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·1· · · · · EAST CHICAGO WATERWAY MANAGEMENT· · · · · ·DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS' MEETING·2· ·City of East Chicago, Engineering/Annex Building· · · · · · · · · ·4444 Railroad Avenue·3· · · · · · · · East Chicago, Indiana· · · · · · · · · · September 20, 2017·4· · · · · · · · ·Wednesday, 5:00 p.m.
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·9· · · · ·Transcript of the proceedings had in the
10· · above-entitled matter, on the 20th day of
11· · September, 2017, at 5:00 p.m., at the City of East
12· · Chicago, Engineering/Annex Building, 4444 Railroad
13· · Avenue, East Chicago, Indiana, before Peggy S.
14· · LaLonde, Certified Shorthand Report and Notary
15· · Public for the County of LaPorte, State of
16· · Indiana.
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21· · · · · · · ISEMINGER & ASSOCIATES, INC.22· · · · · · · · · 14 Indiana Avenue· · · · · · · · Valparaiso, Indiana 4638323· · · · · · · · · ·(219) 464-2178
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·1· · · · · · · · · · ·A P P E A R A N C E S:
·2· · · · ·MR. JOHN FEKETE, Board Member
·3· · · · ·MR. KEVIN DOYLE, Board Member
·4· · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ, Board Member
·5· · · · ·MR. HENRY RODRIGUEZ, Board member
·6· · · · ·MR. RAY LOPEZ, Board Member
·7· · · · ·MR. JOHN BAKOTA, Board Member
·8· · · · ·MR. FERNANDO TREVINO, FMT Consulting
·9· · · · ·MS. ELLEN GREGORY, Ellen Gregory Law
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11· ·ALSO PRESENT:
12· · · · ·TIM ANDERSON, CliftonLarsonAllen
13· · · · ·JIM WESCOTT, Tetra Tech
14· · · · ·NATALIE MILLS, U.S. Army Corps
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·1· · · · · · MR. FEKETE:· I'd like to call to order the
·2· ·East Chicago Waterway Management District Board of
·3· ·Directors' meeting.· It's September 20th.· The time
·4· ·is 5:00 o'clock.· We'll have roll call.· John
·5· ·Bakota?
·6· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Here.
·7· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Henry Rodriguez.
·8· · · · · · ·MR. HENRY RODRIGUEZ:· Here.
·9· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Patrick Rodriguez.
10· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Here.
11· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ted Zagar?
12· · · · · · · · · · · ·(No Response).
13· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Kevin Doyle.
14· · · · · · ·MR. DOYLE:· Here.
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ray Lopez.
16· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Here.
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· John Fekete?· Here.· We have
18· ·a quorum.· The Executive Director's report, Mr.
19· ·Trevino.
20· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· FMT Consulting.· I'd like to
21· ·start off by going over the contents of your Board
22· ·packet.· You have the Board minutes for August 16,
23· ·2017.· You have First Merchant Bank statement for
24· ·the month of August for account ending in 616 and
25· ·608.
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·1· · · · · · · · · · · ·You have a budget amendment
·2· ·proposal dated today's date, September 20, 2017.
·3· ·And you also have the backups for the three
·4· ·amendments, which includes a letter from Attorney
·5· ·Ellen Gregory dated September 15, 2017.· An e-mail
·6· ·with prices for I-pad.· E-mail dated August 31,
·7· ·2017, from Verizon.· And a summary of my budget
·8· ·hours through August and the forecast for the
·9· ·balance of the year.
10· · · · · · · · · · · ·You have a letter of intent
11· ·regarding the leasing of this building.· The date of
12· ·the letter is September 19, 2017.
13· · · · · · · · · · · ·You have ECI Facility Trust
14· ·report dated September 18, 2017.
15· · · · · · · · · · · ·You have two BMO Harris account
16· ·statements for the month of August 21, 2017.· One is
17· ·account ending in 761, the other in 712.
18· · · · · · · · · · · ·You have a progress report from
19· ·Tetra Tech dated August 30, 2017.· And the progress
20· ·report covers from April through the end of August.
21· · · · · · · · · · · · You have the Army Corps of
22· ·Engineers report to the Board dated September 20,
23· ·2017.· And you have Attorney Ellen Gregory's report
24· ·with the revision date of September 15, 2017.
25· · · · · · · · · · · ·The financial statements from
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·1· ·CliftonLarsonAllen did not make it in the report
·2· ·packet, but I provided copies to you here today.
·3· · · · · · · · · · · ·So that concludes the items in
·4· ·your Board packet.· I'd like to go over a couple of
·5· ·items.
·6· · · · · · · · · · · ·On the Great Lake Legacy Act
·7· ·Project, the EPA has completed the internal review
·8· ·of our project proposal that we submitted, along
·9· ·with BP and Arco, it's remediation for the Mittal
10· ·sections, and they have given the project team an
11· ·official okay to proceed.· And since then the
12· ·project team has been working on finalizing the
13· ·project agreement, which Ellen and I took the lead
14· ·on drafting the initial version, which was sent to
15· ·EPA and BP.· EPA has provided some comments that we
16· ·are reviewing and we are now waiting for BP's
17· ·comments.
18· · · · · · · · · · · ·The sheet pile wall site
19· ·agreement, which also has been sent to BP for their
20· ·review, will not be an attachment to the project
21· ·agreement.· We thought it would be an attachment to
22· ·the project agreement, instead it will be an
23· ·independent document and we are also waiting on
24· ·comments from BP on the sheet pile wall site
25· ·agreement.
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·1· · · · · · · · · · · ·And we have also continuously
·2· ·been working on other cost share strategies for
·3· ·remediating the balance of East Chicago Waterway.
·4· ·Jim Wescott, from Tetra Tech is here to provide
·5· ·additional detail and answer any questions you might
·6· ·have on the Great Lakes Legacy Act Project, the CDF
·7· ·and TSCA permit.
·8· · · · · · · · · · · ·EPA and IDEM are still reviewing
·9· ·the Corps TSCA permit request.· It's my
10· ·understanding they are reviewing other options other
11· ·than disposing of the material into this CDF.· So
12· ·we'll standby to see what, if any, developments.
13· · · · · · · · · · · · We had two appraisers do
14· ·appraisals on properties that BP has been interested
15· ·in, and we're working on finalizing that.· And we
16· ·anticipate completing it by the next Board meeting.
17· · · · · · · · · · · ·The dredging project, project
18· ·manager, Natalie Mills is here and she will be
19· ·giving a report on the Corps dredging project.
20· · · · · · · · · · · ·Finance Committee meeting was
21· ·held last week, on September 15th, and Board members
22· ·John Fekete and Ray Lopez were able to make it.· The
23· ·2017 budget amendment that's in your packet was the
24· ·main topic that was discussed and reviewed with the
25· ·Finance Committee and it's now being quoted to the
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·1· ·Board for approval consideration.
·2· · · · · · · · · · · ·There is also a letter of intent
·3· ·in your packet that I mentioned and it's on the
·4· ·agenda for approval consideration.· As reported in
·5· ·the previous Board meeting, the City departments
·6· ·have moved out of this building and it's now being
·7· ·sold to the Housing Authority.· The District has
·8· ·decided to stay and continue to rent office space
·9· ·within this building.· And the Housing Authority
10· ·requested a letter of intent, stating that we intend
11· ·to continue to lease space here.· And the letter
12· ·that you have in your packet has been drafted by
13· ·Attorney Jim Wieser.
14· · · · · · · · · · · ·That concludes my report.
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Any questions for Mr.
16· ·Trevino?· (No questions) Thank you very much.
17· · · · · · · · · · · ·The approval consideration of
18· ·the Board meeting notes for August 16th, I'll
19· ·entertain a motion.
20· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· I make a motion to approve.
21· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Second.
22· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK HERNANDEZ:· I have a change on
23· ·here with respect to minutes of the meeting, line
24· ·page 9, line 6, reads George Park, I'd like to get
25· ·that changed to Jerose Park.
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·1· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· I have motion to approve and
·2· ·second, with correction.· All in favor signify by
·3· ·saying aye?
·4· · · · · · · (All signify aye.)
·5· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Thanks for catching that.
·6· ·The Accounting Consultant report, Tim Anderson.
·7· · · · · · ·MR. ANDERSON:· Tim Anderson,
·8· ·CliftonLarsonAllen.· Everybody got a copy of the
·9· ·report?· So this is our report as of August 31st.
10· ·Page 2 is a statement of cash receipts and cash
11· ·disbursements through August 31st.· This is of our
12· ·two checking accounts, the User Fee Account and the
13· ·Operating Account.· This does not include the Trust
14· ·funds.· The receipts of those two checking accounts
15· ·are the User Fees, some interest, and the transfer
16· ·from the Trust.· So through August we have collected
17· ·a million two.· And we had written $267,943 in
18· ·checks, which are detailed by classification there.
19· ·So our increase in our cash flow has been 939,000
20· ·from January to August 31st.· And you can see the
21· ·breakdown of the 3.2 million in cash between the two
22· ·accounts.· The Operating Account is sort of a
23· ·temporary account.· It's where we spend our budget
24· ·for the year, and then the User Fee account is kind
25· ·of growing.
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·1· · · · · · · · · · · ·The next page, page 3, just
·2· ·shows each of those two accounts and all the nitty
·3· ·gritty.· The interest earned each month and the
·4· ·checks we write each month, and the transfers.
·5· ·There's been a couple of extra transfers this year
·6· ·because we are amending our budgets, but those
·7· ·accounts have been reconciled.· They are reconciled
·8· ·each month and they are accounted for in the
·9· ·software.· So everything is good.
10· · · · · · · · · · · ·And then the page 4 is the
11· ·important page.· This shows the budget that the
12· ·Board passed all the way on the left.· And then we
13· ·add our payables from last year to that number.· So
14· ·we get a total spent this year of one million,
15· ·163,000 and then cash disbursements through
16· ·August 2017, that's what is on the prior schedule.
17· ·And then what you have before you today is in the
18· ·September column, or the second to the right 43,443,
19· ·that's what you are signing off on, on the claims
20· ·docket for today.· And what is important is that
21· ·this unused budget column still has positive numbers
22· ·for everything, so we can't exceed our budget until
23· ·appropriations for any given line to make sure
24· ·that's straight.
25· · · · · · · · · · · ·Any questions for me to answer?
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·1· ·(No questions.)· That's all I've got.
·2· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Approval consideration for
·3· ·accounts payable voucher register.
·4· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· So moved.
·5· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Do we have a second?
·6· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Second.
·7· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Roll call vote.· John Bakota?
·8· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Yes.
·9· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Henry Rodriguez?
10· · · · · · ·MR. HENRY RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
11· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Patrick Rodriguez?
12· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
13· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ted Zagar?
14· · · · · · · · · · · ·(No Response).
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Kevin Doyle?
16· · · · · · ·MR. DOYLE:· Yes.
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ray Lopez?
18· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Yes.
19· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· John Fekete?· I vote yes.
20· ·The motion is approved.
21· · · · · · · · · · · ·The next order of business is to
22· ·consider the request from our attorney for increase,
23· ·approval increase hours and subsequent remediation
24· ·addition to our budget, and that's spelled out in
25· ·the letter that is addressed to us.· And I will
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·1· ·entertain a motion.
·2· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· So moved.
·3· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Second.
·4· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Okay.· That will be a roll
·5· ·call vote.· John Bakota?
·6· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Yes.
·7· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Henry Rodriguez?
·8· · · · · · ·MR. HENRY RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
·9· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Patrick Rodriguez?
10· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
11· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ted Zagar?
12· · · · · · · · · · · ·(No Response).
13· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Kevin Doyle?
14· · · · · · ·MR. DOYLE:· Yes.
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ray Lopez?
16· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Yes.
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· John Fekete?· I vote yes.
18· ·The motion is approved.
19· · · · · · · · · · · ·And the next order of business
20· ·is to approve the budget amendments that were
21· ·actually included three items as noted.· The first
22· ·item in the budget amendment change is the
23· ·transaction or the transfer of money from our third
24· ·party contractor and consultant to Broadband
25· ·services.
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·1· · · · · · · · · · · ·The second item is to include
·2· ·the addition for legal work, which we just approved
·3· ·in the request from Attorney Gregory.
·4· · · · · · · · · · · ·And the third item is the
·5· ·increased budget hours and funds for Fernando for
·6· ·the sheet pile work and Great Lakes Legacy Act.
·7· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Motion to approve.
·8· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Do I have a second?
·9· · · · · · ·MR. DOYLE:· Second.
10· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Okay.· Roll call vote.· John
11· ·Bakota?
12· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Yes.
13· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Henry Rodriguez?
14· · · · · · ·MR. HENRY RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Patrick Rodriguez?
16· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Yes.
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ted Zagar?
18· · · · · · · · · · · ·(No Response).
19· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Kevin Doyle?
20· · · · · · ·MR. DOYLE:· Yes.
21· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Ray Lopez?
22· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Yes.
23· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· John Fekete?· I vote yes.
24· ·The motion is approved.
25· · · · · · · · · · · ·The next item is the approval
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·1· ·consideration for the letter of intent regarding our
·2· ·office lease.· Mr. Trevino, do you want to explain?
·3· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Yes.· As Attorney Jim Wieser
·4· ·explained it to me, there is no, you know,
·5· ·significant contractual obligation on it, other than
·6· ·we intend to continue renting the space here. I
·7· ·think the Housing Authority needed it for, you know,
·8· ·whatever insurance and budget movement they had to
·9· ·do in their process.
10· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Probably liability too
11· ·because we do have public meetings.
12· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Right.· So the letter of
13· ·intent just basically says that we intend to
14· ·continue to lease the property here, under have
15· ·close, similar terms that our existing lease is,
16· ·including the monthly lease.· So we'll still have an
17· ·opportunity -- the Board will still have an
18· ·opportunity to review and approve the actual lease
19· ·agreement.
20· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· So this is just a letter of
21· ·intent.
22· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Yes.
23· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· I think we can approve that
24· ·by voice vote.
25· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Do we have use of the
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·1· ·conference room attached to that lease?
·2· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Yes.· The previous lease
·3· ·included, you know, the two offices, the use of the
·4· ·conference room and the parking lot and restrooms
·5· ·and all that.
·6· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Actually there was a smaller
·7· ·conference room too.
·8· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Which turned into an office.
·9· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· So I have a motion to approve
10· ·the letter of intent by voice vote.
11· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Motion to approve.
12· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· A second?
13· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Second.
14· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· All in favor signify by
15· ·saying aye.
16· · · · · · · (All signify aye.)
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Any opposition?· (None)
18· ·Motion is approved.
19· · · · · · · · · · · · The next order of business is
20· ·the BMO Harris Trust report.
21· · · · · · ·MR. TREVINO:· Mr. Alonzo didn't make it.
22· ·I can review that real quick.· So you have the ECI
23· ·Facility Trust report.· And the first one shows
24· ·historical values and distribution by year and bar
25· ·chart.
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·1· · · · · · · · · · · ·The second page shows the dollar
·2· ·value over the years and shows -- has a table with
·3· ·the total distribution since 1997.· And the
·4· ·difference since the last report is $29,558.
·5· · · · · · · · · · · ·And then the third one shows all
·6· ·of the financial money market and CD holdings of the
·7· ·District and the maturity dates.· So that's a quick
·8· ·summary of the BMO Harris Trust report.
·9· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Any questions?· (None) Tetra
10· ·Tech report, Great Lakes Legacy Act, Mr. Wescott.
11· · · · · · ·MR. WESCOTT:· Good afternoon.· So pretty
12· ·short report, as I mentioned last time I was here,
13· ·the effort really now is helping Fernando with the
14· ·Tetra Tech to the Corps, since the Corps is doing
15· ·the construction once the project goes forward.· So
16· ·I am just working with Fernando on the design.· We
17· ·talked about that and I'll get that to you.· We
18· ·talked about getting a copy of the design, so I will
19· ·do that tomorrow.· And I will probably have another
20· ·report in December just to kind of closeout.· And as
21· ·a reminder there is an excess budget, you know, that
22· ·probably unused at the end of the calendar year. I
23· ·don't know if you need to do anything with that.· We
24· ·budgeted to do a lot of stuff and it all kind of
25· ·shifted to the Corps, which is fine.· Any questions
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·1· ·for me?
·2· · · · · · ·MR. LOPEZ:· Thank you.
·3· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· U.S.· Army Corps report.
·4· · · · · · ·MS. MILLS:· Natalie Mills with Army Corps
·5· ·of Engineers.· I don't have a lot of things to
·6· ·report this month.· Continuing to operate the
·7· ·gradient control system.· They were mobilizing
·8· ·on-site for dredging.· We anticipate they will be
·9· ·starting any day now.· They did do the boom
10· ·coordination so they did move the boom across
11· ·Indianapolis Boulevard.
12· · · · · · · · · · · ·We are anticipating between this
13· ·year and next year, probably in the Spring we will
14· ·complete about 230,000 cubic yards.· They will
15· ·dredge an additional, before the winter shutdown,
16· ·and then they will resume in the Spring.
17· · · · · · · · · · · ·As far as the permit, the TSCA
18· ·permit, I don't have anything.· No update at this
19· ·point.· Just waiting on US EPA and IDEM to make
20· ·their determination.· That's all I have.
21· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Okay.· So I'm sorry, when
22· ·again are they going to start?
23· · · · · · ·MS. MILLS:· Any day.· Could be today,
24· ·could you tomorrow.· We are anticipating any day. I
25· ·will let Fernando know so he can let everybody know
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·1· ·when we get started.
·2· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Thank you very much.
·3· ·Attorney Ellen Gregory report.
·4· · · · · · ·MS. GREGORY:· Ellen Gregory, Ellen Gregory
·5· ·Law.· Not too much new.· Fernando and Natalie are
·6· ·continuing the bi-weekly calls with the ECI group --
·7· ·or last call was on September 14th.· Most of the
·8· ·focus has been on Great Lakes Legacy Act and moving
·9· ·forward with negotiating the project agreement.· As
10· ·Fernando stated, EPA approved moving forward on.
11· · · · · · · · · · · ·Fernando also mentioned that we
12· ·provided a draft to EPA and BP.· We've gotten some
13· ·comments back from EPA and are waiting comments from
14· ·BP.· Also working on putting together a site
15· ·agreement, that would be just with BP.· Originally
16· ·was going to be an attachment to the project, but
17· ·it's separate now.· That was at request of EPA.
18· · · · · · · · · · · ·Fernando and I also have a call
19· ·in to Matt Kent, who is with the Indiana Department
20· ·of Administration, who's the one who oversees what
21· ·the regulations are for construction projects that
22· ·would that use federal -- not federal -- public
23· ·monies.· We'll have to talk with him and try to
24· ·coordinate a conference call between him and BP to
25· ·make sure that we are in compliance with all those
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·1· ·regulations, and move forward on the sheet pile
·2· ·wall.· So that's all I have.
·3· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Always another hurdle.· Thank
·4· ·you very much.· Any questions for Miss Gregory?
·5· ·(None).
·6· · · · · · · · · · · ·Any new business to come before
·7· ·the Board.· (None)· Any other business?· (None)· Any
·8· ·public comments?· (None).
·9· · · · · · · · · · · ·Hearing none, our next Board
10· ·meeting is October 18, 2017, at 5:00 p.m. at this
11· ·same facility.
12· · · · · · · · · · · ·I would entertain a motion for
13· ·adjournment.
14· · · · · · ·MR. BAKOTA:· Motion to adjourn.
15· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Is there a second?
16· · · · · · ·MR. PATRICK RODRIGUEZ:· Second.
17· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· All in favor signify by
18· ·saying aye?
19· · · · · · · · · ·(All signify aye.)
20· · · · · · ·MR. FEKETE:· Meeting is adjourned at 5:35.
21· · · · · · · · ·(MEETING ADJOURNED.)
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·1· · · · · · · · · · ·C E R T I F I C A T E
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·3· · · · · · · I, Peggy S. Lalonde, Certified Shorthand
·4· ·Reporter (CSR), and Notary Public within and for the
·5· ·County of LaPorte, State of Indiana, do hereby certify
·6· ·that I appeared at the City of East Chicago,
·7· ·Engineering/Annex Building, 4444 Railroad Avenue, East
·8· ·Chicago, Indiana, on the 20th day of September, 2017, to
·9· ·report the proceedings had of the District Board of
10· ·Directors' Meeting.
11· · · · · · · I further certify that I then and there
12· ·reported in machine shorthand the proceedings given at
13· ·said time and place, and that the testimony was then
14· ·reduced to typewriting from my original shorthand notes,
15· ·and the foregoing transcript is a true and accurate
16· ·record of said proceedings had, dated this 16th day of
17· ·October, 2017.
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21· · · · · · · · · · · ·______________________________
22· · · · · · · · · · · ·Peggy S. LaLonde, CSR
23· · · · · · · · · · · ·My Commission expires:· 3/14/2018
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