Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations demands info at Gary Board of Works meeting
By Michael Gonzalez Post-Tribune correspondent February 1, 2012 2:52PM
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At Wednesday’s Board of Public Works and Safety, public works director Cloteal LaBroi passed out a two-page response to members of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations who two weeks ago asked for more information on the $28.4 million Marquette Park Lakefront East project and runway expansion project at the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
According to the report:
Gary residents account for 19,333 of the total 32,230 man-hours, or 60 percent of the man-hours on the first “bid package,” or phase, of the lakefront project. The project had a 67 percent man-hour requirement dedicated to Gary residents.
Project managers said they have not been tracking the total wages paid specifically to Gary residents, but, using an average hourly rate of $57.62, they estimated Gary workers have been paid $1.1 million in wages so far, with an additional $832,000 possible by the end of the project.
Gary resident man-hours are not being tracked on bid package 2, which covers the rehab of the Marquette Park Pavilion, because the RDA rejected Gary’s local business promotion ordinance on the project last April.
LaBroi said board members and Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson are not satisfied with the amount and quality of information provided by lead consultant The Hitchcock Design Group and ACS/Skillman Corp., project managers.
Updated: March 3, 2012 11:36AM
GARY — The Board of Public Works and Safety Wednesday provoked the ire of dozens of backers of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations, making the crowd wait until the end of the long meeting before handing them answers to questions their leaders asked two weeks ago.
The Federation’s concerns were not on the meeting’s agenda.
The usually dry, formulaic meeting was far more colorful and noisy, with a standing-room-only crowd of Federation supporters criticizing and even heckling board members.
“We afforded the board a level of respect that we feel the board didn’t afford us,” said Federation president Dwight Gardner.
“I felt it was insulting our request was not even put on the agenda.”
Two weeks ago, Gardner, also pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Gary, Charles Strietelmeier, pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Hobart, and the Rev. Cheryl Rivera, of East Chicago, asked the board for detailed information on salaries and jobs issued as part of the Marquette Park Lakefront East project and the runway expansion at the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
The massive remake of the park is funded by a $28.4 million, and the RDA is a leader in the airport project, which must be completed by 2012 under order of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The group is calling for the city not to award any more contracts on the projects until the RDA enters an agreement with them on providing jobs and training to residents from economically depressed areas of the region.
The Board of Works didn’t include Federation members on the Wednesday agenda, holding them at bay until the end of the meeting.
Instead of amending the agenda to discuss the Federation’s concerns early in the meeting, board president and Deputy Mayor Delvert Cole waited until the public comment portion of the meeting.
“This is a bunch of bunk,” Rivera complained. “You didn’t even respect us enough to include us on the agenda.”
As the meeting wore on, Gardner interrupted three times to ask about getting his questions answered and for Cole to break from protocol to discuss the Federation’s issues.
Cole declined, later stating, “We had a lot of work to get through, and the only thing we said is we would have the information for them.”
As board members discussed change orders to the Marquette Park project, several Federation supporters heckled and booed them.
Public Works Director Cloteal LaBroi advised the audience to email her their requests to get on the agenda, and city attorney Niquelle Allen said more detailed answers to their questions would have to go through the Freedom of Information Act process.
Gardner told the board to prepare for an onslaught of requests to get on the board’s agenda in two weeks.
“I appreciate your indulgence, but let me tell you what’s going to happen,” he said, with shouts of “Amen” and “Tell ’em” behind him. “Between now and two weeks from now, you’re going to receive 150 requests to be put on the agenda.
“And, two weeks from today, it’ll be 250 people here, and all of them will be making the same requests, wanting to know who’s getting paid.”
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