City Council

MINUTES OF THE LAFAYETTE COMMON COUNCIL February 1, 2021 REGULAR MEETING Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, All essential meetings are being conducted virtually, conference calls & online streaming (https://www.youtube.com/user/CityofLafayetteIN/live The Common Council of the City of Lafayette, Indiana met in regular session virtually via a Go To Meeting on Monday, February 1, 2021 at 6:00 pm President Weast-Williamson called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm The Pledge of Allegiance was given to the flag of our Country. Present: Heide, Klinker, Reynolds, Campbell, Brown, Weast-Williamson, Ahlersmeyer, Downing and Nargi City Clerk Cindy Murray and Deputy City Attorney Jacque Chosnek were present Councilman Campbell moved to approve the minutes of the January 11, 2021 council meeting, Councilman Heide seconded. Motion passed 8-0 on a roll call vote. There were no Disposal of Claims, Petitions or Communications: The Clerk stated the following reports are available in the City Clerk’s Office: Fleet Maintenance Department Monthly-December Police Department Monthly- December Renew Department Monthly- December Water Works Department Monthly- December Ordinances for Second Reading: The Clerk read Ordinance 2021-01 (An Ordinance Amending Amended Ordinance 2020-31, An Ordinance Fixing the Salaries of the Sworn Protective Occupation and Law Enforcement (POLE) Members of the Police and Fire Departments of the City of Lafayette, Indiana for the Year 2021) on second and final reading. Councilwoman Ahlersmeyer moved for passage, Councilman Brown seconded. Mayor Roswarski spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk read into the minutes electronic public comments that were received on Ordinance 2021-01 during the public comment portion of the meeting. Ordinance 2021-01 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on second and final reading. Ordinances for First Reading: The Clerk read Ordinance 2021-02 (An Ordinance to Amend the Zoning Ordinance of Tippecanoe County, Indiana to Rezone Certain Real Estate from I1 to GB-3829 SR 38 E., Manolo Renting LLC, Petitioner.) by title only on first and final reading. Councilman Heide moved for passage, Councilman Klinker seconded. Agatha Gaeta, Petitioner spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance 2021- 02. Ordinance 2021-02 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first and final reading. The Clerk read Ordinance 2021-03 (An Ordinance to Amend the Zoning Ordinance of Tippecanoe County, Indiana- UZO Amendment #99 Solar Energy Systems.) by title only on first and final reading. Councilwoman Ahlersmeyer moved for passage, Councilwoman Nargi seconded. Rabita Foley, Area Plan Commission spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance 2021-03. Ordinance 2021-03 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first and final reading. The Clerk read Ordinance No 2021-04 (An Amendment to Ordinance No. 2010-11 Inclusion of Certain Property in the Local Perrin/Cason Historic District in the City of Lafayette, Indiana) by title only on first reading. Councilman Downing moved for passage, Councilman Brown seconded. John Collier, Economic Development spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance 2021-04. Ordinance 2021-04 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first reading. The Clerk read Ordinance No 2021-05 (An Amendment to Ordinance No. 2010-11 Establishing A Local Highland Park, 816 S 9th Street. Historic District in the City of Lafayette, Indiana) by title only on first reading. Councilman Reynolds moved for passage, Councilwoman Nargi seconded. John Collier, Economic Development spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance No 2021-05. Ordinance No 2021-05 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first reading. The Clerk read Ordinance No 2021-06 (An Amendment to Ordinance No. 2010-11 Establishing A Local Perrin/508 Perrin Avenue Historic District in the City of Lafayette, Indiana) by title only on first reading. Councilman Klinker moved for passage, Councilman Heide seconded. John Collier, Economic Development spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance No 2021-06. Ordinance No 2021-06 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first reading. The Clerk read Ordinance No 2021-07 (An Amendment to Ordinance No. 2010-11 Establishing A Local Ellsworth/633 Oregon Street. Historic District in the City of Lafayette, Indiana) by title only on first reading. Councilwoman Ahlersmeyer moved for passage, Councilman Heide seconded. John Collier, Economic Development spoke regarding the ordinance. The Clerk noted no electronic public comment was received on Ordinance No 2021-07. Ordinance No 2021-07 passed 8-0 on a roll call vote on first reading. No Resolutions: No Reports of Standing Committees. No Reports of Special Committees. Report by the Mayor: Mayor Roswarski presented the following State of the City Report: STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS – 2021 Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the City Council, and all the Citizens of Lafayette, it is with a distinct honor and pleasure that I present to you tonight my 2021 State of the City Address. 2020 was certainly a year we won’t forget. A year of triumphs and challenges, a year of great joy and great pain, a year that touched all of our lives in new and unique ways. I want to sincerely thank the community of Greater Lafayette for continuing to do what is right and hard and necessary to protect and support each other. The resolve and resilience I have seen is a true testament of our community’s strength and compassion. I want to thank the Department Heads here at the City of Lafayette. Also, a special thank-you to our City Clerk Cindy Murray, who is a tremendous representative for me and our community. She serves on countless Boards and has chaired numerous special events. I just can’t thank her enough. I also want to recognize our dedicated Team Members, who work hard, each and every day, to provide exceptional and reliable services to our citizens. To those individuals who volunteer on our Boards and our Commissions, thank you for the leadership and guidance you provide to help us make important decisions that move our community forward. Without you, it is not possible for us to achieve the success that we’ve been able to reach. I want to specifically thank, and recognize all of our frontline healthcare workers, our nurses, our technicians, and our doctors – all of those that have taken care of COVID patients and other patients during these very difficult situations. I want to thank our Police Officers, our Fire Fighters, our EMT’s, our EMS – all of the individuals on the frontline in our healthcare and our emergency services, who literally risk their lives every day working to keep all of us safe. I want to thank our dedicated teachers and educational leaders who successfully restructured learning and created a safe environment for our students. I want to thank all the individuals working in our grocery stores, restaurants and community services who ensure our citizens have what they need. Again, thank you to the many employees here at the City of Lafayette who work frontline jobs that are essential for vital services. I know the battle and the fight is not over yet, but I would be remiss if I did not thank everyone tonight from the bottom of my heart for this Herculean effort to keep this community going, protect our health and wellbeing and saving as many lives as possible. I think it would be appropriate at this time that we have a moment of silence for all of those who have died of COVID-19, for their families, and for the healthcare workers and others that share these difficult times and bear the memories and scars from the experiences that they have had. **moment of silence** COVID-19 has affected economies all over the world and we are no different. Although we were very blessed here that many of our businesses, although they face difficult times, are able to continue, and some of those were able to make additional investments. In particular, Subaru Automotive, who continued forward with their $150 million dollar investment at the Lafayette plant, and G.E. Aviation who brought the production of a second engine – The “Passport” – to the Lafayette Facility, and Kirby Risk, who made a significant investment in their facility. That confidence, that courage, that hope is absolutely crucial and so important to a community. But, we know, particularly our small businesses, our restaurants and bars and our entertainment venues have suffered greatly during this time. The City of Lafayette is working very closely with our local small businesses and we are currently doing the second round of emergency funding. And, I can tell you that those business owners – they are heroes also. They have done everything imaginable to keep their business open, to keep paying their employees, to do those difficult things to reach the light at the end of the tunnel, and I want to thank them deeply for their commitment and for not giving up. I would also like to thank organizations and individuals who really did help lend a hand to those in need. So many of our friends and neighbors lost their jobs, lost work hours, lost their insurance, but this community, in remarkable fashion, found ways to work together. And, I want to specifically thank Michael Budd of the United Way for his leadership, Adam Murphy here at the City of Lafayette, Lafayette Transitional Housing, LUM, our local Health Department, local governments, our schools and our teachers who found ways to get people services. Our schools continued to provide free meals to students through the worst part of this pandemic, and, when schools were closed, our teachers found extra ways to help support their students. Michael Budd and his team at United Way, working with Adam Murphy and local social services agencies, put together a COVID-19 Housing and Stability Hotline to distribute funds to those in need and guide them to agencies that could help. The effort was unbelievable and made a difference in numerous people’s lives, and we may never fully understand the difference that assistance made to get them through these difficult times. I would like to thank the Lafayette Housing Authority, in particular Michelle Reynolds and Valerie Oakley, who helped us with loans for our local small businesses and developed other programs to help those in need during these difficult times. I want to thank Dennis Carson as he administered the loans. I’d like to thank the Parks Department, Mike Perry and staff, and the Traffic Improvement Department, Nick Standerfer and staff, who worked diligently delivering the picnic tables, street closures and other logistics to make sure we could have Fresh Air Eats downtown so people could patronize their favorite restaurants safely and help these local restaurants who so desperately needed additional customers. And, John Withers with our Parking Division, who helped create pick-up locations for those doing curbside pick-up. The list could go on and on. So many people played a role in so many different ways to help get us to the point we are today. This also was a year that we saw a great unrest across our country and a great call for change, understanding, and communication. I think all of us were shocked and deeply moved by the video and the death of George Floyd and that situation highlighted the deep wounds and deep divides in this country. It once again brought to the forefront of our conscience that we must have frank and inclusive discussions around racial tension, equality, justice, a fair society for all, and it cannot be just words this time, it must be action. We all have an obligation to do our part to create a society where we all live without fear. Where we all have the same opportunity to lift ourselves up and move ourselves forward. We know these are difficult discussions and actions. They are not new. They have been with us since before the Civil War. The time is now, and the time is here for all of us to commit to doing our part, however large or small, to heal this country. We need to create new opportunities, work to understand others, and to truly make a difference and rebuild those relationships, bring Police Departments and communities together, that we all in our own way might become servant leaders. And, even with all these challenges, I think it is also important that we talk about the many wonderful things that happened in our community from an economic and community development standpoint. Working together, we were able to make progress for our community. This year we were able to expand the capacity at our Waste Water Treatment Plant. We are ready for growth and we are ready for community expansion that will allow businesses to make investments and create job opportunities, and we did it in a very fiscally responsible way. We completed the rebuild of Twyckenham Boulevard, and if you’ve been out there, it’s beautiful. It created not only a new roadway, but trails and sidewalks that link our neighborhoods, our schools and our parks. We moved the Pearl River combined sewer, a very complex undertaking, but this made two incredibly important downtown projects possible that I’ll talk about just a little bit later. We also purchased the Lafayette Theater and began remodeling it for community use. We are excited about how it can serve and add to our local arts and culture, but unfortunately, because of COVID, that has been limited. But when this passes, Lafayette Theater’s improvements will provide a much better experience, as we continue to we work towards our long-term renovation goals. One of the projects that was made possible by moving the Pearl River, is The Luna at 631 Main Street, named after a historic theater in Lafayette at that location. It is a mixed- use project that will sit in the heart of Main Street downtown, filling a gap that is currently a parking lot and turning it into a beautiful, productive destination that will include apartments, retail and parking. The new Public Safety Building and parking garage continues to move forward in downtown Lafayette. This will be across 6th Street from City Hall going to the East. It is going to create a public safety building of the future that is open and inviting and will allow the Police Department to be more efficient and effective, as well as enhance our ability to work with our community in a way that serves all people. They will tackle some of the most difficult problems like addiction, mental illness, youth that are at risk, and other societal problems that, in reality, are the calls the Police Department receives daily. NOVA Tower is under construction on S. 4th Street and is coming along well. The Ellsworth has broken ground, and as you know, it will sit on under-utilized land that was formerly owned by Regions Bank. Again, a beautiful mixed-use property. A significant accomplishment also for 2020 was the securing the relationship with Jeff Ryder for the S. 8th Street multiuse project that he will be working on. This project will feature owner-occupied homes, rentals and businesses. He plans to invest $12 million dollars over the next five years. Coinciding with the ability to secure that project was the demolition of the old Village Pantry at 9th and South Streets and the construction of the new storm water lift station and park area. If you have been there, that project has literally transformed that corner and the gateway into the historic 9th Street Hill and St. Mary’s neighborhoods as well as downtown. You know there are a lot of exciting things happening at Columbian Park; these community development projects are incredibly important for quality of life, the ability to attract new businesses and to allow our current businesses to grow and expand by helping develop the workforce and the community growth that they need to be successful. Loeb Stadium is nearing completion, and as you know, it will be a multiuse stadium not only for baseball and soccer, but we can play football there, we can host concerts, other types of outdoor activities for bands, musical competitions and movie nights to name a few. It is truly a multi-use facility that will help spur on economic development and further market the area to potential businesses and residents, proving we have the amenities and infrastructure essential for workforce development, business growth and high quality of life. The penguin exhibit at the park is completed and the penguins should be here in the spring and I know everyone is very excited. The new carousel building is up and we are bringing back some of that wonderful history and memories to Columbian Park. If you haven’t been to Columbian Park or seen the pictures of the lagoon and Memorial Island’s transformation, you really won’t believe it. Previously it looked like nothing had been done to the lagoon for almost a hundred years, except some minor cosmetic work. We drained the lagoon and are rebuilding it from the ground up. It will have a new seawall, a new amphitheater, fishing areas and paddle boats. It’s going to have a biofiltration system and fountains to keep the water clean and help the aquatic life. It will be something that we can all be incredibly proud of. Also, in 2020, the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation, finished the Promenade Deck downtown. It’s been a long project, but it is absolutely wonderful and I hope many of you have had the chance to walk down there and see how beautiful it is. It is a nice public amenity for downtown. I am also pleased to announce that we are working on a multi-jurisdictional climate action plan to reduce carbon emission, greenhouse gases, and to protect our natural resources. That is just a small portion of everything that has happened in 2020 and as we move forward into 2021, I want to thank our community and our residents, everyone in the City of Lafayette that helped play a role, our business community, our friends in the Tippecanoe County Building Trades, and all of those that have made these projects possible. For those of you that have not had a chance to see these projects firsthand, I encourage you to follow us on social media or visit our website for photos and regular updates. We are at an important time for our community, state and nation. It is crucial that all of us do our part to make a difference. We all have a responsibility to help stop the spread of COVID-19, to reach out to our fellow citizens who are in need, work for racial justice and equality, to help move the economy forward, to do our part to protect our environment and reverse climate change. It is time for all of us to let our heart and soul shine through to ensure that we create a future where all our citizens feel safe, embody hope, grasp opportunity and give gratitude. Each and every one of us has what it takes to persevere and we are all in this together. Miscellaneous or New Business: Councilman Campbell moved to approve the following council appointment: Lafayette Redevelopment Commission-TJ Thieme-1 year term Councilman Klinker seconded. Motion passed 8-0 on a roll call vote. Reports by the Council: Councilman Reynolds thanked all of the City Departments involved in the snow removal over the weekend. Public Comment: Cindy Murray, City Clerk read the following public comments into the minutes; Hello - reviewing the salary raise for LPD is quite concerning to me. This organization hired a neo-nazi this year, allowed a K-9 to mail a citizens throat and threw tear gas at adolescents during demonstrations. This organs needs quite a bit of work, not fiscal rewards. In a pandemic when people are loving their jobs, life savings and homes, the thought of a city rushing to raise the salaries of law enforcement officers rather than help its citizens is disheartening and embarrassing. I would like to see more concern and effort by our city to take care of its citizens. Thanks Ian andrews 28 s 26th St, Lafayette, IN 47904 I am writing in regards to the second reading of Ordinance 2021-01 regarding salaries/pay of Lafayette Police Officers. If I'm understanding this correctly, this ordinance would increase the pay of Lafayette Police Officers, whether that's through salary or longevity pay. I don't believe this is the best use of city funds. Last year, LPD knelt in solidarity with protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement however has not made any measurable changes in alignment with the movement and with community members who have continually expressed concern about LPD's hiring practices and aggressive use of force. In May 2020, an LPD police officer used a K9 against an unarmed citizen, Richard Bailey. Bailey had already been taken off his moped by two police officers prior to the K9 attack. Bailey ended up in a coma for six days as the K9 latched onto his neck. This same officer, just four years prior, similarly used a K9 unit against an unarmed citizen, Frank Dowell. Both men were unarmed, African-American men. This officer, after the 2020 attack, was promoted. Later that year, a citizen discovered that the LPD hired a police officer who had neo-nazi ties. This officer had apparently already passed screening by the LPD. He was subsequently fired, however this raises concerns about the LPD's screening practices. Unlike the LPD, the West Lafayette police department has taken action in addressing issues of excessive force. WLPD has committed to hiring a social worker to accompany officers and they are reviewing their use of force policies. LPD police officers already make over $50,000 annually as a starting salary, receive additional compensations as the move up through the ranks, and for being specialized in certain fields. This is well over the average annual salary for Hoosiers by approximately $20,000. Instead of rewarding LPD for their inaction on the above-mentioned issues, they need to be held accountable and should address issues with their hiring practices and their department's use of force policies. This money could be better spent by City Council to address issues experienced by Lafayette citizens such as homelessness, food insecurity, mental health services, rent relief, and other such issues which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 epidemic. Thank you for your time. Katey Watson 1217 Kossuth Street, Lafayette Councilman Campbell move to adjourned, Councilman Heide seconded. Motion to adjourn the meeting passed 8-0 on a roll call vote at 7:00 PM Minutes prepared by Cindy Murray, City Clerk Complete audio of meeting available in the City Clerk’s office or at www.lafayette.in.gov