Council approves ESRI renewal, awards drainage contract and backs tree-grant application; introduces UDC cleanup and tax renewal

The Hammond City Council voted to renew the city’s Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.) enterprise agreement, awarded a FY2025 miscellaneous drainage improvements contract to Arbor Construction, and approved a resolution backing the city’s application for a 125-tree donation from Apache Corporation. The council also introduced two items for future public hearings: a cleanup of unused definitions in the city’s Unified Development Code and a resolution calling an election to renew an ad valorem tax for public works.

The council approved the three-year Esri enterprise agreement that the administration described as necessary to keep the city’s geographic information system operational. Charles Boscher, speaking on the item, said Esri “is the, the company that provides our software for our GIS.” The contract is structured with an initial first-year cost of $32,020 (covering a partial year as the billing is being shifted to an August 1 start), then $30,200 for each of the subsequent two years, for a stated total of $92,420. After a motion and second, the council recorded ayes from Councilman Leon, Councilman Diviterio and Councilwoman Gonzales.

On the drainage work, the council ratified and awarded bids received July 3, 2025, for miscellaneous FY25 drainage improvements. Staff member Mitchell Roniger told the council there were eight responsive bidders and that Arbor Construction was…