Gary’s community forum Tuesday, October 21, night was kind of like going in for an annual physical and learning what’s working and what needs fixing.
The doctor, aka Mayor Eddie Melton, presided over a multipoint review of the city’s departments and operations they perform before a packed audience at IU Northwest’s Bergland Auditorium.
“We brought city hall to you tonight; every department is here to answer your questions,” the mayor said. “And after this portion, I’ll have a table in the Art Gallery to sit down with you for one-on-one meetings.”
Outside of the auditorium, tables manned by the staffs of 19 departments lined the corridors of Savannah Hall and next door in the Moraine Center.
The mayor started with the city budget, a priority for his office now, which has to be completed and reported to the state by November 1. Property tax collection is increasing and the city is able to pay its bills along with paying off its long term debt.
Chief of Police Derrick Cannon reported on crime numbers. Since coming aboard as chief in 2024, the city has had double digit decreases in homicides and shootings. “We added five new officers this year. All police cars will be replaced over the next 3 years.”
Fire Chief Larry Tillman cited reduced response times for emergency medical services and fire calls. “Fire deaths are down; in 2019 we had 10. We only had 1 last year, but this year we had 3.”
The city is remodeling three fire stations; it has purchased a new pumper fire truck and 3 new ambulances with lifters to load and unload patients.
The mayor explained most of the funding for the fire department came from federal dollars while the funding for the new police fleet was a gift from Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana. “A lot of money came to the fire department. I don’t want to make it seem the fire department received a disproportionate amount over our police. Our federal dollars came from HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and can only support the fire department.”
“It’s no secret we had to shut down some businesses this year. We created a task force with the departments of health, building codes, fire, and code enforcement. It’s a safety issue and we had to do more inspections,” Melton said. “We’re raising standards and holding businesses accountable.”
The city is improving efforts against dumping. “We made 8 arrests this year for dumping in our city,” Melton said.
For its summer jobs program for youth, the city partnered with the Center of Workforce Innovations to provide teens with jobs not only for the City of Gary, but with other businesses in Gary and northwest Indiana. “We partnered with a professional organization instead of us doing it,” Melton said.
Gary’s summer jobs program came undone last year when a GPD commander was charged with soliciting pornographic material from a teen employed in the program.
Gary Sanitary District Executive Director Ragen Hatcher said residents can receive free backflow preventers for their basements. In January, GSD will implement a check-valve program with the district providing 50% of the cost for installation in homes.
The audience became alert when the presentation came to the Genesis Center. “We’ve had 2 assessments. It will take $15 million dollars just to turn the lights on. We are now vetting 7-8 responses from our Request For Information,” Mayor Melton said.
Responses to the RFI required proposing solutions to repurpose the Genesis Center and the financial resources to fund the repurposing.
The city is positioning the University Park area of Glen Park for economic development. With a recently announced $15 million grant from Indiana’s READI (Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative) program, the mayor said demolitions can begin in the area. The Hudson-Campbell Fitness Center will get a $5 million renovation from the grant. Remaining grant funds will go to blight elimination in downtown.
“This was a very good presentation. I appreciate them showing how money is being spent,” said Gary resident LaBrada Dunham.