Board of Public Works & Safety

REGULAR ZOOM MEETING – February 1 , 2021 The Board of Public Works, and Safety of the City of Michigan City, Indiana met in regular session on Monday morning, February 1, 2021, at the hour of 8:30 a.m., local time, hosted by “ZOOM” and streamed live on “My Michigan City” Facebook page. The meeting was called to order by President, Andrew White, who presided. Noted present: Andrew White, Virginia Keating, Mayor Duane Parry (3) Absent: (0) A QUORUM WAS NOTED PRESENT. Also noted in attendance: Amber Lapaich, Corporate Counsel Kaleb Goodwin, IT/Web Designer Jeff Wright, City Engineer Gale Neulieb, City Clerk Kristina Zawacki, Assistant Deputy Clerk APPROVAL OF MINUTES President White moved the minutes of the Regular “Zoom” meeting of January 19, 2021 be approved as presented; second by Mayor Parry. The motion carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries. FIRE MERIT COMMISSION-Results of nomination (no election) held on January 18, 2021 for Gregory Deutscher and John Stimley (Note: for informational purposes only) President White stated the M.C.F.D. held the election. POLICY CHANGE-Andrea Smith, Personnel Director, is requesting the approval of the updated Policy & Procedure Manual regarding vacation benefits Corporate Counsel, Amber Lapaich-Stalbrink, explained the following changes to the Policy and Procedure Manual: 1. Change the permitted vacation time increments from half day to half hour increments; 2. Change vacation sell back options as follows: permit Department Heads and Full time employees the option to sell back unused vacation days and requiring Department Heads to complete sell back by November 30th each year. Mayor Parry stated that this is a benefit that has been in effect for a few of the unionized City Departments; primarily Fire and Police and its only right to extend this benefit to the Department Heads throughout the City Government. Discussion ensued between President White and Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink regarding whether department budgets would cover the vacation sell back. Attorney Lapaich- Stalbrink stated that discussion was held with the Controller’s Office and the majority of Departments have sufficient funds to cover this expense; advising in the event that a Department lacks sufficient funds to cover this expense, a Resolution for funding may need to be presented by them to the City Council. Vice President Keating made the motion to approve the updated Policy & Procedure Manual regarding vacation benefits. The motion was seconded by Mayor Parry. The motion carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries POLICY CHANGE-Andrea Smith, Personnel Director, is requesting the approval of the updated Policy & Procedure Manual regarding sick leave benefits Corporate Counsel, Amber Lapaich-Stalbrink, explained that sick time had to be taken in increments of a minimum of one hour; advising the change in the policy is for this to change to a minimum of half hour increments. President White made the motion to approve the request to update the Policy and Procedure Manual regarding sick leave benefits. The motion was seconded by Vice President Keating. The motion carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries ADA COMPLIANT PUSH BUTTONS The following correspondence was received in the City Clerk’s Office on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 from Jeff Wright, City Engineer Regular Zoom Meeting – February 1, 2021 Page 2 May it please the Board: Councilman Don Przybylinski requested on 12/21/2020 an audit of the ADA accessible crossings along Franklin Street be made and repairs as required be made to ensure the ADA push buttons are functional. Midwestern Electric, Inc has a maintenance contract with Michigan City to maintain portions of Michigan City infrastructure, partially including streetlights and traffic lights. At the direction of Mayor Parry, Midwestern was contacted on 12/28/2020 and directed to prepare an audit of all ADA push buttons along Franklin Street, commencing from US-20 northward to 4th Street. Additionally, Midwestern was directed to repair push buttons found to be not operating properly. We will continue to update the Board as this work progresses to completion. Update: Midwestern Electric completed the aforementioned audit and identified the following deficiencies: • 11th and Franklin Street 2 speaker NW SW Corner not working • Franklin and Ripley 2 SE and SW Corner not working • Franklin and Barker 4 NE and NW Corner not working • Franklin and Greenwood 3 speaker NW SW Corner not working • Franklin and Coolspring 3 NW, SE and SW Corner not working • Franklin and Arthur 2 NE and NS Corner not working • Franklin and US 20 is an Indot intersection with no Peds. According to Midwestern, the materials have been ordered and will complete the work shortly after they arrive. Jeff Wright, City Engineer stated that this correspondence was a follow up to bring this item to a close; advising Midwestern repaired all of the ADA push buttons in question and completed the audit. Discussion ensued between President White and Mr. Wright regarding if the City has the ADA push buttons checked regularly to make sure they are working correctly; or if there is a way that Midwestern could check them so we don’t run into the issue of so many of them needing to be repaired at once. Mr. Wright stated that he would need to look into it and see what can be done. President White stated that maybe the I.T. Department could come up with a forum for residents to be able to submit if they see a push button not working. REPAVEMENT OF MAYFIELD DRIVE The Clerk’s Office received correspondence on Thursday, January 21, 2021 from concerned Citizens in Mayfield Subdivision regarding re-pavement of their road on Mayfield Drive From: The Concerned Citizens of Mayfield To: All City Officials I am writing to you today after having recently read January 8th News Dispatch article regarding a grant that they city has been given by the state of Indiana to repave Michigan City streets. That was great to hear and we the homeowners would like to know how to get on that repaving schedule. As property owners in the Mayfield Subdivision, we collectively have paid over $200,000.00 in real estate taxes to LaPorte County. Yet unfortunately our primary road, Mayfield Drive, remains in much the same condition as when the first homes were constructed years ago. We have remained patient over the years and paid our taxes waiting for the right thing to happen hoping this was simply an oversight or a result of some budgetary matters. All of that went out the window when Briese Lane was repaved with new asphalt. Normally we would not complain that our neighbor got a newly paved road, except for the fact that while Mayfield Drive is owned by Michigan City. That paving benefited only a handful of homeowners on a private lane. Although Mayfield Drive is shorter than Briese Lane, it should have been repaved for the homeowners who have had to live with a substandard city road for over 10 years. Briese Lane was not in disrepair and could have been repaved later at the expense of the homeowners. We continue to be in awe of the Briese Lane area and wonder if there is something that can be done sooner as opposed to later. Moving forward into 2021 the tax paying residents of Mayfield Drive are imploring city officials to look into repaving the section of road where there are currently homes and address the balance of the road paving in the future as new homes are constructed. Please see the enclosed documents including images of Briese Lane, Mayfield Drive, Mayfield taxpayers roll and Beacon map indicating city owned streets in Mayfield Subdivision. We look forward to a positive resolution for the betterment of Michigan City Streets. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. Respectfully, Rosa & Chester Hatfield, James & Tracey McCay, Andrew Childress, Kathryn Osborne, Larry Young, Brian & Judith Spiece, Daniel & Kathleen Losinski, Flora Ann Ryan, Robert & Annette Rutledge, Lake Country Trust Co., Jay Zerbe Jeff Wright, City engineer stated that he had drove down Mayfield Drive and it is exactly like the picture shows; advising the road looks like it was never completely finished; explaining that sometimes they leave the topcoat off until the houses are completed so that the road does not get torn up during construction phases; further stating that he believes the road is in serious need of repair and is falling apart and that it should be submitted in the next round of CCMG repairs. Skyler York, City Planner agreed with Mr. Wright that this road does need repaired. Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink stated that this is not something that the City has been overlooking; advising that Mayfield Drive was not legally dedicated to the City until recently; explaining that Attorneys had to get involved and the City had to look at the deeds and previous owners were asked to deed certain property rights to the City; continuing to explain that now that the City legally owns the road, repairs can be made. CLAIMS AND PAYROLL President White moved that the claims set forth in the Register of Claims (in possession of the City Controller) and appearing in the Register be severally allowed and ordered paid and proper warrants for payment thereof hereby ordered issued in the stated amounts to person(s) and/or firm(s) as set forth, and payrolls approved. The motion was seconded by Vice-President Keating and carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries. Regular Zoom Meeting – February 1, 2021 Page 3 CLAIMS DOCKET February 1 , 2021 Municipal Claims $1,622,905.05 CDBG $0.00 Health & Life $1,127,624.96 Workers Comp. $50,638.20 Total Claims $2,801,168.21 Allowance of claims as set forth in the Register of Claims as follows: PAYROLL DOCKET January 29, 2021 City Payroll Total: $557,483.36 President White made the motion to approve the payroll docket; the motion was seconded by Vice-President Keating and carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries. UNFINISHED BUSINESS President White stated the first item on the Pending Items List is a request from Councilman Paul Przybylinski concerning unused old hanging poles/wires that belong to NIPSCO /Comcast that need to be removed from City right-of-way President White stated that we have been in contact with Councilman Paul Przybylinski; keeping him informed that we are working on getting this issue taken care of with NIPSCO and Comcast; advising we will forward any information as we receive it. President White stated the next item on the Pending Items List is a request from Cora Cambridge, 220 Gladys Street, is requesting NIPSCO to switch the pole around in front of 227 for the light to hang over the street and not on the private property Jeff Wright, City engineer, stated that he will send an email to NIPSCO to see when they will be installing this light. President White stated the next item on the Pending Items List is a request from Councilman Don Przybylinski, 215 Gardena Street-for the City to have an audit done on the ADA accessible crossings This item was addressed by Jeff Wright, City Engineer, and this item can be removed from this list. President White made the motion to remove this item from the pending items/unfinished business list. The motion was seconded by Vice-President Keating. The motion carried as follows: AYES: MEMBERS White, Keating and Parry (3). NAYS: (0). Motion Carries PUBLIC COMMENTS Councilwoman Dalia Zygas addressed the Board, making a suggestion to get stickers with information on where to report non-working push buttons. President White agreed it would be a good idea and the City will work on getting a plan in place for citizens to report non-working push buttons. Jeff Wright, City Engineer, asked for approval to issue bids for the next CCMG project that they currently have funds for; also repairs for Cleveland Road. Discussion ensued between Mr. Wright and Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink regarding bid documents for City projects. Mr. Wright asked if he needs to go before the Board of Works to have the bids documents approved. Counsel Lapaich advised Mr. Wright that all bid documents need to be submitted to the Clerk’s Office; and then they go in front of the Board of Public Works and Safety for approval. Mr. Wright asked the Board if he could get their approval during this meeting as he will be ready to submit them in the next few days. Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink stated that the bids are kept in the Clerk’s Office and then the Board approves the bid package. Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink asked Mr. Wright if he could wait until the next meeting for approval. Mr. Wright stated he could, he would just be losing time to work on other projects. City Clerk Gale Neulieb suggested that Mr. Wright wait until the next meeting so he could take his time and follow the proper procedures; stating if procedures are not followed, then items tend to be skipped. Regular Zoom Meeting – February 1, 2021 Page 4 Discussion further ensued between President White and Mr. Wright regarding if he could wait until the next meeting to give the Board and Counsel Lapaich-Stalbrink the opportunity to look everything over and make sure the bid packet is completed correct. Mr. Wright stated that he could wait until the next meeting. BOARD COMMENTS There were no Board comments ADJOURNMENT The presiding officer inquired whether there was anything else to be considered by the Board at this time and, there being none, asked for a motion to ADJOURN the meeting at approximately 8:54 a.m. Vice-President Keating made the motion to Adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mayor Parry. _________________________________________ Gale A. Neulieb, City Clerk