09-24-18 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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►®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Dean replied, After fifteen (15) years, we will come back to the table to negotiate again. So essentially, in fifteen(15)years, if we don't negotiate a new public-private partnership agreement, the City will take over, the Society with dissolve and take our piece with us. Councilmember Broden followed up, So the fundraising piece that marches on during this timeframe should be of a significant interest to this Council,the members of the Park Board, and I want to be sure we incorporate some of the frequent visits to us to update us on that. I would enjoy getting to-where this isn't part of our portfolio. You said you would come back after fifteen (15) years. I see in this document an auto renewal that is of decision by the Park Board. Can someone clarify that? There is a specific segment of the agreement that says that. I want to make sure they can't do that without Council clarification. Mr. Jarnecke confirmed further discussion of that issue between now and the evening's full Council meeting. He stated, To speak to your earlier question regarding the responsibility of the Zoo, it is our hope there is less dependency on the City's end to provide this. That is by design, intentional and strategic. Ms. Dean stated, We have been looking at other ways to fund the Zoo publicly,too. I haven't been shy about the different avenues we can go down with various taxes and such. I feel we are very much a regional asset and we need to look at it being taken care of by the region. We will continue our efforts. Councilmember McBride stated, I would like to make everyone clear. When I had my discussions with the Zoo, I made it clear that this will not happen in that order again. We will be notified as Council prior to any money being pledged. I will be one (1) of the core competencies of this moving forward. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, stated, I come to you as a citizen advocate because I have comments from multiple people. These are not just my comments. The comments started off with oh hell no. And it went from there,just to have you know that. They felt that because there was a ground breaking before there was even funding that you guys are just rubber stamping the Administration and the citizens have no voice. The animal advocates want to see the whole thing closed. They don't like to see the animals caged and treated as such. A lot of people thought that we gave multimillions to the parks and Aaron should just find a place in his budget. He's already maxed out the debt for the citizens and he should figure out a way to make it work. Others think there should be no financing at all. I think twenty(20)years at six percent(6%) is really excessive and will really make this project cost a lot more. If we have a double A (AA) bond rating, why aren't we getting two percent(2%)? Why are we financing it all? Why twenty(20) years?I mean, seriously. That is a whole bunch of interest. Citizens want to hear the actual total cost. The twenty (20) years at six percent (6%), how much will it really cost the taxpayer over all of those years? They want an actual bottom-line dollar amount. This is from multiple people but the overall thing was oh hell no. That was the overall theme of it. Citizens were not really in support of it so I just thought I would let you know. Committee Chair White then gave the floor to the presenters for a rebuttal. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.5567 1 www.southbendin.gov 17