Repairs and renovations to the ArtHouse have been put on the backburner, Mayor Eddie Melton’s Chief of Staff Ellis Dumas told the Common Council’s Ways and Means Committee at its Tuesday, September 8th meeting.
Dumas asked the committee to remove the administration’s legislation, Council Pending Ordinance 2026-35 and C.P.O. 2026-36 from the agenda.
“The administration requests the 2 pieces of legislation be tabled. They were presented prior to the storm,” Dumas said. “And some additional information was provided to council as requested and discussed following our storm recovery.”
The purpose of the legislation, requested by Gary’s Department of Redevelopment, was to spend $400,000 on the ArtHouse repairs and renovations.
The legislation needed council approval and Ken Whisenton, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee had made public statements opposing the expenditure.
People need power, not parties, Whisenton said. “I’m not going to pass anything, any astronomical dollar amount for rehabbing facilities when I have residents lacking power. That don’t make no sense.”
“Does that place even generate enough money to be pouring that much money into it? It’s always empty when I drive by it,” said Landen Campbell, a Gary resident.
The legislation will be tabled at the next meeting of the full city council. Whisenton said the matter is dead. Christopher Harris, the Redevelopment Dept. Director said the legislation will be revisited to get approval for repairs already completed at the ArtHouse.
With September being budget presentation time in Indiana for local governments and taxing units, the Ways and Means Committee received 2027 budget submissions from the Gary Public Transportation Corp., the Redevelopment Commission, and the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
Of the 3 taxing units, only GPTC’s budget showed significant change from the 2026 budget year. The bus company just received a $12 million federal transportation grant at the end of August.
David Wright, GPTC’s Interim General Manager, described it as a “super grant” to be used for operations, fleet upgrades and increased route reliability. The grant covers expenditures over multiple years, but requires matching funds.
Wright requested the City of Gary include funding for GPTC in its upcoming budget preparations. It’s a conversation GPTC is having with the neighboring communities in its service area.
“We just need to continue to have them, and now that they know that we’ve got a super grant which is going to bring in additional revenue for capital improvements, they know where those monies are going to go to match and what can come out of it,” Wright said. “This grant will save approximately one million dollars a year in local match requirements.”
The last time Gary provided funding for GPTC was in 2024.
Wright has been GPTC’s Planning and Marketing Manager since 2007. He was promoted to Interim General Manager 2 days before the August 11 derecho.
