City Council - Regular Meeting

If you would all remain standing for a moment of silence for all of those who were impacted by the storm of August 11. Thank you. Carmen, roll call please.

Here. Let the record show, eight in chamber, one on Zoom.

Mayor's Address. Hi, Mayor. How are you? Thanks, Councilwoman. It's good to see you all. This is my report for August 24th, 2026. It's all about the storm. Because one day after our last meeting, Hammond got hammered by The worst storm I've probably ever been in. One of the most damaging storms we've experienced probably in our city's history. In roughly 20 minutes, 1.71 inches of rain fell, accompanied by winds exceeding 90 miles an hour. The Hammond Sanitary District plant peaked at nearly 90 million gallons of flow. Keep in mind, this plant is rated for 70 million gallons. It was peaked at

Mayor, I would like to say that... We appreciate you pushing because NIPSCO definitely needed to be pushed in this situation. We appreciate all the city employees who stepped up I mean, our employees are outstanding anyway, but they really showed up for this situation, and they're the best. And from all of us, thank you. Thank you to them. As far as NIPSCO is concerned... Can I interject on that real quick? Yes, of course.

We brought it up. It seemed like when we were two, three days in the storm, you'd ask NIPSCO, when is Hammond going to be back on? I mean, that's my main concern. I'm the mayor of Hammond. That's your job. But they would say, oh, just look at our website. When you look at the website, it says there's 300,000 plus people out of power. We were expected to have it back within a couple of weeks. It was just like there was nothing specific. So the first opportunity I got to talk to Mr. Parisi, the CEO of NIPSCO, I was like, Mr. Parisi, we have to do something about community-specific restoration ti

And as far from my perspective, I think NIPSCO has got a lot of explaining to do. It would not be productive to have an open meeting because it would just turn into everybody ripping on NIPSCO. But as far as you and the president or vice president, whomever you spoke with, that's where the meetings need to take place. It used to be that NIPSCO trimmed trees. We didn't like the way they were trimmed because they just trimmed a V in the middle of the tree, but they were trimmed nonetheless. And I haven't seen that in years. So from my perspective, I think NIPSCO has got a lot of explanation. to

COUNCILMAN VANESSA, AND AGAIN, KUDOS TO ALL OUR CITY WORKERS. THEY DID A GREAT JOB. AND I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR GETTING THAT INFORMATION OUT. SO ON SOCIAL MEDIA, I WAS ALLOWED TO COPY THAT AND SEND IT OUT AS IT CAME EVERY DAY ALONG WITH ALL THE DIFFERENT SERVICES THAT WERE BEING PROVIDED AND MEAL PLANS AND STUFF LIKE THAT. IT WAS DEFINITELY THE WAY TO GO AND DEFINITELY THE WAY TO GET and I appreciate you getting that out.

That happened sort of, I don't know. I went to the first community meeting and I was just taking notes. I was literally just writing everything down I heard and I got done and I like put them all into the document and I just dropped it. And I don't know if NIPSCO is crazy about it, But I was just like, our people need to know something in Hammond. I dropped it, and I called each of you, and you all shared it, and I appreciate that. Go Hammond shared it. Really, between all of us and Go Hammond, we could reach almost everybody in the city. And we dropped it, and then I noticed other cities and

Mayor? Yes, sir. I think all the days ran together to me. I know what you mean, Councilman. I found out, number one, why I hate camping. I think we spoke during the storm, and I think Maybe I'm wrong, but you were down with the flu, weren't you?

And we spoke almost every day along with Mr. Miller, and I can't thank the city enough, and I'm speaking on behalf of my residents for the response that was shown. I had the pleasure one day of riding with the district foreman, Jeff Rutherford, and seeing the residents come together, Matt, markham from the park department included pushing the brush out to the streets so the buckets could pick stuff up and um the comment was made about whether or not something about him making a comment with nipsco would they expect anything less i mean if you were unhappy about something do they expect you to

This is the more mature mayor that's been here for a while. It's important for your mayor to have a relationship with NIPSCO for a number of reasons. So, like, it's important to have a relationship with NIPSCO for the mayor. It really is. It does our city a lot of good if NIPSCO and the mayor are on the same page.

I kept my mouth shut because you and I are on the same grid, and I didn't want your power shut off because I said something stupid. But thank you and all the city workers for the job you did in responding to every phone call and making sure what we needed was done. Thank you.

Because the internet wasn't working. Right.

So that's just a great I didn't have internet for my house for the first few days and I had to come to City Hall to get stuff done Yeah, I was City Hall. Thankfully was unaffected. So I was getting my internet my power from City Hall just it's for subsistence

we need to look at some type of ordinance about trees and power lines. I think it's something we need to talk about. If you're close to a power line, you should have some type of obligation as a city if it's our tree, but if it's your tree as a homeowner, it's not fair to your neighbors if you don't maintain your tree and it falls on the power lines and knocks everybody out for a week. I think we, I don't think these storms, Councilman Berry, we just went a month ago and Harrison Park lost multiple trees and they all fall the same direction. They fall from the west and they go to the east, rig

I agree. I got the legal department looking at other ordinances to see what kind of options are out there, okay?

Yes, Councilman. Hey, Mayor. Hey, Councilman.

To that point that you just brought up about maybe coming up with some type of ordinance or resolutions, we were all sitting in the dark for quite a bit, some of us longer than others. i got to thinking how can hammond what can we do to be better prepared as well and a lot of things have crossed my mind a lot of ideas i'm sure we've all come up with um i'd love for us all to sit down and have a brainstorming session in terms of what we can do as a whole to be better prepared because um Clearly no NPSCO wasn't, that's for sure. I think we can all agree on that. I don't want to miss that point a

If you know, I think it's better to give an answer, even though if we had a power outage today, and I tell you, Councilman, it's going to be five days before you get your power on, you're going to be pissed. And you're not going to want to hear it, but you're going to get ready for five days without power, right? Absolutely. If I say there's no answer, you think, well, maybe I'll have it back by tonight, right? And you approach life differently. If you know it's a prolonged outage, you should... And we should have all known, just based on the damage. I'd never seen damage like that in the city

And if you get it earlier, people are happy. If I tell you it's going to be next Saturday and I give it back to you on Thursday, you're happy as heck because it's not Saturday. I agree. I think NIPSCO has never been hit with something like this. And I'm not defending NIPSCO. I'm just saying it was extraordinary what happened. They say it's the biggest storm in their company's history. I believe them. And I think that they had a policy going into that. Whenever they have a power outage, they're like... If Councilman Berry has a power outage, NIPSCO's approach is like, don't tell Councilman Berr

To that point, I also thought to myself, at this point, just lie to me. Just give me good news. Please, I'll take any news. So yeah, I agree with you on that one. But as I sat there in the dark, like a lot of us, I was quickly reminded how great my neighbors really are. And I mean, I've been fortunate enough, and I can say fortunate enough, to grow up and be raised all in the same block where I currently live. And a lot of the families that helped raise me are still there. And to them families, and to those good residents that are on my block and in my area, I want to say thank you as well. Be

It's scattered throughout the city, Councilman. It's not really. Small pockets? And it's to the point where it's house-specific issues. Okay. The electric weatherhead. Weatherhead. and one falls off, or if it's specific to that house damage. If you're out and all your neighbors are on, there's something specific to your house that needs to be fixed, and that's most of the cases left. And I know Nipsco's knocking them out, but it's obviously, if you're not turning on an entire neighborhood, you're just turning on one house, it's...

It's harder at least like with the weather heads are they do we don't do we know if they're waiting on Nipsco to come shut them off or turn them on?

Okay Yeah, real quick Mary not at that was brought up. I had a lady whose weather head went down and Five days after it was paired repaired. She was calling me going. I got this prepared five days ago and And I asked her if she called NIPSCO and she said no. And people have to understand that when you get that weather head repaired, you do have to call them to come back out and turn them on. Thank you for saying that.

Mayor, you spoke about NIPSCO quite a few years ago. I guess they didn't understand what you were talking about, did they? No, you did the right thing. You never said a damn thing about it. Thank you. And you're in a position where it's at now. You've been kicking ass all the time.

And as I'm listening to all of the conversation, it reminds me of when I was a young child and transistor radios came out. And we thought that was the greatest thing that you could walk around with, a radio in your hand. But, you know, something like that would have been very helpful at a time like this. I did want to mention all of the people who made food donations and prepared the food and volunteered to pass out the food. When things get bad, the worst comes out in people a lot of times. And this certainly was an instance where the heart of Hammond came out. And people were concerned about

That's my report. Any other comments? Hopefully, we don't have two weeks like we just had.

Hopefully, we all get to just- Let me knock on wood. No kidding.

But I appreciate everybody. The council did a great job. I appreciate all your support. I think we did a good job communicating with the public. I mean, our job is to patrol the streets. We had 18 officers working every night, okay? Our job is to clear the streets. Our streets were cleared the next day, and we were driving around normally on Thursday. Our job is to help the homeowners out. We got 10-foot pile of rubbish in the Sportsplex parking lot right now from all over the city. The company we hired out of Mississippi, they have equipment. If there was a huge tree in your house, they had a

I'm sorry that that's not my report. The governor's pretty tight with the president, so I imagine it's going to be received well. I'm not positive on that, though. But the governor's emergency response office is in the basement of City Hall, if anybody wants to go down there and talk. Tony Ferraro is the governor's guy from this area, and he reports to him in City Hall every day. Pretty extraordinary, two weeks. But I appreciate you all. Keep the good work. And I'm gonna go home and eat dinner. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Sorry, Mayor? Yes, sir.

Well, yeah, a $200,000 donation from Chicago Bears goes through the Gary Diocese, Catholic Charities. I think they did 100,000 in Illinois and 100,000 in Indiana, but I don't know if the Bears a year ago would have donated $100,000 to the Gary Diocese and Catholic Charities. So that's pretty nice. I appreciate Mr. McCaskey and the Chicago Bears organization for that donation. It's going to go help replenish our food bank. It's going to help replenish the not-for-profits that spent a lot of money helping out. So thanks for bringing that up, Councilman. Go Bears. Anyway, thank you all. It's good

Moving on to approval of minutes. I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes from the August 10th, 2026 meeting and place them on file. Second.

Motion by Councilman Salinas, second by Councilman Emerson to approve the minutes of August 10th. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? Aye. Motion carries. Eight in chambers, one on Zoom. Moving on to approval of claims.

Madam President. Yes, Councilman. Motion to approve claims. Claims dated 8-5-26, ending with claims dated 8-19-26. Claim number 6365 through claim number 6781, inclusive the amount of $3,084,068.60. Second.

Motion by Councilman Rako, second by Councilman Werpel to approve the claims. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? Carmen, roll call vote, please.

Yes. Motion carries. Aiden Chambers, one on Zoom. Moving on to public hearings, there are none. Communications. Anyone have any communications? Anyone have any communications? Anyone have any communications? Communications is now closed. Committee reports. Economic development.

Planned Commission, Councilman Spitalio.

The Planned Commission had an August 17th on 26th to allow a child care center, adult care center, and overnight care center. It's what they have to do tomorrow night in the meeting to get this to go. That's exactly what we're saying.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Morpel, Finance.

I'm sure Councilman Salinas will be given the Capital Improvement Board report, but we passed expenditures of $38,862.26, which leaves a total of unallocated funds at $2.551 million. in the Capital Improvement Board Fund. Okay.

To that point, Capital Improvement Board met on August 17th, 2026, and there were two funding allocations approved. The first funding allocation, number 338, modifications to our outdoor volleyball courts at the Hammond Sportsplex was awarded to Grimmer Construction in the amount of $25,625.26. funding allocation number 339 repair guardrail at 165th street at state line road awarded to specialties company llc in the amount of 13 237 dollars thank you thank you councilman and crime watch well this is going to be a little bit confusing because i've been unable to get in touch with

with the schools to find out exactly what's going on if we're able to gain access to the schools for our crime watch meetings. So my recommendation, thank you, Officer Ray. My recommendation would be for anyone to check out Facebook. I'll be in touch with the Hammond Police Department if we are in fact going to have crime watch meetings, but I will give you tentative dates. Hammond Pullman Crime Watch, the East Hammond Crime Watch, August 18th. Edison Community Watch were tentatively scheduled for September 2nd. pending approval from the school. Harrison Park Crime Watch will meet September 1s

Madam Chairman, Madam President. You got to read it. You want to let Carmen read it? Okay. My bad.

Yes, Councilman. Madam President, I'd like the move for resolution 26R17 to be passed. Second.

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

I'd like to read it in its entirety and also offer an amendment on formality at the end of the page where it refers to it being an ordinance instead of a resolution. But I'm going to read it in its entirety, if that's okay? Of course. All right. Whereas on August 11th, 2026, the city of Hammond and other communities in Northwest Indiana experienced A severe storm system involving sustained winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and heavy rainfall causing substantial and devastating damage within the city of Hammond. And whereas the severe weather caused substantial damage to public infrastructu

A motion by Councilman Rakos. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Kalwinski. Any discussion on the amendment? Any discussion on the amendment? Carmen, roll call vote, please, on the amendment.

Yes, motion carries, nine in favor, zero opposed. And in chambers, one on Zoom. Now for approval of the resolution. Any discussion on that? Any discussion? Any discussion? Carmen will call, though. Sorry. Please on the resolution.

Anyone else? If anyone is interested, after we pass this, we can add all of us. Carmen, roll call vote, please.

Yes. Motion carries, nine in favor, zero opposed, eight in chambers, one via Zoom. Does anyone else want to be added to this? I personally would like to. Okay. Carmen, if you would add all of us.

Thank you. Yes. All righty. Moving on to new and unfinished business.

Yesterday I was given the task of trying to get Scott Rakos to go somewhere And if you know him and I, that could be next to impossible sometimes. But I want to wish Uncle Junior over here a happy 40th birthday.

40th, yeah, that sounds good. I like that.

Thank you. Any other new and unfinished business? Any other new and unfinished business? Any other new and unfinished business? New and unfinished business is now closed. Special zoning action adopted under Indiana Code 36-7, there is nothing. Public expression. Hi, Lori. You're first up.

Thank you for that acknowledgement. Thank you, Lori. Moving on to Paul Aguilera.

Thank you, have a good evening. Next is Anthony Higgs. I trust your phone is off? Yes we are.

Would that perhaps be George? He wasn't able to connect last time.

Public expression is now closed. Motion to adjourn? Second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor?