Money looks promising for Ship Canal work

EAST CHICAGO | The agency responsible for the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal is expecting to come into some money soon, and regional banks are lining up to manage the funds.

Terrence Quinn and John DeGuilio, vice presidents with Munster-based Peoples Bank, pitched the benefits of their company to the East Chicago Waterway Management District's board of directors, but so far nothing has been finalized, said Ellen Gregory, an attorney with the Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller.

Chicago-based Harris Bank has held the assets of the district - currently about $6.7 million - since Harris' 2004 merger with the Mercantile National Bank of Hammond, which had the account from 2001.

The money is the remainder of a trust fund created by the owners of a former refinery on the city's north side for environmental cleanup of the property where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now plans to store contaminated sediment to be dredged from the harbor and canal.

Attorneys for the waterway district have spent the better part of the past year establishing fees for the use of the harbor and charges for dumping hazardous material from other sources at the storage site along Indianapolis Boulevard at Riley Road.

Meanwhile the district's legal team has been working to get part of a $24 million federal consent decree filed against Inland Steel Co. over pollution of the harbor and canal.

In March, the district opened an account with Citizens Financial Bank of Munster to hold all of its assets except for money from the original trust fund. But East Chicago now wants a single account to hold all its monies, said Fernando Trevino, consulting engineer for the waterway district.

Board President Ernest Jones last week formed a working group of directors to meet with the various bank executives and examine options for the district's expanding financial responsibilities.