City Council - Regular Meeting

I alian 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.

If you would all still remain standing for a moment of silence uh in honor of uh Joe Bogus who was on our disabilities commission. He passed away this past week. and also Susan Alexander who was a part-time secretary in our council office who a couple of years ago who passed away this week. Thank you. Thank you. All righty, Carmen. Roll call vote, please.

Alexander present. Spatitali here. Kelwinsky here. Selenus here. Tyler here. Emerson here. Warpel here. Reikos here. Venez here. Uh, nine in chambers. Zero absent. Moving on to mayor's address. Good evening, mayor.

Good evening. Thanks, Councilwoman. It's good to see you all. It's good to be back. Um, keeping in the spirit with the remembrance and the moment of silence you dis discussed, I was at a wake for a former employee, uh, Ty Edwards. He worked in the park department for a long time. He retired a few years ago and then his wife uh, Andrea, who worked for us up until a few weeks ago and retired as soon as she retired, she lost her husband. So, I I attended on behalf of the city. Um, you know, we're all thinking about you, Andrea. It was very sad. And she's a great lady and they're a great couple. They've been together a long time. So, you know, it's been a rough couple weeks in city hall. So, thank you for recognizing them. Council woman.

Yes. Thank you.

Uh, other meetings I've held, I don't have a lot today and so if you have questions, I'm open, but I don't think my report's gonna be very long. I met with US Senator Jim Banks municipal liaison, Leanne Angerman. Leanne used to I know her from a previous life when I was the chairman of the Democratic party. I met her and she was uh always one of the leaders of the Republican party on the election board and she was promoted to become Jim Banks's area liaison basically. So it's nice to have good contacts with the senators. Um tended uh okay attended a meeting at Central Firehouse with my executive team in shift one. Uh we have those meetings usually once every couple months. all chiefs as well as multiple captains were in attendance at that meeting. Real good meeting. Um we were we learned at that meeting that we're having issues with one of our truck one of our engines and one of our trucks and we got to do something about radios also uh police and fire and that's something we're going to be discussing with you guys in the near future because it's a public safety issue. But it's nice to have meetings with the men and the women of the fire department and the police department to find out, you know, what's going on on the ground. We know I talk to the chiefs a lot and I talk to the bosses. Sometimes talking to the men and women that work every day for us is much better for me because I learn a lot more. So, also met with the captains, the chief and the assistant chief of the Hammond Police Department for our regular monthly meeting. We do that often at the police department. um met him with the meeting with the Festival of the Lakes team to discuss in particulars of Jelly Roll concert. We announced Jelly Roll on Friday. Met a country music guy, but from what I understand, he's going to sell out. And it's um our previous biggest concert we ever had at the Festival of Lakes was Lil Wayne. Uh Lil Wayne, excuse me. It's not Lil, it's Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne sold over 100,000 tickets in the first 24 hours they went for sale. and Jelly Roll sold that in two hours and 50 minutes. He already set the record for the first

day. He sold over $250,000 worth of tickets in the first day. So that t that show is going to sell out. So So I uh advise the people that are listening. I wouldn't wait till the last second for this one. This one's going to sell out. Twice as many gold tickets were going as opposed to silver tickets. Gold tickets are right on the stage. Those are the expensive ones. Once that sells out, people are going to start focusing on silver and then they're going to be gone. So, that one's going to sell out. Uh, which is good news for us. That means it'll be a free night for us because if it sells out, that means we're doing well. Um, uh, took three interview requests over the possibility of the Bears moving to Hammond. Three out of like 50 requests. I'm literally picking and choosing. One of them was for students from Crown Point Public High School. I thought that was a cool one to do and it was really a great interview. It's pretty impressive. Uh, met with Brian Howey from Howy Politics, talked about it with him and Fox 32 News Chicago. I've been turning down 90% of the requests I get because really there's no update. I'm willing to talk to you all if you have a question, but um read Miss Cindy Heint second grade class at St. Casmir School in North Hammond. Great school, great kids, great teacher. Uh, it was fun. Representing the city Hammond at Taste of the Region event in Hobert. I was there with Scott and a few other people from the city and that's a fundraiser benefiting the service league of Northwest Indiana. Um I know resolutions that you guys are hearing tonight. Uh I'm going to go ahead and cover this if you don't mind about the core extension. I don't ever want to extend it if you guys approve this. I don't want to ever come back to you and say I need another extension. I'm done there. I think it's We said what do you need? They told me June 30th. I don't want to come back in. I've done this two times already. This is the third time I'm asking you guys for extension. We've been in this project a long time. [clears throat] I've It's hard to close the door. It's hard to say goodbye. If they're not here by June 30th, I'm going to say goodbye. And we're going to go on and I'm going to try to emulate what the mayor of Hobert did with the data center in

Hobert because Hobert's the richest city in Northwest Indiana now. And we have a great data center location uh where the residents aren't complaining. It used to be a coal plant and if we close the deal, it could help us out with SB1 and a lot of the financial pressures we're facing. So guys, if you give us this four-month extension, this is what they're saying they need. I promise you I will close the door if we're if [laughter] we're not done by June 30th. I'm done with this. I've been this has been three two and a half years. It's been a long time. So um they're asking for a fourmonth extension because we didn't want to keep coming back one month and one month. They said it's more than enough time to get the power agreement done with NIPCO. They need to also work on the lease agreement between Corre and Dennial. Once once the power agreement's done, the lease agreement could be done. Planning developments monitoring this closely because I told them I'm done. It's embarrassing to keep coming back to you asking for extensions. I don't like doing this, but I there's lots and lots of money at stake. I feel like it would be negligent if we close the door on them at this phase. It's literally from what they're saying, we're like right there. So, I hope you please accept that extension request and that'll be the last time hopefully we have to talk about this. I don't have any else, Madam President. Unless you all have questions, I'm more than happy to answer them.

I do have a question. Wow. I don't know. Uh uh I'm looking for uh your comments on the uh Grand Avenue pedestrian bridge. Oh, the pedestrian bridge. Thank you. I should have put that in my report. I apologize, Councilwoman.

That's okay. So this goes now we had two projects going in Hesville. Governor's Parkway which is being funded by the state and we're on the long list obviously before they're going to commence work on it. That's the vehicular and pedestrian bridge uh that gets you basically from 173rd to 171st. And then this other project was in response to an article that came out in ProPublica. I know you guys remember this. Hammond was all over the national news because they showed kids that were going to Scott Middle School and they were crawling through stop trains. Now, if you remember correctly, the world came to an end in Hammond. When that happened, everybody is like, "We need to fix this." Now, it was one of those rare times where Norfolk Southern was calling up saying, "What could we do to help?" City Hammond was like, "Where have you guys been all of our life?" And then I got a phone call from the Secretary of Department of Transportation, who I used to know as Mayor Pete, Pete Buddha Judge. He wanted in on the action. Everybody wanted to help Hammond. So if you remember correctly guys, at that time I talked to the CEO of Norfolk Southern. He said, "Mayor, I want to help. What can I do?" I said, "We could build a bridge and get us over it and the kids will take the bridge and they'll never have to cross the stop trains again." He said, "I got you, mayor. I'm going to pay for that." God bless America. So we hired an engineering firm. We designed the pedestrian bridge. And then when the Department of Transportation jumps in, Buddha Judge wants some action out of this. It was a big story. Everybody wanted to help. So, we're like, hey, we could pay for 80% of it and the 20% will be paid by Norfolk Southern. And I was thinking to myself, this is going to slow it down from a one-year project to a 5-year project. But Norfolk Southern was real excited about 80% being paid for by Mayor Pete and the Department of Transportation. So, we agreed to go along with it. So, they designed this project. Norfolk Southern's paying it, and 80%'s coming from the feds, 20%'s coming from Norfolk Southern. And then the guy I talked to from North Folk Southern got fired and the new guy had

amnesia. What? I don't remember anything about that mayor. I don't remember ever saying we were going to pay for this mayor. So we're sitting there now. We're stuck. Engineering's been paid for by Norfolk Southern. 80%'s being paid for by Mayor Pete and the feds. 20% of a $5 million project's like two plus million dollars. Excuse me. Our local match ends up at around $2 million. So, we start doing some analysis. Is this worth $2 million of city [clears throat] money that's hard to come by for a bridge that's going to be used once a year maybe? And then 364 days a year sitting there unused. And I talked to the councilman, Councilman Scott, just I could see it already. Mayor Tom's bridge to nowhere. A bridge that nobody ever uses. We paid $2 million for. Feds paid for the other 80%. And we just made a decision. It's when Governor's Parkway is built, it will solve a lot of these problems in itself. And we made a decision that the pedestrian bridge wasn't worth it. We got all of the partners that were partnering with us bailed on us. One got fired. The other ones got amnesia and it would have cost us $2 million for a bridge that's used maybe once a year. So, I gave up on it. I made the decision. It's not easy. But that's how it went down. Councilwoman.

Okay. Thank you. I think it's just good for some of the people who come and ask questions about that every council meeting to be aware of exactly what the situation I'm glad you asked me. I should have put it in my report that came out last week, so I should have caught that. Thank you for asking. Any other questions,

Councilwoman? Yes, just to elaborate on that because this is in response to what we hear a lot after we can't say nothing. And um over the years that I've been on the council since this project started, this has gotten so convoluted with the stories the public are telling us. This started out as a way to get cars around trains. People have taken it taken it in 19 different directions. At one point they said, "Well, oh no, this is a pedestrian bridge and a pedestrian bridge only." It's not this. You know, being a lifelong resident of Hammond and 65 years in Hesville, I don't remember a time when trains weren't a problem in Hesville. You know, I stated a long time ago my opinion on it, but it just it gets old after a while when we just after the meeting's over, we're asked when we going to vote when we already have. We're asked, "Why are you guys doing this with kids crossing the railroad tracks?" And I've gone over those tracks a lot during school hours and everything. And you might see a kid every now and then do something like it wound up on the TV, but it's not a huge issue. I mean, any one kid's a huge issue, but it's not like there's 20 kids a day doing that. And it just frustrates me as a council person that has been in support of this from day one to hear that hear this get all twisted around and you guys don't care about the residents cuz I know what my residents want and it's a way to move around Hesville

when the trains are blocking like they still do three four hours a day. Councilman Dave, I don't want to like because the pedestrian bridge in the Governor's Parkway, I'm still thousand% committed to Governor's Parkway and we're going to get that project done once the state greenlights it. So, I'm just making the comparison. We since we passed this twice, three times, whatever it was, it's just the story changes every meeting on what we're supposedly doing and how we're not listening to the residents and there's no truth to that. Mhm.

So the bottom line is uh there was a press release ammon suspends Grand Avenue pedestrian bridge project project ammon Indiana. That's how it went down. That's it. I didn't think it was worth $2 million of city money. And you when you consider I if I remember correctly the local match on the the bridge that holds traffic is around three million. And we would had to pay two million for a bridge that's hardly ever going to be used. It wasn't worth $2 million. It was worth it if Norfolk Southern was paying the bill like they initially told me, but that guy got fired. So, right. Any other questions? Any other questions for the mayor? Great to see you. All righty. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you all. All righty. Uh, moving on to approval of minutes. Make a motion that we approve the minutes from the February 23rd meeting and place them on file. Second. Motion by Councilman um Selena, second by Councilman Emerson. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Moving on to approval of claims. Madam President.

Yes, Councilman Reikos. I move to approve register of claims beginning with claims dated 22726 and ending with claim dated 3426 claim number 1655 to claim number 2011 inclusive in the amount of 7,954,642. Second motion by Councilman Reiko, second by Councilman Warple. Any discussion? Any Was that you? No, I hear my voice.

Oh, I'm sorry. [laughter] Uh, the second was by Councilman Tyler. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Carmen, roll call vote, please. Alexander, yes. Spatelli, yes. Kellwinsky, yes. Selenus, yes. Tyler, yes. Emerson, yes. Warpel, yes. Reikos, yes. Benz, yes. Um, claims pass. Nine in favor, zero opposed. Moving on to public hearings. There are none. Communications. Madam President.

Yes, Councilman Warple. I would like the statement on the suspension of the pedestrian bridge made part of the record and reported. So move. Okay. No votes needed. Is there a second? A second. Okay. Motion by Councilman Warple, second by Councilman Selenus to make the uh press release about the uh um Hammond suspends Grand Avenue pedestrian bridge project part of the record. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Kerman.

Kerman. Okay. Thank you. Uh, any other communications? [clears throat] Any other communications? Madam President. Yes, Councilman Reikos. HC3 is having their annual St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday at 1:00 be starting at Hesville Park at Orchard Drive at Kennedy and going to 165th. It'll be at 1:00 on Saturday, March 14th. Thank you. Any other communications? Madam President. Madam President, yes. The Hammond Sports Hall of Fame is having their 40th annual I beg your pardon.

The Hammond Sports Hall of Fame is having their 40th annual induction tomorrow night at the Hammond Civic Center beginning at 5. Um I don't remember all of them. I do know that former fireman um Ray uh Cook, not Ray, um Charlie Charlie Cooks being inducted and um Dave Sakowski, I think everybody knows he's longtime baseball guy around here whose teams never beat us, but that's a different story. And uh there's close to being sold out of 350 people. So nice. Nice. Thank you.

All righty. Any other communications? Uh I just wanted to remind everybody that their uh animal license is due by March 31st. Uh $5. Uh unless your pet is not neutered or spayed, it's $10. Uh after March 31st, there will be um a $10 fee. So, any other communication? Councilman Kellwinsky.

Thank you. Yes. Uh fish fries are happening everywhere in my district. Uh St. John the Baptist in Robertsdale on Fridays from about 3:30 till 7. St. Cass, same thing about that same time. And the Hammond Mohawks also are having their fish fry every Friday throughout Lent um from 3:45 to 7 o'clock. Thank you. Thank you. Any other communication? Any other communication? Any other communication? Communications are now closed. Uh, committee reports. Madam President, Councilman Selenus,

the capital improvement board met on March 2nd, and we had three funding allocations that I'll cover right now. The [clears throat] first funding allocation number 307 to replace benches and trash receptacles on Homeman Avenue. This includes the forms and the surfaces in the amount of $18,567. Second funding allocation number 308 JF Mahoney ditch improvements to construction uh this is construction engineering. This is to Nice uh engineering in the amount of $16,425. The third and final funding allocation number 309 is to restore the street lighting on Sibi supplemental to Homman to the Nick Dline to Hawk Enterprises in the amount of $1,9855.

Thank you, Councilman.

Uh and uh I would like to read off the upcoming community and crime watch meetings. Uh, Community Watch at Mount Zion Pleasant View Plaza will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, March 11th. Not tomorrow, that's Wednesday. Wednesday, March 11th, uh, at 100 p.m. Harrison Park Crime Watch will meet Tuesday, April 7th, 6:00 p.m. at the VFW on Homeman Avenue, across from Harrison Park. Jefferson Crime Watch will meet Wednesday, March 11th, uh 6 PM at Jefferson School. Hesville Crime Watch will meet Thursday, March 19th, 6:00 p.m. [cough] [clears throat] at the HC3 Community Center. Irving Community Watch will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, March 10th, 9:30 a.m. at Irving School. And the Whiting Roberts Dale Crime Watch [clears throat] will meet Thursday, March 12th, 6:30 p.m. at uh Kelly College. Uh I always say community is not just about me, it's about us. And I just want to say over the weekend we had an incident in our neighborhood that the the the police were notified by a 911 call and they came and addressed the issue. So it is not just about me. It's about all of us working together to keep our city safe. So thank you Madame President.

Thank you Madam President. Righty. Uh, committee reports are now closed. Oh, Councilman, you need to speak up. Yes. The finance committee that I'm the president of did not meet this week and has nothing to report. Okay. But being a standing committee, we should report out every meeting. Yes, we should. So, I will have something next next meeting. We will begin that in earnest next uh council meeting. So, thank you. Thank you, Madam President.

Yes. All righty. Any other committee reports? Committee reports are now closed. Moving on to ordinance third reading, final passage. There are none. Uh introduction of ordinances. 267, an ordinance establishing electric vehicle EV charging rates for an EV charging station owned and operated by the city of Hammond. Councilman Spatali. Yes. Go for first and second reading refer to finance committee

second for March 23rd at 5:15. Second. Thank you. Motion by Councilman Spatelli, second by Councilman Reikos for first and second reading of 2607 refer to finance with a uh committee meeting on March 23rd, 5:15 p.m. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Carmen, roll call vote, please. Alexander, yes. Spatelli, yes. Kellwinsky, yes. Selenus, yes. Tyler,

yes. Emerson, yes. Warpel, yes. Reikos, yes. Venez Yes. Uh 26 uh07 passes. Nine in favor, zero opposed. 268, an ordinance amending ordinance number 45508 and amended ordinance 7023, otherwise known as section 30.25 of the Hammond Municipal Code regarding common council order of business. Madame President, Councilman Morpo, I move for first and second reading with no committee hearing on this.

Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Motion by Councilman Warple, second by Councilman Spatali [clears throat] for first and second reading of 268. Any discussion? Madame President. Yes, Councilman.

This is a change to the actual ordinance on the putting together of the agenda for council meetings. Um, we are adding I think it's line 13 for the special zoning action adopted under IC code 36-7 and we are also making the mayor's address part of the ordinance. The only thing I will say is just because we're doing it this way that we never have to really go in order if we have somebody that has to leave or whatever. There's really no suspension of rules needed that we can go in whatever order we need, but other than that, it's just a changing it by ordinance.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh, who was the second on that? Was there a second? Yes. Yes. Motion by Councilman Warple, second by Councilman Spatali. uh uh for first and second reading of 2608. No committee meeting. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Carmen, roll call that on that please. Alexander, yes. Spatitali, yes. Kelwinsky, yes. Selenus, yes. Tyler, yes. Emerson, yes. Warpel, yes. Reikos,

yes. Venez

Yes. 26 uh 08 passes on first and second reading. Nine in favor, zero opposed. Moving on to resolutions. 26R4, a resolution of the Hammond Common Council approving the second amendment to development agreement among the city of Hammond, Indiana. the City of Hammond Redevelopment Commission, 301 Digital Crossroads LLC, Dennial Group LLC, and Cororeweave Incorporated regarding the project at 100 Digital Crossroads Drive. Madame President,

yes, Councilman Morpo, and move for adoption of ordinance 264. Second. Motion by And that is a resolution. Yes. Okay. Uh motion by Councilman Warple uh and second by Councilman Spatali uh for approval of 26R-04. Any discussion? Madam President. Yes, Councilman.

Thank you. I was happy to hear that the mayor speak during his presentation at the council meeting uh strongly about this will be our last uh likely our last u uh time that we grant an extension uh up to and including June 30th. So I'm glad to hear that and glad to see that that's on record. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Any other discussion? I think the mayor covered it all during his speech. Adequately. Yes. Any other discussion? Any other discussion? Carmen, roll call vote, please. Alexander, yes. Spatelli, yes.

Kellwinsky, yes. Selenus, yes. Tyler, yes. Emerson, yes. Warpel, yes. Reikos, yes. Venez [clears throat]

Yes. Uh 26R-04 passes. Nine in favor, zero opposed. Moving on to new and unfinished business. Any new and unfinished business? Any new and unfinished business? Any new and unfinished business? New and unfinished business is now closed. Moving on to special zoning action adopted under Indiana Code 36-7. Uh we do not have anything public expression. We have uh one guest Mary Shones. You have three minutes.

Yes. I'd like to give public expression. Uh okay. I cannot see. Uh Mary, if you will hold one moment, please. Uh who is that? Uh Champion. I'm on the Zoom. Oh, I see that. You're still driving. What is your name and address? Um I uh I don't want to give my address publicly.

Do you live in Hammond? Um, I don't want to I want to value my Fourth Amendment right to be secure in my person's papers and effects. And I just like to petition um and um give uh my public comment. Uh may we have your name? A champion. Okay. Champion, go right ahead.

Thank you. Uh thank you everyone for your service. I was just going to and you know, great meeting. Uh great information. It seems like uh the gentleman who was discussing uh he got lied to that was the mayor um and he was lied to and told that he would um you know the the organization or group was going to pay for the bridge. I was going to say what would have been great to hear because it seemed like, you know, possibly we move forward as a city off of that word and maybe missed the step of securing that word um contractually, you know. So before we go to B CDE E FG you know this individual told me this if we had secured it contractually just as a step um then you know that's why we take steps to you know secure things so that you know obviously if this happened now you know it's what he say she say not saying I don't believe uh the mayor but just uh I thought that would have been a great uh just in in in pointing out maybe what could have be done better or what we'd look to do in the future should we find ourselves in this situation to make sure that we take that step and I didn't hear that and I just wanted to share that and thank you so much for taking my comment.

Thank you. [clears throat] All righty, Mary Jones. Oh, there's also somebody else that has their hand raised on the Georgey. Evelyn, would you like to speak? George Stoyer. George Stoya. Yeah, I would after Mr. Stoya. We're going to go with Evelyn first. Fair enough.

Okay. Good good evening everybody. Um I I've been coming to the meetings for a couple of times. Um okay, start my video. Sorry about that. Uh good evening everybody. Uh I wanted to just say thank you for taking my question. I've been listening and I'll keep coming in in order to listen to everything that's been transpiring in my uh neighborhood and and in the city. But I did have a question with everything happening the way that it's happening, not just the war that's going on, but previous to uh this all the um the prices of food and everything like that. And I know it's probably a simple question, but I just want to know why are we not allowed to have chickens or rabbits for meat in in this particular area?

Evelyn, this is your opportunity to ask questions of us. We do not respond to questions uh in this portion of the meeting. uh I suggest that you uh write an email, contact one of us, and we'd be more than happy to have a discussion on it. Okay. Thank you for uh elaborating on the rules. I didn't know that. Thank you so much. Thank you, George Stroya. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. Yes.

Okay. Because I don't know. I I usually mess up the mic. Uh, just one quick note. Uh, well, two quick notes. I'm personally still opposed to turning Hammond into a barnyard, but that's me. Uh, all those little critters and animals. This is a city, not a farm. Anyway, um, we still have a week weeks ago or meetings ago, Mark Kowinsky mentioned uh uh something about we were going to get some of the ordinances and resolutions posted before the meeting so we could review them. And nothing's happened about that. What's going on with that? Anything? Uh, you guys are going to do anything with that where that's just uh because I caught you red-handed doing that one thing. Uh, and you know, you said a few words and abracadabra and now it's in the you guys forgot all about it and don't give a damn about informing us of uh because you guys got it on computer and you know all this stuff about oh, it's going to cost too much to put it online. I don't buy a word of it. Anyway, that's all.

Thank you. Thanks, George. Thank you. Is there anyone else there? No. Okay, Mary, thank you for being patient.

Hi, good evening. Hope you're all doing well.

Thank you. So I saw the I saw the same, you know, press release from from the from Hammond about the about the bridge and and then then late like later like like in the last paragraph of the um of the press release, it says that the governor's a the governor's parkway bridge is fully funded. So, the governor's pedestrian bridge that's not located near Morton High School is fully funded, but we're about what? Two, not quite $3 million short of a pedestrian bridge where it's actually needed. So, it turn So, do we have the money or don't don't we?

You can answer me. I won't. I'm sorry. No, I cannot answer you. But I is anybody ever happy? That's all I have to say.

Well, people usually don't come to public expression because everything is going great, right? I mean, that's if you don't want the job, I have a simple solution for you. I mean, it's it's your choice. So, so if we have the bridge, if we have the money for the bridge, why don't we put it where it makes the most sense, where the kids are going to cross? But we know we need the but we need the pedestrian bridge and the mayor's condo scheme. I'm never going to call it go, you know, governor's parkway, whatever. Mike Brown's not going to be tooling around Hammond. Okay. It's it's this is all the mayor's pipe dream to create uh condos where we don't need them and spend millions of dollars putting a pedestrian bridge in the wrong place and call that all in the name of safety. That's just not that's not serving the residents of Hammond well at all. I have I have more to say, but I'll leave it on that. And again, I do I do I do wish you well, but I do have serious concerns.

Thank you. I appreciate and Yeah. All right. Thank you. Listening is a skill. With that, I make a motion we adjourn. Second of