1 CITY OF EAST CHICAGO BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2 BOARD MEMBERS 3 Val Gomez, President Winna Guzman, Vice-President 4 Frank Rivera, Member 5 Regular Meeting Minutes Thursday, June 25, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. 6 Reported by Fissinger & Associates, Ltd. 7 By: Peggy S. LaLonde 8 Staff Present: Olga Cosme, Recording Secretary Shana D. Levinson, Legal Counsel 9 10 Call to Order: 4:00 p.m. 11 Roll Call: Present: Val Gomez Frank Rivera 12 13 14 MR. GOMEZ: Good afternoon everyone. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Board 15 of Public Works for June 25th, 2026. We do have a quorum. 16 I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes from the June 11th, 2026 meeting, as 17 written. 18 MR. RIVERA: Second. 19 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 20 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. We have no correspondence, we'll 21 move on to New Business. First item on the agenda is the bid 22 opening for removal of asbestos containing materials for four locations. 23 MR. PORTALATIN: James Portalatin, for 24 the East Chicago Building Department. We received two proposals, one from 25 M & O Environmental Company, for 3909 Deodor in the 1 1 amount of $37,800.00; for 1217 West 151st Street, in the amount of $7,500.00; for 4842 Homerlee Avenue, in the 2 amount of $21,500.00; and for 3427 Grand Boulevard, front and rear, no bid received. 3 MR. GOMEZ: No bid? 4 MR. PORTALATIN: No bid. So the total 5 bid for all what was submitted for was $66,800.00. The next company is Northwest 6 Indiana Environmental Incorporated. And for 3909 Deodor, the amount was $9,800.00; for 1217 West 151st 7 Street, in the amount of $3,000.00; for 4842 Homerlee, in the amount of $3,800.00; for 3427 Grand Boulevard, 8 for front and rear, in the amount of $3,000.00; with the total being $19,600.00. 9 Therefore, it would be my recommendation that we use Northwest Indiana 10 Environmental who was the lowest, most responsive bidder for all the parts, in the amount of $19,600.00. 11 MR. GOMEZ: You don't have to do anything 12 further? 13 MR. PORTALATIN: No, I reviewed it. 14 MR. GOMEZ: That's quite a difference. 15 MR. PORTALATIN: They both have worked with us before in the past, but I don't know -- 16 Northwest has worked with us as well. 17 MR. GOMEZ: You're confident with the recommendation? 18 MR. PORTALATIN: Yes. 19 MR. GOMEZ: You want your recommendation 20 voted on today or wait till next meeting? 21 MR. PORTALATIN: No, today. 22 MR. GOMEZ: Any questions or comments? 23 MR. RIVERA: No. 24 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments for the bid tally for the lowest 25 and most responsive bidder is Northwest Indiana 2 1 Environmental and the Building Department Commissioner has approved the recommendation. 2 MR. PORTALATIN: Total amount of 3 $19,600.00. 4 MR. GOMEZ: I will make that motion approving Northwest Indiana Environmental's proposal. 5 MR. RIVERA: Second. 6 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 7 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 8 Thank you, James. Next we have from the Building Department, Martinez Construction for 503 9 School Street. This is a request proposal from Martinez Construction for project at 503 School. There is a 10 second quote from Richardson Disposal. The first quote is $63,750.00. The second quote from Richardson is 11 $64,355.00. The one from Martinez is the lowest. This one is for demolition, also for erecting temporary 12 fence, roofing, and stucco. Total amount is $63,750.00. 13 MR. PORTALATIN: Correct. They are going -- this is a property that is attached to 501 School. 14 We own 503 School and it's in really bad shape and we want to knock it down. When they knock it down, they 15 have to make repairs to the wall, roof-line, and everything because the buildings are back to back. 16 MR. GOMEZ: Any other questions or 17 comments on this? 18 MR. RIVERA: No. 19 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 20 approving Martinez Construction's proposal for 503 School Street. 21 MR. RIVERA: Second. 22 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 23 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 24 MR. PORTALATIN: Thank you. 25 3 1 MR. GOMEZ: Next we come to auction items, seized items from ECPD. And we do have a letter 2 from Jaylen Johnson, from Public Works. "East Chicago auction items (Seized 3 items from East Chicago Police Department). 4 Attached you will; find a description and photos of 7 seized gift cards 5 from the East Chicago Police Department with a total amount balance of $638.79. The items 6 were seized in a raid a couple of years back and I was asked to assist in the auction 7 process as the proceeds would need to be divided among the East Chicago Police 8 Department, Lake County Clerk's Office, and other entities per court order. I ask 9 approval so these items can be auctioned off as soon as possible." 10 The reason Public Works is involved, they are the ones who have the auctions for the City of 11 East Chicago. Any questions or comments on this 12 proposal? 13 MR. RIVERA: No. 14 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 15 approving the request from Public Works to conduct the auction for the ECPD. 16 MR. RIVERA: Second. 17 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 18 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 19 Next we come to Graff Ford. This is the EC Vehicle Premium Maintenance Plan for Public 20 Works. We do have a letter from Jaylen Johnson, East Chicago Vehicle Maintenance Manager. 21 "Dear Mr. President, Attached you will find the pricing in the amount of 22 $10,815.00 that we ask approval for in reference to the premium maintenance plan for 23 7 2026 Ford Interceptor Utilities from the East Chicago Police Department that listed in 24 the attached document. As you may recall, this maintenance plan is something that we 25 have adopted for all of our newly purchased 4 1 vehicles in order to keep them in good shape with OEM parts and certified service as they 2 are used during their life-span with the City of East Chicago." 3 So these are seven plans are $1,575.00 each, for a total $ $10,815.00. This is for 4 our newly acquired 2026 vehicles and the plan is for five-year 75,000 miles maintenance. 5 Ay questions or comments on this one? 6 MR. RIVERA: No. 7 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 8 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion to approve the proposal from Graff Ford for the ECPD 9 Vehicle Premium Maintenance. 10 MR. RIVERA: Second. 11 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 12 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have from Public Works a 13 proposal from Alert Alarm. This is for fire alarm upgrades at Carnegie Arts Building. The amount is 14 $6,095.00. The proposal is to update fire alarms. They have all the details in the proposal. Just information, 15 this is the Carnegie Library on Grand Boulevard. We did that entire building and brought it up within historical 16 requirements at a cost of about a million dollars, but it looks really nice. 17 Any questions or comments on this? 18 MR. RIVERA: None. 19 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 20 approving Alert Alarms proposal to upgrade the fire alarms at Carnegie Arts Building, in the amount of 21 $6,095.00. 22 MR. RIVERA: Second. 23 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 24 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we go to outstanding invoices. 25 We have two first. One is from Calumet City Plumbing. 5 1 There is one late invoice dated 3/30/26, in the amount of $832.50. Explanation: Vendor sent invoice to 2 incorrect mail. This is from Public Works. The second one is from Multi Media. 3 It's invoices from Frank O Carlson, two late invoices dated 3/11/26 for $1,904.00 and 3/11/26 for $1,040.00; 4 total amount of $2,944.00. Explanation: These invoices were not sent due to competing priorities. 5 Any questions or comments on this one? 6 MR. RIVERA: No. 7 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 8 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion to approve the late invoices from Calumet City Plumbing and 9 Frank O Carlson. 10 MR. RIVERA: Second. 11 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 12 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have Virtual Innovation, 13 Virtual service hardware migration. This is a consultant agreement. We do have a statement from Kevin 14 Klocek, System Administrator from the IT Department. "IT Department Virtual Innovation - 15 Virtual Server Hardware Migration. Description: Virtual Innovation will be 16 migrating our virtual server environment due to the fact that our current hardware that 17 hosts much of our user data and other application servers is beyond lifetime 18 support. We have some hardware that is roughly 15 years old and in desperate need of 19 replacement. The total not to exceed amount of the proposal is $24,850.00. This proposal 20 does not include licensing or hardware, which will be purchased separately from QPA vendors 21 for each of them." The amount is $24,950.00. Any 22 questions or comments on this one? 23 MR. RIVERA: None. 24 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like like to make a motion 25 approving Virtual Innovation for their server migration 6 1 proposal for the IT Department. 2 MR. RIVERA: Second. 3 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 4 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next item also from IT Department, 5 it's from Tyler Technologies. It's for the EFT implementation. The statement from our IT 6 Administrator: "This Agreement is for 7 implementation of EFT/vendor checks in MUNIS. This will allow for direct deposit of vendor 8 payments to replace the outgoing module of printing vendor checks. The cost for 16 9 hours of implementation is $3,600.00." Just for our information, it's part 10 of our partnership with the Controller's Office and IT and with the Mayor's office to sort of get this going 11 and it will probably take a little longer before we get it all done. 12 Any questions or comments on this proposal? 13 MR. RIVERA: No. 14 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 15 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion approving Tyler Technologies proposal with the IT 16 Department. 17 MR. RIVERA: Second. 18 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 19 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have Resolution 2026-09. 20 This is for Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLC and it's fro the Law Department. 21 "A resolution of the Board authorizing a modification of the City's 22 contract for Legal Services with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLC. 23 Whereas, the Board previously authorized and approved its contract with 24 Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLC for calendar year 2026, which among other things, 25 established a cap for fees in the amount of 7 1 $100,000.00; and Whereas, the Firm continues to 2 represent assigned litigation but not limited to representation in Central States matters; 3 Teamster's Union Litigation and Pension Fund issue; the Board now desires to extend the 4 original cap by an amount not to exceed the sum of $100,000.00." 5 Basically their cap will be $200,000.00. 6 "Now, Therefore, be it resolved by the East Chicago Board of Public Works that 7 Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLC contract be modified so as to allow for payment for those 8 services for an additional $100,000.00, subject to the submission of itemized 9 statements approved by the City Controller and Common Council. 10 Certified and Adopted by the Bard of Public Works of the City of East Chicago, 11 Lake County, Indiana, on this 25th day of June, 2026." 12 Any questions or comments? 13 MR. RIVERA: No. 14 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 15 approving Resolution 2026-09. 16 MR. RIVERA: Second. 17 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 18 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have proposal from First 19 Group Engineering. This is for CCMP application, design, and bidding. This is from the Engineering 20 Department. The amount is $42,200.00. The agreement reads: "City of East 21 Chicago through the East Chicago Board of Public Works, hereinafter referred to as the 22 "City: And First Group Engineering, Inc., Consulting Engineers, hereinafter referred 23 to as the "Consultants". Whereas, the City desires to 24 contract for engineering services required to provide CCMG plan production, bid assistance, 25 contract plans, special provisions for 8 1 specifications, cost estimates, all for projects described herein." 2 It's basically contracting documents, 2025-1, CCMG application assistance. Provide 3 help with the online application, prepare quantities, itemized tables, and cost estimates to be used to 4 complete the online application package through INDOT's ITAP portal located on Access Indiana. 5 The scope of work will be based on the 2026-2 CCMG application submitted in July 2026. 6 This work will consist of mill and overlay of 15 toads in East Chicago, Lake County, Indiana -- and it does 7 list all 15 streets for this project. The funding under compensation: 8 "The Consultant shall receive as payment for the work performed under this 9 Agreement the total lump sum fee of $42,300.00 unless a modification of the 10 Agreement is approved in writing by the City." 11 So work performed under this Agreement in accordance with following schedules: 12 1. CCMG Application help - $5,900.00 2. Bid documents and bid services 2026-2 13 East Chicago CCMG contract - $36,400.00 14 So the total will be $42,300.00. Any questions or comments on this 15 Agreement? 16 MR. RIVERA: I have one thing, Val. On the first sentence of the Agreement we have the 25th day 17 of June, 20. They don't have 26 on it. I know that's trivial, but the contract should say 2026. 18 MR. GOMEZ: I'll leave a note when Olga 19 comes back so she can change that. 20 MR. RIVERA: Other than that, we can pass it any way. 21 MR. GOMEZ: No other questions or 22 comments? 23 MR. RIVERA: No. 24 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion to 25 approve First Group Engineering's proposal for the CCMG 9 1 with the Engineering Department. 2 MR. RIVERA: Second. 3 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 4 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have also from Engineering, 5 R & D Construction, patching on Roxanna Drive. This is a proposal for patching at Roxanna Drive to Indianapolis 6 Boulevard. The cost will be determined by the 2026 rate schedule we previously approved with R & D Construction. 7 The amount is $46,283.00. Any questions or comments on this 8 proposal? 9 MR. RIVERA: No. 10 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 11 approving R & D Construction's proposal for the patching work from Engineering. 12 MR. RIVERA: Second. 13 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 14 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 15 Next agreement is also from Engineering. A proposal from Pintos Concrete. This is 16 for patching at Sunny Side park, sidewalks, inside curb and gutter, and 4128 Deal Street. This is also using 17 2026 rate schedule previously approved with Pintos, in the amount of $7,090.00. 18 Any questions or comments on this proposal? 19 MR. RIVERA: None. 20 MR. GOMEZ: There being no questions or 21 comments, I would make a motion approving Pintos Concrete's proposal for concrete at various locations. 22 MR. RIVERA: Second. 23 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 24 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 25 Next, I should have made a motion at 10 1 the beginning of the meeting, we're taking out the next one for Short Elliott Hendrickson, Sophia Reconstruction 2 Project - CE services. As I was going through the packet that Olga left me, I also looked at what she sent 3 us online in the e-mail. There is no paperwork for this. So I called Engineering, but they weren't able to 4 access their computers about this proposal. She's on vacation and I wasn't going to call her in Florida, so 5 I'd like to put this on the agenda for next meeting. I don't know how important it is. So unless she says it 6 is very important, we might have to have a special meeting. But just let everybody know, we'll table this 7 one. Next we are going to go to another 8 one for Short Elliott Hendrickson, Supplemental Agreement for CRISI grant application. This 9 Supplemental Agreement is dated June 18, 2026. Contract describes the scope, schedule, and payment of consulting 10 work on the project described. Olga, when I spoke with her, she 11 asked if we could date it back to that date, the motion, because the grant had to get in by this date, so they 12 were kind of pressed for time and couldn't wait for our meeting. The project is the CRISI grant application for 13 CSX crossing. "SEH will prepare the Consolidated 14 Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Programs (CRISI) Grant Application for the 15 improvements recommended at the 6 CSX crossings in East Chicago. These crossings 16 are located at Baring Avenue, Magoun Avenue, Indianapolis Boulevard, Kennedy Avenue, Tod 17 Avenue, and Euclid Avenue." This is part of our project that the 18 Mayor has been working on for a long time to get a quiet zone application project. We are getting more train 19 traffic and causing more disturbances, so the Mayor has been working on this for awhile. 20 "The fee is an hourly estimated fee of $27,144.00, including expenses an 21 equipment. And the Client and Consultant select the hourly basis for payment for 22 services provided by Consultant, Consultant shall be compensated monthly. Monthly 23 charges for services shall be based on Consultant's current billing rates for 24 applicable employees plus charges for expenses and equipment." 25 On here it says their rates are 11 1 attached and they are not. So I'll speak to Olga about having the rate attached to the final signed Agreement. 2 So compensation was in Exhibit A-1. Any questions or comments? 3 MR. RIVERA: No. 4 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 5 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion approving SEH's Agreement for the CRISI Grant 6 Application. 7 MR. RIVERA: Second. 8 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 9 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have from Perm-A-Seal, this 10 is for Alley Paving Project 6, of 2026, asphalt paving. The amount is $81,074.40. There are four locations, 11 5500-block of Homerlee to Wegg; 5600-block T alley Homerlee to Wegg; and 3700-block Courthouse Main Street 12 to Pulaski; and the fourth one is 3800-block of Main Street to Pulaski, in the amount of $81,074.40. 13 Any questions or comments on this project? 14 MR. RIVERA: No. 15 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 16 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion approving the Alley Project 6-2026 with Perm-A-Seal for 17 Engineering. 18 MR. RIVERA: Second. 19 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 20 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have right-of-way 21 applications. We have right-of-way applications 26-05484 to 26-05494. 22 Any questions or comments on the 11 Board of Works permit applications? 23 MR. RIVERA: No. 24 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further 25 questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 12 1 approving the Board of Works, 11 Board of Works permit applications. 2 MR. RIVERA: Second. 3 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 4 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 5 Under Other Business we have two items which were presented quite late. We'll address 6 these now. The first one is for Public Works, 7 2026 Northwest Indiana Ford Service Departments hourly rates. These are five Ford dealerships and they have 8 their gas and diesel rates. The gas rates vary from 155 an hour to 185 an hour. The diesel rates vary from 105 9 to 199 per hour. The five dealerships are Bosak Ford, Webb Ford, Art Hill Ford, Paul Herring Ford, and Currie 10 Motors. Are there any questions or comments 11 on these hourly rates? 12 MR. RIVERA: No. 13 MR. GOMEZ: There being no further questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion 14 approving the aforementioned dealerships for 2026. 15 MR. RIVERA: Second. 16 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? (All signify aye.) 17 MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. Next we have, this came from Special 18 Events. This is Jones Management $5,500.00 for opening act at Salsa Fest. The band is Las Chicas Del Swing. 19 The amount is $5,500.00. We have the Agreement from Jones Management. 20 The only issue I have, under payment terms, where it says at the top of the page, payment 21 shall be made as follows, $5,500.00 due by or before July 18, 2026. I'd like to strike that because right 22 now we are prohibited by the State Board of Accounts in paying in advance. To pay on the date, we have to 23 produce a check at that time. The State Board of Accounts just 24 left. They were doing their audit for 2025 and they reminded us, because it did occur last year, where an 25 act at Fusic Fest, if I remember right, this act came on 13 1 the first day of Fusic Fest. He came up and checked the sound system and they said it is not acceptable and he 2 took off with the money. We filed a police report. And part of the audit, when the audit came, they asked, was 3 there any loss of funds. So we reported this incident. And when we reported that, they asked what became of it. 4 We told them the police were investigating. So I told them we had to get back to them as to what their action 5 was, if they reported it to the prosecutor or whatever. So, anyway, when they were looking 6 at that, they also were looking at some of the agreements that we have been passing for these type of 7 events. And the question came up, where they saw under Vela's contract, it says on the second page, that the 8 act will be paid in advance. I pointed out to them that was -- 9 that's not what we approved. We approved Vela's contract, where Vela acts as our agent. He is procuring 10 the act. So he pays in advance and then we pay the ten percent. 11 So I told them that line there was referring to the contract with Vela. When they asked 12 me, do you have a copy of the contract, I told them we don't because everything that comes to us is under the 13 contract of Vela, and because Vela procures the acts under his contract, we basically don't have to see that. 14 But they did provide to me and they read to me -- I imagine this is the State code -- it's 15 PL181-1203, (sca 317: Section 1, effective May 4, 2023) and these again is the amended Indiana code 16 (5-11-10-1.6: Section 3). This is authorizing political subdivision to make advance payment for goods 17 and services or the services are completed. The fiscal bodies of the political subdivision authorizing making 18 advance payment and specifies minimum tasks to be taken to make the advance payment by an fiscal officer for the 19 political subdivision or the fiscal officer designee. So what happened, the State amended 20 this Act so we could make advance payments, but the problem is our Council has to approve it. I went to the 21 Council last year and they refused to entertain it. I went to the Council two meetings ago and it was brought 22 up by the president and nobody would second it. So we thought we could get it passed this year. 23 I told the auditors we'll be able to clarify this for this year because the Mayor submitted 24 that and Attorney Allegretti asked me to go up to the podium. When I went up to the podium, nobody seconded 25 it. After the meeting three council members wanted to 14 1 discuss it. I said, what good is it now. You didn't second it. It's dead. 2 I believe they can't bring it up until 30 days passes. So we are going to try again in 3 30 days, but I have a feeling they are not going to approve it. We do have an ordinance that permits 4 advance payment, but it's very specific. Right now it only allows us to do taxes, payments of death benefits 5 for police and firemen; there's 13 items, but very specific. So we can't use it for Special Events. 6 And so the State Board of Accounts, in addition to this IC code, because we thought what we 7 could do is put in the check and then hold the check until the event. That's originally what we wanted to 8 do. The State Board of Accounts advised us that we cannot hold checks, basically we are doing it and we 9 were not suppose to do it. Actually I have a meeting set up 10 with the Mayor, Chief of Staff, and Special Events to kind of explain what happened. The Council, if they 11 change it, then we can pay it in advance. That's the long reason we have to strike it and we cannot pay 12 before July 18th, which is the date of this event, and we can't hold the check in advance. 13 So, I'd like to make a motion to pass Jones Management's request for the opening act at 14 Salsa Fest, and that we strike that $5,500.00 fee due before or on the date of July 18, 2026. 15 MR. RIVERA: Second. 16 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 17 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 18 Just for information, we do have a way where we can pay because the City has a City credit 19 card, and we can use it. The amount on that credit card is 250,000 and we can pay on that. 20 I'm going to, after I explain it to Special Events, if we want to pay in advance, we can use 21 that. If they accept the credit card, we can pay them right then. State Board of Accounts will have to -- 22 MS. LEVINSON: What if they charge a fee 23 to accept the credit card? 24 MR. GOMEZ: Right now we have a general fund with Venmo and they haven't charged anything. 25 15 1 MS. LEVINSON: What if the other side, with an amount like that, they want to tack on three 2 percent? 3 MR. GOMEZ: The only thing was the credit card. We could pay the act when we had the credit card, 4 which we did about five years ago. Once they went through the process, process of using the card, we 5 started and continued using Vela. But the Mayor is trying to figure 6 out how to pay for the acts because the Council won't pass it and we came up with the credit card idea because 7 you can do that. State Board of Accounts says you can do that. The Council won't pass it. 8 So, that's my little speech. Any other comments or questions? 9 MR. RIVERA: No. 10 MR. GOMEZ: That concludes all business 11 on our agenda. Our next regular meeting is Thursday, July 9, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. 12 I would like to make a motion for adjournment. 13 MR. RIVERA: Second. 14 MR. GOMEZ: All in favor say aye? 15 (All signify aye.) MR. GOMEZ: Motion carries. 16 Meeting adjourned. 17 * * * * * 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 1 Approval of the Regular Meeting Minutes of June 25, 2026 2 Approved and Signed June 25, 2026. 3 4 5 ____________________________ Val Gomez, President 6 7 _____________________________ 8 Winna Guzman, Vice President 9 10 ____________________________ Frank Rivera, member 11 12 ______________________________ 13 Olga Cosme, Secretary 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 I, Peggy S. LaLonde, a competent and duly 3 qualified court reporter, do hereby certify that I did 4 report in machine shorthand the foregoing proceedings 5 and that my shorthand notes so taken at said time and 6 place were thereafter reduced to typewriting under my 7 personal direction. 8 I further certify that the foregoing 9 typewritten transcript constitutes minutes of the said 10 proceedings taken at said time and place, so ordered to 11 be transcribed. 12 Dated at Munster, Indiana, this 26th day 13 of June, 2026. 14 15 _____________________________ 16 Peggy S. LaLonde 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 18