I know.

It's like parties over with sound.

Good evening, and welcome to our first public works committee meeting of 2026.

We will begin with the introductions of counselors to my left.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mike Doak, District 24.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Derek Cahill, District 23.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Brian Mowry, District 25.

Thank you, Madam Chair Nick Roberts, District 4.

Thank you, Chairwoman Jones, Andy Nielsen, uh District 14.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Dan Boots, District 3.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Councillor Jared Evans, representing District 17.

Thank you.

And I am Kristen Jones representing District 18.

First up, we will have proposal number 32, which appoints Anthony Shirolis to the fatal crash review team.

Anthony, if you would like to step forward and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Welcome.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Just say a few words.

Just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit why you pushed the gray button, the gray button right behind the mic on the bottom.

Right there.

There it is.

There we go.

All right.

That's it.

Do I have to hold it?

No, no, you just got it on.

Perfect.

Thank you.

First time with this mic.

My name is Tony Shirolis, like you're sure.

And I am the executive director of Central Indiana Cycling.

I have been in that role since April of last year when Bike Indianapolis and the Central Indiana Bicycling Association, SIBA, as most folks may know it, merged in early 2025.

So they merged and uh hired an executive director uh to compliment their existing halftime staff and small army of volunteers.

Um my background uh before that um is as a mechanical engineer, uh actually in aerospace, uh not for Rolls Royce, for Pratt and Whitney.

I did most of that engineering in Connecticut.

Uh my sister is a also a mechanical engineer at Rolls Royce.

Um but now that I don't work at Pratt Whitney, we can talk about things of work things.

Um I left engineering in 2015 and got into uh nonprofit work uh around uh active transportation and uh bicycles, uh including a community organization that was ran a community bike shop and uh transit and active transportation road safety uh organization in Connecticut uh before I moved here to Indy in 2022.

Um I do have family in the area and grew up in the Midwest and uh live a mile from my sister in Broad Ripple.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Any comments or questions from counselors?

Councilor Cahill.

Thank you, Mr.

Shirols.

Uh thank you for your service on this uh important task force and uh the uh and thank you for I've I've seen you on plenty of places uh doing your advocacy work, uh and I always appreciate when you're making the rounds throughout the whole city, so thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments, questions?

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 32 all right, Counselor Cahill.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move that we send proposal 32, which appoints uh Tony Shirolis to the fatal crash review team to the full council with a do pass recommendation.

Second, it's been moved and seconded to send proposal number 32 to full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye opposed say nay.

The ayes have it, congratulations.

And thank you much, y'all.

Next up is proposal number 33, which appoints Craig Pinkas to the fatal crash review team.

Please come forward, Mr.

Pinkas.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

You have a seat and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Um some of you here know me.

Um so I'll be careful.

The um I'm a native of Indianapolis.

I practice law for 55 years.

I retired from Bose McKinney.

Uh I mostly did intellectual property litigation and entertainment law.

Uh but I did other things too.

Uh I started running in 1978 on the trails at Eagle Creek.

And um, I'm running today.

I'll be 83 in a couple of weeks, and I'm mindful that when I volunteer to serve on something, circumstances could arise that say no, I'm not available.

But I'm still going.

He used to see me going back and forth on Ohio Street.

I think I put in about 60,000 miles in my running career.

And the reason I'm interested in this committee, and the reason I'm doing some of the other things I'm doing, is because I wanted in a sum in some way in some small way to encourage others to get out and move.

And that's my big motivation for wanting to participate here.

The um the purpose of this committee aligns very much with what I'm trying to do because it's trying to make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and um I I want to support that effort.

I we uh we are not the most active community and a great inhibitor against getting out and walking in your neighborhood or or getting on one of our beautiful greenways, can be that you just don't feel very safe.

So this is of great interest to me, and I'm happy to answer any other any other questions.

Thank you very much.

Anyone, any counselors who wishes to speak on this proposal?

Councilor Boots.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Hello, Craig, how are you?

Hi, Dan, great, thank you.

55 years, that's outstanding.

I miss encountering you in the IP field.

Um if counselor Barth would allow me, I'd like to be a co-sponsor of this uh fine proposal.

Okay.

Anyone in the audience who wishes to speak on proposal number 33.

Okay, Councillor Nielsen.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, I move we send proposal number 33 2026, which appoints Craig Pinkus to the fatal crash review team to the full council with a due pass recommendation.

It's been moved and seconded to send proposal number 33 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Congratulations, Mr.

Pinkus.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we welcome you and Anthony back to our committee anytime to give us an update on your um journeys on the board.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Have a wonderful evening.

Next up on our agenda is proposal number 14, which approves and authorizes the execution of an amendment to an existing franchise agreement with the franchise holder for the operation, maintenance, and improvement of the city's metered parking system.

Welcome, Anthony and Sam.

Hello, counsel, thanks for having us.

Uh I'm Anthony Sardarelli.

I am the senior program manager over DPW's revenue systems.

Um the main idea behind this amendment to the 50-year parking contract with Park Indy is to simply extend in perpetuity an already existing amendment.

Um the existing amendment was number five.

It was a two-year pilot program from 2023 to 2025, whereby we began a revenue sharing plan with Park Indy, not or we already do meter enforcement with them for expired meters.

This program was to encompass all other non-meter citations.

Um that includes a swath of other things, but mainly ideas around obstructing fire lanes, obstructing crosswalks, obstructing bike lanes, obstructing ADA parking spaces, any kind of a parking violation where an expired meter is not particularly involved.

It's kind of a catch-all other term with uh subcategories in there.

Um we ran this two-year study to see if would if we began to share revenue with Park Indy, would enforcement of these violations go up.

Uh the data shows that it did.

Uh in 2023, when this began, we only had about a thousand citations a year across all uh non meter categories.

In 2024, the first year of our revenue sharing uh stream with Park Indy, that nearly tripled to 2700 tickets issued, and then in the last year in 2025, the final year of the revenue share, it actually went up to 5,000.

Um so we are seeing a much higher rate of enforcement for um potential nuisances for various methods of transit for pedestrians, cyclists, etc.

And first responders as well.

Um with the improvement to the quantity of tickets issued and the enforcement of these, we are looking to extend that revenue sharing plan for non-meter enforcement in perpetuity with the rest of the 50-year contract.

Um this amendment also has language that allows the city to unilaterally exit the amendment if needed, uh, but I don't foresee a need for that.

But in all regards, the city's protected.

Um in what I've seen personally with the data is that it it does make sense to pursue the revenue share with Park Indy in this regard.

All right, thank you.

Any questions or comments for colleagues?

Counselor Nielsen.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Um you talk a little bit about so well, just for like our education, public educational what before these agreements before the agreement was entered to, like how how what was this what was the reality pre this agreement?

Um the park indie enforcement could still write citations for this, however, they were not entitled to any share of the revenue.

Okay.

Um so we thought a way to improve their enforcement rate on this would be to bring them into how we have the current meter uh plan structured where they are more incentivized to pursue these because they their their company does receive a revenue from it.

Okay, and what what what per they receive 100% of the we could talk a little bit about like what the what the revenue share is or because it looks like that's what it reads here, but I'd be curious what the share is.

Sure.

Uh I'm not sure if this might be.

Thank you.

There we go.

Is that better?

Yeah.

Um, so there's different tiers of the revenue share, and so this is working exactly like um the program for meter tickets.

So, in general, um, enough revenue is being collected that we're in the second revenue tier each month.

So basically um park indie is getting 40% of the revenue issued from these tickets.

But I guess I just want to emphasize that this is not a revenue related proposal.

While there is a small revenue component, it is almost entirely related to wanting to have increased enforcement um in these these areas.

Absolutely.

One follow-up question.

So on the so is park indie just able to write cite citations, or are they able to enforce towing?

There is a process called scuff law where if an individual does have four outstanding unpaid tickets, they are eligible to be towed.

Um, but up until that point, it it's just issuance of citations.

Okay, not non-moving violation as well, it has to be parking related.

And park indie is able to initiate that tow if they have that number of citations on that license plate.

Um, but um, you know, I think they're not going to initiate a tow if it if there isn't that record of repeat citations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Thank you.

Counselor Evans.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Chairwoman.

Where are you seeing the the greatest cluster of these tickets being done out?

Is this something that's more in the downtown core, or are we also pursuing this in the townships?

Uh I can get back to you with specific location data.

I only have category by total amounts right now from Park Indy.

Okay.

Thank you.

But real quick, so Park Indy is concentrated in the areas where there's meters because that's the business they're in.

So these are these are overwhelmingly going to be issued downtown and in Broad Ripple.

Um, you know, they have the ability to enforce out there, but there's not really a you know economic reason for them to just send you know their enforcement officers around the city if there isn't uh you know a reason for them to be there.

So it's mostly downtown in Broad Ripple.

Councilor Cahill.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um yeah, so I have I this was news to me to be honest, because we have been calling in my district where we have problems, uh IMPD, and this is the lowest possible priority.

So oftentimes they they don't come out or uh when they do they talk to the person and try to get them to move rather than issuing a citation.

And so I have a specific area where it's just a non-stop problem.

So is there a way for us to get sort of like a liaison contact with Park Indy to have a discussion to say, hey, this we would love to see some enforcement, and it's a routine problem, it'd be worth I mean, literally, right?

My the text I got walking in here was from a resident sending me a picture of four cars parked on a no-parking zone street, blocking a school bus from getting by.

So uh counselor, uh I can't guarantee that that park Indy would be the right fit for stepping up enforcement for the specific area you're talking about, but uh we're happy to have a conversation with you know in detail about this after the fact.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Bitts.

Thank you, uh Madam Chair.

On a similar note, who's responsible for uh say the neighborhoods?

Um my district, I don't have any parking meters, but I do get parking complaints, particularly in neighborhoods when people put six cars in a driveway and block the sidewalk and stick their butt out in the street.

Who's responsible for enforcing?

Because as I understand it, that's not legal, cannot block a public sidewalk, even if you're in a neighborhood.

Who's responsible for enforcing that?

I IMPDS.

IMPD.

Okay.

And as we heard earlier, that's very far down on their priority list, I presume.

Okay.

Any other questions from counselors?

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 14.

Okay.

Counselor Evans.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, I would move that we send proposal 14 to the full council with a due pass recommendation.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to send proposal number 14 to the full council with a due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Thank you very much.

Next up on the agenda is proposal number 15, which authorizes the city acting through Marion County Stormwater Management District, a special special taxing district existing pursuant to IC36-3-5-8 to issue up to 50 million of revenue bonds, and if necessary, in terms financing notes to finance the planning, design, construction, and inspection of channels, culverts, levees, and dams, stewardship, studies, and water quality projects, and approves and authorizes other action in respect in respect there too.

All right, I'll give it to you.

Thank you, uh, Chair Jones and members of the committee.

My name is Joe Glass.

I'm the executive director and general counsel of the Indianapolis Bond Bank.

Uh proposal for you this evening for uh proposal 15 authorizes the issuance of up to 15 million dollars in bonds or notes uh by the uh stormwater management district.

Uh this the uh debt would be secured by uh fees of the stormwater district, which are the fees that we pay with our uh property taxes.

Um we are planning on issuing uh a short-term facility with a term of two to three years in anticipation of a long-term debt issuance, and we'll get into uh more details about that later.

So uh the stormwater district was created in uh 2001 uh for the purpose of providing safe and efficient conveyance of stormwater runoff.

It's governed by Indiana Code and by local ordinance.

Um, and uh any debt uh issued by the district must be approved by the council.

So the district includes all of Marion County with the exception of Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport uh Speedway in Cumberland that's just under a 900,000 residents.

Um it has uh just under 700 million dollars of uh uh capital assets, uh including stormpipe, uh, two dams, uh levee, um public roadway miles, and uh nine lift stations.

Um here you'll see our existing debt.

We have three outstanding uh um issues by the stormwater district.

Um, all of our uh existing bonds are rated triple A by uh SP and Kroll.

So uh we recently issued uh an RFP um for a short-term uh facility um for a term of thirty two to three years.

Um a short-term facility offers us some flexibility.

Uh we would pay uh in uh only interest uh during the construction period and pay only for uh funds that are expended on construction projects.

Um we anticipate selecting a bank um by the first week of February uh to engage with on the on the short-term facility, and then at the end of the term, anticipate issuing long-term debt uh to take out uh the short-term debt.

Uh so the stormwater improvement plan, um, this is uh presented every year a five-year plan on a rolling basis uh by TBW uh in conjunction with their budget.

Um it lays out both the funding sources for the plan and also uh the capital projects anticipated to be funded by the plan.

And so all the projects funded by uh the short-term debt issuance will be projects included in the capital plan.

Um, our financing team, uh, we have here tonight, I think more advisors uh who is our financial advisor, uh Bozeman Kennedy Evans is our bond counsel, uh U.S.

Bank is our trustee, and we will uh expect to select a bank um by the first week of February.

So we're before you guys at obviously at public works uh we dissipate the full council approving um uh this uh resolution um at their uh February meeting.

We'll also have a couple trips before the Board of Public Works, and our final stop will be at the bond bank board meeting in February.

And we anticipate closing on uh the short-term facility in March.

Uh happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Any comments, questions from counselors?

Councilor Gibson.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and uh thank you very much, uh director, for your presentation, and uh appears to be reasonable and necessary.

My question to you is on the on the program management.

Uh what's what's involved in that?

Because uh that uh combined four year five year period as this over 24 million dollars.

Just want to know exactly what that means and in the program management.

That means is that what you I guess we've managed an overall project.

What is what exactly does that mean?

Yeah, I let uh Sam speak to that, counselor.

Sure, counselor, and this is on the slide.

I believe you're looking at the five-year capital plan slide that shows the funding sources and the next slide that shows the expenditure breakdown.

Yeah, so the the program management category includes a number of costs that are necessary in order to run the program.

So included in that would be um contracts we have for uh design and staff augmentation services for specific support for the stormwater program.

Um so you know, obviously uh that's kind of capturing administrative costs associated with the program, but also some project design, things like that.

It includes costs for our uh technology systems that we use to manage our capital programs, so each transportation and stormwater basically pay their share of those of those overhead costs.

So that's what you're seeing wrapped up in that line.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Cahell.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh I know you uh it says you just did the uh RFP on uh was it Monday or something?

Uh so I know we don't know what you will get here, but directionally, what what kind of uh rate are you looking at on these notes?

What what do you anticipate?

Just ballpark.

Yeah, I might uh uh defer to our uh financial advisor.

Just gonna say good afternoon about this this evening.

Uh my name's Diana Hamilton, I'm president of Sycamore Advisors.

I've worked on stormwater probably since 2004, so the very first financing um at the time, and then we worked on the new uh rate structure, which we think and hopefully you would agree is working very well and actually uh compared to other cities around the country as a very affordable rate.

Um I think we're below nine dollars uh Sam can correct me, but it's uh but uh it's a very affordable rate system.

So in short, um borrowing right now, um we would expect something in and this is gonna be a guess, right?

Because we don't have the RFPs back, it will depend.

Uh we did a really broad solicitation.

I think we sent them out to over 40 banks.

Um, and we're gonna look both at uh what they call commercial paper and also um notes, and as Joe noted, one of the advantages of either program is we're only paying for what we use.

So even though we're gonna authorize 50 million, we're not spending 50 million on day one, right?

Um I think we're pretty close to like two million a month, right?

Or something for it was it ramps up over time, but initially we're just obviously gonna have design engineering projects.

So as we draw down the funds, we would pay as we use the funds.

So there's the benefit of that.

Um, but we would expect that we would have um I'm gonna say probably an interest rate in the range of three percent, which we might hope for the uh the program.

I would actually think we could be lower than that.

It's really gonna depend.

And then when you take into account that we're only paying really for what we're using, the net rate, like on the the last 50 million that we borrowed, which was in 21 and then retired with long-term bonds in 24.

I think our net rate was under two percent when you took it all in, which is very attractive borrowing cost.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Councilor Roberts?

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, just looking at these numbers here, it's it's very interesting how the numbers fluctuate so much.

Well, so looking at the surface uh surface drainage uh year by year totals, it goes from 10 million to 38 million back at six million to ten million again.

And I was interested if you know these projects for each year already pre-planned, if so, kind of to what level of specificity.

I'm just curious, thank you.

Yeah, great question, counselor.

So looking at that, as you would guess, a lot of that has to do with project schedules and bid timing.

So, like what you're seeing uh in you know 2025 and 2026 is the schedule for you know pretty uh significant project, which is the the you know, fountain square drainage project, which is scheduled to um you know move forward this year, and so you're seeing uh the the funds get tied up for that project and this cash flow.

Um, so that's part of the logic for timing in issuance like this now because we have you know significant project flow moving forward this year.

This is a point in which we need um you know funds available, and so that's why we're we're bringing this to you now instead of a year ago when we wouldn't have necessarily needed uh to tap into that 50 million dollar line of credit yet.

Gotcha, thank you.

Thank you, thank you for the explanation.

Any other comments, questions?

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 15.

All right, Madam Chair, movie send proposal 15, the full council to do pass recommendation.

It has been moved and seconded to send proposal number 15 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Thank you very much, Joe, for presenting.

Finally, we have proposal number 31, which amends section 261 through 408 of the code pertaining to responsible bidding practices.

And we have our very own colleague, Councillor Brown, to present with us.

Thank you, Councillor Brown, and you may begin.

Oh, we're on.

Um, I'm gonna be joined today by Carlos Elvarez and Scott Woolrich, who are uh work with apprenticeship or apprenticeship coordinators with the bricklayers as I talk about this.

Um so thank you.

I'm uh thank you, madam chair, thank you, colleagues.

It's you guys, it's very intimidating to sit here, guys.

It's weird.

Okay.

Um I am I'm counselor Ally Brown and represent District 10.

Um myself and uh counselor Vop Osley, uh, we authored proposal number 31, 2026.

The focus of this is to tighten some requirements in our responsible bidder ordinance.

So law requires us to pick the lowest responsible bid.

So there are things that we put in as the requirements for responsibility.

You wouldn't want Allie's construction company who has never done road construction to be able to bid really low and and be delivered a project I can't do.

So we we set all these standards.

And one of the standards that we've set historically is that projects uh involving construction, commercial projects, horizontal projects to road construction, the that those people on that site have been apprenticed and gone through apprenticeship programs and know what they're doing and are on that site.

And I would say the majority of people are good actors and what that and they are.

So what this does is it takes our RBO, our responsible bidder ordinance that says right now that it's required apprenticeship program and defines that to be the federal to meet the federal standards of the Department of Labor approved program.

So a Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program, and and they'll be able to speak more to the exact things in the apprenticeship.

I just want to make it clear this is not just a union thing, associated builders and contractors, ABC, PHCC, there are multiple Department of Labor associated apprenticeship programs that you see all over construction sites on Indianapolis.

It is important to do this for um sorry.

Talking about this, it's important to do it because what we're seeing is what we call uh apprenticeships on paper showing up.

So you have a construction company that says, Oh, yeah, I do an apprenticeship program.

Cool check, but with none of the actual things that is required.

So that could be safety requirements, that's learning a trade.

I mean, you don't want somebody who says they're a nurse because they've been hanging around a hospital who didn't go to a nurse certified nursing school, right?

It's the same kind of thing.

I don't want people, bricklayers laying bricks in my child's elementary school, unless I know that they know what they're doing and of strong wind isn't gonna take that down, right?

So that's what comes with going through an apprenticeship program is they are trained, they earn why they learn.

Whether they're going union where they go to Ivy Tech or ABC, they go to Vincense, they get a college degree in that process, they become certified.

That is able to be passed around.

That journeyman status is something that they always get to keep.

So this will help our workforce development here in the city, ensuring that that is happening, that we're building this next generation of construction workers.

It will also be a way to monitor how we are spending city dollars.

We spend a lot of money on construction.

Anyone who's ever done construction on their home had something, you don't want somebody who doesn't know what they're doing doing that because they're gonna waste pro they're gonna waste stuff, they're gonna take longer.

So having that is a responsible way to monitor our tax dollars, and then it's also about safety.

A construction project, think of a massive construction project.

There are thousands of people on that job site, and there is a trust that happens on that job site that all of those people know what they're doing.

There's heavy equipment happening, electrical, plumbing, brickwork, everything you can think of is all happening at once, and there's a trust that happens at everyone on that site is trained in their job and knows what they're doing and is keeping everyone safe.

So, what this will do is it'll ensure that safety of our people on the sites, safety of the workers, and it will also ensure that our taxpayer dollars are not being wasted by paying for people to do jobs that they're unqualified to do and then having to go back and do the work.

So I know that's a lot if you actually look at the the ordinance it's a one sentence change that is that adds that state that state or federal department of labor required apprenticeship program.

And so I have Scott here who can talk a little bit about what an apprenticeship program is compared to just an on-the-job learning and then gladly take any questions.

All right go ahead.

So my name is Scott Woolridge I'm actually apprenticeship coordinator with the Indianapolis Tile Marvel and Terrazo.

We are part of the Bricklayers union and um before becoming the coordinator I actually um taught the apprenticeship for 17 years.

I also graduated from our apprenticeship program in 2003.

Our apprenticeship basically has been around since 1970 we've um over the last 30 years we've actually graduated 122 apprentices which averages out to be four apprentices a year and we actually only have 260 members that contribute to our apprenticeship on the tile side.

We have a set curriculum for every apprentice um to study that provides the tools to ensure each one of our apprentices understand proper technique for installing a lasting quality product.

Our brick layer apprenticeship program actually has 284 registered apprentices and over the last 30 years they've graduated an average of 49 apprentices per year.

Not only do we have our apprenticeship but we also partner and visit local CTE programs across the state of educating students of industry growth need for brick layers career opportunities and advancements through our brick apprenticeship over 40 schools or corporations are implemented the BAC Masonry capstone we have like five of them across that actually incorporate the 40 schools and then um and basically I say all this to say that we need a good ordinance that backs the companies who are local to this area and committed to ensuring their workforce are properly trained.

That's it thank you for your time.

Thank you thank you so much.

Yeah and there are others experts in the room too if you have questions that I can't and we can't answer.

So comments questions from colleagues count Council Nielsen chairwoman thank you Counselor Brown.

Does the language the the I know you it's it's a small edit does it help um address some of the workarounds we unfortunately see with folks being 1099 would this help yes okay so um if if you're not familiar there's an issue happening in the commercial and all construction and we've seen it on commercial sites of worker misclassification and tax fraud.

So I'm gonna pretend like I own a construction company.

So Allie can Allie Brown construction goes out and gets people and says you come work for me and oftentimes they're preying on our most vulnerable populations you come work for me I'll write it a paper apprenticeship sure I'm training you I'm training you going through an apprenticeship program but I'm also 1099ing you so what is happening then is that these people don't have any protections on the job site they get injured the layoff they have no repercussions anything like that and then when for us as a city we're basically losing I believe the estimates and uh this is a couple years ago the last estimate was we're losing about eight million dollars a year in uh tax funding that we should be receiving through those payroll taxes but as a worker what's happening is these people show up at the job site they're being 1099 sometimes they're not being paid they get injured on the site they have no repercussions no protections um they get laid off there's nothing there they're not going through an actual apprenticeship program so all of that experience is is null if they want to go over to another company and then frankly we're seeing uh even an increase in human trafficking in the construction industry by bringing these people in taking them across state lines um if somebody is here undocumented they're saying hey you know uh if if we're not gonna pay you but if you who you're gonna rat to or we'll call your family we'll call on your family or stuff like that.

So all of these things will go back to that worker protection making our job site safer um for everyone on that site and and making sure that we're going after the bad actors that are preying upon people that are not doing what they're supposed to be doing and that are frankly wasting taxpayer money and not paying enough if we're gonna spend out taxpayer money on these projects it's important that the people in those projects are are being paid properly and are not uh kind of getting in on the back end thank you.

Um and everything that you've articulated is right on, plus they owe back taxes, right?

Because there's just the administrative side that if you're a W2 or if you're an employee, right?

A lot of this is taken care of for you, and now you have someone who's been working very, very hard and now owes all this back taxes because of one bad thing.

So anyway, I I really appreciate that, and I'm glad that that will help address what I see as a very serious issue, especially as you've articulated with how we are spending public dollars in in this space.

So thank you for for carrying this.

Thank you, Chairman.

Yep.

Thank you.

Counselor Cahill.

Thank you, madam chair.

I'm I'm trying to understand a couple things.

One the the sentence that's uh added in here, you talk about the apprenticeship, but that's that's in a different section.

And I guess I'm trying to understand where it says two things here.

Affirmation of compliance uh with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, and so on and so forth.

So is the situation today that because I guess I'm trying to understand this, seems like this happens in the bid process, but if this is just an affirmation, not even I I'm reading this as not even under penalty of perjury or anything.

So when somebody bids on a project, they have to fill out like paperwork, and right now there's basically a checkbox that says, yes, I have an apprenticeship program, people are apprenticed.

This would be check, yes, I have a department of labor approved apprenticeship program and apprentices, which then if somebody is checking that that is that's and they don't, that's fraud.

And that allows us to go back at somebody back at bad actors and do whatever it is that we do when they break contracts and we reclaim processes from them, money from them.

So the so I guess so they're doing something today, they they check that they have an apprenticeship program.

But that apprenticeship program is in violation of state or federal law already, right?

And then but but I guess I'm trying to understand.

So nothing under without this, we're saying we're nothing happens in that scenario.

If as long as that person's kind of like, oh yeah, I'm running an apprentice program.

We don't have those standards in there to say, okay, show us your program.

Tell us about it, show us those standards.

Um in a in a good world, you know, there wouldn't be bad actors who are doing this.

But um construction projects, you guys know they're they're big projects, there's a lot of bids, people get in there, and then a big company bids, and then there's subs and subs and subs, and sometimes it's happening on our sites.

It's there are there are sites, there are projects that we have approved that I have anecdotally been told that this is happening on it.

So um that's why I want to make sure to close this loophole in the project.

Thank you.

Uh Counselor Boots.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Councilor Brown.

Thank you for the presentation.

Just a couple statutory interpretation questions.

When you say um but not limited to blah blah blah, and any requirements of federal or state department of labor.

Yes, so are those when I read that it suggests to me that those better be quite equivalent, otherwise I could comply with one, which would be much lesser standard than the other, and I would still kind of sneak around your intent.

So our state one complies with the federal and actually goes above.

Um, and they're actually the state has its own responsible bidding ordinances, so this would then follow those two.

Um they're actually debating it in the state house different uh additions in to tighten those, including e-verification of people on job sites and stuff like that, um, which would then down apply to us.

Um so this is this is looking at just making that a little bit tighter on our end, um, because we do so many projects over 150,000.

So it would be what yeah, go ahead.

Oh, go ahead.

I'm sorry.

Well, why would you not want to make it tighter by saying picking the state or the federal and going with the higher standard?

This just may be the fact that I'm not a lawyer.

I mean, and I am I am thought I am open to uh uh if we need to do an amendment on that to make it stronger to I I'm I honestly that's probably pushing agent for or would that second question back on another page because it does look like there's another minor amendment.

And I am gonna oh I apologize, I should have told you this.

I am gonna offer a strike uh a strike through amendment on that afterwards because we already do that.

So uh after talking with Director Wilson today, um it would be redundant to add that into this when we already report out why we didn't pick the lowest bids as yes as something is a standard practice for all of it.

That's something we're required to do already.

So back on subsection A.

Yes, I'm gonna I apologize, guys.

Uh I'm gonna offer an amendment at the I didn't realize it till earlier today to that we were already doing that to the question.

When it reads that a written explanation will be provided, it's the city that provides that written explanation.

All right, all right, thank you.

And they already they already do that.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh Councilor Gibson.

Thank you, madam chair, and uh thank you, counselor, for all the who worked on trying to ensure that we have higher standards among our our bidding work and more importantly that uh you're ensuring that uh we have quality work, and so I applaud all of you involved, and uh if you if you're willing, I'd like to be a co-sponsor.

I'd love to have you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Evans.

Uh thank you, madam chair.

After my um lawyer, colleague and lawyer friend over here gets to you it reminds me for it.

Yeah, you're um sitting there thinking, well, I'm not an attorney, but you did stay at a holiday and express though, didn't you?

Um I just want to tell you thank you.

Obviously, I wasn't as funny as I thought it would be.

This is a tough crowd tonight.

Um I I appreciate weakened though, right?

Exactly.

I appreciate this.

This is good work.

Um, these are the things we have to do.

We're just fine-tuning things, and it's frustrating when you find out that people are cutting corners and people's lives are in the mix of that cutting corners, yeah, one way or another, and all the negative things that you can sit here and talk and tell us about.

So while it's a small component, it's a good thing.

And I guess I would articulate that um, regardless if that language stayed the same or not, whether it's federal or state, it's better than what we're doing.

Both of them are in this case.

So thank you so much.

And uh, with your permission, I'd like to be added as co-sponsor as well.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

All right, any other comments, questions for my colleagues.

Anyone in the public who wishes to speak on proposal number 31.

Anyone?

Yes, please come forward, state your name and hies ma'am.

My name is Rebecca Razor.

Hold on, just one moment.

Okay, she's got to read a statement.

So just to read a statement, so you can't talk for more than two minutes.

Oh, doesn't it?

Just one moment, so sorry.

We're excited.

We're so excited to have you.

One moment.

So excited to be here.

Okay, before we open the floor to public comments, we would like to remind committee members and the public of a few ground rules so everyone can have a chance to speak and be heard.

It is important that we each observe the following rules.

First, each speaker will be limited to two minutes.

Second, any public comments must reasonably relate to the agenda item under consideration.

Third, speakers who stray from the item under consideration or become unduly repetitious, maybe asked to move on to their next point or conclude their comment.

Finally, attendees who cause disruptions that prevent the committee from proceeding through tonight's agenda in a reasonably efficient manner will be removed.

Please remember that some types of threatening speech or incitements of items are not protected by the first amendment at all.

And now, Madam Chair, if a committee member asks for consent to adopt these rules, we can proceed to public comments.

Thank you.

Thank you for your patience.

We're so excited for this.

I've been waiting.

I guess um, start to come.

Okay, okay.

My name is Rebecca Razor, and I'm here with the Carpenters Union.

I just showing support for this, also saying that I went through a four-year apprenticeship program that we do, graduated in 2013, and I'm a journeyman carpenter now.

So just want to stand up here and just show support for this.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time in coming here today.

Anyone else in the public who wishes to speak?

Mr.

Hooker, are you gonna speak?

Okay, all right.

Are you are you coming to speak?

No, okay.

Okay, anyone else?

All right.

Well, uh Counselor Evans.

May I be added before we move?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

We good to go.

Yes.

Anyone else?

Councilor Evans.

Tough committee today.

Got people standing around ready to whip our butts if we don't vote yes or something.

Uh madam chair.

I would it's my honor to move proposal 31 to the full council with a due pass recommendation.

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to send proposal 31 to the full council with the due pass recommendation.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay.

The ayes have it.

Congratulations.

Thank you to move to the full council.

And I will have that amendment with the strike through for everybody at the full council.

Okay.

Thank you, Council Brown.

Thank you for everyone for coming this evening.

And with the motion, we will adjourn.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.