Common Council - Regular Meeting

The City of La Porte Common Council meeting to order. It's September 8th right at 6 p.m. and we will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilwoman Warren.

to be 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.

All more of those to come with you on this special night for you, Lauren. For those of you who don't know, this is Councilwoman Huffman's last meeting today. that we'll address her at the end of the meeting, but appreciate her effort and commitment to making the community better. Roll call, Clerk Treasurer Parthoom. Councilwoman Huffman.

Here. Councilman Franke. Here. Councilwoman Ficus. Present. Councilman Galloway.

Here.

Councilwoman Konegny. Present and sweaty. Councilman Buchanan. Here. Councilwoman West. Here. All present.

Approval of the August 17, 2026 meeting.

I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Petitions and comments of citizens. We do have one. I don't know if, just for the future, no Cubs shirts in the future. We only allow socks shirts, white socks shirts in the future. But Sierra Sue Jesch.

If I'd known you liked my white socks, I would have worn my shirt tonight. Okay, my name is Sierra Sue Jesch and I live at 202 Miller Street. I have a question. Are we going to have a Citizens Police Academy this year? Last year it didn't happen because of circumstances beyond the police's control, but I want to know if we're going to have it, and if we are, are we going to start promoting it like Michigan City is promoting theirs coming up? Thank you.

Thank you. And I would also like to say that I do believe Chief is going to have that Citizen Academy, as well as, in the meantime, please check out their YouTube channel. They are keeping people updated with the LaPorte Police YouTube channel, so you can definitely stay tuned for that. So we do have a special recognition this evening. You know, finding volunteers and commitment in this day and age is very difficult. We've been fortunate in the city of La Porte to have somebody that has withstood the test of time and has been involved in so many different things that has made La Porte a better place from a quality of life perspective. And to address that, I'm gonna ask our park superintendent Mr. Mark Schreiber to please come forward.

Thank you, Mayor. Certainly thank you to the City Council for allowing me this time tonight and thank you to the Mayor for making the arrangements. Tonight we're going to be honoring Jim Magnuson for his dedicated time on the La Porte Park Foundation Board. Many people know Jim as a successful businessman and developer here in town. He's well known throughout the community. Perhaps some people don't know quite as much about his involvement with our parks and his heart for our parks. Park Foundation was established in 1984. We're very blessed to have a foundation that has been around that long. I occasionally get phone calls from people wanting to know how to start a park foundation because It's such a valuable asset to a community. It was established in 84. I believe they received their status in 1985. Not long after that in 1989, October of 89 I believe, Jim joined the board for the very first time. And he has been continuous to that board all the way up to this past July. Many years spent as the board president. And the board's historian, the board's voice of reason. He's served many, many, many roles over the years. So nearly 37 years on the foundation. He's helped me. really oversee hundreds of park improvements. I doubt there's a single park in the city of La Porte that has not been touched by Jim Magnuson's hand on the park foundation. In their early years, like any new foundation, they had no money to work with. Foundations aren't good if they don't have money. So many years of membership drives, golf outings, softball tournaments, fishing derbies, and seed sales kind of led their early fundraising and their efforts, and they were able to help where they could. One thing that is very important to the Park Foundation are our neighborhood parks. They have really made an impact in terms of playgrounds, and improvements to our pocket parks, our neighborhood parks. And I know that's something in particular that Jim is very proud of. In the early 2000s, they did receive two significant gifts that allowed them to be able to grant quite a few dollars over the years. To this point now, they have grown from 1984 and their humble beginnings to where they have nearly $3 million in assets. Now that is largely in endowment, in investment funds, but they work off the principle of that every year and we're able to do usually about $75,000 to $80,000 of work in our park through what our park foundation is able to do. that you know uh... in one other aspect in nineteen eighty seven the foundation agreed to be the recipient of funds for the original fort laplaport project that has become something that they have done tremendously for us as well over the year they currently hold over eleven different funds for groups that are raising money to make our park improvements and that could be anything from the la port city band uh... to our hfl maintenance fund uh... Certain park improvement funds and to me particularly From personal aspect they held our funds when we did the decamp band of brothers and renovated Clark Park so I know for Personal experience above and beyond being the superintendent what this foundation does for our community So it is my honor on behalf of the mayor the clerk treasurer in the City Council and to invite Jim Magnuson up and award him, present him with the key to the city of La Porte.

I'm not one for a lot of publicity and I'm not one for recognition, but my wife got me here this evening.

Would you like to recognize her? I would. For the public record. Thank you for coming, Michelle.

I'll just say a few words because I'm not really into that kind of thing but I came on board early and I came on board when we did not have an endowment fund and I created that fund with my father's estate and we went on from there we got some rather large donations and we keep getting donations and one thing I'd like to put forth tonight is anybody who has a few dollars or is willing to give a few dollars that endowment needs to grow and grow and grow we like to think it serves marks in between from his budget from what he really needs to do you know budget itself and it seems to fill in the gap so we're happy with that and i did stay a long time and one of the reasons i stayed a long time we have people that come and go quite a bit and i wanted to be sure that for the future everybody understood why we were there and what we were doing there and at this point i'm pretty sure that it's a well-established situation so after 36 years it's time for me to retire But thank you very much. I appreciate it.

The President Don't leave yet, Jim. Don't leave. So serious the heart the love the passion the heart that Jim has had for our community and especially our parks Second to none. I don't know if we can ever find somebody new That will replace you and so from the bottom of my heart, and I think everybody here Thank you. We're still gonna get you up for a picture, but any other comments From our park Tim. I know you have been involved in the parks as well Thank you All right, if you don't mind, we're going to come up here and take a photo.

I'd like Michelle to... Michelle.

I knew it.

I knew it. How you doing, buddy? Okay.

Hey, we can all get up. Get on up there, everybody. I'll go right in between you. It is amazing.

Mr. Buchanan, would you like to announce some other special guests we have here that may want to say a couple words?

Harry?

Yes. There's a lot of special guests here. Which ones? Yeah, we'd like to welcome Harry with the nest to say a few words.

And if you don't mind, I'd like to share because Mr. Buchanan, along with, if you'd like to say your team has really taken... really made some effort to make sure the nest continues to move forward in La Porte. If you don't mind sharing a little bit about what you and who else is involved in that.

Yeah, Roscoe Huffman, Jay Ullman, Chief Dringmeister, and of course our glue, Annette, helps. It's very important that we find a home for this important cause, and we're working to do that, and there's lots of ideas.

We appreciate that. We really do. Very welcome. And we want to be in the city of LaPorte. We know the need in the city of LaPorte. We see it daily. We see the bleed that comes into Michigan City during the off seasons, and we want to be here full time. And we want to be in a place where the local community wants us to be. We don't want to bother anybody. We want to help people. So we appreciate the look for us and the help with it.

We appreciate it. So for this fall, this winter, you'll be again at the depot building?

This is what we're asking, yes.

Correct, Drew? Is that... And you'll continue there while you're looking for bigger picture, longer term, which I think Drew's team and yourself and your team, if you don't mind recognizing your team behind you.

So I have my publicist, Jackie Thomas, is here. And I have my wife, Amity, who I couldn't do anything without.

Thank you both for being here. And I also want to point out to Charity from the Downtown Business Coalition who's worked with us to not just say, hey, no, but to work to try to say, hey, what things can we work on to make it better for business downtown as well as...

Housing for people that may need absolutely the downtown shouldn't be bothered by by individuals who are struggling Those people need to know where the help is at and so we'll work together We'll continue to work together and to spread the word and to help those who are in need Harry while we have you funding Also time frame you're thinking of beginning.

I know a lot probably depends on snow and

So we plan, if we get the approval for the depot, we plan on opening October 15th and operate for a full six months through April 15th.

That's on the Board of Works agenda for tomorrow. For tomorrow, yes.

Any comments from the council, concerns, questions? Well, Harry, that was pretty easy. That was easy, I guess so, yeah. Thank you for what you do to make a difference in people's life. And volunteers is as much as important as writing a check, correct?

We're always in need of volunteers. We have a lot. We need a lot more, always. So if you'd like to help us out, please join us. Go to nestcommunityshelter.org. You can give us a call at 219-876-7582.

And Mike and Nicole Lehman already messaged me yesterday to make sure you were gonna be there, because they do want to volunteer.

You know, those are the type of volunteers we love. We love those who are really concerned for their community. Thank you. Thanks, appreciate it.

And Harry, you don't even have to stay if you would not have, you know, if you don't want to. Standing Committee Reports. Council President Franke.

The redevelopment commission met August 26th. It was a quick 10 minute meeting. Minutes were approved claims dockets approved a amendment to the Clear Lake parking project was approved. That is still happening and then the twenty seven TIF budget was approved two point one three one million from TIF one will be used for professional services debt payments. Possible land purchases and Newport Landing environmental remediation TIF 2 1.85 million including debt payments potential land purchase purchases infrastructure and committed reimbursement payments to the related industrial flex space TIF 3 315 thousand primarily used for professional services and infrastructure and TIF 4 425 thousand largely for infrastructure. The spending plan. Matches the budget, so that's good, and that's all I have.

Councilwoman Huffman.

Nothing to report this evening.

Councilwoman Ficus.

Park Board will be meeting next Wednesday, September 16th, 4 p.m. at the Park Office, and the Traffic Commission will have their next meeting on Tuesday, October 6th, 5 p.m. at the police station.

Councilman Galloway. A Police Mayor Commission will meet next Tuesday, the 15th, at 8 o'clock in the morning. at the police department, and we're going to be having a mayor's veterans. It's not set yet, but we're going to have a meeting here soon. So I'll let you know.

Thank you. Councilwoman West.

Nothing to report tonight.

Councilman Buchanan. Nothing this evening. Councilwoman Konechny.

I do have something to report. Big weekend for the airport authority. So please come out this Sunday, September 13th from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's the Airfare 2026. All-you-can-eat pancakes for $10 per person. Flights are available, Discovery flights from Flight Saga and Open Door Aviation, and helicopter rides from Cleveland Helicopters. You'll be hearing and seeing a lot of air traffic, and this is primarily what it'll be attributed to. Come on out for, again, for pancakes, flights, live radio, touch a truck. So new program that they're rolling out where police vehicles and or fire trucks will be out there. to help acclimate children that public safety is good and they're friendly and get accustomed to the vehicles. There will also be a kid's zone and much more. Entrance to the event is free, parking is free, and pancakes, again, are $10 per person. Flights vary from $60 for the helicopter rides and then $100 for the Discovery flights. Now, please keep in mind the pancakes are available from 7 a.m. until noon, but the whole airfare will go on through 3 p.m. Central. And then a huge thanks to the sponsors. The silver sponsors are Bragey, Nelson & James, Wolpert, and then the bronze sponsor is Dunlin Media. So appreciate the support, and everybody come on out. It's always a great time. And then their next meeting will be held tomorrow at 515 at the airport.

Thank you.

End of report.

And by the way, I would like to acknowledge that Mr. Callas also was wearing a Cubs shirt, so I forgot to mention that. I apologize. That got past me, so. I could respond to that, but I can't do it publicly, so yeah. Second final reading, Councilwoman Ficus.

Your Honor, I move to read an ordinance for the second time by title only. Second. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Councilwoman Ficus.

Ordinance creating a Laporte Police Department YouTube Revenue Fund number 5510.

Comment?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? This is just to remind people, the clerk treasurer, if the revenue, allowing revenue to be generated by the police department, they seem to have received quite a bit of support from the public on their YouTube channel. I don't know if anybody else would like to comment regarding that. Ms. Huffman or Ms. Ficus? I think it's great.

Yeah, I saw the first one that Chief posted, and I thought it was pretty good. And it's good for the people to know what's going on and, you know, that the police department are out there doing things, you know, so they don't – I think it's good.

He's very excited about it, our police chief is.

One comment. We get records requests from time to time from – kinds of entities podcasters and other kind of maybe youtubers that are trying to make money off of our videos so it makes logical sense that that we look into that to doing that so I think it's a good good move so I'm just gonna say this creates the fund as we're required to do by Indiana Code and then sets the what what the expenses what the funds can be spent on so this can be used for equipment for the police department

Pretty vague but necessary.

Further comment? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Introduction of an ordinance. Councilman Buchanan.

I make a motion to read amendments to an ordinance for the first time.

Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Councilman Buchanan.

An ordinance to amend ordinance number 16-2023 to modify the schedule of service charges for municipal refuse and garbage collection under chapter 86 of the Municipal Code of the City of La Porte, Indiana. Under years 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030, adding the amending the language to read for any dwelling unit within categories a B or C where the head of household is submitted to the clerk treasurer proof of having had less than fifteen thousand seven hundred thirty dollars in household income during the last calendar year the charge cell shall be eight dollars and eighty three cents and of amendments

Looking at me.

Is that?

Yes.

Okay. I want to make sure that in this first reading that's all been covered. We do have people from WM here, but I'll tell you what. Jamie Novak from our engineering department, Jeff Batchelor from code enforcement have spent a lot of time really looking at trash as we've listened and learned from the public. to make sure what we do well, what they'd like to see improved and I'd like to call Jamie Novak and Jeff Batchelor up to maybe comment and then you can introduce WM and I think they have a brief presentation. And I'm sure that wasn't an eye roll so sorry about that.

No eye roll. Jeff just volunteered me to come up and talk. So good evening, council. As you know, the trash contract is coming, nearing its end, and working with waste management and the community to figure out what would suit everyone best was top priority. So that's what we did. I'm pretty proud of what they're here to present. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce the gentleman from waste management who will come up and give you a short presentation. So we've got Dave Wainscott, Travis Up, and Sean Montgomery.

And we appreciate, we've got local folk here, Laporteans that have been involved that have shown great care for our community and calling on a Saturday afternoon when no one else is available. They really, all three of them have done whatever they could to really help us out of a downtown jam or something else where something wasn't done. And I'll tell you what, that's the service we expect, but we certainly appreciate it.

Mayor, Clerk, Treasurer, Council, and residents, we appreciate your time. And most importantly, we appreciate your partnership. My name is Dave Wainscott. I've been with WM for 12 years, multiple roles, but into the public sector for the last two and a half. I've been a resident of La Porte virtually my entire life. Travis up everyone knows or a lot of people know the up family, but Travis go ahead.

Yeah, I've been with WM for coming up on four years now. Obviously grew up in the port, went to high school here, went to school here. I do currently live in Mishawaka, but spent a lot of years in the port. Kind of similar to Dave. I've done a few different things with WM in a few different areas, few different states, but I am here now over South Bend and Laporte.

And I'm Sean Montgomery. I'm a new district manager for LaPorte. I'm not new to LaPorte. I've been around for 15 years at the shop through various different roles. So I've seen the fleet side of things, but I've also seen the operation side of things and work closely with them to make sure our trucks are up and running and we're servicing you guys as much as we can.

Thank you. Yeah, to go just a little deeper, I just wanted to introduce Frank Filo. He's our area vice president who resides in Plymouth, Michigan. And then our area director of public sector is Doug Reams. Both of them are 30 plus years with WM. If you want to figure something out, they have plenty of answers if we don't. So next slide, unless anyone has any questions for us so far. So we feel like we're the right local partner. And I know La Porte Proud and local, we are all those and we continue to wanna be. And I really feel like we kind of bring that local to you, one, we're here. We know what is going on. We know what residents are talking about. We know when things are coming in, like the Microsoft data center and things like that. So I feel like we're really connected, which I think in the long run is going to bring some value, right? we're really set to grow with the community of La Porte, right? So I'm not sure that all providers would be able to say that, but I mean, look, if we need four or five new trucks, we can get them. I mean, there's no question in my mind we can get everything that you need. As far as technology goes, nobody in the business has what we have, and we're gonna get a little deeper into that. And then above and beyond, we're consistent and we go the extra mile. And hopefully, Mayor, you would agree, but when the storm came through, which affected my home just as well as all of yours, Mayor and I talked and we put two open tops over at the Civic parking lot to make sure that folks that were having food go to waste, that they had a place to get rid of it so it wasn't just sitting in their cans and basically stinking up the neighborhoods, if you will, right? And then as far as service goes, we did a morning and afternoon check-in with the mayor so everyone knew exactly what we were doing, what we were not able to do, and our plan for the following day. So I feel like we're very connected in that way, and service and communication and it being done safe is really our priority. So next.

I just want to give a special shout out to our team, too. It's not just us who are local residents. The drivers out there servicing our city are also local to the port. We have some 20, 30 plus year veterans that are local to the port. So it's not just us who care about this city.

So as far as technology goes, I'm sure all of you know about it, but maybe some of the residents that are watching online may not. We built a local website for the city of La Porte. And with that, they can go in and check out their pickup schedule. Maybe there's a holiday coming up. We all want to know if our trash is going out the same day or the following. All that is online. Let's say there's a missed pickup. They can go on there. And really, we're not taking away the phone option. We just want the residents to be able to control their own time, right? So of course we're only gonna have that phone line open during business hours, but let's say you got a second or a third shift person, They can go on here on their own time and make sure that they get everything accomplished that they want. Requesting a bulk pickup. So that's not included in the contract, but the resident can call or go online and request that, and then we just bill them directly for those. So pretty much any option that a resident would need, they can either call in or utilize this technology that really is kind of above and beyond in our industry. Next page. so what does that really mean uh... this trusted technology so some of these numbers this is all year-to-date online profiles we really only have about four point one percent that sounds really low but it's it's actually not uh... when we build the city folks don't really need a profile they just need to have the ability to go on so don't be You know, it's not a bad number. As far as online bill pay, 84%, that's a good number. Self-service adoption, we're at almost 40%, meaning all activities that have happened, 40%, they're going online instead of sitting on a call and pressing one for this and two for that, as we all know. Some wanna do that, that's fine, but we also wanna make sure that we're quick if we can be, right? bulk pickups of course you're going to get a really high number there because they have to go online to do it that way okay next slide and so really you know ywm besides you know service safety some local folks really that smart truck technology with the guys are going to share in a minute 24 7 online service state-of-the-art equipment with the cng compressed natural gas trucks We are the leader in the industry and, again, the dedicated local website for the residents. Turn it over, Travis.

Yeah, so I'll explain Smart Truck kinda how it started and how it worked, why it started and how it works. It really comes down to safety and education. So the three photos you see here, this is what we see. They are actually videos. Two of them are for the outside of the truck, which allows us to see what's, first off allows us to see us servicing the container, and allows us to see what's going on outside the residence when we service the container. The other is allows us to see what actually comes out of the tote when we dump it. So again, that's just the view we see, but if you go to the next slide, I'll kind of dive a little deeper. So to start with is how it works, right? So how he mentioned Smart Truck, every time we pull up to a resident, when our claw or arm extends past a certain point, it's gonna trigger a video to happen. And when that video happens, it's gonna check the GPS of our truck. That address then goes back to the residents customer database, their customer account that's located on our WM database, which allows us then to be able to go back and retrieve those videos and review anything that we need to review. So not only does it help us with one, verifying that the customer has been serviced, but two, if we are having any service issues, it allows us to quickly and efficiently review the data, right? So maybe it's a, maybe the container wasn't out because we don't know what time we need to have it out by. Maybe there was something blocking it, maybe it was contaminated, any of those issues, right? This allows us to address that on the spot and right away. Additionally, what it helps with the big piece is safety, right? So anytime that tote gets dumped into our bucket, we can see what's inside of it. That can allow us to see if there's anything that could be dangerous, that could start a truck fire, anything along those lines, which then allows us to be able to go back and educate the resident Help prevent that from happening because trust me nobody wants to deal with a truck fire And then lastly just the beautification piece Which is just allows us to keep the report standard keep the WM standard at top of priority whenever we're servicing our residents Next slide Really, I guess maybe I should pause are there any questions so far?

Everybody good, okay then really you know what do we do with and for the community besides you know the service that we provide we sponsor lake fest we've been doing the laporte uh fourth of july parade i think 30 plus years maybe even longer than that we support and sponsor the laporte invitational that one might be a little bit jaded for me i go to that every year i won't miss it unless i'm sick or out of town and and then finally wanted to get into kind of a future where do we go from here and what can we do well let's talk about a touch a truck which you all talked about and i don't know if you have any interest but i talked to the guys we could do a touch a truck this Sunday at the same event where we'll lock it out, tag it out. It's very safe. The kids can get up in the truck, take pictures with their families. I don't know about you all, but we know a lot of kids do want to grow up to be garbage men. I did. It was either I was going to be a garbage man or I was going to race a car, and I can't race cars without getting pulled over. So I'm going to go ahead and just stick with being a garbage man. So if there's interest in that, we can talk about that afterwards and make that work. And finally, next slide. takes us to our extension pricing. We're currently at 1460 per home. Our proposal that would begin January 1st of 2027 would be a 2% price increase on year one that would take it from 1460 to 1489 per home, and then a 4% which aligns with the existing contract for the next two through five. would include every resident who already has a 96 gallon cart to be serviced once a week just as we do now cart content only we'll continue with the fall cleanup that will also be curbside yard waste bags from april 15th through the end of october which is again what we do now we just ask that they're in bags and no more than three per week we currently have one big belly solar compactor downtown uh... by the uh... park caddy corner from uh... uh... losing my brain here asian fusion so it's right there uh... you can also use that for advertising there's two slots on the side of you know if you want to advertise like the friday night events and things like that we're proposing to add six of those to remove the forty Containers that have the surrounds It's going to be way more efficient you're going to get less traffic downtown The solar compactors are going to get three to one compaction ratio so while we were doing twice a week there We're going to go once a week And to be honest I don't even think we're going to need to service it once a week But we will check them to make sure that if they do need the service you'll get the service that's needed

And can I mention Jamie Novak's great work at upgrading the downtown? She's taken that upon herself to keep the wooden ones as long as they'll last till the big bellies come, but you all have been working to make downtown better with this transition. Good, thank you.

And then of course it, it would include the, uh, commercial containers that are already there. City hall fire station one and east, uh, police station, street department, transport, water, waste plant, uh, and all the parks. So again, we thank you for the opportunity to speak to you all tonight. Um, and to the residents, uh, we appreciate the partnership and we look forward to not only just five years extending, but you know, for many, many years. So any questions?

So 29 cents in year one. So that's as of 2027.

And one one of 27 through one one of 28, and then it would go 4%, the same thing each year.

And fall cleanup will continue to happen. Curbside. Curbside, the spring. if p because one thing and i appreciate jeff bachelor here with the uh... dumpster program obviously those costs became an issue especially with people uh... dumping in that following the rules and the cost became more those individuals will still have an opportunity to work directly with you on a pickup curbside or separate pay for if they have larger items.

Yeah, so anytime throughout the year, there's a bulk opportunity that they could call us or go online and set up for refrigerator. But again, if the refrigerator is gonna be taken, we need to make sure that the Freon is out. It needs to be tagged by a reputable company so we know that it's out before we'll actually take it. If it's going to be furniture, any type of couch, chair, we're going to want that wrapped, a mattress, bed bugs. It's really a safety for the drivers, which is really standard in the industry. And yeah, so they just call in or go online, request it. They'll show how many items they have, and it'll be based on that on what the charge will be. And it could be different throughout. So yeah.

Comments, have you heard anything about WM? I've had nothing but positive. In fact, with the Indiana Ave construction, we've had several issues with recycling. We've not had one complaint from homeowners on Indiana Ave, so I'm not sure how you're maneuvering around the construction, but you're obviously doing it correctly. Doing it correctly.

The best part of this is we don't have to go through a citywide can distribution a few years ago. And that's nothing on you guys. It's just a headache of a job.

I appreciate Jamie and Jeff's diligence as the contract came up, checking all options to keep both the service up and the cost down to residents and conveying the findings to us to come to this that seemed to match both of those objectives, that it's the minimal cost to the consumer and the service has been very good.

And that's the other part with our residents facing increase in gas, increase in food, increase just in inflation overall. For 29 cents for the next year, I think as compared to what we've seen in other communities, thank you for that.

And I appreciate your willing to continue the fall cleanup. That's something that we hear that is requested a lot. The dumpster program, as Mayor mentioned, has had issues and the cost keeps going up. And when we had discussions about what the residents, some of the residents want versus need, lot of residents never used it but the entire community was having to pay for it by maybe a select few that was using the dumpster program so if we can still do one fall cleanup for the entire city and then the rest of the year whoever produces or has the refuse that needs picked up they can incur those costs and not the entire so we're not paying for all of councilman Frankie's garbage

Well, and I'll add, you know, on top of that, if there's any, you know, let's say somebody's doing a full-blown clean-out of their home, they can also call and request an open top to their house, you know, and they can fill that up. So, I mean, there's other, you know, odds and ends that we can try and work through as well.

Further questions, comments? And just for the public record, because we're also dealing with, as a disaster county, we're gonna be dealing with cleanup here of the debris for the trees and so forth. Fall cleanup, October 19th through the 23rd. What is the expectation for residents of how wrapping furniture, if you could give us, and we'll put more out there, but just while we have you.

Yeah, wrapping the furniture out by the curb. Aaron, do we have a limit on items? There is no limit.

The biggest thing is the furniture being wrapped and then no tires, no electronics, nothing like that. Just stuff that would be hazardous, I guess, is really the only restriction that I would...

make sure i want to throw out does and then of course just try and keep everything you know three feet away from anything left to right and at least three feet to the road and then be aware of the wires above if you can it just makes it a little easier to get it up into the truck uh carpet does that have to be cut down to a certain length okay four feet and same thing with uh like tree branches wood um needs to be cut down as well yeah cut down and then no thicker than three inches because I know that there's a lot of wood in town right now, so I just want to be specific on that.

And as the clerk treasurer said, this whole information will be in the billing insert.

And we provide it online as well.

And if people have questions, not only about the fall cleanup, but about the new program and they don't reach out to us, they want to deal direct with WM with questions, how do they reach you? Do they go online to ask questions about the program moving forward?

Yeah, so they can go online to see kind of where we're at, what's going on, and schedules and things like that. If there's a specific question, I have no problem giving out my email. It's D-W-A-I-N as in Nancy, S as in Sam, C as in Charlie, the numeral one at WM.com, and I'll try and get back to them as soon as possible.

I do have... One question regarding the ordinance itself and Courtney have reached out in the past but the I've had some landlords reach out regarding multi-unit apartments defined as three or less and real estate lending practices say greater than four so four or less. Would that be an option to look at updating? Four or less is fine. Yeah. On our end anyway.

Yeah. Four or less is fine for them.

From our perspective, we would just charge. And if it's five or more, we would just request that they get a commercial or business account direct to WM, not through the city contract.

So we will amend that before the final approval.

And there's just one other thing that I wanted to add. I know as you guys were talking about the change in ordinance, you went to 2030. This is a five year that would take us through 2031. So I don't know if, just want to make sure that we're all aligned.

On the, it references through 2031. Okay.

Any other comments? Hearing none, the public will have an opportunity to speak in the next couple weeks and this will be back up for approval on September 21st. So thank you all, gents.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

All right, let's move to introduction of a resolution. Councilwoman Konejny. Yes, please. And once again, Jamie Novak, thank you. Mr. Batchelor, thank you. And you all don't have to stay either, so have a great evening.

Thank you for your patience. Councilwoman Konejny. Your Honor, I'd like to introduce the resolution in its entirety for the first and only time. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Councilwoman Konejny.

Additional appropriation for seeded fund number 2209, rating day fund number 2236, major moves fund number 2244, vertical real estate fund number 2506, community capital development fund number 4402, development TIF 3, Eastgate, fund number 4447, Development TIF 4, Town Square, fund number 4448, Water Meter Deposits Fund number 6104, and Redevelopment Commission TIF 2, Thomas Rose Industrial Park, fund number 4446. whereas it has been determined that it is now necessary to appropriate more money than was appropriated in the annual budget. Now therefore, section one, be it resolved by the common council of the city of La Porte, La Porte County, Indiana, that for the expenses of the taxing unit, the following additional sums of money are hereby appropriated out of the fund name and for the purposes specified subject to laws governing the same. Seated fund, fund number 2209. 2209-465-421.001, 2026-2027 paving, amount requested 750,000, amount approved $750,000. Rainy day fund, fund number 2236. 2236-069-421.001, 2026-2027 paving, amount requested $400,000, amount approved $400,000. Major moves fund, fund number 2244. 2244-532-421.001, 2026-2027 paving, amount requested $500,000, amount approved $500,000. ARP Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, fund number 2401. 2401-370-362.0000, Police Emergency Response Fund. Amount requested, $29,164. Amount approved, $29,164. Vertical Real Estate Fund, fund number 2506. 2506-701-421.001, 2026-2027 paving. Amount requested, $250,000. Amount approved, $250,000. Community Capital Development, CCD. Fund number 4402. 4402-704-421.001, 2026-2027 paving. Amount requested, 200,000. Amount approved, 200,000. Redevelopment Commission TIF 3, Eastgate. Fund number 4447. 4447-701-421.001, 2026-2027 paving. Amount requested, 1,250,000. dollars amount approved one million two hundred fifty thousand dollars redevelopment commission to four town square fund number forty four forty eight forty four forty eight dash seven oh one dash four two one point zero zero one twenty twenty six slash twenty twenty seven paving amount requested two hundred fifty thousand dollars amount approved two hundred fifty thousand dollars water meter deposits fund number sixty one oh four sixty one oh four dash six oh five dash four two one point zero zero one 2026 slash 2027 paving amount requested 500 000 amount approved 500 000 redevelopment commission tip 2 thomas rose industrial fund park fund number 44 46 44 46-701-315.000 professional services environmental remediation amount uh requested 150 000 Amount approved, $150,000. 4446-701-421.001, Clear Lake Parking Lot Project. Amount requested, $1 million. Amount approved, $1 million. End of resolution.

Thank you. This is a resolution, can pass this evening, but as we've talked about in the past, paving is very important. It's something our residents expect, they want to see, and the Clerk-Treasurer has just put together a fantastic program to get that done. If we think Well, I guess you're gone from the state now. If we're going to rely on the state to help fund roads to not only maintain but improve, it's not going to work. And it's not their fault. It's just there's not enough money to do all that we have to do. So thank you for this. And we've got... Details to work out on the roads that will happen, but we know we've heard from the public the different roads that are of concern and You will see the largest impact of paving coming up between this fall and the spring so

I just want to make a comment that so coming from the state for almost 21 years I can tell you that the formerly you're coming from the state having recently left the state the price of concrete and asphalt skyrocketed during COVID and it has not come back down so I think that's really important to note to the public that You can only do so much when you have this much. It would be great to do this much, but money only goes so far because concrete and asphalt I think is still 30 to 40% more expensive than it was pre COVID.

Thank you, but what kind of reserves?

At the state level, don't get me started.

Other comments? This is a resolution, can pass this evening.

How about a public hearing, Your Honor?

We do have, as I was getting to next, thank you that. You're welcome. We would like to have a public hearing, so I will open the paving up to the public. At this time, the public hearing is now open. Is there anybody from the public that would like to speak on paving? Anybody from the public?

This was advertised in the Herald Dispatch on August 11th 2026 as is required by Indiana Code I feel like you should be walking out of the corn to come speak you know with that jersey on

if i would have known that i would have been the object of your ridiculous evening i would have worn my bulletproof vest it's good to see you sir thank you paul skiat thirty one ninety six north briarleaf court uh... tom i know i've missed a couple of meetings and i'll bear the responsibility for that but where is the money coming from could we talk about that a little bit uh... where is this origin i'm not going to complain about uh... where it's going and why we're doing it. I just wanted to know where is it coming from? Absolutely. I'm going to let the clerk, treasurer.

These are all cash reserves that were not budgeted for this year and will not be budgeted for next year. They're just simply in cash reserves. So what we're doing is we are using the cash. We're doing an additional appropriation to utilize the cash reserves in 2026 for 2026 paving plan. while simultaneously working with Baker Tilly on Financing the full amount of paving and then once that Financing goes through we will pay back the funds that we're using the cash reserves from correct Comments Do I have a motion to approve motion to approve I will now also close the public hearing I

Motion to approve again.

Second.

Second.

Further comments? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Introduction of a resolution. Councilwoman West.

Your Honor, I move to introduce a resolution read for the first and only time in its entirety. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Councilwoman West.

resolution for city of laporte to establish a community recovery grant fund number twenty four sixty two unity foundation be it resolved by the common council of the city of laporte indiana that a need exists for the establishment of community recovery grant fund twenty four sixty two unity foundation for the purpose of processing invoices and or receipt of revenues for the purposes set forth in the grant agreement. Section one, the city of La Porte has been selected to receive a $50,000 community recovery grant. This funding is provided by Nice Source Charitable Foundation, made possible through its partnership with NIPSCO and Unity Foundation of La Porte County. Section two, this funding is intended to support recovery efforts and community needs resulting from August 11th, 2026, the retro storms and flooding in La Porte County. Section 3, the Community Recovery Grant Fund number 2462, Unity Foundation, will be used to help residents with the aftermath of the August 11, 2026 derecho, including but not limited to delinquent utility bills and other storm-related expenses approved by the Board of Public Works and Safety. End of resolution.

So this is a resolution and can pass this evening. The details of this we're working through to best how we can support the community. But the first step is we have to pass this resolution. So do I have a motion to approve?

Second.

Comments? and we're looking through all different types of items to help those past due residents that have struggled. We see a lot of people that are struggling paying some bills because they've had to throw away food, and then they're having to use other funds to- Pay for gas for the generator. Yeah, pay for gas for the generator, pay for other food to replace the food that they've thrown out. So we have an opportunity here to really make an impact on many individuals. Do I have a motion? Further comments? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution passes. Introduction of a resolution. Council President Franke.

I move to read a resolution in its entirety for the first and only time. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Council President Franke.

Resolution for city of LaPorte to establish a Microsoft development agreement fund number five five one to be resolved by the Common Council of the city of LaPorte Indiana that a need exists for the establishment of a Microsoft development agreement fund number five five one two for the purpose of processing invoices and or receipt of revenues for the purposes set forth in the Microsoft development agreement section one. Microsoft development agreement fund number five five one two is to be used for the purposes set forth in the development agreements agreed upon between the city of LaPorte and Microsoft and resolution

So this is a resolution can pass this evening. This is based on the Microsoft, the beginning of the Microsoft development agreement being used for the Travis Ditch for capacity study and professional services that all go along with the development agreement and the movement of Microsoft on their facility, so.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Motion and a second. Comments?

Just to clear up for the public, I saw some not that I'm looking online, but I saw some social media comments. So when we receive money from Microsoft is when we are able to then appropriate the money for Microsoft per their development agreement. So I know people saw the additional appropriation that will come before you on come before Council on September 21st. I have. certain process that I have to follow for an additional appropriation but the money came in from Microsoft so now we're gonna spend it based on how Microsoft is allowing us to spend it so this sets up the fund we discussed with State Board of Accounts how all of this was supposed to be done so we were setting up the fund the fund says we're spending it per the Microsoft development agreement and then we're going to additionally appropriate the funds to be able to spend the funds based on how Microsoft told us we're allowed to spend the funds. So I promise we're doing it the way that we're supposed to. Yes, it is a process.

Further comments? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Resolution passes. Councilwoman Ficus, introduction of a resolution.

I move to introduce a resolution read for the first and only time in its entirety.

Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Councilwoman Ficus.

Resolution for City of LaPorte to establish a Health Foundation of LaPorte 2026 Weather Emergency Grant Fund number 5511. Be it resolved by the Common Council of the City of LaPorte, Indiana, that a need exists for the establishment of a Health Foundation of LaPorte 2026 Weather Emergency Grant Fund number 5511, fund number 5510, for the purpose of processing invoices and or receipt of revenues for the purposes set forth in the grant agreement. Section one, Health Foundation of La Porte HFL 2026 Weather Emergency Grant Fund number 5511 is to be used for the purposes set forth in the grant agreement between the City of La Porte and the Health Foundation of La Porte. End of resolution.

So this is something that Center Township for the People, Salvation Army, and PAC Center all received to help fund food during the most difficult time of the storm. So comments, questions? Do I have a motion to approve this resolution?

So moved.

Second.

Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. Introduction of a resolution. Councilman Galloway.

I'd like to introduce a resolution and read it for its one and only time. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Councilman Galloway.

resolution to transfer funds within the 2026 budgets, whereas there are additional monies needed and certain line items in the 2026 budgets in order to pay for essential services and obligations. Now, therefore, be it and it is hereby resolved by the Common Council of the City of La Porte, Indiana, that the following transfer is being made within the following budgets for the year 2026. General, code enforcement, 1101-318 from 315.001 demolitions to 321 communication transportation, $1,772. Police, 1101-370 from 211 office supplies to 315.002 cleaning services, $1,000. From 241 Other Supplies to 315.002 Cleaning Services, $3,000. From 315 Professional Services to 315.002 Cleaning Services, $1,900. From 315 Professional Services to 231 Repairs Maintenance, $2,000. Printing advertising to 231. Repairs maintenance, $1,000. From 111 salaries to 221 operating supplies, $38,000. From 111 salaries to 361 repairs maintenance, $35,000. From 111 salaries to 365 vehicle lease, $15,782.57. Beachwood, 2204-800. From 111 salaries to 241 other, $2,500. From 315 professional services to 221 operating supplies, $5,500. From 321 communication, transportation, to 221 Operating Supplies, $2,000. From 321 Communication Transportation to 231 Repairs Maintenance, $1,000. From 331 Printing Advertising to 231 Repairs Maintenance, $1,000. Park Non-Reverting, 2211-803. From 122 FICA Medicare to 391.002 Lake Fest expenses, $1,000. From 391 other services to 391.002 Lake Fest expenses, $9,500. Rainy day fund, 2236-069 from 421.001, 2627 paving to 315 storm damage expenses, $400,000. Lit Public Safety Fund, 2240-069 from 315.000 police professional services to 315.001 police water mitigation, $5,452.60. Transit, 2510-304 from 501 salaries to 504 material supplies, $2,000. Civic non-reverting 5504-803 from 111 salary to 221 operating supplies, $500.

are you ready for almost budgets because it's coming up everyone um so i all of these are normal um normal transfers requested by departments with the exception of the rainy day fund so we initially um we're going to borrow the 400 000 from the rainy day fund for the paving program the 2026-2027 paving program and then we got the derecho hit and we have lots of expenses that are um hopefully fema recoverable dollars but we got lots of expenses from that so we decided to shift from borrowing money from the rainy day fund We will appropriate that into a storm damage appropriation, and we will borrow, I guess, more from major moves that you'll see on the September 21st additional appropriation for the paving program, because we have the cash in that fund as well. So there's a method to our madness.

Yeah, I noticed in the ordinance that I read for the other appropriations, $400,000, same appropriation,

was appropriated in the additional appropriation and now we're going to transfer it back to a rainy day fund for same $400,000 not an additional correct and I assume the money being transferred for cleaning services to help Bryson keep his car so shiny motion so moved second discussion

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes. Councilwoman Feike. the gnats from his bananas that are bothering him I'm sorry I'm trying to kill them

before we get mixed up again i motion to adjourn godspeed councilwoman huffman

I guess before we go just imparting words it has been an honor to serve amongst you all for almost three years and to serve the community that I've lived in since about 2013 moved to Indiana in 1992 so my reason for leaving is not La Porte related at all it is snow related I'll be moving 1,200 miles away so my white Christmas will be white sand everyone in this council has they all have amazing qualities there is no handbook that tells any of us how to do this where to do this why to do this we all do this because we love our community and we want to make a positive impact somebody that i admire that's no longer on this earth said something along the lines of when people stop talking violence begins And one thing that I do want to say is everyone on this council, including the mayor, including Mr. Otis, have made themselves available by phone, by email, by appointment, in person, off hours. Social media has really taken any cooth out of a lot of conversations. And I'm asking those who make anonymous Facebook posts and anonymous Facebook profiles, Please stop. Everyone here is willing to talk, everyone. If you don't wanna come every other week and speak your piece at the podium, call the mayor, call Courtney, call Julie, call Drew. I don't have to go through everyone. Call them. If you don't wanna call them, put your thoughts down in an email. There are so many ways to communicate in 2026. We don't need the threats on Facebook. We don't need the terrible things that I have read. I won't call out any names here, but let's be kinder. LaPorte is a beautiful community that is progressing while still maintaining its hometown feel. So as I leave this community and all of you, I want to thank you for allowing me to serve you over the last almost three years with this wonderful council, amazing community, and let's just work on being kinder to one another. Thank you.

Amen. Thanks for your service.

Further comments?

All in favor?