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Ms. Fowler stated, That piece was laid out in the Ordinance it just was not laid out with regard to <br /> the relationship between the Board, the Council and the Administration. <br /> Boardmember Jas Alexander arrived at the meeting at 6:12 pm. <br /> Council President Tim Scott arrived at the meeting at 6:13 p.m. <br /> Ms. White opened the floor to members around the table to introduce themselves. <br /> Jas Alexander stated,I represent labor in South Bend and throughout the State of Indiana. I am the <br /> Indiana Political Coordinator and Diversity Trainer for labor in the area. I am from South Bend. <br /> Tim Scott stated, I am the President of the South Bend Common Council. I am very in touch with <br /> what is going on here.I am excited about the improvements we are going to make here. My normal <br /> day job is being the Director,of Material Management for a tier one (1)automotive supplier that is <br /> a certified WBE Company. It is our mission and our mission has grown over the years. We are <br /> meeting our goals and needs that we want for minority businesses that we do business with. That <br /> is very well promoted within the automotive industry. This is near and dear to my heart. My team <br /> is over sixty-five percent (65%) women and has other minorities as well. We have a diverse team <br /> and staff and if there is any way I can bring my experience and talent,which is very little compared <br /> to Christina, I am willing to do so. <br /> Christina Brooks stated,I am the Diversity and Inclusion Compliance Officer for the City of South <br /> Bend. I am housed in the Mayor's Office. This is my second (2nd) year in the position. I lead the <br /> Disparity Study right now for the City. Like Tim, I am excited to be moving forward on Diversity <br /> Purchasing objectives. <br /> Kareemah Fowler stated, I am the South Bend City Clerk. I have been a Board member on this <br /> Board since its establishment in 2011 and I am excited to get it back and started again. The Board <br /> had been inactive for a while and I am excited to work on the newer initiatives the City has going <br /> on in terms of Diversity and Inclusion. I am a resource for you as the Clerk's Office, as well as <br /> personally, and we are excited to have everyone on Board. We will be sure everyone gets the <br /> minutes of last meeting as well as the roster of the members on the Board. Everyone should have <br /> received the standard notice with all the dates and times for the meetings this ye but everyone <br /> will also get a separate meeting notice for each meeting. That is in case there is a time change <br /> because of other conflicts. Moving forward,we will try to keep on track with the set meeting time <br /> that we have but keep an eye out for the notices. <br /> Michael Schmidt stated, I am the City's Director of Purchasing. I am not a member of the Board <br /> but am here to help provide resource and take some things going on in these meetings and start <br /> implementing them in our purchasing. If I can answer something or research something and get <br /> back to you, I am going to do my best with that. <br /> Ms. Fowler stated,Purchasing is a huge role in this and I am glad you are at the table. We are glad <br /> to have you. You sent out a breakdown of our purchases by the month. That was really good, so <br /> thank you. That is something they are doing for each Department to utilize. We were doing <br /> something similar on our own but having someone else do that for us is really great. <br /> 3 <br />