City Council - Regular Meeting

God Almighty, we thank you for these days. We thank you because you continue to bless us, you continue to protect us, you continue to protect our police, the fire guards, you continue to protect every resident. As we start the week of the festival, we only ask you to have fun in a clean way, to have a clean result and to have a prosperous week in the name of Jesus.

Votazione per appello nominale, per favore. Presente Alexander. Fatelli. Kowinski. Selenus. Tyler. Qui Emerson. Qui... Warpole qui. Rinklots. Vanes.

Che vada a... Verbale. Aiden Chambers, uno virtuale.

Discussion of the mayor. Hello mayor, how are you? Hello advisor, it's nice to see you all. Thank you for the invitation. This is my speech for the 13th of July. I want to warn you, it's a little longer than usual. It's been three weeks since the last time I told you. A lot of things are happening. So let's try to be quick. We talked about the state of higher schools. We held an audience in front of the Council of Public Works and Safety about the Gavit High School and I wanted to update you quickly. Last Thursday, the Council of Public Works and Safety held an audience to evaluate the confirmation of the repair and demolition order of the Gavit High School issued by the inspection department. The order was issued in the sense of the Unsafe Building Act of India and conducted exactly as the Council would do for any other empty, abandoned or degraded building in any other part of the city. In this case, however, it was the Gavit High School, which is unused, vacant and abandoned since 2021. The legal office of my business consultant, Kevin Smith, has pursued this action with the support of the chief of the inspection department, Kelly Kearney, of the chief of the code application department, Bill Hutter, of inspector Dile, Bob Ville, and of the inspector of the fifth district, Chris Padrick. The case clearly demonstrated that the building has not changed since its closure in 2021, it has remained vacant. It has been abandoned. It has been unused since then. It is clear that it must be demolished. The school city has released a statement to the audience in which it states that the police department of the city has used the building. I want to emphasize that this is completely false. The police department of the city has not used that building. have used other buildings for their training. The Gavit High School must be demolished and where the position of the city is solid in the sense of the law on buildings, we can't sit and relax while the school city of Hammond does nothing for this empty building. I personally met the president of the school council, Ms. Carla Black King, and their lawyer, Joel Harris, at the beginning of this year and I told them both that the city can't wait forever for them to do something. Since then they haven't done anything. They completely ignored that meeting and didn't do anything. The water was closed to that building for a while. Open windows were found in that building. The paint is crumbling. The bricks and the plaster are starting to cede. What we have seen in other communities, what happens when scholastic buildings are left empty, graffiti, people walking around at night, people and corpses. We cannot, as a community, allow this to happen to our school buildings. So I'm moving forward to solve this problem. And I want to emphasize that I have not ignored the Clark High School. Councilor Mark Pre. I imagine you are about to ask me that on July 30 is the Clark High School meeting in front of the Public Works and Safety Council, in case you want to participate too. Same kind of case, same kind of problems. Councilor Mark. It is unacceptable that these higher schools remain unused there. We are moving forward. We have to make them restart. So this is the first report I wanted to make. I don't know if you have any questions before moving on to the next one. I know that Councilor Berry is online. On Thursday, June 25, we held a live auction for the family lots of Memorial Park. It was held in the municipality right here. We put the bid at 28 lots. The requested price was $ 8,500 per lot. We had 25 registrants with a mix of residents and builders. The lowest lot was sold at $ 30,000. Keep in mind that we asked for 8,500 lots as a minimum offer for all lots. The minimum price was sold at $30,000. The average selling price was $35,000. The maximum selling price was $42,000. With all 28 lots sold at that price, we have reached about a million dollars for that piece of property, which is positive for the city. Construction will begin as soon as the buyers have obtained the approval of their projects by the planning office. I know that the real advisor is present.

I don't know if the real advisor wants to add something. Thank you. It was very interesting to see. It was my first auction live. So being there and seeing a good mix of residents and builders able to take part in it, I think it was fascinating.

It is a sign of the continuous improvements of the... district.

And I know that with all the development in progress, there is a lot of desire for more accommodation. And so I am happy that we were able to create, you know, new homes, especially in this part of the third district. So thank you to your team for making everything possible.

Thank you, advisor. And we still have about a third of that development to be realized, which will be a residence for the elderly or an assisted residence. Credits in places where we need to go forward with that project have been blocked and will be represented next year. So we expect that the other third will probably start next year. And last but not least, among the most important topics I wanted to deal with, there was the epilogue of the storms of Hammond on July 3rd, 2026. The strong storms of July 3rd hit Hammond in a particularly hard way and unfortunately many families woke up with the semitrails broken, current interruptions during the weekend of July 4th. It is never a moment for this, but a holiday weekend makes things even more difficult. Between 21 and 30 midnight, several cycles of strong weather have unleashed from 3 to 5 inches of rain in a short period of time, which is a deadly combination. From 3 to 5 inches of rain. There will be weather over the course of two days. It doesn't rain that much from us. When you check from 3 to 5 inches in such a short period of time, you are in trouble. The National Weather Service has issued a sudden flood warning for Hammond. And this name is missing a good sign. It seems that the area around Harrison Park has suffered the most damage. Harrison Park itself has been, I don't want to say destroyed, but never seen in such bad conditions. Numerous fallen trees, electrical lines, interrupted throughout the city. The health district has lost its source of primary and reserve energy, had to use the diesel generator and has been completely flooded. So also the electricity of Hammond's health district was underwater. The residents were underwater and without electricity. When the residents do not have electricity, unless they have a backup at home, they cannot start the sentinel pump that causes floods. We had significant floods during that storm. It was horrible. Many people gave up. Nipco lost electricity for 22,000 customers in all the territory served. Most of them in our city, by the way. Thanks to Hammond's health district for doing everything possible. We were using the CSO basin. We were in Bukhani. We were doing everything we could to prevent what happened. But Sem's health district worked all night between July 4th. the police, the fire watchmen, of course, the road department, the NIPCO teams, the workers of the department of parks with the rescue trees, the public service workers. It has been a violent storm and obviously every time we have a block of the ground floor is a waste of the system and I want to apologize to the families who have been negatively affected. And now I will talk about the mayor's program. In the last three weeks I received a demonstration with the drones at Hammond Police Department, which showed how avant-garde departments like ours are starting to use drones as helpers. They had a drone base at Hammond Police Department and we intervened on a house in Forest Avenue in 1 minute and 20 seconds, which would have beaten the police officers. And while the drone rolled over the house of Forest Avenue, it transmitted to the ground agents an image of what was happening in the courtyard. It was all an exercise, but can you imagine that kind of technology when an agent intervenes to intervene on a shooter or in a dangerous situation? And they could literally look at their phone and see what was happening in the yard because we had a drone that was thinking. We were testing people. We flew 150 meters above someone's head. They had no idea we were there. We were looking at this guy who worked at the air conditioner. And then we went down 60 meters. When we got there, he heard the drone. He started looking around. This is an incredible technology. They have drones that we can put on the lungologist to save swimmers. If you are in water, the drone will find you because you have heat in your body and is equipped to carry rescuers. It's an incredible thing. We just lost a swimmer just outside the tourist port of Amon last week. It was night, which, you know, could also help in that situation. We don't have this technology on Amipedia yet. We are checking it, but it was a rather interesting thing. So I guess we'll talk about it in the future. I participated and played golf at the 30th annual edition of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce at the Osmarsk Golf Course. Strangely, Kelly Talon, CEO of Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce, is behind us right now. Thank you very much Kelly and Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. It was a nice trip, interrupted by bad weather. Lately it has been the theme. In the second district, I participated in the cut of the Ligos Barbecue in the center of Hammond, at 5052 Diomen Avenue. It's always nice to see another restaurant open in the center. They make a great barbecue. If you're a barbecue guy, go to Hammond's center. It can help you make them stay active. Lately I have met many architects. It seems that many people want to meet us and talk to the city of Hammond to help us design and build in the area around the potential new stadium of the Bears. So I had two or three meetings like that. So I resumed everything in a meeting. They are all basically Venn's proposals. And of course we don't even know for sure if the Bers will end up in Hammond when all this is said and done.

So obviously we don't get involved in anything until we know for sure what will happen to the Bers.

I attended the Summer Concert Series at the Wolf Lake Pavilion with the cover band, the Grateful Dead, and the Indianapolis Bus. It was a fantastic evening for the guys who would have liked to be there. The weather is perfect. And if you like the Grateful Dead like me, it was really beautiful. So I made a Zoom call with the CEO of Nipco, one of their managers, who was the head of the staff of the city of Hammond.

Leave it that way.

Talk about what was happening with the development agreement of Seniaz with the city of Hammond, failed on June 30, 2026. We talked a lot about it in this meeting, we probably wouldn't have done it. We didn't do it as we all imagined. So Nipko wanted to hear from us what was happening. There is a lot at stake for Nipko, as well as for Daniel and the city of Hammond. So it was a nice conversation. I attended the annual annual pyrotechnic show in the city of Hammond listening to the Bill Porter Orchestra at the PAV as we do every 3 July. It was the last PAV experience of the Bill Porter Orchestra, so it was a bit sad to see it go away, especially because it was interrupted before because of a lightning. It was the night when the storm broke out. It was terrible. It was coming while we were shooting fireworks. It was a really incredible show. Anyway, we already talked about the storm that struck that night. I participated in the annual parade of the 4th of July of Whiting, representing the city of Hammond. I walked next to a group of university students who distributed flyers for the Festival of the Legs and to a large number of Hammond residents. It was always very fun. Thanks to the mayor of Speedware Whiting. I met the councilor of the 3rd district of Hammond, Barry Tyler, to discuss a matter he wanted to discuss with the 3rd district of Hammond. I waited for the chief captains of the Hammond Police Department for our regular meeting. I met the advisor of the second district of Hammond, Alcelenus, to discuss a question he wanted to discuss with the second district of Hammond. I spoke on panel for the innovative Indian series of the Indian Business Journal. At Valparaiso University, I was in a panel with the director of Porti dell'Indiana, one of the owners of Albanese East Candy, the head of the Northwest Indiana Forum, the CEO of the Dean Barbara White Foundation and me. The governor spoke right in front of us and was very positive about the whole issue of bears. He described the situation as if we were in the red zone and were about to enter. So I like the optimism of the governor. He took care of the first stone in the second district. A lot of things are happening in the second district. He took care of the first stone for us gru in the second district of A. There is the 509 of Key Avenue. It is a new national headquarters for Weco. Investment of 25 million dollars. Six thousand six hundred square meters. I am really proud to have obtained that activity and we kept it online. They wanted to go where the Hammond Riverside Christian School is. We chose the Christian School. They stayed with us and we moved them from the other side of the road. So it was a good job on the part of the economic development of all those who worked hard for that agreement. I met the counselor Jeanette Venezwai. She needed an explanation from me and I appreciated those meetings. I participated in the celebration of the sponsors of the Festival of the Lake of Hammond in 2026 at the Jim Shepard Center. And finally, sweets in the background, I raced against our employees of the city of Hammond in our annual road race of the Festival of the Lake of 2026. I did 29, I beat some people. I have been beaten by many people. So it's always nice to see people who work hard to get a free day. And I think that if I beat myself in a race, it will probably not cost us much on our health insurance. So, Festival Lake begins as we all know. Wednesday we have the evening with free parking with DJ. We predict that technically it is called the definitive freestyle experience. Free parking. It is the only evening of the festival. Free parking. So if you simply want to go out to listen to music, bring your children to a park, there will be no parking. Wednesday there are no costs for parking. Thursday we have a paid show. Exhausted Gelly Roll. Solid in the gold section. Solid. Completely exhausted in the gold section. The silver section still has tickets available at the nominal price. Tickets from the gold section cost more than $300, the one on StubHub at the moment, which is really fantastic because they only cost $100. So they cost three times the nominal value. Completely exhausted for the gold section. So the only way to get into the gold section is StubHub. Friday, July 17th, we have the Offspring who are selling very well. A great band. And as an alternative band, Saturday we have Rap Night with Moneybagg Yo and Kevin Gates. The tickets go to Ruba for that. And then, Sunday, July 18th, Bon Del Ricotto. This is the second time we play with us. This time they are selling about five times more tickets than the first time. I'm on the move with Stokhan regarding ticket sales and that was our most important evening ever at the Festival of the Rakes. Grazie a tutti. Mi dispiace per il lungo resoconto. Passate la settimana. Consigliere a Comunale, se avete domande, sono disponibili.

Qualcuno?

Sì, consigliere. Sindaco, hai idea di quante case unifamiliari ci siano?

Per il nuovo sviluppo dietro Ilia Stein?

Sì, signore.

28 case unifamiliari.

Passate lì durante il fine settimana le infrastrutture sono a posto, le luci sono accese, ci sono uno o due bacini di ritenzione lì, credo. Sì. E un'altra cosa sono le inondazioni. Avrebbe senso inserire una pubblicazione nella bolletta dell'acqua ogni mese sui programmi? E su come?

How to participate in the programs, because people call me for this, and maybe it's a way to get it to the whole city.

You're talking about the antivirus device. Prevention and reflux. Advising Mark is a great idea. And I'm proud to say that through the Awana program, many people participate.

And I don't think there are any more income limits. Is that right, Scott?

I am. Havana is. So, but even the health district has it. They have their own program. So anyone who wants to install an anti-reflux device to Hammond could go through a Waz program that provides funds for the development of the community, which is fantastic, or the health district could reimburse you. You know it's a god's act when you get five inches of rain in a short period of time. However, we can do better by preventing, you know, we can protect our houses better by installing anti-reflux devices, maybe by installing fuel tanks on the fuel pump. There are things you could do to better prepare your house, and the anti-reflux device is the best way to do it, so I'll talk to them. Kot, could you make sure we talk about it?

The double problem is that when the NIPCO is spoiled, the pump is spoiled less, that there is no backup and the backup will last only for a while, and so people were frustrated. They did everything they had to do. Yet, you know, the NIP code did not intervene quickly enough.

When there are strong storms, snowstorms or storms like the ones we have in winter, one of the first things we always pay attention to in the city are power interruptions. And if there are, we all know that it is an emergency. Current interruptions during a heat wave like the one we are seeing are not good. Current interruptions at the same time are not good. There is no way to fight them. If at my house I lost the current of my cent pump, I would not back up for my cent pump. You know, some people have degenerate sores. It's a way to protect the house, but it's expensive. So, you know, I understand. Nobody wants their own house to get wet, but we also have to protect our houses. I realize that some people are more capable than others to do it. But I think it's a great advice.

Thank you for thinking of inserting this information in this monthly letter.

Is there anyone else?

Hey, mayor.

Hey, sir. Hey, Barry.

Grazie per aver parlato delle tempeste, so che ne abbiamo parlato subito dopo che sono accadute. Quindi volevo solo sapere, so che HSD ha perso i telefoni.

Per qualche giorno.

We are still asking residents to call and report where it happened in order to keep track of the necessary things this time.

Thank you, sir. If you have had a backup in the cemetery, please call Hammond's health district. Even if you have repaired it, we will use it for historical purposes. We have dispersion maps for each flood event, then we see which neighborhoods are flooded and then we look for coherence. So even if you clean it yourself, but if you flood it, call Hammond's health district. And Barry... They were right, in addition to losing their primary and reserve energy sources, they also lost the diesel generator because it was underwater and all their phones went out during that storm. Hammond's health district was destroyed. It was right next to Hammond's health district, where the South Shore lines, their chioma, the electric lines above them, fell to the ground and passed in front of it today and are still fixing it. So the South Shore lines hit Harrison Park, Centenary Trees on the ground, it was a bad storm and unfortunately we had the worst in Hammond. The update that we always use is the CSO basin. It cost us 55 million dollars and we use it regularly. And every time you see that basin of the CSO with water inside, that was water when? The advisor Mark and I were elected for the first time, the water that we did not have, the water that ended up in our cemetery, in our streets. So, when you see that CSO basin, it's a good thing. I know that Councilor Hall and I have different problems to deal with when it dries, but that CSO basin saves us from water stagnation in the landfills. And since we have it, we haven't had many. I'll be honest, I know that once a year it seems that there are real time periods, it seems that there are water stagnation in the landfills. I know that Councilor Marchini suffered a couple of years ago. Councilor Bernini suffered a lot. It could happen anywhere in the city. And it's as if the best thing I could do was to protect the house even more. You know, if there are reserve batteries on the Scentine pump, you know, things like that. But there will be another improvement that we will have to make in the Ammon Sanitary District. There will probably be a couple of years to go. Counselor, it is a rainwater collection plant that will emerge in the fifth district, near the Starbucks. We talked about it, but then Monster caused the Ammon Sanitary District to suspend its work. But we have the projects for this. What it will do is collect the rainwater that comes to us from our clients and prevent us from sending them. If we treat them there and put them in the little cow, we will no longer have to bring all that water to the plant, which will save us.

Great option.

Save tens of millions of gallons.

But it's a project of 6,070 million. And when we finally decide to proceed, unfortunately there will be increases in tariffs, because that's how you pay for these things. But will this help us? But you know, this is the infrastructure we have under the roads. You know, changing this is much more than what the bears are saying.

So, next question. These storm events have been downloaded in the river. We have to report it.

We shouldn't. But it's better to do it rather than lagging, right? So what they usually recommend is that it is a CSO event. First the implant begins to bulge, then it ends up in the pelvis, then the pelvis fills up and then the pelvis begins to fill up for gravity in the grand cao, right? But this is mainly rainwater. Let's say that 90% is rainwater, 10% is soil. Why is it heavy? I'll leave it to you to analyze for yourself. Often the heavy part falls on the bottom of the storm basin, which is the whole project I have. So what happens is that the solids do not flow into the river, they flow into the storm basin and remain trapped on the bottom. They will be about two meters high when they dry. Exactly.

But then the water that enters the drain is dirty.

It is not treated normally, but it is not. It's a mess. And we have to report this to the IDM. It's a violation. And how many events a year do we have? I regularly advise Mark to cross the river. We don't regularly have dams. We have crossings in the CSO, in the Grand Cal, during the great storms. The storms are changing. We receive water from Whiting, Griffith, Highland, Monster and Hammond. And when we have storms that hit all those communities of customers, every drop of rain that falls in all those cities arrives at that plant. Now, if we could intercept it and keep it a little in the 5th district, because it is the most separated down there, so it will be only Piovana water and we can simply keep the Piovana water out of the 2nd district plant, put it right there in the 5th and put it in a small kayak. It would help us a lot. But it will take a couple of years and, advisor, they will be expensive. Electricity can still be missing, right? I want to tell you a problem apart from when we lose NIPCO. And I'm not here to criticize NIPCO. It has always been an exceptional storm, you know? And what happens is that it is not NIPCO to lose energy, These trees are falling and they are surely taking away the lines and the equipment. And you know, it's our trees that are falling on the electric lines and this interrupts the electricity and then you're out until they can repair all the lines. And they sent a lot of teams to clean up around the trees, to do only preventive maintenance things. I saw them. Yes sir. There are three challenging weeks between you. Sorry for the long answer. Are there any other questions? Thank you mayor. Thank you guys. Very informative. Thank you.

Good evening.

Well, let's move on to the approval of the verbals.

I ask that we approve the verbals of the meeting of June 22 and archive them. Approval.

Motion of the councillor Selenus, supported by the councillor Emerson, to approve the verbals of June 22. Discussion? Discussion? Discussion? Who is in favor?

I am.

Opposite. Motion approved. Approval of the requests. Mr. President. Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Motion to approve the requests dated 61-726 ending with the requests dated 79-86 up to request number 4-6 up to request number 5-766 included.

I propose yes.

Motion by Mr. Reico, supported by Mr. Warpol, to approve the requests for the meeting of June 3, July 13. Discussion?

Mr. President, I report on the 21st of January as it is.

All right. Okay. Thank you. Discussion? Discussion? Discussion? Vote for a nominal appeal, please.

Alexander.

Patelli. Kowinski. Selenus. Tyler.

Emerson.

Warpel. Reikos. Vanes.

The motion is approved. Nine in favor, zero against. Secretary, for the chronicle, the advisor Tyler is seated.

So taken A. Public hearings, there are no... Communications.

Yes, sir. Communications.

Yes, Mr. President. I wanted to thank you because, as the mayor said, we have suffered a lot of floods. Many jobs have been needed and extraordinary maintenance. I know that in my district, and I'm sure in a few other districts, so I would like to make public a special thank you to public works. Felix and Rhonda have worked tirelessly to do their best to bring us back to normality, so to speak. I know that Gianerano in the second district was an out of class, as well as Timo, a spazino, who did his best to help clean up our area. To the maintenance of the rubble, Jack Smith, Wally and their teams were involved throughout the second district.

I saw them active. The mayor talked about flooding.

Magnolia, near the Bishop Knoll High School area, and the roads were flooded to the knees.

But Jack and his team intervened as soon as possible to help alleviate the situation a bit.

And also for our department of parks, because just like Harrison Park, even Columbia Park has been hit hard. Mr. Devin Wick, Matt Markham and Jim Talon of the department of parks. Special thanks. If there's anyone I've left out, it's not on purpose. thanks only to all our departments for the hard work in the whole city. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I will add that I was lucky not to be hit as it happened in your district. I drove there and saw some of the damage, but all our municipal employees made it through. They are exceptional. They all have a heart for the city and they are there to do everything possible to make it the best possible. Thank you. Are there any other communications? Are there any other communications, Mr. President?

Yes, advisor. I apologize for having used this space to make a personal statement, but I just wanted to thank the Amund Fire Watch Department. One of my daughters had a medical emergency during the weekend and, as always, they responded in a very professional way, taking care of my little one. I just want to thank the Fire Watch for everything they do for the safety of our residents, including my family when necessary.

Thank you. Madam President.

Yes, Madam.

Taking up what was said by Councilor Tyler, I know that during the storm our fire guards went to check many of our elderly residents and things like that to make sure they were well when the current was missing, especially those in service and things like that. So congratulations also for those assignments. Thank you. Other communications? Other communications? Other communications? The communications are now closed. Committee report. The Commission for Planning has something, advisor?

Hey. Economic development advisor?

Nothing to do tonight. Financial advisor? No, but the proposal for 2016-19 will come out.

Excuse me?

The proposal for 2016-19 will come out and it hasn't come together.

Well, thank you.

The report of the Council for Patrimonial Improvements. The Council for Patrimonial Improvements met on July 6 and were assigned a total of six and seven funds, all very... A very demanding meeting, yes, which I will talk about at this moment. Our first funding, number 266, was a revision. It was the 165th road from Kennedy. to Kennedy, sorry, from Kennedy to Kentucky Design and Michigan Street from home to Calmed. It was assigned to the first engineering group for an import of 92,300. It was a subsidy for the crossings of the community and these 92,300 reflect only the construction costs.

Also the allocation of funds number 283 was an allocation of funds. It was about the modification orders for the reconstruction of the streets of 8 and 13 17.

These were intended for both the Indot and the Rathen Rail Construction for an import of 15.7 million dollars. The signing of fund number 330. From the modification order of Summers Street number 1, the Grimmer Construction was signed for an import of 3,100 dollars.

I was told that this had to be done

to exceed current contractual amounts. Funding assignment number 331. The dedication of Memorial Park Street has been assigned to American Structure Point for an import of $ 1,300.

Funding assignment number 302.

The dismantling of recovered building materials. This was intended for Dire Construction for an import of $ 10,600. The fun allocation number 333 was for the general services of the 2026 engineering services assigned to Nice Engineering for an import of $ 60,000. Their current contract had exceeded the last allocation we had assigned to them. The final allocation number 333 was for the manufacture of steel bars. from Home and Avenue to Vance Industrial Inc. for an import of 18,900 euros. These must be installed in front of the Ballard. Illuminated Ballard. They were necessary because many of them continue to be invested or invested by cars and traffic that crosses them. We try to ornament them with reduced speed but they still continue to hit some of our ornamental elements.

Yes, it has an infrastructure.

Well, these are all the locations.

Thank you. And as usual, I will read the next community and crime surveillance meetings. At the moment it is a bit slow. The school is closed, so we cannot use the schools for our meetings. So I will give you an appointment for a month. the surveillance of the community near Mount Zion Pleasant View Plaza. Actually, we met last Wednesday. It was a fantastic meeting. Sergeant Gonzalez introduced himself because Sergeant Larick was on vacation and gave the elderly some excellent information. Our next meeting there will be in September. Pullman community surveillance will meet on Tuesday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at the Elias Time Center. Edison community surveillance will meet in September. So stay tuned for that date. Harrison Park will also meet in September. Stay tuned for that date. The Hesville community vigil will be held on Thursday, August 20th at 6pm at the HC3 Community Center. The Irving community vigil, stay tuned, will be held in September. The South Holman Avenue Neighborhood Watch will be held in October. Stay tuned to find out the date. The Whiting-Robertsdale Crime Watch will meet Thursday, August 13th at 6 p.m. at Calamec College and the Jefferson Crime Watch will meet in September.

Stay tuned to find out the date.

In the meantime, if... If you only want information about something that is happening in your neighborhood, make sure to use the app 311. If you feel particularly uncomfortable, call 911. It is better to prevent than to cure. Does the police prefer to receive a call for something that is insignificant rather than lose one on something important? So we ask you to use all the safety measures that we have available in the city, because the community does not concern only me, it concerns us. Well, let's move on to the receipts of the commissions. We did not meet tonight. Order, third reading, final passage.

Order 26.9 sponsored by Councilor Warpole. An order from the city of Hammond to modify Title VII, Chapter 76, Allegation 15 of the Municipal Code of Hammond regarding bicycle passes.

Mr. President, Councilor Warpole. Motion for final approval and adoption of 2016-2019.

Motion by Councilor Warpol, supported by Councilor Kielwinski, for the final approval of 2.169. Are there any discussions?

Madam President.

Yes, Councilor.

This ordinance is literally half a page long. And it is U. S.K. section 1, allegation 15 of the pass for bicycles of the Municipal Court of Hammond, is here modified to add the following locations as pass for additional bicycles and Hammond. The Marquette Greenway, Larry and the Kawana, the Monant Trail, the Wolf Lake Trail, the Lake or the George Lake Trail, the Little Calat River Trail and the path of the corridor of the center of Wolf Lake are added to the order. This does not mean that they are completely new bike paths. Thank you. Are there any other discussions? Are there any other questions? Other questions? Please click on the vote for nominative appeal.

Alexander.

Patelli. Kowinski. Selenus. Tyler. Emerson. Warpel. Rinkles. Vénez. Please, zero opposites.

President Vance, with this we conclude the ordinances for the final approval.

Let's move on to the introduction of the ordinances.

Point A, Order 2620, sponsored by Councilor Warpo and Ordinanza, to place funds in the game fund of 2026.

Madam President. Yes, Councilor. Motion for the first and second reading. I support the commotion of Councilor Warpol, I support Councilor Reikos for the first and second reading of 26-20. Are there any discussions, Mr. President?

Yes, Councilor. The reason why I do not put it in commission is that something we do every year transfers the funds of 2025 that remained unused in the accounts of 2026.

Thank you.

I think we need a public hearing on the 27th of July. That's right.

It's not written on mine that I know. Leave me alone. It's on the agenda. It's on the agenda.

Yes, that's right. Thank you. I confused the video cards last week and this week.

So there will also be a public hearing on July 27th. Are there any discussions? Are there any discussions? Are there any discussions? Secretary Ollick, vote for a nominal appeal, please.

Alexander.

Patelli. Kowinski. Selenus. Tyler. Emerson, yes. Warpel, yes. Reikos. Venetian. The motion is approved. 9 in favor, 0 against.

President Vance, this concludes the introduction of the ordinances.

Thank you, Secretary. Let's move on to resolutions.

Resolution 26 R16. Sponsored by Councilor Warpole. resolution of the municipal council of the city of Hammond that designates the funds in which the distributions of the tax on financial institutions and the tax on commercial vehicles will be deposited for the spring distribution of 2026 Mr. President Councilor Warhol I propose the adoption of proposal 26 R16 Second

Motion by Councilor Warpol, supported by Councilor Alexander. Is there a discussion?

Yes, Councilor. This resolution is described more or less in the title. designates the funds in which the distribution of the tax on financial institutions and the tax on commercial vehicles for the distribution of 2026 will be invested. The legislative changes provided provide flexibility to the tax units, including the city of Hammond, in receiving and using these two taxes and distributions.

Thank you. Is there any other discussion? Is there any other discussion? Is there any other discussion? Voting for nominating, please.

Alexander. Patelli. Kowinski. Selenus. Tyler, yes. Emerson. Warburg. Rikos. The motion is approved. Nine in favor, zero in opposition. President Vénez, this concludes the reading of the resolutions.

Thank you, Secretary Bulic. New suspended questions. New suspended questions? Does anyone have new suspended questions? The new suspended questions are now closed. Secretary Olick, let's move on to the special zoning action adopted in accordance with the Indian Code 36.7. O.U. Article A. Ordinance 26.21. Sponsored by Councilor Selenus. A RAL Coral Courier petition for a derogation of the use of the zoning ordinance to allow a general structure for spaces for events in a single-family residential district urban Ron Yu, located at 1424, through 30 Michigan Street in the city of Hammond, Lake County, Indiana.

Councilor Selenus, yes.

I ask that we adopt the special zoning action 2000 ESACT 21 with the approved conditions or with the approval conditions established by the BZA. Second.

Councilor Selen's motion supported by Councilor Kelwinski. Is there a discussion?

Yes, Mr. President. I know that Mr. Novak here among the public would like to say a few words about it. I can't say anything about my excuses. You really do a great job with the ABCA.

Thank you for your help, Mr. President.

So, go ahead.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I consulted with Mr. Selenos before the meeting to see if the letter was sent within 300 feet of this action and if it was mainly the neighbors who agreed to go ahead. So I appreciate this information. was correct. Yes, it was indicated in the document.

I think it was more than 90%. More than 90%. Also, I left everyone a copy of Hammond's police department on their desks today just to offer the support they have. given to the owner of the activity that is here in Raukorea. As for every time there is an event with alcohol present or alcohol in place, which is a standard that the police department takes care of the safety of that event.

So, is it a standard, not a requirement?

Yes, it is a requirement. I request it. It is a standard in its commercial practices and also a letter of support from the police department.

Grazie.

Altre discussioni? Altre discussioni? Altre discussioni? Cleric, votazione per appello nominale, per favore.

Alexander. Patelli. Kowinski, sì. Selenus. Tyler. Emerson. Warpole.

Rekos.

Vance. that in verbal there will be 9 favourites, 0 opposites. The motion is approved.

President Evans, this concludes the special zoning action.

Thank you, Clerk Gulick.

Let's move on to public expression.

First speaker, Mary Jones.

Buonasera Mary. Buonasera consigliera. Spero che tutti coloro che stanno ascoltando questo abbiano un seminterato più asciutto rispetto a circa una settimana fa. I was very grateful to see the teams of public services arrive and, you know, I was very grateful. There are many different ways in which you know when I myself am a veteran, but every time I hear someone say thank you for your service, I always think of being a much better librarian than I had ever been as a soldier. There are many different ways to serve our country, whether it is to repair our power grid or to collect branches or to take care of our roads. Our urban cleanliness teams serve our city very well and I am very grateful to them. What else serves our country and our city are our trees. And I'm thinking in particular of the 32 acres of secular trees in Briar, Eastwoods. I'll give you some numbers, but it's not too crazy. According to the Pur2 Extension Department, an adult tree absorbs between 10 and 150 gallons of water a day. So, on average, an acre of forest has about 400 trees. And in the lower range, if we say 10 gallons, 10 gallons of water per tree, 400 trees per acre, 32 acres, we are talking about 128,000 gallons of water a day absorbed by these trees. And in the high range, 1.9 million gallons of water that do not end up in our land and in our riverbanks. And this is something that these trees serve our city and we would do well to leave them alone. And one of the things I think is something that the mayor revealed last year, when it was the mayor's evening of the sixth district, right at the end of the meeting on October 29th. He said, well, you know, if we have left-handed houses, prices will go up, they will raise the value of properties in our city. And I thought, well, it won't happen if everything is under water. What are we doing? Some things have more value when we leave them alone and we have to protect them. Because this space also helps to serve and protect our neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you, Mary. The next one is Anthony Higgs.

Good evening, fellow councilors. I would also like to join the councilor Selenus and his applause for the efforts of the health district and for public works. They did a wonderful job. I saw them working non-stop around Harrison Park and throughout the city of Amok to clean up. There were several residents in the third district who were stranded and without electricity. So I went to some people in the third district and I talked to them to see what I could do personally to help them in this moment of crisis. However, a measure was put in place based on which we turn to the health district. It is reported and then you can go to the trust office of the north municipality and get a good one in terms of help. It's not much, but it will help with a stretch or a purpose or something for those people whose cemetery is as lagged as mine. I also had to make my pipe rot. Secondly, I would like to talk about being active and involved in the community. Don't expect to be 70 years old. I have been actively involved since I was 18 years old and it is something that I continue to do in my community. I love Hammond and I am part of it. Thirdly, There are a series of problems that are afflicting Hammond and that have been brought to my attention. I can't solve all of them. All I can do is bring them the attention of those responsible. So I try to give them this information as quickly as possible, to the officials or to anyone who is available to help in these efforts. I would like to congratulate the mayor for having published a press release on the leak and the interruption of the utilities. It was useful. Moreover, my Xfinity TV has just arrived yesterday to make my TVs work. So I also appreciate their efforts. Certainly, in the next few weeks, of course, this week will be the festival of the lakes. I hope that no accidents will occur and that everything is safe, that it is managed and I hope that even the police officers are safe. I would also like to congratulate myself with a friend of mine who is retiring from the police department in Chicago, Illinois. I can't wait to participate in the meetings, to address the problems and concerns of my community for the rest of my life. I bless you. Thank you, Mr. X. Tommy Dorsett.

Good evening everyone, Tommy Dorsey and as I just said I just wanted to come here to introduce myself to all those who may not know me and I wanted to say that in the last two years and more I have volunteered to help the elderly here in the area In the last two years or more I have closely followed the situation and not to take up some of the things that have been said about the Fire Guards, but I must say that our Fire Guards are at the top of the list. I would put them against any city. These guys, I don't know if you noticed, but watching them and helping some elderly when they are called, they come out as if there was a fire going on. Every time they get off that truck or that vehicle, they turn on the radio, they put everything on. And the only reason I was able to pay attention to this is because I volunteer for the elderly and I can only say great praises for our department of firemen and for the ambulance operators. Thank you. I can't wait to work with this advice and to improve, to keep our work safe in the city.

Thank you, Mr. Dorsi. Linda Verdusco. Good evening to all of you in the council and thank you for the excellent work done. This was in particular for the mayor. I wanted to tell him that I had participated in the street race at the kiosk and it was very fun. I even joined the Striders again. Everyone in that team was so happy about the services, the prizes and they were simply very happy. I know I won't make friends here on this occasion I'll be so happy when that bridge on Kennedy on Parrish Avenue will be over I had to wait yesterday all the way from Indianapolis to the 165th and 169th to be able to turn it around In the end, I had to take the highway and take Klein for a ride. And Klein is not doing very well right now. But anyway, I'll be happy when it's over. Let's make sure this bridge is completed. Thank you all. Good evening. Thank you.

Do you want to stay here? Good. There is no one online who would like to speak. So the public discussion is now closed. Suspension motion? Suspension motion. Who is in favor? Opposite. The motion is approved. Public discussion. Well, please.

Mrs. President.

I was about to give the point to Gab.

I make a motion to return to the public discussion, since we have just closed the meeting.

Well, there is a second.

Second.

Secretary Olli, appeal.

Alexa.

Patel.

Tyler.

Emerson.

Rick.

The motion is approved. Nine in favor, zero against. Please tell us your name and address.

Well, hello everyone. I'm Matt Miller, I work for Griffith and I'm here to talk about the monumental crisis we are heading towards with Data Center. I don't know if it has already been pointed out to you, but it's the first time I'm intervening. It's extremely important.

are advertising that they will provide data to schools and create jobs.

I don't know about you, but we didn't need data centers, huge data centers that work and consume all our energy and water and emit electromagnetic fields to learn things at school.

The idea that they are creating jobs

when the whole thing for which data centers are built is that they are a battery for the technological state towards which we are heading at the moment. We are talking about introducing drones without thinking twice about what the other effects could be and what the disadvantages could be. I mean, do they have drones that fly over California on July 4?

Do you agree with drones that fly only for the police?

I don't. I turn to everyone because we all agree.

You turn to the council. I do.

But it's good to include people because I can't do it alone and I want to see what you think.

This is a public discussion.

Why are these flat cameras being built while they are installed? They are. I'm introducing more and more flat cameras. And what do you think these huge data centers need to feed it? They are creating a state of surveillance with cameras everywhere and they need these data centers to do it. They are building to track all our medical and financial information online, our movements. Palantir has received a contract from the Trump administration to accumulate and centralize data on Americans. We are monitoring. They also say that it will create jobs. But those jobs will be quickly replaced by artificial intelligence and robotics. Artificial intelligence and robotics will quickly take more jobs than those provided by these data centers. It is only a very short-term mentality to say that edile works will be useful to the community because these robots and artificial intelligence are rapidly acquiring the skills to work in jobs. They are welding. They are doing wall work. They are doing this and we are only in 2026. Imagine where it will end in a couple of years. This will take all the jobs. They are able to carry out edile inspections. Tennessee has already approved laws to monitor online fraud content. Brandon Johnson and Lily Noy are also moving in this direction. This is a chain reaction that is happening in this country. They are already suppressing freedom of speech on Facebook in Tennessee. And the reason why they have more monitoring and more battery for this technology is growing and growing. If we don't stop this technological wave, it will overwhelm us all.

It's a woman. A woman in Texas has been arrested.

I'm sorry, but her time is up. And we appreciate her thoughts.

Mr. President. Yes, sir. I suggest saving what you have on the phone and reading the rest again. See you at the next meeting.

Next meeting. I mean, I think there are some correct data on the phone. That's how we save things. That's exactly how we save things.

Grazie, Dave. Devo fissare un appuntamento. E quanto tempo ho? Avete tre minuti alla fine della riunione durante l'espressione pubblica.

E non ho bisogno di registrarmi come... Quando entrate dovete registrarvi. Fate una mozione per la giornata. Aspettate. Non dobbiamo tornare all'ordine del giorno regolare? Dove? No, va bene. Avete avuto il vostro tempo.

It will be here outside.

Madam President. Yes. Yes, it is.

Make a motion to return to the regular order of the day.

Yes, ma'am.

The motion is approved. The motion of the councilor Alexander supported by the councilor Spatelli.