City Council - Regular Meeting

I call to order the meeting of the Hammond Common Council for May 11th, 2026. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I'm asking for a moment of silence for the young student that lost their life in Michigan City this past weekend at the prom activities, if we can do that. Thank you.

Click call and roll call, please.

Alexander.

Present.

Spitelli. Here. Kowinski. Here. Salinas. Here. Tyler.

Here.

Emerson.

Here.

Warple.

Here.

Reckles. Here. Vanes.

Here. Let the record reflect eight in chambers, one virtually.

Mr. Mayor. Hi, Madam President. Nice to see you all. Thanks. I think last time I spoke to you guys, I brought up an issue that has been resolved since the last time we talked. It was an issue with 177th Street in the town of Highland. At the time, I was telling you that we had NDOT working on the bridge over there, which connects Highland to Hammond, and Highland side of the bridge was $800,000 to repair it, and that town of Highland informed the city of Hammond they did not want to repair it, and they were planning on closing it down and shifting their local traffic over to Liable Road. That was no good for us. We didn't like that. I didn't like that. Brought it up at NERPC. I'm happy to report that we have a good contact in the town of Highland with Councilman Charinga, who is also a chief in the Hammond Fire Department. Councilman Charinga over in the town of Highland brought over Councilman Georgoff and we had a meeting. Also, former colleague of all of ours, Dan Repay over at the Little Calumet River Basin Authority decided to jump in because this concerns his area as well. And Dean, our city engineer, got favorable pricing, which is nice, meaning we're a bigger city. We get better pricing than the town of Highland does. We do a lot more work than the town of Highland. Because of that, we get better pricing. And we took their $800,000 proposal, and it's more like $350,000. which is nice, and then Town of Highland, Dan Repay over there at the Little Calumet Basin Authority, and the City of Hammond agreed to split it three ways. Now, the good news is NDOT is finishing their work on the bridge soon, like within the next day or so. If not, maybe even today it's finished. Town of Highland's side is still shut down and pockmarked. It looks like the moon. The good news is Dean is already lined up. to mill that side of the bridge on Thursday of this week. So three days from now, they're going to grind it all down. And on Friday, they're going to pave it. And all the interlocal agreements are being taken care of. So by next Monday, a week from today, the entire thing should be open and brand new. So I know it's a long-winded answer, but it's done. And I want to thank the town of Highland, Councilman Georgoff, Councilman Skaringa. I want to thank Dean Button, the city engineer, Dan Repet, the Little Calumet River Basin Authority. And thank you all for staying on me about that. So we got it resolved. That was, we suffered a lot of damage because all the semis and everything were going into this side that they're not supposed to go in and they just beat our infrastructure up. So there's going to be damages that we're going to have to cover. But the good news is there's a lot of businesses back there that have a way in and a way out now. So I brought that up last meeting. I wanted to follow up with it. I don't know if you have any questions about that.

Good work. Thank you. Thanks, Councilman. So Hammond's portion is between $115,000 and $120,000? Yeah, right around there.

And it's going to come from CIB. So they have the money available. Thanks.

I just want to thank you and everybody involved because being in the 5th District, a lot of them businesses were concerned about having to go all the way to Kennedy Avenue. As far as the semis and tearing up all the infrastructure there.

We suffered some damage during the period of time that it was shut down. Good job to the town of Highland for showing us how important it was to work together. They did a good job of showing us how important it was for us to work together. We worked together. I want to thank the two councilmen again. Dan Repay. stepping in to help fill the cracks in, so to speak. Really good project, turned out. So weather permitting, a week from now we should be driving on brand new pavement over there with a brand new bridge. So that's good news. And now I'll go through my schedule for the last couple weeks. It's been two weeks since we met. I met with the Hammond Fire Department, local 556 executive team in regards to the submission they made to an RFP for a potential downtown Hammond location. I want to talk to Councilman Salinas about that as well. It's an interesting development. And I want to thank Mike Hull and the Hammond Firefighters for putting in a great proposal. Did a radio interview with WBEZ Public Radio in Chicago in regards to the potential bears move to northwest Indiana. This is interesting. Tended a reception along with Judge Marissa at Governor Mike Braun's mansion in Indianapolis. Okay. I haven't been to his mansion in 20 years, to the governor's mansion. That was, if you do your math, that was Joe Kernan's last day in office. So I haven't been there in 20 years. It looks a lot nicer now. I want to thank Governor Braun for inviting us. There was a lot of mayors there. Mayor Josh from Hobart was there, the other local mayor. But we talked for like 25 minutes about the bears, just the governor and me and Marissa. And I left there very optimistic. He is bouncing around. He wants this thing done. He thinks it's, you know. So anyway, that was a nice time. It was good. I met with a potential developer about the ThruPort site in Hessville. I talked to Councilman Rakos about it a little bit earlier. I'm not sure where this is going, but it's interesting. And it's a development that's been vacant. my entire term. So obviously it's, that's about a half a mile from homes in Hessville. So we're obviously watching that situation closely. Um, zoom interview with WGN news regarding the potential for the bears to move to Northwest Indiana. I met with decennial groups managing partners over the data center development agreement we have pending before us. I reminded them that we have a June 30th deadline. I'm not sure what to feel about it. I have a feeling we're going to be waiting until June 30th to find out what's going on, but hopefully it moves quicker than that. But we all know we have a deadline. We're sticking to the deadline. If there's any attempt to extend the deadline, I think there should be financial penalties involved because, quite frankly, it's time to do it or get off the pot kind of thing. Tended to Hammond Water Company's grand opening of their new corporate offices in downtown Hammond. Great office, great location. Everybody's real happy. The water department loves the building. It's big enough to handle all their staff. It's got a drive-thru. So if you want to pay your water bills, you've got to go to downtown Hammond now. You can see it right there off of Rimbach Street. So visit Fayette.

Rimbach. Fayette? Rimbach.

Rimbach, thank you. I shouldn't have doubted myself. Interviewed via Zoom by the Chicago Tribune's editorial board over the potential for the Bears to choose Hammond as their next location. Attended Hermits Little League opening day throughout the first pitch. It was a really nice day. Hermits is great. It was a strike for what it matters. I mean, hosted the Friendly Sons of Aaron's Board of Directors annual dinner at the Emerald Green. This is really cool because these guys are from all over the region, you know, Lake and Porter County and LaPorte County. They come once a year to Emerald Green, and it was so good. I want to remind everybody out there, the Emerald Green, the restaurant was top-notch that night, man. It's a jewel that we have in Hammond, so I think it was great. I was really proud to be Hammond's mayor with all those people from all over the region and eating good food in a beautiful building and Robert's cell. Attended the National Day of Prayer at the Hammond Sportsplex. Great turnout. Amazing food served by the students of the Area Career Center. We saved a lot of money, too. It was nice. Saved a lot of money. Had food served to us by the Area Career Center students. They were super happy to do it, and it was delicious. Everything turned out great. It was delicious. It was. I met with the leadership of the Hammond Fire Chiefs and Captains of the Hammond Police Department for our regular monthly meeting. I met with the leadership of the Hammond Fire Department in regards to a promotion to battalion chief that I'm going to announce right now. We haven't done this publicly yet, but after conducting multiple interviews, I chose Tommy Markovich to become Hammond's newest battalion chief. Tom's from a big Robertsdale family. He's a great Hammond firefighter. He's super happy. He should be already battalion chief by now. So congratulations to Tommy. I visited Challenger Learning Center during one of their classes to observe how they interact with students on field trips. This particular class happened to be the class of my nephew from Crown Point. But that Timothy Ball Elementary School did two days in a row at Challenger Learning Center. It's nice to see. And then I want to make a few announcements in the police department. We've done multiple interviews for various positions across the Hammond Police Department. I'm happy to announce the following promotions. Jeff Long, we all know, was promoted from assistant chief of police to become Hammond's police chief. That happened January 1st. Chris Godey, who was promoted from the captain of detectives to become Hammond's next assistant chief of police. I believe I already announced that to you all also. Now, filling the spots that they vacated, Chief Godey left the captain of detectives spot. The captain of detectives is going to be filled by... Sergeant Jason Schaffbach. He's a sergeant in the Detective Bureau currently. He's going to become the newest captain of detectives. He's a Hammond resident, great detective. Congratulations to Captain Schaffbach. We also promoted from Sergeant in the Detective Bureau, James Onahan, a Hammond resident. Sergeant in the Detective Bureau promoted him to becoming a Lieutenant in the Detective Bureau. Congratulations to Lieutenant Onahan. We promoted Jeff Miller from Sergeant in the Detective Bureau to becoming a Lieutenant in the Detective Bureau. Congratulations to Lieutenant Miller. Promoted Sean Ford from Sergeant in the Detective Bureau to becoming a Lieutenant in the Detective Bureau. Congratulations to Lieutenant Ford. We promoted Scott Denny from Master Sergeant in Patrol to becoming a Shift Lieutenant in Patrol. Congratulations to Lieutenant Denny. We promoted Walter Peterson from Sergeant in the Detective Bureau to becoming Shift Lieutenant in Patrol. Congratulations to Lieutenant Peterson. We promoted Sergeant Ebby Gonzalez going from a sergeant in community affairs becoming a lieutenant in community affairs. Congratulations to Ebby. And last but not least, this is something that I think is amazing. We transferred Lieutenant Kelly Mickey from community affairs. Everybody's like, what? to the Detective Bureau to take on a role of domestic violence advocate. It's a position we haven't filled yet. We haven't had this in a long time. Kelly Mickey, as everybody knows, is a great lieutenant who's very empathetic and very personable. Obviously, in situations like this where you have a victim that maybe not want to talk to, male officers having an officer like Kelly in that role will provide invaluable resources for us. So congratulations to all of the promotions. I know you guys are considering two resolutions today. Oh, I forgot one. Thank you. Also, going from sergeant, master sergeant in patrol, Rich Ray is promoted to captain of patrol, which is a great promotion. I'm happy for Rich. He's right there in the back, so congratulations to Captain. Thank you. I'm not sure if he's still going to be able to do your council meeting, so you might miss him. But he's a captain patrol, which is, that's a, captain patrol is, it's like riding a horse. You get tired after a while. Sometimes you have to get off the horse. I know Rob Bunner was the captain patrol. We're putting Rob Bunner in as the captain of training as well. So Rob's not losing his captaincy. He's getting a break. He's been captain of patrol for a while now. So congratulations to Rich and everybody else that made promotions. 26R10, the resolution before you guys. Coming from Midwest Prairie Builders is to build a new dairy bill and laundromat at 1719 through 1733 Indianapolis Boulevard in Robertsdale. This is a great project. I'm super happy to support. We've proposed a traditional 10-year tax abatement as the incentive in that. I think dairy bill in that part of the city is going to... You're going to have lines down the street for people who want to get into that. I think it's a great development. Also, it's another North Ham and Robertsdale development. 26R11, resolution of the Common Council, proving a declaratory resolution related to the creation of an economic revitalization area. That's the new RV storage lot on 3518 Sheffield Avenue. We stalled out a little bit on this project, but it's back up and moving again. It's a great project. I hope you guys support both of them. Sorry about the long report. I'm available for any questions you have.

And the RV place will also be a traditional tenure, tax abatement?

Thank you. Yes. Thanks for asking. I should have dug that up. I didn't put it in my notes. Traditional. Councilman, it seemed like we were getting a lot of developers that were asking us for 100% 10-year tax abatements. We approved one for the crane company, and I think internally we're pretty much done doing that. I think that's the last one, outside of an extraordinary development. It's one that we really have to fight for. If they don't want to take a traditional 10-year tax payment, I don't want to put it forward anymore. So the last one you're going to see, unless it's extraordinary circumstances, Eocom, the crane company on Calumet. So thanks for asking. Any other questions? Yes. Yes, sir.

I'm sorry.

I wondered if the city had heard anything new from the EPA regarding the federated metals and the potential cleanup coming. Has there been any dialogue with them?

I know there was a meeting in Whiting. I didn't attend. I was there. You were? I haven't heard anything since I .

I haven't heard anything either. I just wondered if the city got any more information.

No. No news is good news, but I haven't heard anything, no. Any other questions? Sorry for the long report. Have a nice meeting. Good to see you all.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. Moving on to approval of minutes. I'll make a motion that we accept the minutes from the April 27th, 2026 meeting and place them on file.

Second. Motion by Councilman Salinas, second by Councilman Emerson to approve the minutes of April 27th. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Minutes passed. Moving on to claims. Madam President. Councilman Rakos.

I move for approval of claims and journal entries for April 23rd, 2026 through April, excuse me, through May 6th, 2026. The amount is $7,755,745.75.

Motion by Councilman Rakos, is there a second? Second. Second. Second by Councilman Spitali for approval of claims. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Clerk will let roll call vote, please. Alexander?

Yes. Spitali? Yes. Kalwinski?

Yes.

Salinas? Yes. Tyler?

Yes.

Emerson?

Yes.

Warple?

Yes.

Rakos? Yes. Vanes?

Yes. Claims passed, nine in favor, zero opposed. Clerk Golick, will you please make note that Councilman Tyler is now in the chambers? So noted. Thank you. Moving on to public hearings, there are none. Communications. Does anyone have any communications? I do. so on uh may 20th 1 p.m the hammond police department and fop 51 will have a fallen officer memorial service at the hammond police department uh in the in case of rain we will be moving to The Civic Center, that's always a very moving ceremony and I urge everyone to attend if they can. May 13th is Mayor's Night Out, that's in the third district. It will be at the Hammond Sportsplex beginning at 6.30 PM. Also, there is a fundraiser, Cops on the Rooftop. This is a fundraiser for Special Olympics. There will be two officers on each rooftop At the following Dunkin Donuts and two officers in each drive through to collect donations and hand out coupons. The Dunkin Donuts at 7410 Kennedy. 7334 Indianapolis Boulevard. And I happen to know that the newly promoted Lieutenant Ebby Gonzalez will be up on the roof there. And 7935 Indianapolis Boulevard. That will be from 7 to 9 AM on Friday, May 15th. Drive through, get a cup of coffee and a donut and drop off some money in their bucket.

Councilwoman.

Yes.

Madam President, so how do you get the money up to the rooftop out for them?

They have somebody at the drive-thru.

It's not going to be like a bucket coming down?

Yeah, no, uh-uh, no. You don't have to whip it up there. Although I'm sure somebody like you will give that a try. Yeah, okay. Any other communication?

Yes, Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

HC3, Hustleville Commerce and Community Creative, will having their May cleanup on Saturday, May 23rd, 9 o'clock. They'll meet at the HC3 building, 2823 Martha. All residents, students, and businesses are invited. Be like breakfast snacks in the morning and then lunch provided for volunteers in the afternoon or around 11 o'clock. That's Saturday, May 23rd at 9 o'clock.

Thank you. Any other communications? Madam President. Yes, Councilwoman.

Just a couple. The scholarship for the Hammond Common Council will be drawn on our next council meeting. If any student did not get it into their counselor, I'm going to give them until tomorrow because that's when I'll be going by to pick them up to make sure they have an opportunity for our scholarship. And then also I want to congratulate the Hammond Area Career Center. There are eight students that had the opportunity to compete in the SkillsUSA tournament, and they will be traveling to the national competition. And they are, of course, asking for donations. And a lot of those students that have met that goal are from Hammond Central and Morton. So congratulations, and we hope that we have some national champions come back for radio TV.

Thank you. Any other communications? Any other communications? Councilman, isn't there a parade coming?

Okay.

May 25th.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

The Hammond Memorial Day parade sponsored by the Hammond Mohawks will take place on Monday Memorial Day. Line up begins at 10 AM. near the Roller Dome and Cavalier Inn on Goslin and steps off at 11 AM and then concludes at St. Casimir's Church with a memorial service and a flag raising and a prayer. So everybody's invited to attend the parade or put a float in the parade. But most importantly, come to the memorial service because really that's what it's for that day. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other communications? Any other communications? Any other communications? Communications is not posted. Moving on to ordinance third reading, final passage. No.

Committee reports. Committee reports.

Oh, committee reports. Thank you very much. Madam President. Okay, does Councilman Spitali, do you have anything to report out for the Planning Commission? Nothing to report. Okay, thank you. Councilman Tyler?

Madam President, the Economic Development Committee will be meeting on Tuesday, May 26th at 5.15 p.m.

Thank you. Councilman Warpo, Finance? Yes.

Nothing to report in finance, although ordinance 2613 is going to be coming out for third reading and final passage.

Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Salinas, capital improvements?

Yes, that's correct. The capital improvement board met on May 4th, and it was reported by our city controller, Megan Moore, that we have approximately about $5 million in funding. We did four funding allocations in new business, and I will cover each one of them now. Funding allocation number 319 is from 165th and Kennedy to Grand Avenue, construction engineering to first group engineering in the amount of $141,000, sorry, $141,100. Funding allocation number 320, Memorial Park utility and lot staking. This is additional services at Memorial Park that was awarded to American Structure Point in the amount of $7,900. This is for work that was not envisioned or included in the original contract. Funding allocation number 321, 2026 crack ceiling program. Site services in the amount of 300,000. It was estimated about $50,000 per district. This is for our annual crack ceiling budget. Funding allocation number 322, Summer Street Lighting Repairs to Hawk Enterprises in the amount of $11,279.27. This is for electrical damage to a lighting controller cabinet near Columbia and Summer. It was not under warranty, and it was one year since the initial installation. That's all I have to report from Capital Improvements, Madam President.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. And as usual, I would like to read a list of the upcoming Community and Crime Watch meetings. Tomorrow, or Wednesday, May 13th at 1 p.m. Community Watch at Mount Zion Pleasant View Plaza will meet at 1 p.m. That's always a good one for the seniors. East Ham and Pullman Crime Watch will meet Tuesday, May 19th 6 p.m. at the Ophelia Steen Center. Harrison Park Crime Watch will meet Tuesday, June 2nd, 6 p.m. at the VFW on Holman Avenue. Jefferson Crime Watch will meet Wednesday, May 27th, 6 p.m. at Jefferson School. Hessville Crime Watch will meet Thursday, May 21st, 6 p.m. at the HC3 Community Center on Martha Street. Irving Community Watch will meet Tuesday, May 12th, 9.30 a.m. at Irving School. And the Whiting-Robertsdale Crime Watch will meet Thursday, May 14th, 6.30 p.m. at, excuse me, Calumet College. As always, I urge everyone to come out to a community or Crime Watch meeting. You can get a lot of really good information. Lori in the front row there just had a meeting last week, I believe it was. What is it called now? I always call it Indie Elite. South Holman Avenue, but a lot of really good information and great questions by the residents in the neighborhood. So please come out, learn what's going on in your neighborhood and the city, because community is not just about me, it's about us.

Madam President. Yes, Councilman. I'd like to just go back a second. because there will be another Economic Development Committee meeting for 26R-11. So I wanted to be sure that the Economic Development Committee was aware of that so that that would be on. at 5.15 on 6-8-26, and that's regarding 26 R11, which we will pass tonight. But it also will have a public hearing on 6-22. And between now and then, we're going to have a presentation by the developer for that project at that economic development committee meeting on 6-8-26 at 5.50. Okay, when was the- I just wanted to add that to Barry so he was aware.

When was the committee meeting?

On 6-8-26 at 5-15. Okay.

All righty. Okay, thank you. Any other committee reports? Any other committee reports? Any other committee reports? Committee reports are now closed. Moving on to ordinance, third reading, final passage.

Ordinance 26-13 sponsored by Councilman Warple. An ordinance creating new funds, funds number 3384, 3326, 3327, and 3343 for municipal food and beverage tax monies. Madam President. Councilman Warple.

I move for final passage and adoption of 26-13. Second. Second.

Motion by Councilman Warple, second by Councilman Rakos. Any discussion?

Madam President.

Councilman Warple.

Back in June of 2024, we adopted and approved 1% food and beverage tax pursuant to Indiana Code 6958. The city controller, at the request of the city controller from a suggestion from the state board accounts, we needed to separate that money into four separate accounts. So going by the numbers, the funds that he, that Clerk Golick read off, fund 3384 was the food and beverage. Fund 3326 is the food and beverage redemption account. Fund 3327 is the food and beverage rebate fund. And fund 3343 is the food and beverage depository fund. And again, this isn't anything new. This is to further put into accounts the food and beverage tax that we passed in June of 2024.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Clerk Golic, roll call vote, please.

Alexander. Yes. Spitelli. Yes. Kalwinski.

Yes.

Salinas. Yes. Tyler. Yes. Emerson.

Yes.

Warple.

Yes.

Rakos. Yes. Vanes.

Yes. 26-13 passes, nine in favor, zero opposed.

President Vanez, that concludes the ordinances for final passage.

Thank you, Clerk Golick. Moving on to introduction of ordinances.

Item A, ordinance 26-15, sponsored by Councilman Spitelli, an ordinance to appropriate funds in the Hotel Motel Innkeeper's Tax Fund for economic development purposes in 2026. President.

Councilman Spitali.

Move for first and second reading of the hearing set for June 8th, 2026 at 515.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Spitali, second by Councilman, who was that, Emerson? Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Clerk, roll call vote, please.

Alexander. Yes. Spitelli. Yes. Kalwinski. Yes. Salinas. Yes. Tyler. Yes. Emerson.

Yes.

Warple.

Yes.

Rakos. Yes. Vanes.

Yes. 26-15 passes, 9 in favor, 0 opposed.

Ordinance 26-16 sponsored by. Councilman Kowalski, an ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Hammond, Indiana, upon recommendation of the Hammond Economic Development Commission, designating a certain area within the city as an economic development target area pursuant to Indiana Code 6-1.1-12.1. Adam President.

Councilman Kowalski.

I move that 26-16 pass through first and second reading. We refer to the council's economic development committee at 515 on 52626. Thank you.

Do I hear a second? Second. Motion by Councilman Kowalski, second by Councilman Salinas. Any discussion?

Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

This is, we're in the process of ratifying this agreement and moving forward with a traditional tenure tax abatement on the boulevard in Robertsdale between 19- and 1733, where a 3,500 square foot laundromat will be put up, as well as a 1,000 square foot dairy bell with a drive through. And a 1,200 square foot commercial building on what has been vacant property on the boulevard for a long time.

Okay, thank you. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Clerk will let roll call vote, please.

Alexander? Yes. Spitali? Yes. Kalwinski?

Yes.

Salinas?

Yes.

Tyler? Yes. Emerson?

Yes.

Warple?

Yes.

Rakos? Yes. Vanes?

Yes. 26-16 passes on first and second. Nine in favor, zero opposed.

President Danez, that concludes the introduction of ordinances.

Moving on to resolutions.

Item A, Resolution 26R-10, sponsored by Councilman Kowalski. A resolution of the Hammond Common Council ratifying the developmental agreement among the City of Hammond, Indiana, the City of Hammond Redevelopment Commission, and Midwest Prairie Builders LLC regarding 1719 through 33 Indianapolis Boulevard, Hammond, Indiana.

Madam President.

Councilman Kowalski.

I move for passage of 26R-10.

Second. Motion by Councilman Kalwinski, second by Councilman Spitali. Any discussion?

Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

This is now the next step in the process in ratifying the agreement between Midwest Builders, the City of Hammond, and the Redevelopment Commission for the Dairy Bell, the laundromat, and the 1,200 square foot commercial building on the boulevard.

Okay, any other discussion? Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Clerk Golic, roll call vote, please.

Alexander. Yes. Spitelli. Yes. Kalwinski. Yes. Salinas. Yes. Tyler.

Yes.

Emerson.

Yes.

Warple.

Yes.

Rakos. Yes. Vanes.

Yes. 26 are 10 passes, 9 in favor, 0 opposed.

Item B, Resolution 26R-11, sponsored by Councilman Kowalski. A resolution of the Hammond Common Council approving a declaratory resolution related to creation of an economic revitalization area.

Madam President.

Councilman Kowalski.

I move for final passage of 26R-11. Second.

Motion by Councilman Kalwinski, second by Councilman Spitali. Any discussion?

Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

This is another development in the first district between Boy Scout Road and Sheffield Avenue to the west of Sheffield Avenue. This is a $20 million project on about 21 acres. where RV and boat storage will take place as well as buildings for self storage.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Any other discussion?

Madam President. Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

Go ahead. Madam President.

Go ahead, Councilman. Yes.

While we're passing this tonight, we're going to conduct an economic council economic development committee meeting, 6-8-26 at 5-15, where the developer will present the project to the council with pictures and answer questions at that time. as well as holding a public hearing on this project on 6-22-26 during the council meeting.

Thank you, Councilman. Thank you. Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Clerk, roll call vote, please.

Alexander. Yes. Spitali. Yes. Kalwinski. Yes. Salinas. Yes. Tyler. Yes. Emerson. Yes. Warple.

Yes.

Rakos. Yes. Vanes.

Yes. 26 R 11 passes, 9 in favor, 0 opposed.

President Vanes, that concludes the reading of the resolutions.

Moving on to noon unfinished business.

Madam President.

Yes, Councilman.

I have two things. Number one, I make a motion that we move the meeting of May 25th, which is Memorial Day, to May 26th.

Second. Motion by Councilman Warples. At 6 PM. Pardon me?

At 6 PM.

Okay, motion by Councilman Whirlpool, second by Councilwoman Alexander to move the May 25th meeting to May 26th. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call vote, please.

Alexander. Yes. Spitelli. Yes. Galwinski. Yes. Salinas. Tyler? Yes. Emerson?

Yes.

Warple?

Yes.

Rakos? Yes. Vanes?

Yes, motion carries, nine in favor, zero opposed.

My second issue or thing I wanted to bring up in new and unfinished business is over the past few years, Councilman Tyler and I have heard a lot of discussion about getting 167th Street repaved from Columbia Avenue to Indianapolis Boulevard. And now that all the construction is finished, according to the capital improvements board, we're going to, it's my understanding that we're going to try to get it done this summer at some point, get it repaved from that distance there. Is that your understanding too? Correct. Yeah.

And that the sportsplex in Hawaii will stay within the third district. Yeah.

I'm not, I can't, I can't gerrymander it now.

Yeah. That's a great improvement.

Thank you, that's all I had.

Okay, any other new and unfinished business? Madam President. Pardon?

Madam President.

Yes.

I just wanted to provide an update on Harrison Park improvements. A lot of people ask about what's going on with the lagoon. We talked about it in previous meetings, but it is being expanded, both the width and the depth of the pond. So it will actually be able to maintain wildlife. And then this week, they're adding a liner so that it can retain water as well. So if you want to stop by, see the construction going on. I'm told, Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe about a month or so more of everything because the liner will take a few days. And then they'll have to fill it up with water. I'm not sure if we'll be able to stock it this year, but... Hopefully we'll be able to get fish in there next year. And then the second update is with the Man of Steel. For those that don't know, excuse me, this is the 50th anniversary of when the Man of Steel was erected in Harrison Park. And so as part of that, we are improving upon it. and planning a rededication. So we're trying to match the color as close to the original color as possible. We had a representative from Sherwin-Williams donate the paint to be able to take care of that job. So thank you to Sherwin-Williams. I know you've probably seen the water department out there Along with some other volunteers doing some trying to clean up the statue a bit before it got painted. As of right now, that gray color that you see is just the primer. And then it will be painted sometime over the next few weeks, maybe a month or so. And we'll be planning, like I said, a rededication ceremony and a ribbon cutting ceremony. the pond as well sometime later this summer. So we'll release more information on that when it gets done. I just want to thank Scott, you all, Mayor's administration for being supportive of that project, as well as the Parks Department for partnering on that too. Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam President, one other thing.

Yes, Councilman.

Do we have students in the audience again tonight? Pardon me? We got some students back there. You guys want to come up and say something about why you're here, what you want to do?

How about if we do that during public expression? Whatever. Again, I'm a man of peace. It's nice to see them here. Any other new and unfinished business? Any other new and unfinished business? Any other new and unfinished business? New and unfinished business is now closed. There are no special zoning actions to be adopted tonight, so we'll move on to public expression. And I will invite you all to come up, first of all.

Please state your name.

Yes. Tell us your name and what school you go to and why you're here.

My name is Joyce Yao. I go to Munster High School, and our AP government teacher, Mr. Gordon, has a project for us called the Policymaking Project, where we go visit a local town council meeting and then write an essay about everything in court.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, and then my name is Claire Pritzky. I'm also from Munster High School and here for the same reason as Joyce, but we actually had this project previously in the wintertime, and it's kind of interesting to just, like, see how different towns carry out their policy. When we were in Highland, we were at a board of zoning appeals. Me and Joyce went there together, and I just think it's really cool to see the differences between how different towns set it up and the different types of meetings. So, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

My name is Andrew Coy, I'm also from Munster. I'm here to do my second witness policy making meeting. The last meeting I went to was in Highland, so I'm just here to check out Hammond to see the difference.

Hey, thank you. I could never wear that shirt, by the way. I see your mom's favorite.

I wasn't in the top three in my family.

Thank you, thank you. All righty, our first speaker of the evening is Mary Shones.

Hi, good evening. Hi. So I wanted to talk to you about some concerns I had about just this ongoing issue with our tax abatements because there's a link between our tax abatements and our city's budget woes. I understand that we want to attract business to the area. However, Giving businesses a 10-year tax amnesty when our schools are having a $4 million budget shortfall is not sound fiscal practice. Particularly, like at the last meeting, we had a condemnation of a property and a 10-year tax abatement in the same meeting without anyone able to publicly express it. And Councilman Simlinas, I'm going to pick on you a little bit, because that industry, the crane operators, pulled in, according to Reference USA, $12.6 million. So I think a business like that can afford to pay their fair share in the city. The city subscribes to a policy called trickle-down, and that means that We just assume that if a business gets everything they want and they'll just gorge themselves and eventually a few scraps will fall off the table and we'll somehow be able to feed ourselves off of that. Or maybe we'll be able to do it through sales taxes. The problem with sustaining a city on sales taxes is that Whether you make $15,000 or $150,000, you pay the same tax rate. So people who make less income end up paying more tax in the city because that is a regressive tax. Like no matter how much money you make, you know, if you make a million dollars, you know, a 1% tax increase is not a big deal. But if you make, you know, maybe $750 an hour, it's going to bite a little bit more. And then along with that, too, we have an issue with the Bears Stadium. I haven't corroborated this number, but Mayor Johnson in Chicago was saying that the Bears are worth $9 billion. So why are we proposing to raise a food and beverage tax on an entity that can definitely afford to pay for their own stadium? And if they want to do business in the city so much, maybe they should support the city a little bit more. Thank you.

Does anybody want to explain what tax abatements are?

Next is George Stoya.

I agree with everything she said. I think we give away way too much in this city, way too much. I know you guys want to generate all that economic activity, but when's it going to cash in? I mean, we can't just give the game away and then throw all the tax burdens on hiking fees and all the other kind of stuff on the general population. But that's neither here nor there. With respect to 26-16 and the dairy bell and the laundromat, have you guys considered the parking problem that's going to, the street? It's going to jam that whole street up. Indianapolis Boulevard is crowded enough as it is at the 1700 block. You've got the schools. You've got 119th Street, the traffic coming in and out of there. You've got it coming around from Route 12 and the shopping center. I mean, and now you're going to stick dairy bell there? Now, you guys know about Dairy Bell. They ain't going to tell you anything about that. Those lines snake out quite a bit. And what are we going to do with all that traffic? Has there been any rational consideration? Or, oh, we got new development. Let's just stick any damn thing in there. Man, I don't trust this reasoning at all. And then you're going to give them a debatement on top of it. Hey, why not? I mean, it's our problem to clean up. It's the people that live down there and people that drive through there. They've got to wrestle with that traffic jam, because that's what it's going to be, a big traffic jam. That's all you're signing up for. You know that. You know that. I don't know why you're not doing anything about it, Mike. I hope you have done something about it. I hope it's in the plans this guy brings on the, what is it, next meeting or the meeting after that. Anyway, that's really concerned about that, because I live down there, amongst other things. But I'm not the only one. Oh, no. There's a lot of people down there, a lot of kids down there. Oddly enough, Dairy Bell's across the street from the school on 175th, somewhere around there. And oddly enough, the Dairy Bell's going to be near a school again, about a block away, if not across the street. Isn't that strange? Derry Bell School, Derry Bell School. And all you're doing is endangering those kids if they don't have an adequate way in and out of there. Not to mention the parking that you're going to need for the laundromat. Anyway, what else? Also, has the council reconsidered, has it considered in light of the recent decision of Louisiana versus Calais and the ruling about the Voting Rights Act that this Further, as another nail, if not stake, in the heart of this city's action, backing up Mr. Fontanez and the city, which has no standing, as I've argued in the past, in that case in federal court, that's on appeal. It's still on appeal. I checked the docket. There's no case there. The Voting Rights Act, as Judge Simon pointed out, does not apply to the issue that the city and Mr. Fontanez have advanced. He said so, black and white. There's no interpretation there. And we're still paying for it. I'd ask you to take a look and encourage the mayor to get the hell out of that case. It's a dog.

Thank you, George. Public expression is now closed. Motion to adjourn? I'll make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay. I want to go back to doing it. All those in favor? Aye.

Opposed? Aye. Everyone have a good evening.