Good evening.

It's 5 30.

In room 260, we're going to do the admin finance meeting.

Um start out with our introductions to my left.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Brian Mowra, District 25.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Mike Dilk, District 24.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair Renee Allen, District 15.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair Nick Roberts, district four.

Thank you, Chairman Dan Boost, District 3.

Good evening, Chairman Miss Gary, Councillor Krista Wells, District 11, West.

Good evening, Frank Mascarry, District 19, and our Madam President is walking in the room.

It's very very locked.

We tried to unlock that.

Go ahead.

Mr.

Nielsen.

Here it is.

Thank you, Mr.

Mr.

Chairman.

Sorry to be a few minutes late.

Andy Nielsen, District 14.

Good evening, Maggie Lewis, District 5.

All right, we have a short agenda.

Two proposals.

Proposal 34 and proposal 35.

First up is proposal 34 appoints the mayor's appointment of Christomer L.

Bailey from the chief of Deputy Mayor.

Mr.

Bailey, you you have the the uh floor there.

Have a seat.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for stepping up and doing this.

You're going from one big enterprise to another.

Uh you don't need to tell us about anything about us.

We all know you.

So that means I can't.

Are you prepared to do what you're getting ready to do?

Yeah, I'm uh you know a lot of people are gonna lie to you.

Yeah.

Since you're ex-police officer, you're gonna be able to see that.

So yeah.

That's my only advice.

You know, I'm always lied to.

So like tell you tell yourself to tell the audience a little bit about yourself there.

Good evening, everyone, and uh, Mr.

Chairman, thank you.

And for those watching online, my name is Chris Bailey.

It's an honor to be here before you as I take the next step in my career of service to the people of the city of Indianapolis.

First, one I I want to acknowledge something obvious.

I come to this role from a different path than any chief deputy mayor or chief of staff before me.

I'm the first sworn police officer officer to serve in this position and to help the mayor lead from inside his office.

Because of that, I think it's important to share not just why I'm here, but how I see the future of Indianapolis and the role I hope to play in it.

My commitment to the city is deeply personal.

I'm a long lifelong resident of Indianapolis.

The city is more than where I work.

It's where my wife and I choose to raise our children.

It's home.

So when I talk about the future of Indianapolis, I'm speaking from a place of personal investment and genuine care.

And that care is what brings me here today.

As a public safety professional with 27 years of experience, I've worked in every part of this city and spoke spoken to countless community members.

I've learned that public safety sits at the center of everything we care about.

Yes, it's about people feeling safe, but also whether they feel comfortable or excuse me, connected, supported, and are able to build a good life here in our city.

It's about neighborhoods that are stable, city services that work, and public spaces where families can gather and communities can grow.

That broader understanding of safety and quality of life is what makes this role a natural next step in my mission to serve our city.

During my time as the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department chief, I led with a people first mindset and a holistic vision focused on both results and the people who deliver them.

Same philosophy is what I'll bring to my work as the chief of staff.

Effective government, much like effective public safety, depends on supporting people doing the work day in and day out.

And it also depends on listening.

Throughout my time with IMPD, I work closely with elected officials, community leaders, and residents to strengthen transparency and build trust.

That commitment to collaboration is something I will carry with me into the mayor's office.

Whether working with you here on the city county council, our partners at the state, or directly with residents across our city.

I'm committed to open communication, mutual respect, and a shared uh problem-solving effort that approaches how we achieve measurable success.

In this role, my focus will be on continuing to the forward momentum of Mayor Hogsett's administration in 2026.

That means supporting the investments we are making in public safety that are helping drive down violent crime.

It means helping oversee the implementation of a 1.2 billion dollar five-year capital improvement plan that is rebuilding our roads and infrastructure.

It means supporting development across all parts of Indianapolis, not just in the city center, but neighborhoods throughout our community.

And ultimately, it means improving quality of life for everyone who calls Indianapolis home, expanding access to affordable housing, strengthening educational opportunities, investing in parks, trails, and public spaces that connect our neighborhoods and bring people together.

This is our vision for a future of the future of Indianapolis.

And in his role, I believe I'm uniquely positioned to help bring that vision to life.

I look forward to working alongside Mayor Hogsett and each one of you in pursuit of that goal.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Chris.

We do appreciate everything you've done for all the way around.

Any questions or comments for Chief Bailey?

Councillor Boots.

Okay, good.

Council Rose.

That's very kind.

Chief, that was very eloquent, and I believed every word that you said.

And I know it to be true because I know who you are.

The words that you said that stood out to me that my heart needed to hear, and I think our city needed to hear our people care and listen.

And in your previous role, I know from testimony from our communities that when you would, you know, reluctantly when we have lost appear on TV and educate our community on what to do, what not to do, how we can protect our kids.

We know we can continue to look to you having managed the largest city budget.

You now have way more responsibility, but as you said, you have a unique experience that I look forward to supporting you in.

The things that you've done have always been complex.

You've always shown up in person.

I was we had a drowning on the far west side at Eagle Creek, and you came and sat with me and talked to me and educated me about our park rangers, our water safety, the complexities of state law and how they impact local government.

And that's the kind of leader that uh our next chief of staff should, should be, and so I will just say thank you and yield my time back to my colleagues, but know that um our city needed to hear you say those words.

So thank you, Mr.

Chairman, for allowing him to reintroduce himself this evening.

Thank you, Councilor.

Counselor Mallory.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh Chief, still chief.

Uh, look forward to supporting you again tonight here.

And uh it's an honor to co-sponsor this with Madam President.

Um, you know, I'm definitely excited to have a constituent in the top brass of the city, so that's gonna be wonderful, I'm sure.

Uh but look forward to all you do and all you can do for us in the city as a whole, and uh thank you for being willing to step up into this position.

Thank you, Councillor.

Madam President.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh, thank you for your leadership and your service uh to our community.

One question how do you ensure that there's alignment between the mayor, the council, uh the department heads, and our city leaders.

First of all, I want to just tell you how great uh and how lucky we all are as a city to have extraordinary people, uh, career-long civil servants who every day in every department across this enterprise work their tails off under some pretty uh intense pressure every single day to deliver for our community.

I think that the path was set, especially last year with the discussions that we had with many of you on how we create a budget that works for everyone.

Uh and we've already started that process, I think, in this year to talk about priorities and how we we work together uh to set that to achieve the agenda that we all want for the city because I don't think that the things we want are much different.

And so uh my hope is that we can all uh work together.

We won't always agree, but that we that we come to come to an agreement together behind closed scene uh behind closed doors so that we don't so when the public sees us that they see us that we're unified in the mission of serving and supporting them and giving them things that they need to fulfill their American dream of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

The same attitude I took with while others wanted to see criminal justice partners fighting in public.

I refuse to do that because the community would, in my opinion, feel unsafe if they thought that the people they relied on every single day for safety were at each other's throat.

Uh I I don't believe that's the best way that we can govern.

So you you have somebody that will listen, and believe me, I have a lot to learn.

I've spent six, what is this day seven?

Uh uh I I've learned more in seven days about things I never imagined I was going to learn.

Um, but uh the one thing is consistent in all those conversations that had is everyone wants to work uh with the administration and and we want to work with everybody to to move the agenda forward.

Thank you, and thank you for your willingness to serve.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Councillor Nielsen.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, President Cover my question.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Yeah.

Oh no, I mean that was Councillor Boots.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Chief.

I'm glad I don't have to change your address either.

Uh shall I call you chief?

Uh you I've had this discussion many times.

You can call me Chris, you can call me chief, you can call me just don't one one person called me Mr.

Bailey, and I don't like that.

Okay, all right.

Um and this is almost a rhetorical question, and I and I think we all can assume the answer, but I just have to ask it.

Do you feel you could be objective when it comes to big budget decisions, particularly involving IMPD's budget and the public safety budget when we do have other pressing needs in the city that at certain times may outweigh IMPD budget.

Yeah, absolutely.

But and as the mayor stated many, many times, public safety is the number one priority, and I don't I don't see that priority changing as we move into the the preparation for the 2027 budget.

Obviously, we'll all work together to find what the bath uh best path forward is to uh to make sure we ensure that we're taking care of those that take care of us, and that's not just IMPD, it's the fire department and it's others that um everything we do in our city, it starts, begins and ends with public safety.

Uh and there are different definitions of of what that means and you know, safe parks and safe roads and safe sidewalks and all those things.

So I understand the importance of every one of those uh other priorities that we have in the city, and of course, in my new role that requires me to be objective.

Uh however, uh I do work for uh um a mayor whose priority has been and will continue to be top priority is public safety.

Great.

Well, thank you.

I look forward to working with you.

Thank you.

Councilor Roberts.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and obviously look forward to working with you very much, uh Chief.

You've been great to work with.

I know I've been not just you know involved during my two years on the council, but for 26 years clearly.

I've been a great um great community partner for everything I've heard.

I'm very curious on, you know, obviously we've only been only been in this position for seven days, but I'm curious because in my head, I feel like so much the chief of staff's job is working on economic development policies and really you know working with DMD, IEDI, BNS, all the different agencies.

I was curious if you developed any thoughts and kind of your working through all that, your priorities and how you'll be just working economic development uh projects in general.

Thank you.

I probably spent a lot a lot of time over the last seven days learning and hearing about um those those priorities and things that are even before I started.

I said in uh on our our weekly uh DMD uh conversations, and there's uh a lot of people in the room and we go through all the things that are pending and what the roadblocks are, what the path forward uh could be for those type of things.

And so there's still a lot to a lot to learn in that in that area, but uh we talked about a little bit of we have to have more housing and we have to have uh housing that's available at all levels.

Um you know, Indianapolis continues to hit the top of the list of affordability uh in the country for housing, but we know there's not enough housing.

Uh and we have to to work together to find and use our land in ways that um that increase the uh now the this is seven days of learning here, so okay.

Believe me.

You want to you've got the perfect answer so far.

You've been a great job.

That was exactly what I wanted to hear.

Uh you know, I've I have a significant significant interest in in housing.

That's one of the things that uh came to front of mine uh when I took this job is uh there there are plenty of opportunities for that if we do it the right way and work together to do that, including you know expansions at I IUN D in Purdue.

What an opportunity to get young people to come to school here but also stay here when they uh when they're done um done with their education.

Very well said.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Any any other questions to the council?

Anyone from the public like go ahead.

I apologize.

I'm just gonna make it short and sweet.

Um I commend you first congratulations for stepping up and I commend you from stepping away from being the chief of police to chief of staff.

at uh IUND in Purdue what what an opportunity to get young people to come to school here but also stay here when they uh when they're done um done with their education very well said thank you thank you chief any any other questions for the council anyone to the public like go ahead I apologize I'm just gonna make it short and sweet um I commend you first congratulations for stepping up and I commend you from stepping away from being the chief of police to chief of staff and it's seven days now and as you were sitting here talking I thought about when I came in and I came from my advocacy standpoint and now you're getting ready to be in this seat and so it's gonna be a learning curve and probably overwhelming like you said you've been sitting in different seats and I know for me I was like wait a minute hold up I'm actually an elected official now and then I got people coming to me and they're needing questions so again I just wanted to say congratulations and I'd really do commend you on step you know stepping into a new row and I just look forward to working with you and see all the great things that's gonna happen between you between I may call you for advice to see how you learn that stuff please do all right thank you anyone in the audience would like to speak on this appointment I entertain a motion.

Mr Chairman yes I move uh proposal number thirty four to the poll council that they do pass recommendations it's moved been moved and seconded all those in favor say aye aye opposed none welcome thank you Mr.

Chairman thank you thank you up next is proposal 35 2026 and um congratulations right on track for my pizza we have agreement welcome thank you um not to correct the uh former chief of police and current chief of staff but I think the mayor has said elections are his top priority I might be wrong on that but I I think I heard that uh Mr.

Chairman members of this August body we are here today uh because we want to move if any of you have been to our election service center uh it's at Washington in Sherman it's uh well past the time to uh get new digs and if you'll recall uh within the last six years or so there was a proposal to build a new election service center facility uh somewhere near the CJC and when I came into office that was that would have been more effective right after I say this figure 34 million dollars this is not this is not this is uh well less and uh Patrick Becker who is our director of elections will go through uh we're moving closer to downtown uh we're still gonna be easily accessible to uh the poll workers who uh rely on public transportation we're gonna have more parking and it's not going to smell like rotten meat we hope that's the plan yes um so I I guess so uh the the address is 51 Cowiba Lane which is uh as the clerk mentioned uh east washington uh the closest um major intersection is it's just a little bit west of of rural um so if you know the golden ace keep coming a little bit closer to downtown um and um it is the square footage is 56000 square feet um and that includes about 15000 square feet of office uh so we're actually able to expand our warehouse capacity as well as our office space um which is one of our goals that we've had which is to to try to um build out a little bit more of our operations um currently the operations center um service center stores all the equipment it's where we do all of our testing of our equipment uh we now have our new vote by mail equipment that's out there um and um our training as well for all of our inspectors so this additional office space will um accommodate a lot of the operations that already kind of exist uh that we kind of make do with what we have and now this will kind of uh um accommodate sort of what we what we've been doing for the last uh handful of years um on average uh it's about um over 10 years it's um uh it's about five million dollars or so over ten years um with escalating rent um so not 34 million yeah um so uh and that that rent does increase year over year um so we've been through uh the space allocation committee back in july of 2025 um we've collected our signatures uh we've had our public hearing um our board uh voted to approve this at our February 4th meeting uh which was uh allowed for the public to view the lease for the 10 days that was required uh in the in the newspaper um had the public hearing um and now we're here for um any scrutiny or questions that you might have so we can continue to matriculate this thing down the down the field um my question would be I I always thought the city would not enter a lease over five years is that correct this is a 10 year lease yeah we've there are for example our records facility at 1330 Madison Avenue we've been there

Our board uh voted to approve this at our February 4th meeting, uh, which was uh allowed for the public to view the lease for the 10 days that was required uh in the in the newspaper, um, had the public hearing, um, and now we're here for um any scrutiny or questions that you might have so we can continue to matriculate this thing down the down the field.

Um my question would be I I always thought the city would not enter a lease over five years.

Is that correct?

This is a 10-year lease.

Yeah, we've there are for example our records facility at 1330 Madison Avenue.

We've been there for a very long time.

You renew.

Uh we do renew it's at the lawyer said it's okay.

If there's something that uh good evening, counselors.

I'm the uh administrative real estate for the controller's office.

The maximum lease we can enter is 10 years with one tenure renewal.

So this is really quite no, it's 10 years.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Can't counselor.

Thank you, Chairman Miscarry.

Um for how does this um you know we just passed your 26th budget a few months ago, can't believe it was only a few months ago.

Uh how can you walk us through like the the change in the lease now, why not with the budget, how your budget maybe reflected this, kind of work through that a little bit, please?

Yeah, thank you, Councillor.

So uh we worked with the budget team in anticipation uh of this.

Um so this is actually all budgeted for in our 2026 budget currently.

Um and the process actually began in 2024.

We went through an RFP uh with the city um and um so we were able to um work through you know a cash flow uh document as we were sort of building out that RFP um so we're able to kind of incorporate that into our budget.

So um we don't anticipate any budgetary impact from that perspective.

Uh it's already approved dollars that that covers our first year of rent.

President Lewis.

So I was gonna ask the same question as Councillor Nilson just said, as so you already budgeted for the increase in 2026.

Are there going to be any additional increases moving forward?

So it's five million over the next five years.

Did you already uh break that down over the next five years so it stays the same?

Or are we gonna see some increases in 2027 and so forth?

They're they're built in the increases are built in, they're incremental.

What is that percentage?

Yeah, it's um it's a 2.6% escalator, but we do have yeah, um currently in the budget room for that sort of additional rent.

Um I believe we get to year five before we'll probably need to start adjusting that budget again.

Before you come back and ask for any type of increase from this body, yes, and that would be through probably a normal budget process at that point as well.

Okay.

And so tonight we're only approving the need to lease, right?

We're not really addressing the the financial piece of it.

Is that correct?

Yes, the financial piece has for all intents and purposes already been it's uh it's uh you've already approved that.

Okay.

So again, it's just the you're just letting us move.

Okay.

It's the approval of the 10-year lease.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Council Roberts.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and I'm very happy to hear this.

I I I met Mr.

Becker, you know, six years ago working there, and it's uh probably only aged more in the last six years.

Um I have a little bit of an off-topic question, but this is probably the last time we see you guys before the primary.

I was just curious in general if you had um finalized as we talked about the Lawrence Township early vote site is under renovation completely.

I was wondering if you guys had finalized that or worked on it.

I I apologize for the frustration I'm causing you based on the reaction, but for those of us from Lawrence Township, uh appreciate any update.

Hey.

We we it's it's been like this with the lease, and it's been like this with some of our uh votes early vote sites and so we've been in communication with the um folks, the staff over there.

We actually have a a site visit planned uh to see if there are uh still if there is still space within the building to accommodate us.

They've given us sort of a glimmer of hope that there might be some space not in the same room, but uh nearby, like in that open hallway area that we might be able to utilize.

Um if not, we're actively working on a couple of contingency you know plans for uh if that space doesn't work out, hopefully a little bit closer to 56th Street.

Um and then um you know, for us, we're hoping to have our board approve our vote center plan um March 6th.

So that's kind of our internal deadline to try to get a lot of this stuff resolved.

So we'll be working, you know, really hard over the next few weeks to get that, and you may be getting uh call or a text from me to to to brainstorm on some other solutions out there depending on how the site visit goes.

Thank you.

Any other quick counselor cioe.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh couple comments and then uh I guess uh question.

One uh in the lease, uh I think this is this is certainly not standard commercial leases, but I I appreciate this that we have the right to terminate for lack of appropriated funds.

So despite it being phrased as a uh 10-year lease with a uh single five-year option, we actually have kind of this unique lever that if we would fail to appropriate the funds, it says we're not even in default if we would do that.

So that's I think that's unique.

Uh and uh I like that because I I guess my questions really are the what is the extent of the need of the space.

I understand when we're doing counting and everyone's in and doing all that, but what is the use of the building outside those time frames?

And then I guess my my question tying into that is the this is still a pretty substantial amount of rent, it feels like considering, and I know that this went through the the land use uh committee, but it it seems to me, just my perception that we have a lot of excess properties.

Uh and I'm a little surprised that we have to go find and rent something that we can't do this in some other property we already have.

Curiously, there was uh we saw a lot of places.

There was a place, I think it was on 30th Street on the Far East side, that uh I I mean convenient, no, perfect, yes, and um IFD took it uh because they their need was such that that it is uh you know it's public safety.

Um this is it's it's a bigger footprint for us.

So instead of having to find training facilities because statute requires that our poll worker training that we conduct that every single election, uh we we don't have to go off-site for that now.

Um and it we always need someplace that is easy for people to get to.

That's one of the goals that we have.

Um we have uh it being closer to downtown does make it easier for people anyone who has to transfer on on at the transit center.

Um not that not that I mean there's plenty of parking too.

So it is um the facility that we're in now is uh the f the we have these machines that are very very expensive, and they're not I wouldn't call them delicate, but um there are divots in the floor in the concrete that uh they don't want us just uh mixing up a uh bag of quick create and doing it ourselves.

So it is at at Washington and Sherman there are um also some other um well I was there once and I was in the parking lot, it was an election night, and uh a sheriff's deputy started yelling at me to get into it in part because of the gunshots that were going off across the street.

So this is I mean, we want our poll workers and our staff and everyone there to be safe, and that's a consideration for us as well.

Yeah, no, I I understand.

I I was just talking in other properties that we have uh that we have consolidated or uh you know, like you mentioned the CJC when we've moved people over there that we've we've left a lot of vacancy just even in this um there's there's our our we have a in the clo on the clerk side, there's a records warehouse 1330 Madison Avenue.

Um just across the street, and forgive me, I don't know the address.

Uh I think DMD was there.

Uh our our trucks don't fit our trucks.

The there is one dock and the trucks that we have to move our equipment, uh there's no room for them there because that would have been it would have been perfect.

Yeah.

Except it didn't fit.

Okay, all right.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Um and I will say that that Yumi Goodman and Ben Crawford uh have been I mean they worked and worked very hard to find uh something that was suitable and that was that that we could work with and even possibly grow into.

So they they did a great job.

And if I could answer the question as well.

And this has been an ongoing process.

The in in-person early voting, the whole satellite program that we run all kind of now runs out of that facility, as well as all the prep for election day.

We do store all the election equipment there.

We do the preventative maintenance and and uh and testing out there.

And the other thing that it's really used for is the the storage of uh election materials.

Um and a good example of that is you know, in a presidential election, we'll have 20 or so skids of of material that have to go through retention cycle.

So we've we've uh through 2020 through 2024, we've experienced more material that we're having to recycle.

Um, and um by virtue of some of these higher turnout elections.

Um and so this also allows us to kind of uh consolidate some of our staff as well with having more office space.

Um and then the final thing I'll say that that really kind of brought us to this point is our our current ownership at our our current facility.

Um we we basically our rent has doubled over over time there, and there's new ownership at that facility, and the negotiations for any sort of extension with that ownership group really kind of uh died as the RFP process started.

They were originally bidding on our RFP, um, and then uh they they did not really can seem to want us uh to continue in that negotiation at our current space.

Uh so we've kind of been in this sort of um, you know, we had to kind of sign an extension with them just to kind of keep our keep our lights on and and keep a place, you know, keep a home until we could can kind of land a uh land the plane on on our long-term solution.

So we were in a bit of a bind with our current ownership as well and in their willingness to to continue to to house us in that facility.

Thank you.

Council Rose.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um I have to say, Counselor Roberts, I have worked with this team and and their team on contingency plans and relocation, and they are very good, very thoughtful, very communicative, and the community is always so thankful.

Um but we hate that for you guys because been there.

Um so yes, um, great from my experience and appreciative for that.

Um, my question, Mr.

Chairman, is um will there need to be any renovations to sort of build to suit for those particular times when there are larger groups.

I'm thinking accessibility, number of parking spaces, restroom facilities, that kind of thing.

Yes, thank you.

There will be some build-out.

Um, those costs are um essentially amortized in the current lease through the rent structure.

Um the landlord does um you know there is work the landlord will be doing um as far as you know, re uh finishing the the floors in the warehouse, kind of sand, you know, uh grinding those down and polishing those.

Um, you know, simple things like you know, new carpets and things like that in the office space.

Um I will say that um part of the uh the ongoing struggle with this particular lease was um making the the financials work, and so through that process over about the last year we've had to really pair back what those construction costs would have been.

And so, you know, if I were saying we're getting everything that we wanted in this building, that's not true because we did have to make some concessions on some build-out and things that we wanted uh to make the financial piece of this work.

So there is going to be some uh internal um, not I wouldn't say construction, but more you know, finishing walls and and recarpeting, refinishing floors in the warehouse.

Uh there is gonna need to be some parking uh added to uh the eastern part.

Um and so that is all work that is um we have a work letter with the landlord uh that's been previously established and agreed upon, and all that work should be hopefully getting uh going now once once we get the uh the lease, you know, um once we enter into the lease, they can start getting that work done.

Uh the lease does have a start date of of July uh 1st of 2026, and so um that would be the plan is that we can have them get their work done, and then we're hoping to move uh this summer.

Very good.

You answered my question.

My I what can I just my comment and the reason why I asked those questions is because a lot of our poll workers are of very mature ages that maybe need to be able to access certain facilities and and be able to have those pieces.

So I just want to make sure that everything is is ready for those amazing workers who do so much more than we're able to compensate them for.

Um so that would be my final comment, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you.

Final question, Councilor Boos.

Did you have something?

I did not.

All right.

Anyone from the audience have anything to say about this or comments?

Seeing that we have a motion.

I move proposal 35 to the full council with a new pass recommendation.

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everybody.

Do we get a uh private tour or anything when it's all done?

Anytime.

Once we have the once we have the polish on.

I've been brainstorming through one sound sites on this.