Board of Works and Public Safety - Regular Meeting

Oh, heat, heat. Heat. Heat. N. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hello everyone. Welcome to the uh board of works meeting. Will you please stand and join me for the pledge of

allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Can we do our roll call? Mayor Austin Bont here. Member Newell here. Member Lewis here. Member Farcus here. Member Mleta here. Does everyone have a chance to look at the minutes for the last meeting? And is there a motion on them?

Make a motion to approve the minutes. I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Was there a second set of minutes or we good? Cool. So, I will not be able to be here for the whole duration of the meeting. Mr. Reader and myself have something that we're going to be going to. So maybe a little bit less than midway through I'll be switching over and Andy will be taking over um as the chair. Uh Mr. Reader, if I could do the agenda a little out of order just to get the matters that you're you know on. Would you mind coming up for the Ingram Manor um contract agreement? Yes. Thank you.

So Randy, if you could just kind of explain the current relationship between the city and Ingram and how we got into it and just what's proposed.

All right. Ingram Manor has been on our role of uh trash feeds for a number of years. It's our last mobile home community. Uh we thoroughly enjoy them because they are a very clean uh community um servicing wise and uh they do uh have two it's a rare uh situation compared to the rest of the city. We have 96 gallon totes throughout the city. They have two 64gallon totes. Um they are a private business and we want to continue that relationship within uh the trash fees that uh are charged with a special rate to them and that's going to be uh $15 per unit and there's probably about 600 units uh within that community. So

my understanding is in general we uh there's no other community where like this where they're not a private you know business setup that they have. In our case it's something that is profitable to the city and as you noted these are differentiz cans. Is that right? Yes they are. They are very profitable to us. Um our trucks usually take about two and a half hours to service the entire community. So, and they usually put out one to two totes, but no more than that. Are there any questions? I'll make a motion to approve the trash service agreement. I'll second. Uh, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. Thank you. And then Randy, if you could stay to do the bulk item appeals. Uh, yes. I'm going to move to this table.

Sure thing. All right. The first one on the agenda is this on right here. Okay, there. Um, is 50 5595 evergreen. Is there a 5595 evergreen? Anyone here for 5595 evergreen? All right. U, this one, uh, they put out a tarp on the day of a nonschuled bulk day. So, uh, their intention was to leave that tarp out there for the public. She said it was in good working condition and they put it out next to their, uh, trash can. Um, according to the policy, this would be a standard $40 charge. Uh, since they're not here to explain their side of the story, I'm asking the board to uphold this $40 fee. Any uh questions?

I'll make a motion to uphold the charge for 5595 Evergreen. I'll second that motion. Uh we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Gets us to 64 37 Falling Timbers. Yep. Uh this is an actual return service $25 fee that the tenant is um objecting to. So I'm going to call out. Is there a $649 uh 37 falling timbers here? Is that okay? Come on up. You could come to the podium or you can come to the desk. Whatever is more comfortable for you. Oh, you could come to either microphone. Whichever one you're more comfortable with. Go to the podium, sir.

Okay. Need help. Okay. Just uh if you want maybe um just explain uh the situation why you're at Peeling.

Oh, okay. Uh I got up uh one morning. Usually the trash people I after 42 years of living here, I sort of got an idea how, you know, what the routine is. Uh, we got into the afternoon. I I'm guessing around 1 1:30 and I noticed my trash can wasn't picked up yet. And I thought, "This is strange." So, I called up the street department. I told them my can wasn't uh picked up. And they asked me, he says, "Well, what is did they pick up across the street?" I said, "Yeah." I says, "Well," I said, "Well, they didn't pick it up because I assumed my cam wasn't picked up that everybody else's wasn't." And the reason why I assume that I have a large uh sugar maple tree uh on October 9th is full of plumage. You can't see through the tree. And so, I couldn't see the down the block. So, after I got off the phone with the lady, I went straight uh outside to take a better look because I didn't know if I fib to her or not. And I looked, they did pick up everybody else. And I thought, God, why didn't they pick me up? And I only could think of two things. And to this day, I can't figure it out. Either I thought the truck was so filled they couldn't get me, which is strange. You know, I never for like I said, 42 years, I never had that or they had it in for me for some reason. And then me having a temper, I started to get upset about it. I thought, well, why wouldn't they pick me up? So then I called the second time and the truck came out. They came about 20 30 foot from my garbage can and being an older guy and if anybody's old, you know how we are. You know, we get things done like right now. I went down there and waited on my driveway. The guy's 20 foot parked from me and I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. After about 10 minutes, you know, he's on the cell phone. I go up to

him. I said, "Hey, why don't you pick up my can where I could put the can back in the garage?" And he said something. Then I sort of barked back at him. Cuz you know, at that point, I was frustrated. So that that's all that it is. And then I got build for $25. And like I said, to tell all you folks, I just don't understand. To this day, I don't understand it. And my can goes out always the evening before and there's a reason for it. I got rheumatoid arthritis and if anybody knows anything about it, mornings are catastrophic for us. So that's why my can always goes out in the evening unless the weather's in clement, you know, heavy snow, rain, wind. So I don't do it. Then my wife takes it out in the morning if it comes to that. And that's the story. I mean, I just uh if I had a Bible here, I'd swear to it.

Well, and Randy, we don't have it out for him, do we? No, we we do not have it all. He's not on like a list or something, Randy. He's not on a list. Well, I'm There's no list, don't worry. But let me uh I I didn't know what to think of it. I mean, well, it just explained, let's say, and and I understand you're saying this didn't happen. I'm not accusing you. But say hypothetically you just forgot to put the can out, right? Oh, and I know that didn't happen. I'm just saying I get what you're saying, but let's say that happened. It happens to me. I've I've woken up on on a Monday morning and thought, "Oh my goodness, I forgot all about my can." Now, usually I'll run out and I'll push the can over, you know, I can do that. I can run and dash for it.

But let's say that I said, "You know what? I'll call them later." So, like, I know that they missed me. My can wasn't put to the curb. If I call the department and then they come back and get it, that's a $25 fee. So, I think what happened is you were build as if it was something that you forgot to do and then you called in. And I think by procedure, you know, you call in, say your can needs to be picked up, it would get build that way. But you're saying it was left there and you're saying it got missed. They they did every house and they missed yours is what you're saying. That's the only thing I could assume. I mean, I'm sitting out there like a goofball and trying to, you know, scratching my head. So, what you know, I don't I don't understand this.

Randy, do we have any like I don't know what the word is. Like there's not like footage or something, right, of like like his can being like up at the I'm just, you know, curious what we got, you know?

Is there another is there more to it that we need to know? Well, we do service routes and I don't see us skipping one house and going to the next house because that's not our intentions. Our intentions is to service as many uh trash cans as possible. And so in in in situations like this uh in most cases, and I'm not saying that this is particular it, but uh do people do forget to put their cans out and then they call us and say, "Hey, you didn't service us. you you took care of the res next to me, left and to the right of me, north or south of me, and I you guys didn't get my can. So, in that particular cases, and sometimes residents are very honest and say, "Hey, I forgot to put my can out. Can it give me service today?" And I and we said, "According to uh ordinance, it's a $25 return service fee." And they were, "Okay, I'll pay it. Come get my can, my two totes. They have to be emptied for next week." So in this situ situation, we document uh we did send out Vern. Vern verified that yes, the entire street was serviced and this particular can was not for some reason. The unknown reason is before us right now. I don't see one of our guys skipping a can, but

definitely not intentionally. Yeah, we didn't do it intentionally, but for the sake of this going forward that residents understand that those cans must be out by 6:00 a.m. And if you do call us uh for return service, there is a $25 service fee. So, I'm recommending the board to reverse this onetime fee of $25 for this resident. I'll make a motion to um honor the appeal for $25 and reverse the fee. I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I thank you, sir. Well, thank you. Uh I need So you guys are eliminating the $25. That's correct. Do Okay. Do I need to do anything or

uh I don't think so. No. Um did you already pay it or have you not paid it yet? No. No. I I just paid the regular $87. Then you're all you're all good. Yeah, because when I talked to either Randy or the lady, they told me just pay what I usually owe. So So now now if it if it happens again, you know, send me an email because then it's going to become a suspicious story. But I think that this is probably a one time thing. Like I said, this is 42 years. Like I said, if you had a Bible, I'd swear on that. I still don't understand it. I mean, sometimes mistakes do happen. And just know that, you know, nobody was out to get you. I think that it was more of just when you call that because uh anyways. Oh, thank you so much. Well, thank you. Is can I go out that way or Yeah, you can just wave at Z when you go by. He's the guy doing the camera.

Okay. Thank you. And like I said, this is the truth. I I I I don't understand it. Do not worry. Thank you so much for coming in today. We appreciate it. Well, thank you for listening. All right. Uh 3038 May Street is our next one. Is anyone here from 3038 May or 3 I'm sorry, 3308 May? Uh this one actually is a uh it was placed on her property. So, I'm asking that the board would consider reversing this. Make a motion we wave the fee for 3308 May Street. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. That gets us to 5291 Concord. Is anyone here from 5291 Concord? Oh, please come on up. How are you guys doing today? Good. How are you? Good. Oh my goodness. I hope you didn't come in full lawyer mode for this one. You're welcome to. Yeah, you look very sharp. Thank you. You as well. Thanks. I appreciate it. But I I'm just wearing my leather jacket today.

It's a very sharp leather jacket to say the least. And so my name is Taylor. I reside at 5291 Concord and I've lived there for roughly a year. Now I'm leasing the property. It's a rentto- own contract and I was hired by the people who own the contract initially to remove some trash in the back before I actually took over the property. Now, he was in he instructed me to do it because Nipco asked him to move it. Now, all this trash I kept in a 6 by8 trailer behind my garage until roughly 3 months ago in which I took it to the sanitation department and was instructed by a gentleman to I had gotten off of work. It was kind of late, probably 4:30 going on 5. He said that I could leave it in front of my house. He said that it should be fine. The it's like a bulk trash thing. He's like, just put it all in front, but set it in a way that makes it easy for the trashmen or the sanitation department to collect. And so I did so in good faith. And my landlord, who's the bills also currently in his name for the sanitation, he told me that he was build like four or $500 to retrieve it. And I have a picture of the trash and I'll show you just everything. Now you'll note that it's roughly a large area. Now they deduce the cost by the actual square footage that the amount of trash to go. when I had actually fitted a 6x8 trailer was roughly 48 square feet and I was charged dependent circumstantial in that picture based on the actual footage overall. You'll note in the picture probably the one that he has that there's the trash is very it's not something that I tried to do it in a way that would make it easier for them to but there's a tire there. I'm not sure

whether including the square footage had I collaborated all that trash more collectively. It would have been easily half of the square footage. Randy, is this a case of it went out on the wrong day? No, it's not. Once it goes past the 40 square feet, it's it's applied to all the uh ordinance fees.

That includes the 40 square feet. once you exceed 40 square ft. I mean, based on the amount of space there, it would make sense that that be Do you know who you talk to? Because it's true that you can't take stuff to the dumpsters at the department anymore. We still serve us through the bulk, but depending on if you look at the ordinance schedule, you can kind of see how much it costs per square feet. Um, I say that because sometimes it's sometimes more affordable to get a dumpster and sometimes it's more affordable to use the city, you know, service. I don't have a recommendation. That's up to the individual homeowner or person disposing of trash. But Randy, uh, do you have some commentary on it?

Uh, well, on that day, it was it was a little bit later day, but, uh, if you have the pictures in front of you, that that pile measured and we had Vern Pod Gorskar, our lead person, always handles these type of uh, situations when it comes to large um, measured uh, bulk items. So, that pile was 8 feet by 27 feet long. So, according to our schedule, that falls within $400. So, uh my my only um added information is that uh this is a uh an existing homeowner uh rental. The landlord could have easily communicated this with uh his tenant that hey, there is a bulk item policy uh within the trash ordinance. Please follow that. Uh we always encourage landlords to communicate that with their tenants. If they don't do that, then it's it's still it's like a speed limit sign, you know, it's still set. You we got to pay attention to what policies are within the street. And this was a large pile.

Randy, how much time did this take to complete for the department? Uh, I would say probably within uh well, it was picked up by uh one of our um a grapple trucks. So, probably it would probably took him maybe 20 25 minutes, no no longer than a half hour to to service that. And our fee is very I mean it filled up an entire uh bulk item truck which is has a 20 yard box on it and and the standard uh trash dumpster is $475. So I I I believe our fee is within reason with this bulk pile.

I'll make a motion we uphold the fee of $400 for 5291 Concord Avenue

before you guys strike a vote. I've lived in this town my entire life. I've been putting things out on the side of the road for as long as I can remember. The landlord that I have doesn't reside in the city. He wasn't aware of this. And when I did receive these instructions, he told me that it should be sufficient. Now, I deduced you're basing your your deduct your measurements on something that we have no way to acknowledge whether or not those measurements were accurately done or to see how they actually measured to gain the square footage of the actual area that was deduced. And so not really knowing and just speculating based on what somebody else said without any verifiable data seems contestable. And I just, you know, I see here that because I have this paper now. It was given to me. I did speak with a gentleman at the sanitation department. He said to put in front of my house said it wouldn't be an issue. But if it's under 99 to at the sanitation department,

no, I did not catch his name. They were closing. He said that it was kind of late. They wouldn't have time now. I'd have to do something to Was he just a guy like leaving? Was he wearing some like your shirt? He was wearing high viz. So I assume that he you didn't catch a name or anything. You don't know what day it happened or um it was roughly a month before this happened. And even there's someone telling you that you leave stuff out on the curb. That doesn't necessarily mean that uh they're saying it's free or that it's a lower cost. What do you think is the cost of this pickup or like what would you think because I mean uh it certainly isn't free, you know?

No, of course not. Um, I mean it did save me the trouble of having to go unload it myself. But at the end of the day, I thought if I fit it in a 48 square foot trailer that I would be charged more of an acceptable fee and I thought maybe $100 for it because I could have just dropped it off at the dump, but it was late at work and he said just to put it in front of my house. I spread it out like I mean it wasn't just you know you could obviously tell that everything is separated quite well so that they could attain it. Now, if I would have just put it all, if I had known, I could have put it all together and it would have been under 100 square feet easily.

Randy, the general rule to put something in front of your house is to imagine a sheet of plywood, 4 by8, correct? Yes. And I'm looking at this photo and there's no possible way that that would fit on a sheet of plywood. No, but you can see also in the photo, everything is spread out very well. It's it's spread out in such a way that it would make it easier for them to attain. If I put it all together, I'm sure it would have been more than a 4x8 sheet of plywood easily, maybe two. But 4x8 is still 32 square feet and times two, that's 64.

You have to go by the ordinance though because the ordinance is set by the council for what the rate is and that's based on square feet. And that's what's the, you know, again, we have to apply that very carefully. It's, you know, it is a measurement and you can see what it measures too. Well, it's just area because it's so spread out. I mean, that's my whole argument is I had everything spread out. But and you acknowledged that if there were a 4x8 sheet of plywood is what would work. You even said this would not have fit on a 4x8. So, the charge would have been the same whether he' have stacked it up, condensed it, right? Or would it have been different? Oh, that's uh he could possibly condensed it more. I don't know what those measurements would be. If I wouldn't have spread it out and I would have stacked things.

It' have to be kind of high. I mean, generally 5. Randy, would you be comfortable with reducing from the 400 to maybe compromising at $200 on it? If if he would agree to that, yes, we would you agree to $250? I would. I think given the fact that there's definitely experience here of learning how it goes. I mean, I'd be comfortable with that. I'll amend my motion to charge of $250. Now, a second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Thank you.

I would just like to publicly say that always encourage residents to either check our website or call us directly at the office and uh communicate what you plan on putting at the curb and the particular size. Just because people say, "Hey, I'm going to put some bulk out there." I mean, it's it's very vague statement. Now, he says, "I'm cleaning out my entire backyard and going to put that to the curb." Might want to call the office on that. So, thank you. And then that gets us to I think one more. I think that is 6802. Ava, is there anyone here from 628? I'm sorry. 6802 Ava.

Um, yeah. I'd like to ask the board to reverse this one based on it's possibly from her neighbor. Her neighbor put her uh put this uh pallet against her tote and she said it wasn't hers and there's a time discrepancy on the picture itself. So I'm just I make a motion we wave the charge or reverse the charge at 62 I'm sorry 6802 Ava. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you, Randy. And there's one more. Oh. Oh.

Was this the cost of sending the mailer out for the Okay. So, with the new proposed trash rates, uh, we have contacted Minute Demand to, uh, print those mailers up to go out to Portage. Uh, this is the US postage cost of, uh, was 4,000, how much was it? $4,310.50. Yes. I'm asking the board of works to give permission for the clerk's office to cut a check uh, this week for that postage. and we met with um the clerk treasur's office to go over um where in the funds we had the ability to cover this expense. So, we identified that.

Make a motion to approve the expense for the mailer. I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you. Thank you. That'll get us to the quadant. I hope I said that right. Contract for the police. Is there anyone here from the police department to speak on that? Not looking at you. I'm looking for the only You're not familiar with it. Tom, do you know anything about that one? Mayor, I do. I can speak on it. Okay.

So, the um clerk's office went from Pittney to the quadrant for the mailers. It weighs the mail and stamps it and everything. and the police department was still with Pittney and noticed that it was at a lower rate. So, they're asking to change from the Pittney to the quadrant. That makes sense. I'll make a motion we approve the move to quadrant for the police department. I'll second.

We have a motion in a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. We have the street light agreement for um Farmington um P R LLC. Good morning. This is a standard street light agreement with a new subdivision. Um for uh Providence at Farmington, there are 31 street lights going in in that entire development. Um as usual, the developer pays for the first two years of power to these uh street lights. And that's what you have in front of you. Um the department would recommend approval of the street light agreement. Any questions or a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the street light agreement for Farmington um LLC. I'll second that. We have a motion in a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you. That'll get us to the doortodoor request for Frontier. Is anyone here to speak for Frontier? Not seeing anyone here to speak for Frontier. Do we either want to table shoot down or approve? All right. Do you want to make a motion, Andy? I'll make a motion to um deny the door to door request from Frontier. I'll second that motion. We have a motion in a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

Next, we have a special event. Salvation Army will be gentler on you than we were on Frontier, sir. Just in in spirit. We'll see.

I appreciate that because I'm here. Yes. Um, so as you know, uh, for the last four years, this will be our fourth year partnering with the the city of Portage, uh, putting up our kettle tower, uh, for PR for our red kettle season. Um, so I guess I'm here to get the official approval because I got kind of interimm approval to get it set up. So, um, I'm here to seek official approval to, uh, put up the kettle tower again next to the Christmas tree at Founder by Founder Square between the police and fire departments. as noted. I mean, this is a repeat and we appreciate it. So, I mean, at least I appreciate it. We'll see what the board says, but

I'll make a motion we approve the Salvation Army's u putting up the big light at the kettle. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you. Thank you. That gets us to um letter of credit for Lenar Homes.

Essentially, this is a performance bond for the Swanson Trail subdivision that is being constructed at the moment. Um the bond is in the amount of uh 12,7,348. Uh again, this is performance bond for the Swanson Trail subdivision. Um, in order for them to get their plants recorded, uh, we need either the subdivision be completely constructed or a bond in place. And this covers that bond. I'll make a motion to approve the letter of credit for Linar Homes. I'll second that.

We have a motion in a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. gets us to 5159 Stone Avenue senior discount. I don't know why you guys are coming up. I can't imagine you're ready for the senior discount. Not us. No, not quite. Um, we're requesting the senior discount on the on one of our trash cans. My older parents live with us. They have for the last six years. It is their permanent address. My father is also a veteran. They pay half the utility bills, half the trash, everything. So, we're just requesting a senior discount on one trash can.

Randy, would you mind coming up? My understanding, well, can you explain the senior discount as structured? What it takes for someone Well, let me put it this way. If a senior is living in the house, but they're not the only person living in the house. What would it take to be on the senior discount that it ended up here? Um, I think the only thing the only stipulation I know that it the resident has to be 65 or older. We were told that they had to be paying the bill. The bill had to be in their name. So, they suggested we come here. That would have to be a clerk office question. Are you familiar with the situation? No, that would Michelle would have to answer that.

Okay. Not trying to give you a runaround by any means. I'm just I'm wondering if there's a simpler solution to your problem. You know, I know there's also um like veterans who active veterans who don't have their bill in their name are also not getting a discount because it is not in their name. So, it should be meaning it's in the spouse's name. Yeah. Like it's in the spouse's name and not the veteran's name. There's not like a great way like to do that structurally because you know we don't want anybody not you know we don't want anyone to pretend that they're a senior when they're not you know but at the same time like if that ever happens

Michelle um if familiar with this situation um do you know uh or maybe you're not I don't know so they do you mind repeating what's going on the bill has to be in the person's name who qualifies for the discount that's bas is that the main spot of it just that it's the bill is not in the name of the senior living at the at the address. They have to live there. It has to be um in their name for them to get the discount. Do they have to own the house, the property to to have the bill in their name? No, it used to be that way, but they changed it. So, I mean, you could actually put the bill in their name and then they would get it. Would that be correct? Oh, then then we would get it for both cans. Correct. You would get it for if you got two cans at one house, then yeah, you would get it for the the

We were trying to be fair and pay for ours. You get one $3. You're welcome to give the city more money. I mean, like if you pay more than what you're Oh, we we won't fight you. Just like the IRS, right? Like it's one single $3ount. That was my concern with splicing it. But if you guys are comfortable having the bill in their name, if they're living in the house, I mean, if it's their address, I mean, I don't know where they're getting the money to pay for it, but it's just to say that like, you know, if they're the ones paying, then the whole house qualifies for the discount. The intention when it was started was had to be your primary residence. You had to show proof that you owned it. Over the years that has changed a little bit to just like primary is it their primary residence? Yes.

I would say if it's their primary residence if they're the ones on the bill the the whole house would get it and that might be a little simpler than us trying to splice it here if that makes sense. Sure. So you're basically all you're suggesting is put the bill in their name and then apply for the senior discount. Actually, what I was suggesting for other people in the same instance is that I bring my father in provides proof of residency and he gets the discount on one totem as opposed to So the challenge for us would be splicing up the cost of one tote both economically and just keeping track and all that in the house. It'd be a lot simpler if he just What are we What do you mean you're splicing up?

So what what we're not but what what they came in proposed was that we splice the bill and give like a partial senior discount, but that's not something we can do very feasibly. Isn't that still going to happen? If they only get one tote, you're going to get $3 off. It doesn't matter if you have one tote or if you have 50. That's not per tote. $3 off the total bill. Gotcha. So, if you had two cans, if the person who's on the account is a senior, well, then it's not 30, it's 27. If you have one can, it's going to be 15. You know, if you've got um three cans, it's going to be the cost of three minus $3 because it's not a discount per can. Gotcha. So, I think that might be the simpler way to solve it. Cool. Thank you. Thank you.

I don't know if we got a motion on that. Just more of a Yeah.formational. All right. That gets us to um 750 North, 7 um 500 West, request for 40 chickens. And I saw you come in. How's it going?

Good. Sorry for my tardiness. Uh my name is Al Hwlet. I currently reside at 750 North 500 West, the farm property that is on the west side of 500 behind Kohl's um behind Preston Trails now, formerly Behind Coohl's. So the request currently right now as stated is for 40 chickens. Uh I currently have read the ordinance, see what the ordinance is. However, I am in part of a very rural area of Portage. Um, the buffer between my property and the next neighboring property to the north is probably a good 75 to 80 yards in between. Uh, this is also something that I had already been doing. I've already been raising chickens for their eggs for sale. Um, and I just want to increase the amount of chickens that I currently have. There is my chickens are currently now in a grain bin is where they're housed at because the property is a former farm that was used for grain. So with the grain bins, uh they they pretty much are well protected inside there. And I know I can get well over 40 inside the grain bin with it being 25 to 30t wide and 30 feet high. Do we know this property zoned farm or

no? Yes. So this property has been kind of operating as a farm for years. Uh the problem is our or our um zoning is absent of any farm you know zoning. So um he has been operating this way for for many years. So uh that's the problem. We really don't have agriculture in in our zoning. So, but if you property, it's clearly a farm setting. So,

and it's not I'm not trying to over well, I don't know what the right word is. It's not as if you you're doing this in the middle of like Austin Hills or Capitol Estates where you're surrounded by home well over there. I mean, it if somebody drove by and didn't know they were in city limits, it I will at least say it doesn't appear to be, you know, that way. That is correct. So that is for now. But are there any proposed subdivisions coming in adjacent to this property that you know of? I mean or is this could this be something that's conditional that would have to be repeated? Because if let's say someone develops next to that and then maybe that now it becomes more of an issue.

No. No. There is there is a subdivision to the north but there is a a pretty good buffer. Yeah. So he just happens to be in our city limits. Yes. So, and did not know until I started doing more research because I wanted to add more. Uh, cuz my family and I, we have a produce business. Uh, we have the home operation permit, home occupation permit that's already been taken care of and I'll be here next month for something else. Yeah, we're working through all of that with him.

Scott, would you say we're good to proceed if we wanted to grant the request? Are there any? Yes, this is the proper board to deal with this unique issue. Any other questions or a motion?

I would have brought some eggs with me, but I was kind of moving kind of fast. So, with that being stated, um I understand the nervousness of it. Um so, just a little background on myself. I work in law enforcement 16 years. Uh my wife is an environmental chemist. So when it comes down to rules, regulations, things of that nature, we try to stay on top of it. Uh we get certified every single year with different uh food safety produce. So we do that pretty much every year. Just a bit of clarification, you said you you're currently raising chickens. The request is for 40.

Yes, sir. So, what would the total be? 40. The total would be 40. I'll make a motion we grant the exemption to allow Mr. Hullet to have up to 40 chickens on his property. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please uh signify by saying I. I. Thank you. All right. Thank you. gets us to annual street light maintenance agreement. Circle R.

Good morning. Every uh year the city enters into a contract for uh street light maintenance of the privately owned street lights that we have. For example, the ones along Willow Creek Road and the ones uh downtown and along Central Avenue, they're not owned by NIPCO. We actually own them. Therefore, we need to hire somebody to maintain them. Um, so this is a contract for the next year's maintenance work on those lights. I'll make a motion to approve the annual street light maintenance agreement with Circle R. I'll second that motion. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

And that'll get us to the uh street light agreement for H&T. Uh, very similar. Um, it is for our privately owned street light infrastructure. um just a contract with H&T.

I'll make a motion we approve the street light agreement with HT. I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I.

Gets us to the Bower Farms phase 2 maintenance bond and phase 2 subdivision bond. So, uh, for Bower Farm subdivision, I have a maintenance bond and a sub, I'm sorry, and a performance bond needing to be approval or I'm so sorry, needing to be approved. The performance bond is in the amount of $211,643.75 and the maintenance bond is in the amount of $44,781.75. uh bond uh the amounts were calculated by our department. I believe our city attorney has reviewed the language and um the department recommends approval of both of these bonds. Any questions or a motion? We'll make a motion we approve the Bower Farms phase 2 maintenance bond and subdivision bond based on staff recommendation.

I'll second that. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Mayor, you skipped an item on the agenda. Oh, what did I skip? Uh, Aba Marsh uh commercial service agreement. Um, every year we have agreement uh contracts and agreements with uh engineering companies. Um, we had one with them last year. This is just for the next upcoming year. Thank you for catching that. Of course. Any questions or a motion on that? This is just a continuation of what we have as a task contract for when we need them. I'll make a motion to approve the AVID March 2026 professional service agreement. I'll second that. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you.

That gets us to the purchase agreement um for set pin herb uh or herb uh fire equipment. Looks like we have someone from the fire department coming.

Good morning.

Good morning. Um, so we are looking to replace our engine 2, which is a 2011 uh, fire engine with right now 98,000 miles on it. Um, those engines do about 2,000 calls a year a piece. Um, the proposal in front of you is from Suffin Manufacturing um, for $998,700. Um, they are Sourcewell compliant. So, we'll be doing this through Sourcewell. Uh we did also request bids from two other companies. Uh they were both substantially higher for this uh similar engine. So we are requesting um funds um derived from uh geobond to purchase this engine.

Carrie, have we Oh, I'm sorry. You go ahead. What's the delivery date? Because these things are always so long. So, so with these we're going to um a um stock market. So, it'll be delivered in October of next year. So, it's accelerated um meets 95% of our our current spec. Um so, in order to get it in an accelerated fashion, we went to the stock market. Carrie, did we is this the geo bond that got approved already? because I know we have another one coming up and I just want to make sure I'm not losing track of my geo bonds. I hope my question

it's part of the geo bond but I'm not sure that we closed on this one yet. We if it's it's in the same one as the tower. I believe it's closed on already. Okay. I thought I thought we hadn't voted on the one with the tower yet. I don't Liz handles all of that so I'm not sure. I apologize. I'm not trying to delay this up. My concern is I there's two different bonds and in my mind I'm just concerned that one might not be settled yet because we advertise one. Can we can we check with is Tammy there? I think she'd be able to answer hypothetically like we wouldn't have trouble because the bond would pass next week as the plan. But

we could do contingent. Yeah. like to know. You know, this also uh puts us in um so the new um emissions for 2027 gets way stricter. Um and the new motors are not even out and tested yet. And so this will put us in that last generation of the current emissions motors for this engine. agree with Andy. I think we can do it contingent if that was already part of the plan because I believe it was part of the plan to do this. It was part of the plan. Um I thought it was approved already but

and I want to make sure. Yeah, if we can but Hey Liz. Hello. Hello. Hello. I apologize. We got all these bonds and I just want to make sure we're talking about the right one. Okay. Would you mind just repeating it real quick or the one being referenced? What we're looking to do? So, we're looking to purchase a fire engine from Suffen Manufacturing. Um, it was in the geo bond. Um, I believe it was closed already, but that's that's the question whether it was in the bond we've already uh closed or um is it which one the new the 2025 bond or the 2020 or 2023? The current bond 2025.

Okay. It hasn't closed yet. It's going to close in December. That was my question. That's I wanted to make sure closing in December. Um I the timeline for that is I believe the 16th. Yeah, that's when we're going to be hopefully latest is going to be like the 20 right after Christmas. And when we before the end of the year and I was going to say Liz, I think we put this in there like this was part of our plan when we talked with Buzz. That's why I wanted to make sure we're talking about the right bond. Okay. It's definitely in there. Would you be comfortable is if we approve this contingent on the bond closing or do you feel that it's better to wait until the bond closed for us to approve this? Does that make sense? Um the bond's going to close. Okay. So it is Yeah. Yes.

Make a motion um to approve the uh purchase agreement with her fire equipment contingent upon the closing of the 2025 GO bond. Gio bomb. I'll second that motion. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you so much, Liz. You could imagine how I wanted to make sure we didn't make a mistake there or get the bond wrong. No problem. Anything else while I'm out here? Think we're good.

Okay. All right. That'll get us to the um Cardinal Crossing phase six request to release. The developer of Cardinal Crossing um has requested that their maintenance bond be released for phase six of their development. Um staff has uh reviewed the infrastructure. Everything is up to par and so uh the staff would recommend uh release of the maintenance bond in the amount of 352,247.18. Make a motion that we release the cardinal crossing bond on staff recommendation.

I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. So, let's see then. That gets us to Kowanas. Is anyone here to speak for Kowanas? Oh, good. I I could have done it if you weren't here, but I'm glad you're here. Come on up. No, I'll let you do it. I'm excited you're here.

Hi, my name is Renee. I'm from the Portage Quantis Group. We are here asking per permission for a special event request for the Kuanas Christmas parade which will be on December 6, 2025. Um, you should have received a map of the roads that will need to be closed. Um, I have checked with police. They are on board. It's the same route that we've had for the last two years. Uh, fire has no problem and I have not heard any problems from the street department. So, I'll make a motion we approve the Kowanas Christmas parade route. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, I need to be heading out. Um, I wasn't Well, I'll say I'll say this. I need to head to the next thing. I know Randy does, too. So, Andy, I'm going to ask if you can take over the gavl. Okay. Next, we've got the Lakeshore Development Subdivision bond. And we might as well do the maintenance bond at the same time.

Exactly. So, um, this is for the River Trace subdivision. and um we held a performance bond for the installation of sidewalks and erosion control. So the developer is asking the release of their performance bond and the acceptance of a maintenance bond for the same work. So if we could please approve the um maintenance bond first and the maintenance bond is in the amount of $34,758.

Do we have a motion to approve or any questions? A motion to approve the Lakeshore development maintenance bond. A second. Do a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. And if we could release their performance bond in the amount of $173,790. I'll make a motion that we release the Lakeshore development subdivision bond upon staff recommendation. I'll second. We have the motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. I.

Next we've got Oops. We We've got the award of professional appraisal services for rightway acquisition relating to the Loot Road reconstruction project.

We have uh 21 parcels of uh rightway rightway off of 21 parcels that we need to acquire for our Loot Road reconstruction project. So we requested um uh proposals from um appraisal appraisal companies and um we requested from five companies. We re received three back. Um we want to move forward with our two least uh costly appraisal groups. The first one is Veil Appraisal Group in the amount of $15,900 and the second one is Kavachvich and Company incororated in the amount of $9,600. This is for their services to appraise all 21 parcels.

Anybody have any questions? If not, we'll entertain a motion. Kavakovich.

Kabakovich. Yes. Yes. And fail appraisal group. We need two. Yes. I make a motion that we approve Kolivich for the amount of $9,600 and Veil Appraisal Group in the amount of $15,900 for the appraisals along Loop Road. Second. There's a motion in a second. Any other questions? All in favor say I. I. Next, that takes us to the Midwestern Electric annual traffic signal maintenance.

Similar to our street light maintenance, this is for our traffic signals. It is an annual contract uh to perform maintenance on said traffic signals. Um Midwestern Electric seems to be the ones that uh want the work the most. They're the only ones that provided a proposal this year and they've done the work in the past. So, staff would recommend entering into a contract with Midwestern Electric to perform this work. I'll make a motion we approve the traffic signal maintenance contract with Midwestern Electric. I'll second that. We have a motion to second. All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you.

Thank you, Sandy. Next, we've got the fire department applicant board uplist. Good morning. I am here to seek approval for the 2026 fire department board up list. Uh you should have four applicants in front of you. All applicants meet the requirements as stated in the ordinance and the procedures. I'll make a motion we approve the fire department's uh boardup list of four. A second.

We have a motion and a second. Any questions or discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you.

Next we have the approval for the mayor to sign the closing documents for purchase of property. So um we've been working on a design a redesign of the intersection of Central and Samuelson Road and um we came across a parcel that was actually up for sale. Um it worked perfect into our plan and um we decided to actually purchase it rather than purchase right away from them. Purchase the whole parcel um in order to do so at the closing. We need somebody to sign um and the closing documents and um apparently taking the board of works minutes uh with you all giving him permission to do so. He can sign those. So uh need approval for the mayor to sign off on closing documents. I'll make a motion to approve the authorization for the mayor to close uh the closing documents for the purchase property.

I'll second that motion. We have a motion and a second. Any other questions? All in favor say I. I. Thank you.

All right. That moves us into claims. We've got the November 25th, 2025.

Can we do something before the claims? This one should have been on there. I think it got lost in the shuffle a little bit. So, instead of making them wait more, they want to do a food truck pavilion on 307 Willow Creek Road. Um, we'd like to give food trucks uh permanent residence uh to be able to bring in repeat customers and kind of just help them, you know, make their business. Um, and I'd like to it's a oneacre piece of land. I think it's perfect location right off the main road, Willow Creek. uh like to have house eight to 10 food trucks, kind of have a backyard setting, bring in families, community, friends, offer bags, maybe live music to local artists, jam sesh. Nothing too loud, too late. Just kind of bring the community together. Um so yeah, that's my plan. That's my vision. This has been my dream for a long time. This is my husband, Duncan Foster. We've traveled the world, him with military experience, me as a flight attendant, and I've seen food truck pavilions around the world. And I think we don't have anything like this in Northwest Indiana. So, I'd like to bring a unique and creative idea starting with portage.

So, would this be considered like a permanent business or is this a special event type of request? Not an event. I'm seeking approval to have a food truck pavilion, like permanent residence. Um, I would rent the land out to food trucks, give them a So, are we the right people, Scott, to approve this? This is an event. No, it's not an event. It's us, I guess. 307 Willow Creek Road right there at the light by Stone and Trail Creek. It's right there at the lake.

We've gotten bounced around. Nobody really knows where to put me. Well, the is I won't bounce to you around. Yeah. Whether or not is there a structure there? There's no structure and I'm not So, the underlying issue is whether or not the zoning allows for it. If the zoning allows for it, then you don't need to come to any board. Okay. If the zoning if you have a zoning problem, then your relief would come from the board of zoning appeals. Okay. So, if you have a problem, let's say you you want to have an active location, but you don't have the primary structure, which might be your issue, then you come and ask for that. Okay. Not sure here's the proper place. If this was a two weekend event on this corner, I think this is the right place. Okay.

If this is permanent from time to memorial, I don't think Florida works is the right place. Okay. So, where should I present this idea to? Well, there are some uh site plan issues. I believe that um you need to present the actual site plan as far as the lot dimensions where they are as far as site uh setbacks um and work with BCA for any variances involved. Okay. I've

total coverage there's a couple couple things. Uh there I believe there was also some state issues with the food trucks being there permanently. as far that that's a state issue um and not mobile not leaving that premises every night. So I think there's some state issues too. So I'm not sure. So I spoke with the use variance and board of works and they've put me here in this meeting today. Right. So, I've been working with Michelle and the ladies in there, and I I mean, I guess I just don't know. I'm wondering what the border works um what that

Yeah, if this was temporary, we could approve it. Planning. Planning. Okay. That's his department. His staff will walk you through it. Perfect. All right. We think it's a great idea. I just don't We're just not the right board to approve. Yeah, that's that's the we have looked at this and there are you know we need to see what you know what the lot dimensions are what the coverage is where where they are as far as setbacks curbing I think the confusion is real because if you were doing a food truck one time somewhere five times somewhere this probably is the correct board got it

a permanent location for food trucks to come and go is a different question and you end up at zoning because it's permanent That's why so I I don't want you to feel like you've been just moved around apartments, but it also is the food trucks are transient. They're a one time event, five time event. Again, that would be the right. Yeah, this is a it's a brand new. We've never seen this before. So, it's and it's really not defined in ordinance or in zoning. So um yeah, we need to work through the state issues, the site plan issues as well. Okay, got it. So planning

all right, thank you. We'll get together right afterwards and Okay.

Okay. Now, we'll move on to the claims from uh November the 25th, 2025. We'll entertain a motion whenever you're ready. I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I.

I. Next up, we've got the uh payroll claims from October 17, 2025. I'll make a motion to approve the October 17th claims the amount of 2,18,87 $71.75.

Now a second. We have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Next up, we've got the payroll claims from October 31st, 2025 in the amount of 2,14,588.98. I make a motion we approve the claims in the amount of 2,14,588.98. I'll second that. Have a motion and second. All in favor say I. I. I.

And next we've got the October 2025 pension payroll claims in the amount of $26,4762. I'll make a motion to approve the pension payroll for October 2025 in the amount of $26,04762.

I'll second that. We have a motion and two seconds. All in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Are there any other matters or business to be brought before the board? Yeah, please come up. My name is Tina Nebian and I'm here representing the firm uh which is from the boardup list. So I was just wondering if the boardup list if it could be read aloud who's on it since it's a public list. Can you do that, Chief? Absolutely. Thank you.

Uh, Tri County Board up, the firm, 1800 board up, and who? Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. Anybody else have any else for the board this evening, this afternoon? If not, entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. I'll second. Motion second. All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you.