from NIPSCO. 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. R26 ADOPTED 21R-27 A Resolution Authorizing the Hammond Police Department to Apply for a 2021 NIPSCO Public Safety Education and Training Action Grant Councilman Spitale, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved for adoption. Councilman Spitale- This is also a grant that comes before us annually offers for the public safety grant money and local public safety agencies. Also, but this is for the first responders also. 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. R27 ADOPTED Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 11 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 RESOLUTIONS cont. 21R-28 A Resolution Authorizing the Use of Credit Cards by Designated Officials and Employees of the City of Hammond Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Torres, moved for adoption. Councilwoman Venecz-The State Board of Accounts has certain regulations that apply to the use of credit cards by governmental units. Everything will be handled by the Controller. She will oversee the issuance of the credit cards. She will approve any transaction before it even takes place. So, there is definitely oversight on the use of credit cards. 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. R28 ADOPTED NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Rakos, moved that the Council Meeting scheduled for October 11, 2021 will be rescheduled for October 12, 2021. ROLL CALL VOTE (date change) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED Councilwoman Venecz- I received an email from the Hammond Police Department. They're going to have a Hammond Police Department Citizens Police Academy beginning on September 28, going through November 16, and I'll read you what their intention is. The Citizen's Police Academy was established to promote an understanding of the Hammond Police Department and its policies and procedures. In addition, the academy provides training in all aspects of law enforcement and the issues that face police officers daily. Our goal is to foster a spirit of cooperation between the city, its citizens, and their police department. It is hoped that graduates will get to know more about the men and women who are protecting their community and why they make the decisions they do while performing their duties. There you do have to sign up for this and the phone number is 852-2917. I've heard of people who have gone to this and it's really quite beneficial and you do develop a greater understanding of how and why the police officers do their job the way they do and protect us. Thank you very much. Councilman Torres, supported by Councilwoman Venecz, moved to suspend the rules to consider Ordinance 21-35. Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 12 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont. ROLL CALL VOTE (suspension of rules) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED 21-35 An Ordinance Establishing a Two-Way Street on One Block of Doty Street to Access Hohman Avenue Councilman Torres, supported by Councilman Emerson, moved the proposed ordinance to 1st and 2nd reading and referred it to the Council as a Whole Committee with a Committee Meeting on September 27th,2021 at 5:15p.m. Councilwoman Venecz, supported by Councilman Spitale, moved to amend in the Clerk's signature and the Mayor's signature. ROLL CALL VOTE (amendment) AYES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: None Motion carried 9/0/0 MOTION CARRIED 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 CARRIED (as amended) Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Tyler, moved to return to the regular order of business. ROLL CALL VOTE (return to regular order) A YES: Alexander, Spitale, Venecz, Kalwinski, Torres, Tyler, Emerson, Rakos, Woerpel NAYS:None ABSENT: Motion carried 9/0/0 RETURN TO REGULAR ORDER Councilwoman Alexander- I just want to give you the updated Covid numbers from September 13, from our last meeting. 46320, we have 93; for 46327, we have 58; for 46323, we have 129; for 46324, we have 141; for 46394, we have 59. That's 370 new cases from the last meeting to this meeting, which is an extreme jump from 101 new cases at the last meeting and the meeting before that, we were at 100. As for our vaccine numbers for Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 13 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS cont Councilwoman Alexander cont. - 46320 we have 279 new, fully vaccinated residents with a 4% increase; for 46327 we have 255 new, fully vaccinated resident, that's a 4.2% increase; for 46323 we have 403 new, fully vaccinated residents, that's a 3.6%; for 46324, 414 new fully vaccinated residents, that's a 3.9 % increase; and for 463 94 we have 180 new fully vaccinated, which is a 3 .2% increase. I just want to continue to encourage our residents, if you have not got vaccinated, look into getting vaccinated. These numbers have jumped up extremely from the last meeting. I will continue to update you. Please look into vaccination. We want to continue to help to keep you safe. Mask up, continue to social distance as much as possible, and stay safe. PUBLIC EXPRESSION Ken Bastasich- I Brought this issue up at the last meeting about dump trucks going up and down Kennedy Avenue. Who know's what's coming out of there. We have ordinances, local delivery there, tearing up the roads. And my other issue is on the walking path at Hessville Park, it says no motorized vehicles allowed. I have called the police on this issue. There's the old Bargain Finder on Kennedy Avenue, it's a dilapidated building that should be tom down and made a parking lot. David Betuastak- First, I want to thank Councilwoman Venecz, who responded to me. I attended the last Hammond Redevelopment Meetings where one of the agenda items had to do with Calumet College reclaiming the New York Avenue property to build a dormitory building. There will be no return on the $800,000 investment. There needs to be a presentation to Hammond, it's residents and neighbors. The New York Avenue site should be awarded and reserved for revenue-generating property tax-paying entities. I'm asking you to send a letter for your constituents that contributed to this $800,000. Please show your support to reserve the property to a revenue-generating property paying taxing entity. Please don't let this become a $800,000 photo op for the Mayor or the Commission. Councilwoman Alexander, supported by Councilman Tyler, moved to adjourn. ROLL CALL VOTE (adjourn meeting) AYES: 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 14 MINUTES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL cont. SEPTEMBER 13. 2021 2021 HAMMOND COMMON COUNCIL ATTENDANCE RECORD OF ELECTRONIC AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE May une July Aug Sept :Jct Nov Dec 24 14 28 12 26 9 23 13 27 12 25 8 22 13 27 Katrina Alexander p p p p p p p p Dan Spitale p p p p p p p p anet Venecz p p p p p p p p Mark Kalwinski E p p p p p p E Pete Torres p p p p p p p p Barry Tyler E p E p p p p p Bill Emerson p p p p p p p p 5cott Rakes p p p p p p p p Dave Woerpel p p p p p p p p ~~~~ ~ ~ ~ eJ2 Initials E=ELECTRONIC P=PHYSICALLY PRESENT 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 W oerpel resident Hammond Common Council A~ l~ RobertJ.Golc,CityClerk Time: 7:15 cb/dw Prepared by Robert J. Golec Hammond City Clerk 15