E.C. Mayor Copeland faces challenge from former ally, North Twp. Trustee Adrian Santos

Two long-time politicos and former allies are going toe-to-toe over who will be the city of East Chicago’s next Democratic mayoral candidate, while two Republican candidates battle for their party’s nomination for the November ballot.

Incumbent Mayor Anthony Copeland is being challenged by current North Township Trustee Adrian Santos for his seat. Copeland says he wants to continue with the progress made in the city over the past 13 years. He calls Santos an office jumper who has moved from the East Chicago City Council to East Chicago Clerk, then he was caucused in as the North Township Trustee before seeking the Mayor’s office.

Santos, who worked on Copeland’s campaign when he was first elected mayor, said while he initially supported Copeland, he no longer supports the decisions he makes and the time has come for a change. Santos said more focus needs to be placed on quality-of-life issues like parks and activities for youth, and on continuing to improve the equipment and facilities for the city’s public safety workers.

Copeland is running on the achievements he has made over his 13 years, pulling the city out of debt, improving its credit rating, amassing a $110 million surplus all while tackling needed infrastructure improvements and improving public safety.

“We are at the crossroads here in East Chicago. Either we are going to go forth with an eye on the prize or we are going to find ourselves reverting and going back to ways that will, in my eyes, cause financial hardship. I just think that financial stability is where we get growth in the city,” Copeland said.

Santos sees East Chicago at a crossroads but differs in what he believes is the best way for the city to move forward. He said it’s time to open up the pocketbook and use some of that $110 million surplus to return the city to its former glory. Pools need to be reopened, facilities need to be addressed and employees need to be compensated on a level comparable to city neighbors to help retain and attract the best workers.

“It’s great to have a surplus,” Santos said, adding union employees have been working without a signed contract for years. “It’s time to dip into some of that surplus and help the people who need it. The cost of living has gone up. Things in general have gone up. We have to pivot. What’s great about the city of East Chicago is we do have a surplus. You have to stop acting like the money is yours.”

When Copeland was first caucused into the post in 2011, he said the city had a $15 million budget deficit and had a junk bond status; police and fire personnel had taken a 5 percent pay cut; and all other city workers were taking furlough days. Employees with less than three years of service were laid off.

“It was a house in ruins. Slowly but surely, like a block of ice, just chip, chip, chip, we did the necessary things,” Copeland said.

The mayor said he started by looking at city contracts and started making cuts. Things started to improve and around 2013 he said he was able to give police and fire back the 5% that was cut, and make whole the furloughed workers. Copeland said the city started taking three bids for contracts and that helped bring costs down.

Since he could not afford raises for workers in the budget, he began a program of proving a $500 bonus for workers in 2013. That bonus has steadily climbed and is today at $4,000 a year. Copeland said gaming revenues are used for the bonuses.

Public safety remains a hot button issue in the city. Copeland said he has a track record of making East Chicago safer. Crime has gone down for 12 consecutive years, he said. Gaming tax revenues have been used for technology to help make police and fire more efficient. Currently, 800 cameras are distributed throughout the city at intersections, parks and other public spaces and buildings. The city also added ShotSpotter gunshot triangulation technology that helps pinpoint the location of shots fired within about 20 feet. Copeland said the city also invested in license plate readers and new computers for the department.

“All that has aided us into bringing crime down and to be able to consistently have a handle on it,” Copeland said.

East Chicago police are now among the highest paid in the region after a 10% salary increase in 2022 and a 12.5% increase in 2023. The raises are in addition to the $4,000 a year bonus given to all employees and nine weeks of vacation time. It is those salary increases that have propelled the department to the top pay category.

About 85% of police and fire personnel do not live in the city and are not always concerned about the impact their compensation may have in the city or on the employees who do reside in East Chicago.

Copeland said pay for police and fire is set by the Council and he worries that while the city has a balanced budget and surplus now, if officials are not careful that money will disappear, and those increases may not be sustainable.

The mayor said he prefers to give uniform raises across the board for all employees because they all are equally important and play a role in the city’s success.

“There has to be a balance. There has to be a ying and yang in life. That’s how I do things,” Copeland said.

Santos said the math does not add up when it comes to police staffing. He said the council has budgeted for 98 officers, yet the mayor does not see that those positions are filled, he alleged. Numbers can be misleading when shift commanders and administrators are factored into staffing levels, meaning less officers are on patrol, Santos said.

More effort must be made to fill the vacant posts and bring the city up to full staff, Santos said. He has taken complaints from officers who say they do not feel safe on some scenes due to a lack of staffing and the city must take steps to beef up public safety staffing.

Copeland pushed back against Santos’ claims the police department is understaffed. The national average for police staffing is two officers for every 1,000 residents. East Chicago had a population of 26,099 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The police department currently has 58 officers and is ready to hire an additional 14.

“If you keep your ear to the ground they now want to paint East Chicago as a city of chaos and mass hysteria,” Copeland said. If that is the case, he asked, why has crime consistently gone down? He said he does not agree the city has a manpower issue, and he said the city has become an increasingly safer place.

“Crime has gone down in East Chicago 17%. None of them want to believe the numbers. We have to turn the numbers annually into the FBI,” Copeland said.

Like Copeland, Santos said the city’s workers beyond police and fire also need to be fairly compensated. He said there is as much as a $3 an hour difference for equipment operators in East Chicago versus neighboring Hammond where they start at $19 an hour, he said.

“We have guys leaving our city’s workforce because we don’t pay. The crazy thing about it is we have the money,” Santos said. He said East Chicago’s union employees have been working without a signed contact for years and that needs to change.

A lot of services such as grass cutting have been outsourced, Santos said, and he would prefer to see those services be operated in house and employing people who live in the city. He said resources need to be spent more equally around the city and not just focus on one area like the North Harbor.

Due to the improved bond rating, the city has been able to do more than $500 million in infrastructure work. The city also offers a housing down payment assistance program available to city workers and those moving to the city to help encourage new construction and home ownership in the city.

Copeland said he has also invested in neighborhoods during his tenure, including a grant program in the Sunnyside area that provides up to $40,000 to property owners to rehab their home’s exteriors. Currently, the Northwest Indiana Realtors Association has recognized East Chicago as one of the fastest growing cities in the region, he said.

Copeland said he has been focused on quality of life improvements and has invested $15 million in the city’s lakefront, $8 million in Block Stadium and another $10 million across the park system for renovations.

“All of these are quality of life issues. It’s all been about austerity and holding a tight rein and not going back to those practices of the past,” Copeland said.

“The city of East Chicago is sitting in a good place. We need to beautify and keep it clean. I love my city. I tell people it’s the city of hope and progress,” Copeland said.

Santos said the current administration does not focus enough on youth and seniors. He decried the failure to reopen the city’s pools after they were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying there is little for teens in the city to do in the summer in the absence of good neighborhood park facilities and the pools. Like many who have grown up in the city, Santos said he has fond memories of swimming at the city’s pools when he was young and wants the same for the city’s youth.

Last summer, a national lifeguard shortage impacted swimming pools and beaches in Northwest Indiana, forcing one popular waterpark to close two days a week and a national park beach to go unguarded for two days while officials scramble to find qualified lifeguards.

He said the public art features installed in the city parks are nice, but offer little in the way of activity for children and teens. Santos said parks need more than walking and nature paths. He disagrees with plan to move away from the pools and install splash pads because it fails to take into account preteen and teenage youth who are too old to use the features.

The trustee touted his experience in the North Township office as groundwork for the mayor’s office. Santos said he modernized operations and digitized functions in the trustee’s office, making workers more efficient.

“Every office I have been in, when I left I made it better. I made it easier and more accessible to do those things,” Santos said.

Republican Primary

Political newcomer Travis Adonis Francis, a Republican, is vying for the party’s nomination to the November ballot in a contest against perennial Republican mayoral candidate Arthur Santos.

Arthur Santos did not respond to repeated requests for comment on his candidacy, a pattern consistent with prior elections.

Francis said he was born and raised in East Chicago. He has served in the military since getting a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University West Lafayette. Currently he is servicing as a reservist.

Francis said his time in the military taught him about teamwork and community service activities and that made him want to return to his hometown to give back.

“I was feeling kind of guilty I never did community service back home. I really could have been making a difference back home where it was needed,” Francis said.

He said he didn’t think he would go into politics but decided he had a lot of energy and good ideas he would like to implement so he came home to give it a try.

If elected, Francis said he would first take inventory of the city and figure out how to allocate resources to better support small businesses. He would like to help prepare the city’s youth for the various workforce scenarios they might encounter and ensure they are trained to take the jobs redevelopment will bring to the city.

“I would like to provide opportunities to keep everyone engaged and motivated. The overall goal is to raise the standard of living in the city and raise the quality of life in the city,” Francis said.

Francis knows running as a Republican in East Chicago is a tough row to hoe, but says he represents something city residents have not had, a choice.

“No one really thinks there is an option. I think a lot of people in East Chicago are really conservative. They may vote Democratic, but they have some conservative values. Once the people know my message and now what I want to do, they will be open to it,” Francis said.

“I’m here to serve. I’m not here to build myself up. Ultimately I like to think everyone in an elected position feels the same way,” Francis said.

“I wanted to come home and serve my community. If I don’t get elected, that doesn’t change what I want to do. I’m passionate about helping people, and helping people at whatever level I can help,” Francis said.