Gary board approves RFQs for 'Gary 1st', site-access with Shirley Heinze Land Trust, two professional contracts and routine payroll/claims

The City of Gary Board of Public Works and Safety approved a series of administrative and procurement actions at its July 15 meeting, including authorization to advertise a HUD CAPER public hearing, a request to issue public RFQs for the Gary 1st construction program, a site-access agreement with the Shirley Heinze Land Trust, two professional services contracts to support housing rehab and demolition work, and the ratification of payroll, pensions and vendor claims.

The board unanimously approved a request from Community Development to advertise the city's Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for public review and comment, with staff correcting an initial date error and setting the public hearing to be advertised for Friday, July 24, 2026, and an additional CAPER-related hearing on Aug. 4, 2026. "We just requesting to advertise for our final public hearing for the consolidated action plan," the department director said; staff agreed to correct the posted dates before publication.

On procurement, the board authorized the Department of Community Development to issue RFQs for developers, contractors and title companies for a new "Gary 1st" construction program. Judith Sampson, programs coordinator for the department, described Gary 1st as a new construction effort with the project area not yet finalized and said the department needs title searches and lien clearances before building. "The Gary 1st program will be a new, construction build project ... we have some developers that are very interested," Sampson said.

The board also approved a site-access agreement authorizing Shirley Heinze Land Trust staff and partners to access property near the Glen Park High Rise (addresses discussed in the motion) for inspection and cleanup work; the city's law department presented the resolution and the motion passed by roll call.

Two professional services agreements were approved to support the city’s residential programs. The board approved a contract described in the meeting as "AmeriCode Incorporated" for inspection, environmental review, lead clearance and project management services not to exceed $75,000, and a second contract (recorded in the transcript as Miracle Inc.) with a not-to-exceed amount of $58,950 for demolition and related services. During discussion an inspector noted a list of 19 structures ready for demolition with about 10 more anticipated.

Financial measures were carried with unanimous roll-call votes: ratification of payroll (the transcript records total payroll of $5,919,461.04 for two pay periods), ratification of pension payments for fire ($323,361.34) and police ($358,646.92) totaling $682,008.26, and ratification/approval of general claims payable (individual totals provided during the meeting were recorded in the minutes). All motions listed in the meeting record passed on votes of 4 yes and 0 no.

Why it matters: the procurement and contracts approved at the meeting advance the city’s rehab, demolition and new-construction planning; advertising the CAPER hearing starts the statutorily required public-review process for HUD-funded programs.

Next steps: staff will correct the advertised hearing dates, publish the CAPER notice, issue the RFQs for interested developers and proceed with contract start-up work as described in the approved agreements. The board adjourned after approving claims and there were no public commenters on the record that day.