Board of Public Works & Safety

SPECIAL MEETING – June 29, 2015 The Board of Public Works and Safety of the City of Michigan City, Indiana, met in a SPECIAL SESSION on Monday morning, June 29, 2015 at the hour of 8:00 a.m., in the Council Chambers, in the City Hall Building, located at 100 East Michigan Boulevard, Michigan City Indiana – a regular meeting room of this Board. The meeting was called to order by President Steve Janus, who presided. Noted present: Steve Janus and Virginia Keating (2). Absent: Michael Palmer (1). A QUORUM WAS NOTED PRESENT. Also noted in attendance: Amber Lapaich, Corporate Counsel Russ Hatfield, Code Enforcement Terry Borolov, Code Enforcement Kim Sliwa, Deputy City Clerk DEMOLITION HEARING CONTINUING OF 1214 E. MICHIGAN BLVD. Russ Hatfield, Code Enforcement Officer for the City of Michigan City. The reason we brought this matter before this board earlier this year, in April was because the structure and property was in a blighted state. There were windows broken and apparent hazards that appeared to Mr. Hatfield like it was also a public nuisance. The city was getting a lot of complaints on the appearance. The Inspections Department started working with Mr. Karallas back in early 2013 trying to get this corrected and tried to get this property back up to minimum building code. Since than he has made little progress which did not really start until Mr. Hatfield brought the matter in front of this board for demolition. It appears like Mr. Karallas is trying to make the corrections now, he is making some progress, it is very slow, Mr. Hatfield does not think it is what the Board of Works is looking for but he will leave it up to the board. President Janus asked Mr. Karallas if he had anything to say. Mr. Karallas stated he wanted to make a brief statement, he stated he knows the board has been working with him and has been kind. He has not complained at all. He has had personal issues that is why it took a little bit longer. He was supposed to put all the windows up, he stated he had about 5 rainy days and had some health issues in the family. He stated his wife and kids left and went to Nebraska to take care of the problem. His son has been working on the property almost every day as much as he can. He is kind of scared there some times because of the fighting that goes on next door on one side, he has had to leave many times because of what is going on there. Mr. Karallas stated that the board can pull the police records and see the cops are there almost every day. On Thursday Mr. Karallas said he was going to put all his time and effort into taking care of this problem. He says he knows he would be upset too if he was driving by and seen this building. He states that is not who he is. Right now Mr. Karallas claims he is almost to the final stage, where all he is going to ask the board is for two weeks and it will be complete. Mr. Karallas says the bottom windows are almost done, and he wants to do this right. There was an enclosed patio in the back that was torn down, now he is tearing down the concrete steps from both sides of the entry way. He is eliminating some structures that are not necessary and will make the property look Special Meeting – June 29, 2015 Page 2 better. Over the weekend he installed windows and did start the siding. The guys had to leave this morning because of the rain. Mr. Karallas stated the siding would not be done by next weekend on the main building and the front office because he has to change a lot of the walls due to the wood being rotten. He has done it on two walls but the main front wall is really bad. This is all he is asking, he will work hard, and he is almost there. President Janus asked if he had enough siding to complete the building and Mr. Karallas stated yes. Mr. Karallas stated he was originally going to do cement siding on the house, but it would take longer, so he went and bought vinyl siding which is faster. He said they have done about 8 squares and the total job is about 30 squares. President Janus asked where would he be in one week from today? Mr. Karallas stated his kids stayed in Nebraska over the weekend because he wants to work the whole weekend even 4th of July weekend just to complete. President Janus asked if the siding would be done one week from today? Mr. Karallas said yes. Mr. Karallas stated that since the Police Department is going there, his dream was to always have something small in the front building, and he would like to have his kid to run it, something for him to have. He also added that he wants to do this right, that he wants to make the property look good. Visually it might not look like he has done much, but it takes time. He had to take the siding down, the nails, a lot of the windows were eliminated because some rooms had four or five windows. These windows were small, high and low, so he just wants to make the building look nice. He is also using good material, he is not just throwing anything that he can find. He wants everything to match. Mr. Karallas stated he just wants a little bit of extra time. Virginia Keating asked Russ Hatfield in his estimation, how long at the present rate of work that is being done, how long is this going to take before it is really completed? Mr. Hatfield stated at the rate it is going now, several weeks. But if Mr. Karallas does step it up, it can be done in a week. It is not uncommon for contractors to come in to do roofing and siding on an entire home that size in a week time, but that is with an entire crew. Mr. Hatfield added that if this board is going to allow more time for him to make the repairs, he has been doing a little better on keeping the project site clean. Mr. Hatfield did see there is a lot of debris that needs to be removed from his cleaning and work he has been doing. Mr. Hatfield would ask that this board instruct him to keep a dumpster in place that way the burden is not on the city to come and pick up any kind of scrap. The city has done this one time because the pile was left there so long it was a hazard. President Janus asked Mr. Karallas if he agreed with this? Mr. Karallas stated every time he takes a dumpster there people come and throw their materials in it. Mr. Karallas stated this is why he puts it in the garbage cans. Once or twice a week he would load them into his truck and take them to the landfill in Michigan on his way to work and dump them there. That is why he put the materials in the garbage cans and that is what Mr. Karallas was planning to do today, take the rest of them. The reason there are tarps there is because they are covering the siding so people don’t see it to steal it. He stated he had his generator stolen last week and some ladders were stolen. He stated again he wants to fix the property nicely where he is proud to say he owns the property. He claims that is the only property he has left, it is free and clear, he is making payments now on the back taxes. He thinks everything is falling into place. He wants to move forward to get this complete. Corporate Counsel Amber Lapaich stated she had two questions. First, is when will the windows be installed? Second, at the last meeting, there is a bill due to the Sanitary Department, Mr. Karallas indicated that he would take care of it by today, has that been taken care of? Mr. Karallas stated his wife sent in the payment. He said the day he left here, he handed her the bill and he was waiting for some checks to come in and they did come in. Ms. Lapaich asked if the answer was yes and Mr. Karallas said yes, it was $175 Special Meeting – June 29, 2015 Page 3 or something like that. Ms. Lapaich asked about the windows being installed and Mr. Karallas answered the bottom ones are in, the upper ones are not in because he tried to put one in the other day with a ladder but it was so heavy that it almost fell. So once he gets up there with the siding, new construction takes 5 minutes to put one window in and it fits perfect. Virginia Keating stated she was not sure she understood if Mr. Karallas answered the question, she repeated the question which was, when will the windows be completed? Mr. Karallas stated this week. Ms. Keating then asked if the siding would be completed this week and the windows would be completed this week? Mr. Karallas said yes. Mr. Karallas stated he knows there is a lot of work that needs to be done, but he wants to make it look nice. Virginia Keating made the motion to extend this hearing till the next meeting in one week and also make it clear that this is probably the last chance we are not going to extend after this. The motion was seconded by President Janus and carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS Janus and Keating (2). NAYS: None (0). Motion carries. President Janus stated that the board will see Mr. Karallas back in one week and hope that all the siding and windows are done. ADJOURNMENT President Janus inquired whether there was anything else to be considered by the Board at this time and, there being none, declared the meeting ADJOURNED (approximately 8:18 a.m.). Virginia Keating made the motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded by President Janus and carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS Janus and Keating (2). NAYS: None (0). Motion carries. _________________________________________ Gale A. Neulieb, City Clerk