Connie Gramarossa President Richard Mrozinski Vice President Joseph Haney Member  LA PORTE COUNTY 555 Michigan Avenue, Suite 202 La Porte, IN 46350-3400 (219)326-6808 ext. 2229  BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS  NDIAND  La Porte County Commissioners' Meeting Minutes  Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. County Complex Room 3 & via Zoom  Vicel President Rich Mrozinski called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. followed by thel Pledge of Allegiance led by Lal Porte Mayor Tom Dermody. A moment of silence was observed in honor of D-Day, June 6, 1944, Normandy invasion oft thel beaches by allied Auditor' Tim Stabosz called the roll: Commissioner Rich Mrozinski Present; Commissioner Joe Haney- Present; and Commissioner Connie Gramarossa Present via Zoom. Quorum present therefore meeting commenced. Considered the agenda. Commissioner Mrozinski requested a motion to add to the: agenda: Consider permission to approach the Council with Fleet information Enterprise; Consider permission for travel to Denver, August 26-28, for annual IAAO conference- Mike Shultz, Assessor and Consider permission to approach the Council for restroom ceiling repairs at Community Corrections Sheryl Lestinsky, Director of Facilities. Commissioner Haney motioned to add: Consider Cover Sheet forl Bridge 97. Commissioner Gramarossa, that was not brought to us prior to this meeting. Attorney Scott Pejic, County Engineer Jay Sullivan presented the cover sheet prior to thei meeting and legally, I'm okay with it. Commissioner Mrozinski, is there atime-frame on it? Commissioner Gramarossa, review it for the next meeting. Commissioner Mrozinski, do we have a motion to add the first three items? Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to add thei items. Commissioner Mrozinski seconded. Motion Considered approval of the May 15,20241 minutes. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve. Commissioner Mrozinski Auditor Tim Stabosz read the Claims with Payroll ending S172024-5/.502904.13 and 012024-5148794269. Commissioner Haney motioned to approve payroll. Commissioner Gramarossa seconded. Commissioner Mrozinski remined that roll call should be taken while Zoom isi in use. Roll call: Commissioner Gramarossa Aye; Commissioner Haney. Aye and Auditor Tim Stabosz read the Operating Expense Claims- $3,343,772.71. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve the claims. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Haney- Aye; Commissioner Gramarossa Ayeand Stephen Nightingale, 9981 E. 10001 N., Lal Porte, publicly thanked the Commissioners and former Commissioner Sheila Matias for theirs support, Shaw Friedman's efforts to enforce the "Stop Work' order that was issued by former Commissioner Sheila Matias on April 4, 2022. Publicly thanked Shaw Friedman for his efforts on behalfoft the Commissioners and all other County residents who feel similarly about. Judge Steele's May 23, 2024 verdict and who feel that the verdict is in no way a negative reflection ofhow Mr. Friedman pursued this matter. The. Judge's decision means anyone can do what exactly Mr. Versaw has been doing sincel December Stevel Holifield, 6782 E. 100 S., Mill Creek, glad to see the County and City working together on the expansion for Park Street in Lal Porte, this might lead to an annexation of Severs Road. Extended anj invitation tol Elected Officials/Department Heads to Fishl Lake on. July 20th, Lions Paws for Support is hosting a fundraiser tol benefit veterans with service dogs. Emily Howard willl have food gift  troops during WWII. 80th anniversary, 4,500 allied forces died that day.  carried 2-0.  seconded. Motion carried 2-0. Commissioner Haney- Nay.  Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Motion carried 3-0. Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Motion carried 3-0.  Public Comment  6, 2021, on any property inl La Porte County, regardless of zoning, as long as they obtain an MS4 permit.  cards for veterans.  ORIGINAL    Terry Zimmer, 5642 S. Highway 421, Westville, owns/operates Tazcol Redi-Mix, under the circumstances with construction going on ini front ofhis plant, the detour that the State provided has resulted in 25%1 more cost on his product, he is looking for relief orl help from the County to use the County roads. Commissioner Mrozinski, spoke to INDOT, Highway Department, and Sheriff. George Callas, 708 Toronado Dr, Lal Porte, green sheets sent out by Assessor's office, started looking at all non-profits that don't pay taxes. Commissioners should set a fee (not a tax) for those not paying any taxes andy yet they have several parcels. La Porte Hospital pays $20,000 a year in taxes yet Franciscan pays nothing because they are ai non-profit. He is aware that most ofthe churches give back' to the community but being ar non-profit should still be made to pay something, at least to cover the cost for Matt Reardon, Office of Community and Economic Developmen/Govemment Affairs, Golden Spike ceremony on June 18th at2:00 Amanda Lahners, Health Department, willl be participating in the HIV National Awareness Day on June 27h, partnering with Walgreens at 18161 Franklin Street in Michigan City providing free HIV tests and syphilis tests. Since 2018, ani increase of2,300 congenital syphilis cases have been reported in the State of] Indiana. Partnering with. Aperion Health, distributing Walgreens gift cards tot the first 20j people to be tested on. June 27th. Announced: her office willl be moving! backi into the Complex Building on the 4th floor after the flood in December 2022. June 24th willl be their first day opened back in the County Complex Building after almost 18 Considered permission to approach the Council for additional appropriation for City ofl Lal Porte, La Porte City Mayor Tom Dermody. Great employees that work for both the Cities and the County, Matt Reardon andl Bert Cook are two experts in Economic Development. What is good for the County is good for the City and what's good for the City is good for the County. Wer need more housing. Other communities have received funds from the County fori infrastructure and the $500,000 requested is 25% of the overall commitment and the City ofLal Porte will cover 75%. The County Council has already approved the request at their last meeting for the Park Street expansion and Mitch Feikes Builders' project. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve the request. Commissioner Haney, has the City ofLal Porte repealed its ordinance yet in regard to refusing toj provide services, water or sewer, to any County residents who have not been annexed into the City? Mayor Tom Dermody, wel have not. Commissioner Haney, any plans to do that? Mayor Dermody, because? Commissioner Haney, the Vibrant Communities' study show we need housing everywhere in our County, thei issue though is the City has for the last two years taken a hard line against providing any services outside of city limits without annexation andi ift the City wants to engage in good faith with the County Ibelieve they should be actually entering, willingly entering into a partnership, it goes both ways and we' ve had the recent annexation of391 North where the City threatened to cut off water to all those residents out there ifthey didn't annex intot the City. It seems to me that ift the City wanted to engage in some good faith here today... President Gramarossa, that is resolved. Commissioner Haney, : they would be repealing that ordinance ifthey wanted to enter aj partnership with us. Mayor Dermody, I'm not sure what this has to do with housing but what I will tell you is Commissioner Haney, what it has do to with Mr. Mayor is that we have here in Lal Porte County and we want toj partner with folks, right, so like in Michigan City wej partnered with them... Mayor Dermody, you say you do. Commissioner Haney, right, thei issue ist that we can'thave- it's not appropriate for the City to come to us for. ARP money for water and sewer infrastructure in the City when they're refusing toj provide any of those services to anyone else in the County. Mayor Dermody, we actually are which you' re not paying any portion oft for all the improvements that you've ignored for years and we're going to take that on, also, ifwe talk about team work andj partnership, how much do you) pay us for our fire departments to come out on emergency calls, every single day 81 to 9, wej partner with) EMS, 911- how much doy you) pay the City for that? Commissioner Haney, how much does the City pay the volunteer departments tol help us out? Mayor Dermody, I'm asking because we're doing this work for the County, how much do you pay in that? Commissioner Haney, the same amount the City does for volunteer departments. Mayor Dermody, I'm sorry ift thisi is a confusing situation for you, we've also partnered with the County LIT to make our County Sheriff's Department benefit more than we have, we treat waste water, Rolling Prairie's waste water and on the island, we've partnered financially with the corridor andl I don't! know ifthis isj just political on your part, we transcribed: your comments from aj podcast you did at WLOI where all yout talk about, because you were quick to announce the Microsoft deal when you knew that was under NDAS (Non-Disclosure Agreement): and no one was supposed to announce it and maybe this is political, ifiti is... but yous said, 'the Microsoft, wel have executives coming in and La Porte County all their paycheck and taxes go here instead of splitting with Porter County and St.. Joe County. Iwant my family tol live here with me, we need housing ofa all types, we need water and sewer.' I could read all oft this and) Iu understand people say things politically to get elected but thisi is something where 'hey, $360,000 ofhomes need to be built so people can move up." I'mi fine with the pettiness. We are solving problems on 391 North, we: are improving lives, financially al homeowner will pay less in their property taxes, in their water and theirs sewer: and whiley you chose to ignore it, and this is fine because 'vista views' on Pine Lake are important and I know that's) your top priority, our top priority is housing in Lal Porte and making a difference for families. This is a25% ask andi this is a great partnership. President Gramarossa, I made a motion to accept. Commissioner Mrozinski seconded the motion. Commissioner Haney, it will not be fiscally responsible for the County. Roll call: Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye; Commissioner Haney Nay and Commissioner Gramarossa Aye.  mailing out the appeal sheets ort taxes mailed out. Department Reports/Comments  p.m. at. JBCI Rail. Thisl has been in the works since 2012.  months since the flood. Water lab will need tol be recertified prior to opening.  Requests  2  ORIGINAL    Motion carried 2-1. Commissioner Mrozinski, thank you fort thei invite to) your presentation. You've got a great team and you all work together. I'm envious oft that because I don'talways enjoy that but thej progress that you' ve made since you' vel been Mayori is absolutely amazing, you'lll leave al legacy and II look forward to the opportunity to continue to work together, the Golden Spike thingi is goingt tol bej pretty awesome, we' vel been working on that for al long time, sorry that you got caught up in this - 210 more days and you won't havet to put up with either one of us SO.. Mayor Dermody, Ijust wantt to thank yout twoi for thinking big and) Mr. Haney, this is not personal, thisi is professional, we don't take it personal, Imean we're still, from the City Park, going to work on those five trees that we're going to1 move: for the 'vista view' on Pine Lake as well, that is at top priority, and we will continue to dig holes for housing and we're going to change lives and Lal Porte is the place to be so thank you all. Commissioner Haney, that's awesome, I would recommend reaching out to Kingsfordi Heights, they've got 701 houses under development, another 300 on the way, they haven'tneed tor reach out to the County fort that, it would be fantastic for the City ofLal Porte to take some pointers from Kingsford Heights, it'sa Considered proposed settlement of Board ofCommissioners V. D&MI litigation to allow sale of disputed parcel to unrelated entity or individual with injunction/stop work orders remaining inj place until sale closes. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Haney- Aye; Commissioner Gramarossa Aye: and Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Motion carried 3-0. Considered Property Transfer Ordinance, Amanda Lahners, Health Department. First reading for this ordinance. Commissioner Haney, when was the mandatory testing fort the drinking water instituted? Amanda Lahners, 2016. Homes built prior to 1973 requested lead and arsenic be added to the ordinance. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to: approve. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Gramarossa Aye; Commissioner Haney Aye: and Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Considered Health Department Fee Ordinance, Amanda Lahners, Health Department. First reading for this ordinance. Fees began in 1985, there have been multiple ordinances since then and she would like to repeal them all to one ordinance and increase thei fees, last increase was 2012. Commissioner Haney motioned to approve. Commissioner Gramarossa seconded. Roll call: Commissioner) Mrozinski- Aye; Commissioner Gramarossa Aye: and Commissioner Haney Aye. Motion carried3-0. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned tos suspend the rules for both ordinances and pass on 1s/2nd reading. Commissioner Haney, does not see a need to rush these through in case the public has any questions and will not second it. He would like to see it on the next agenda. Commissioner Mrozinski seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Haney. Nay; Commissioner Gramarossa Aye and Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Motion failed 2-1. Must be unanimous so the ordinances will be back Considered Quit Claim Deed for new County Park in Rolling Prairie. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Gramarossa Aye; Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye and Considered permission to approach the Council with Fleet information, Nate Berg, Enterprise. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Haney Aye; Commissioner Gramarossa- Considered permission for Mike Schultz and Brent Banic to attend the annual IAAO conference in Denver, Colorado, Mike Schultz, Assessor. Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to approve. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Gramarossa Aye; Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye and Commissioner Haney Aye. Motion carried 3-0. Considered permission to approach the Council for restroom ceiling repair at Community Corrections, Sheryl Lestinsky, Director of Facilities. Commissioner Haney motioned to: approve. Commissioner Gramarossa seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye; Commissioner Haney Aye and Commissioner Gramarossa Aye. Motion carried 3-0.  community everybody'smovingi to.  Old Business  New Business  Motion carried 3-0.  on the next agenda for. June 20th.  Commissioner Haney Aye. Motion carried 3-0.  Ayea and Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye. Motion carried. 3-0.  Commissioner Gramarossa motioned to adjourn at 10:38 a.m. Commissioner Haney seconded. Roll call: Commissioner Mrozinski- Aye; Commissioner Gramarossa Aye and Commissioner Haney- Aye. Motion carried 3-0.  EXAMINED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE  COKY OF LA 40  INDIANA  3  9HAPRTE, Ml   AAAR 2pyob2e  ORIGINAL