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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK
PERSONNEL &FINANCE SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 5:00 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Karen White, Regina Williams-Preston, John Voorde
Committee Members Absent: Gavin Ferlic
Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Tim Scott(late), Oliver Davis (late)
Other Council Absent: Jo M. Broden, Sharon L. McBride
Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin
Presenters: Tracy Skibins, Ron O'Connor, Marlaina Johns, Jen Goebel,
Jen Hockenhull, Kyra Clark, Christina Brooks
Agenda: Code Enforcement
Administration and Finance
Human Capital and Inclusion
Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at
5:00 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and opened the floor for main motions.
Committeemember John Voorde made a motion to recess the Committee and reconvene in the
large Council Chambers. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston seconded this motion
which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes.
At 5:02 p.m., the Personnel and Finance Committee recessed and reconvened at 5:04 p.m. in the
full Council Chambers. Committee Chair White then gave the floor to the presenters.
Code Enforcement
Tracy Skibins, Deputy Director of Code Enforcement with offices located on the 13th floor of the
County-City Building,stated,I would first(1St)like to introduce my team. Our Director of Finance
is Ron O'Connor. Our Operations Analyst is Marlaina Johns.Jen Goebel is the Director of Animal
Care and Control. They will all be speaking today as well.
She continued, The mission of the Department of Code Enforcement is to ensure a safe and clean
environment by upholding and enforcing the ordinances of the City of South Bend through
education and communication. It is our vision to be one (1) of the premier Code Enforcement
Departments in the nation as a result of our core values and our commitment to innovation. Our
INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY
JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.T IRADO JOSEPH R.MOLNAR
CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
values include pride, adaptability, service and integrity. The Department of Code Enforcement has
multiple divisions (referencing a slide in a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's
Office). We have the Neighborhood Code Enforcement which, essentially, are our inspectors. We
have office staff as well as the new rental unit inspection program. We have the Neighborhood
Enforcement Action Team, or, the NEAT Crew as we call them. They are the folks on the ground
and out there picking up the debris and abating properties. Also, of course, we have the South
Bend Animal Care and Control. These all fall under the umbrella of Code Enforcement. Here
(referencing a slide in the presentation) is a quick high-level snapshot of our organizational chart.
She went on,Your time is very valuable to us. We have a lot of information to share,however,we
broke it down into five(5)bullet points for today.Anything not covered in this presentation should
be added to the supplemental pages in the very end of the hard copy you all have. We are first(1st)
going to focus on the Home Program.The purpose of the program is to protect public health,safety
and welfare in all rental units. It requires an occupancy inspection, occupied or intended-to-be
occupied. We would like to restructure our department by turning two (2)part-time positions into
two (2) full-time positions. The first(1St) would be the Financial Specialist III (3). The benefits of
this would be having someone available to process the special assessments. That is one(1)of many
reasons,by the way.It will also increase efficiency and revenue dollars collected.We also envision
this person taking over collections as well. The second (21'1) position we are requesting is for
Animal Care and Control and we will let Jen speak to that later on in our presentation.
She continued, We also broke down how our inspectors do their job as well. They focus in three
(3)different areas. One(1)is housing,one(1)is environmental and then a couple would be floaters
to get whatever was missed. Maybe someone was away on vacation or there may be certain
hotspots where these inspectors really need to focus. The benefits of this is specialization. They
will all have a great overview of what it is a Code Inspector does,however,they will have specific
training on housing and on environmental issues. Regarding the neighborhood clean-ups and out-
reach, I think one (1) of the toughest parts of our jobs is when any of us run into properties in the
City where we know that people, if they had the physical or financial ability, could make repairs
that they would make repairs. They struggle with these things. So we worked with Rebuilding
Together this past year as well as Back the Bend to repair a house on the south side of town. With
some local union folks we repaired a roof on the northwest side of town. That was an amazing
event that we hope to continue with moving on into the future. We also had a record-breaking ten
(10) neighborhood clean-ups. Many of you participated in one (1) way or another. I think we do a
pretty good job of making sure we don't just focus on one (1) area of town. It is pretty much all
over the City where we have these clean-ups. We work with local neighborhood organizations,
perhaps a church or a Boy Scout group. You name it,they reach out to us and ask for help. During
those ten(1)neighborhood clean-ups, we collected over 16,800 pounds of debris.
She went on, Uncontrolled dumping is something we struggle with and we know the residents are
not happy with it either. To combat this,we've tried a few initiatives. One(1) of which is working
with Solid Waste to install trash containers in places we know people are passing by and just
dumping their litter. We also have installed a few 'No Dumping' signs that state there are fines up
to $2,500 in places we know have been hit pretty hard. We are also trying to share the message
with homeowners that to help prevent things like this from happening, consider cutting back
debris, consider making that area well-lit, consider visiting the property more often and things of
that nature. When people start to think that no one (1) cares about that property, they are more
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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
likely to take advantage of that and begin dumping. And once you start getting dumped upon,
unfortunately, others may join in.
She continued, In regards to 2018 accomplishments, as aforementioned, we installed some 'No
Dumping' signs in areas frequently dumped upon. We've coordinated with local businesses to
fence off a dangerous make-shift trail near the Ironwood Bridge. Right across the street from the
Oaken Bucket on the State Farm side of the street, there's a very dangerous make-shift trail that
would go down to the water. We had many homeless residents living there under the bridge.
Thousands of pounds of debris were collected over there in the last couple of years or so. We
worked with the Fire Department,Police Department and the local businesses to abate the property
and also to permanently fence that off Since we've done that, we've not had any problems at that
specific location this year. We've implemented an electronic document storage system and we've
began scanning files. If you haven't visited our office recently, I encourage you to do so because
we got rid of a bunch of filing cabinets and we are very excited about that. We added two (2)new
inspectors and also transitioned to 311. We meet on a monthly basis with 311 to work out any
kinks we may be having. Knowledge Based Articles have been created and made accessible to
citizens and 311 and we've demolished thirty-seven (37) unsafe properties, twenty-seven (27)
vacant and abandoned and ten (10) garages and/or sheds. We also added two (2) new full-time
inspectors and one (1) part-time historic preservation inspector to our team. We regularly attend
neighborhood and community meetings and whenever we are invited we make sure someone
attends and comes back to the office to share the information they gathered.
She went on, We've purged closed housing files and have sent many to archives for storage. That
has freed up space and subsequently has made a better working environment for our team. We've
continued to update our aging car fleet with pickup trucks to increase functionality of vehicles for
inspectors. It is much easier to go down an alley and get to difficult spots if you're driving a truck
that can access those areas more easily. We continue to cross-train staff. Some of the training
provided to our staff includes asbestos training,diversity and inclusion, customer service, seller in
government,NIMS training,project management and active shooter active aggressor training. One
(1)of the things that is not on that list is the fact that we've worked pretty regularly with the Police
Department to identify nuisance properties that are brought to our attention.
She continued, Some of our goals and challenges include dividing our inspectors into two(2)focus
groups, those being housing and environmental. We have increased special assessments,
processing for civil penalties and demolition invoices. We continue to build our community
outreach programs. Often times we are invited to neighborhood cookouts, which we love. I think
we are building good communication with our community. We look forward to meeting or
exceeding our goal of two (2) outreach community contacts per month. We are converting our
current brochures into Spanish and that is pretty much completed. We are also creating a database
of resources available to people who need help with Code environmental issues. Often times we
find that there are resources available to people who struggle, however, they are scattered
throughout the community and we don't know exactly where to direct people to. We are continuing
to provide additional training and employee development to our staff.
She went on, Some of the challenges and opportunities we have to face includes resuming the
vacant and abandoned property registration. We are restructuring the environmental inspections to
be of a ten (10) day cycle that is immediately followed by abatement crews. This will increase
efficiencies and reduce the cost of abatement crews. We are trying to increase revenue through the
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
home program with penalties and fines in pursuit of improving housing stock quality. We are
trying to make that program self-sustaining as we hope it provides an opportunity to identify
owners of real units in the City.
Committeemember John Voorde asked, How many pickup trucks are there?
Ms. Skibins replied, Total, I would have to look into that sir. I am not sure off the top of my head.
Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston stated,I would like to learn more about your process
to increase special assessment processing for civil penalties. Can you say more about what that is?
Ms. Skibins replied, So, right now we do it when we have the time available with our staff, quite
honestly. If we get the full-time position, the Financial Specialist Three (III), one (1) of the
dedicated responsibilities would be collections and special assessments.
Committeemember Williams-Preston asked, Can you define special assessments?
Marlaina Johns, Operations Analyst for the Department of Code Enforcement with offices located
on the 13th floor of the County-City Building, replied, A special assessment is if a property owner
owes the Department of Code Enforcement money, typically for demolitions or for civil penalties
that are assessed at a hearing, if we haven't collected that via invoice we can put a special
assessment on a property through taxes. Then if they don't pay through the taxes, eventually then
maybe it would go to tax sale in hope we get an owner who is a little more responsive.
Committeemember Williams-Preston stated, I have a lot of concerns about that process. I would
really like to watch that carefully because I have seen people, and what I love about what you are
presenting is you've really done a lot in terms of trying to, I think,weed out the people who really
have needs versus the people who are just not fixing them up. That is good. I like that I'm hearing
that. So the balance of that is we have to recognize that on the other side as well. So if we are
giving special assessments and putting it on their taxes,and I've heard that you're at Code hearings
listening to people's stories, and that is really good, but I just want to underscore the importance
of making sure that we are not dispossessing poor people and people of color disproportionately
of homes that they simply just need help with.
Ms. Johns replied,No,it really is the people. It's the businesses that are out of town,the LLCs and
the Land Trusts that we just cannot get anybody to help.
Ms. Skibins stated, It's not typically owner-occupied.
Committeemember Williams-Preston stated, It's usually not owner-occupied but often times it's
because those homes are in such disrepair that people can't live in them. I've done a lot of research
on what happened during the 1,000 houses in 1,000 days. So, I trust that the Administration has
made changes and is doing a better job of weeding out who is doing what but traditionally, again,
I'm just underscoring it to make sure with the transition and the new leadership, congratulations
by the way. Thank you.
Ron O'Connor, Fiscal Officer for the Department of Code Enforcement with offices located on
the 13t1 floor of the County-City Building, stated, I will present to you just a couple snapshots of
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
the overview of the Department of Code Enforcement funds. The Department of Code
Enforcement has, essentially, three (3) different Funds they operate out of. Fund #219, which is
NEAT, Fund#221 is Landlord Registration, and Fund#600 is the Consolidated Building Fund. In
Fund#600 we have it broken down into several different divisions. We have Division 1201 which
is Neighborhood Code Enforcement. We have Division 1207 which is the Animal Control
Division. And new as of 2018 is the division for rental unit inspection, also known as the Home
Division. The first (1st) slide we are looking at (referencing the presentation which is available in
the City Clerk's Office) shows an overview of that breakdown. On the left side it shows the
revenues and we have it broken down into other revenues versus the transfers in. I'll read off the
total columns. We have the NEAT revenues and if you look at those, it is $862,000. Landlord
Registration, we project, will not be operable in 2019 for legal purposes. We will speak on that a
little later. Neighborhood Code Enforcement is $2,053,000. Animal Control is $935,000. Home
Program is$175,000.The total annual revenue budget for Code Enforcement is$4,027,992.Below
that we have the associated expenses that go with that. As you can see we have Personnel. The
Personnel is an offset for each category and each division. So as you go across the annual budget
the revenue is $4,027,992 and the expenses are $4,027,992.
He continued,Down below there I put the net surplus or deficit and really the net surplus or deficit
is the Landlord Registration. We thought we might have some administrative expenses up to
maybe $500,000 in registrations. I don't know what that might be at this time but we wanted to
have just a little bit of money set aside for that. Below that is the cash balance row. Generally
speaking, we are required to keep a twenty-five percent (25%) reserve. So the NEAT ending
balance is $325,000 and the reserve target is $215,000. For the Landlord Registration, it was not a
fund that needed to have a reserve and therefore the balance in that is $14,000. Then Fund#600 is
also shared with the Building Department. So, I did not list the reserve balances but the overall
reserve in that Fund is $2.4 million.
He went on, How does that look compared to our prior year? Last year, we were at $3,957,000.
So, overall for 2019, we are really presenting a two percent (2%) increase, or, $69,000. That is
what we are looking at for the overall 2019 projected. Below that, the next slide is our revenues.
That is selected from the `Other' revenue category and not for the transfers in. As you look at the
department revenues, you have the 2017, the 2018 amended and the 2019 proposed. Over to the
right you will see the percentage of change. Some of those changes are very large,partly because
we are trying to move away from Fund#600 on some of the unsafe building. There are also some
redundancies between Fund#600 and Fund#219.We are trying to coordinate those back and forth.
Some of them are basically strictly us not having the revenue stream coming in as we did.Marlaina
will touch on that later. Part of that is because we do not have as many continuous enforcement
properties as we have had in years past. Overall at the bottom of that you will see we are showing
a projected ten percent (10%) decrease in revenues right now.
He continued, This is a pie chart (referencing a slide in the presentation) to give a visual of how
those revenues appear. And then the next one(1)is a pie chart of the expenditures.This shows you
the Personnel expenses, the Supplies expenses, Services and then Capital. We've broken them
down by the prior year, 2017 actual, 2018 amended and then the 2019 proposed. We do have it
broken down and NCE is Neighborhood Code Enforcement Division, ACC is Animal Control,
NEAT is the Neighborhood Enforcement which is your Fund#219, and then the new division for
rental inspections or the Home Division. That is across the board with the personnel and the
services. Overall you'll see the bottom line there, we had in 2017 $3,064,000. The 2018 amended
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
is $3.9 million and then going into 2019, you'll see $4,027,000 which is a two percent (2%)
increase, or, $69,000.
Committeemember Williams-Preston asked, How did you project the revenues from the Home
Program?
Mr. O'Connor replied, The Home Program is going to be, basically, and I know they'll get into it
later, but it is a landlord rental inspection. What we'll do is go out and do a home inspection on
the property. The first (1st) inspection is free, the second (2nd) is free based on the follow-up of
violations that might have been written on the first(1st) one (1),then if we have to go back a third
(3rd) or fourth (4th) time to mitigate pending violations, there will be penalties assessed to it. I'm
not one hundred percent(100%)familiar with that ordinance as it has been written but essentially,
that is what they are working toward.
Committee Chair White asked, How much is being spent on illegal dumping? I think you call it
something else like uncontrolled dumping.
Mr. O'Connor replied, We can get that to you just by talking to the vendors we take it to for
disposal.
Councilmember Tim Scott stated, On Landlord Registration,you had a revenue of$8,475 on page
nine (9). That is revenue brought in on that?
Mr. O'Connor confirmed, That is revenue.
Councilmember Scott followed up, And that is five dollars ($5). Were there any fines or fees
associated with that beyond the five dollars ($5)?
Mr. O'Connor replied,No, there were no fines or fees that were penalized to any of the landlords
that registered in the first(0). And that is per owner and not per property.
Councilmember Scott followed up, So that means 1,695 people registered?
Mr. O'Connor replied, Yes, that is correct.
Ms. Johns stated, I will go over the tickets first (0). These tickets include, on the left side
(referencing a slide in the presentation), Code Enforcement and what would be, essentially, put
through by the Parks Department and the NEAT Crew. And then on the right side is what Animal
Control wrote. So on the left side you can see that we actually issued fewer tickets this year as well
as a less dollar amount. The main reason for that,as Tracy alluded to earlier,was that we had fewer
properties on continuous enforcement than we had before. A big portion of this is that we have
fewer properties that have been on for repeated years. Once they get past that one (1) year mark
the fee goes up to five hundred dollars ($500) or more. We saw seven hundred and four(704)less
tickets issued for that five hundred dollar ($500) mark. On the Animal Control side, they have
done an excellent job on increasing their tickets issued. The main one (1) they issue is Failure to
License, followed by Failure to Vaccinate for Rabies. Theirs actually increased about three
hundred and fifty-six percent(356%). That was really impressive to see.
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She continued, I'm going to talk about the NEAT accomplishments. This is the crew that goes out
and abates the litter violations and vegetation violations that the owners don't take care of as
completed by owner. One (1) of the things they do in addition to that, and again this is just three
(3) guys and one (1) supervisor, but they go out and actually keep the bridge sidewalks free of
snow. On the main bridges that go into the downtown area,they are out there in the morning hours
making sure those are clear for people to be able to walk down. They also partner with local
businesses and departments to help abate those cumbersome areas like the one (1) Tracy pointed
out. That was Ironwood Bridge and it was a big project. They worked alongside the Fire
Department very well because they actually had to bring in boats to take out the debris they found
down there. They assisted Rebuilding Together by demolishing a small garage and they also take
care of our secondary structures like garages and sheds if they feel comfortable. Once it is
confirmed for demolition, they are able to actually take it down for us and they will do that. It
actually saves the home owners a lot of money because we can do it at a much lower cost than
what it would cost to hire someone to do that work for them.
She went on, For 2019 goals and challenges, part of what they want to do is decrease their
expenditures by fourteen percent (14%). One (1) of the ways they were looking at doing that was
being able to geographically go and abate properties a bit more accurately to help save on fuel
costs.They also want to grow the number of neighborhood clean-ups.We love these opportunities.
If you know of anybody wanting to do a neighborhood clean-up,please have them contact us. It is
great community outreach,we get to know people and it makes all of our people feel good cleaning
up the neighborhood. They are continuing to dedicate the Lighting Loader which is the truck that
has the huge claw that picks up debris. They have actually collected over 4,300 tires this year.
Every year they keep bumping up the tires that are collected. They also help to trim and cut back
vegetation in alley ways and that is blocking street signage for public safety. They are going to
work to make sure safety procedures are being followed or are put in place and that they are up to
date. They also want to provide future training opportunities to their staff. They have a couple of
new staff members, so, they will be going through a lot of training opportunities with them.
Councilmember Scott asked, You mentioned the increase in tickets, what was the dollar amount?
Also,how many were resolved without the need for collection?I know you guys work with people
on that.
Ms. Johns replied, I wouldn't have that percentage of the ones collected without collections but it
is in the supplemental information if you would like to see what has been collected.
Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, You mentioned 4,300 tires. That is just this year?
Ms. Johns replied, Yes.
Councilmember Teshka followed up, What happens to those?
Ms. Johns replied, We take them to the tire recycling.
Councilmember Teshka then asked, And where are they mostly being collected from?
Ms. Johns replied, Alleyways largely or a lot of the vacant lots where there is overgrowth which
is another reason why we try to take care of the overgrowth to make sure there aren't a lot of
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
shadowed areas for them to dump but really they are all over the City. We've plugged them into
GIS to see if we could pinpoint an exact area where it might be more clustered than others and it
truly is just all over.
Committeemember Williams-Preston asked, Where in the budget do we contract with people to
help mow lawns?
Ms. Johns replied, We don't contract. That is actually through the Parks Department.
Jen Goebel, Manger of South Bend Animal Care and Control with offices located at 521 Eclipse
Place, stated,Tonight I will be talking about our goals and challenges for 2019. Our primary goals
I will be going over consist of a new ordinance, online licensing, and full-time position added to
the staff. So our accomplishments for 2018 include many of the staff receiving additional training.
Some of the officers have actually gone to some of the specialized training that I went to as far as
animal cruelty investigations.Other staff members have attended conferences in which we've been
able to learn how to fast-track our animals, increase our adoptions and also treat our animals
medically.Adoption numbers have increased by sixty-three(63%)compared to this time last year.
I have staff doing an exceptional job moving animals very quickly through the shelter. We have a
very small facility. We handle about 1,200 dogs per year and we are run through a 9,000 square
foot facility. Compared to the Humane Society,they run about 1,300 dogs through a 32,000 square
foot facility. So our staff does a very good job hustling to get animals in and out of the shelter
because our space constraints are very tight.
She continued, Since adding the fourth (4th) officer, we've also increased our licensing over
seventy-four percent (74%) as compared to last year. Officers are out in the field and doing their
rechecks and following up on their complaints and issues we are having in our neighborhoods
regarding animals. Enforcement with our AWAs and our citations have considerably increased
because of this new addition that was put in 2018. We began updating our forms to make it easier
for the public to fill out and turn in. We are trying to add those things online so people are able to
download those and email them to us. We are trying to convert those forms for our Spanish-
speaking residents as well.
She went on, We have a higher cost of any animals for adoption. The bottom line is it is a lot more
cost-effective to euthanize animals but that is not our goal for the shelter. The cost of vetting the
animals is there. So, our challenge is to try and offset those costs. Regarding the staffing changes,
we are looking at adding one(1)full-time position and some extra part-time kennel attendants.We
have a part-time adoption coordinator who is handling a job that has pretty much doubled by the
fact that adoptions have increased by sixty-three percent (63%). Her workload has doubled, so
we've had a part-time person doing the job of a full-time person. The other goal we have is the
new ordinance. Hopefully with the new ordinance we will close a lot of the loopholes we are
experiencing with some of our animal owners in our community and it will give us more
enforcement opportunities, all in hope to improve the welfare of many of our community's
animals.
She continued, Some of our changes and opportunities includes our transition down from one (1)
van to a truck. We should be getting the second (2nd) one (1) as well, so, we will cut costs down.
A lot of our vans are ten (10) plus years old with Lord knows how many miles on them. Upkeep
for that will hopefully be a lot less than what we are pouring into these old vans. We are working
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on improving fast tracking our animals even more. As I touched on the space constraints,we are a
very small facility and the number of animals we push through there on an annual basis is
overwhelming at times. For example, last Tuesday we took in thirty-three (33) animals in one (1)
day. I have eighteen (18) bank cages for cats and approximately fifty (50) kennels in the shelter
itself. Doubling up animals, it can get tight in there at times. So the other challenges are holding
those costs steady as we are moving animals in and out, whether it is adoptions or moving them
out to rescues and things. Offering online licensing is another thing and we look forward to
streamlining that so it is very easy for residents. With the new ordinance, one (1) of the major
changes is the licensing structure. Because of the old structure in the old ordinance, we couldn't
offer online licensing because it was so complicated. There was no online licensing software that
could handle the structure of the ordinance. So we are streamlining that,making it a little bit easier
and less expensive for animal owners to come into compliance.
Councilmember Oliver Davis asked, What led to the rise in adoptions?
Ms. Goebel replied, Some of the things I implemented when I took over, we had a volunteer
photographer coming in. I actually dedicated a photography studio. We definitely increased our
social media presence. When I took over in 2016 we were at about 4,000 likes on Facebook and
are well over 11,000 now. So we have a bigger social media footprint and that was the biggest
thing. Also,just getting out there and getting into the community so people knew about us. That
is one (1) of the challenges we face too is that everybody knows about the Humane Society and
then when people think of Animal Care and Control they just think of a dog pound.Half the people
don't even realize that we give animals up for adoption.
Councilmember Davis followed up,And you said there were twenty-nine (29) collected last week
or something?
Ms. Goebel replied, We had thirty-three (33) animals that we took in throughout just one (1) day.
Councilmember Davis then asked, What is causing that to happen?
Ms. Goebel replied, That, I'm not sure. I'd like to say some of it is the increase in enforcement for
the month of August. We increased by eighty-three (83) animals compared to August 2017. That
is about a thirty percent (30%) increase. Of the three hundred (300) animals that we took in, cats
and dogs, seventy-eight (78) of them were owner-surrendered. Some owners can't house their
animals, they are moving or they are simply tired of dealing with us. So it is kind of a mixture.
One (1) of the things too is surrenders tend to increase right before people go back to school or
they leave for college. We see a lot of intake from that, too. It is really a culmination of things,
honestly.
Councilmember Scott asked, How many volunteers are you using at the shelter right now?
Ms. Goebel replied, We average between two hundred (200) and two hundred thirty (230) hours
per month as far as our volunteer hours. During the school season we work with Notre Dame and
we have a wonderful volunteer that kind of oversees a lot of the Notre Dame students while they
are in school. They do some fostering for us for our kittens. We have approximately forty to fifty
(40— 50) kittens in foster care right now. Overall, I would say we probably have a strong core of
about ten to fifteen(10— 15)volunteers.That is one(1)of the changes for next year.A side project
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
for one (1) of the Notre Dame students is actually developing and marketing a volunteer foster
program for us so we can increase the animals we have and hopefully lower our euthanasia
numbers.
Councilmember Scott followed up, My other question is about the non-reverting Fund #217. I
know there are donations made to Animal Care and Control plus a couple other entities. How do
you and what do you use that Fund for?Are you doing any promotion to increase that Fund?
Ms. Goebel replied, We have not. Right now I'm working on trying to link a PayPal account into
our Facebook page and things like that. One (1) of the things we struggle with is the fact that we
are a municipality, so, even going on an Amazon wish list where people could donate items, we
don't qualify that because we are a municipality and are not a 501(c)(3) organization. Maybe we
could set up a recurring donation system. Those are some of the things we are looking at trying to
do. Primarily we are using the cost for vet care. We have a Trust Fund that, over the next five (5)
years we will be getting,and it is dedicated specifically for the care of the animals. I know we have
moved some money over to cover spay and neuters and other vet costs. Every animal has to be
spayed and neutered before they are adopted per the ordinance. Come 2022, it is mandated that
any animal that leaves the shelter rescue has to be altered by State law.
Councilmember Scott stated, For those who don't know, Fund #217 is almost like a non-profit
Fund, right? People can donate and it is a tax break for that person. There's a Hesburgh statue,
there's Animal Care and Control and I think there are two (2) other ones that they can go ahead
and donate to. My last question is about market. I know Venues, Parks & Arts is kind of the
marketing wing to South Bend, the City, are they doing anything to help market you guys? Have
you even looked at that yet?
Ms. Goebel replied,We've partnered with them on a few things. Obviously,their marketing budget
is a lot larger than ours. The majority of our money goes toward the care of the animals. We have
partnered with them once or twice throughout the year to try and work with the opening of the new
dog park to help promote that. We've done Drool in the Pool for the second(2nd)year in a row for
that. That is a thing they offer but we kind of run it because we are more of the experts in handling
the animals. We are probably, in all honesty, not utilizing them as much as we could but we are
such a smaller part of the City, I'm not sure where else we could partner with them.
Councilmember Teshka stated, I was just looking at some of the supplemental documents. It said
in preparation for the property tax caps, you are deferring $80,000 in capital improvements? And
then I look further on, that is a couple of pickup trucks? Is that what that is?
Ms. Skibins replied, That is correct.
Councilmember Teshka followed up,The age of the vehicles we are currently using is an estimated
maintenance, do we defer that cost and run into more costs and end up spending more money?
Mr. O'Connor replied, We work pretty diligently with Jeff Hudak out of Central Services. As far
as the maintenance of our equipment, we are projecting a five (5) year capital plan now. We are
working with him and we have deferred enough to have what we need. We have been working
hard over the years to upgrade our fleet.
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Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak on the
proposed 2019 Code Enforcement budget.
Jesse Davis, P.O. Box 10205, stated, The one (1) gentleman that came up and was talking about
Code Enforcement had made a comment about the Landlord Registration and possibly not being
around next year?He said he would touch on that a little later and I was wondering what that was
all about.
Ms. Skibins replied, It is on hold because there is a legal issue they are trying to hash out, so right
now, it is just on a voluntary basis. We are encouraging people to register but it is not required and
there are no fees.
Mr. Davis interjected, I'm just curious because when that came to the Council, we passed it and
there were questions about legality. We passed it anyway like we seem to everything and now we
are in a legal standstill, so.
Council President Tim Scott stated, Just to clarify, it is the City of Hammond that has the legal
issue, so all cities are looking at their landlord registration. The legal issue is between the State
and Hammond. When we passed ours, everything was legal and fine. Hammond is being
challenged but everyone is being prudent on it.
Administration and Finance
Jen Hockenhull, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 12th floor
of the County-City Building, stated, Good evening, Council. Today I'm here to present to you our
own departmental budget. I often feel like the gardener with the brown grass as we focus on
everybody else's budget and then our budget seems to be the last we look at. We don't have a
whole lot of our specific budget today to talk about. We are doing a lot of the same things we have
always done and basically the same Personnel, the same Supplies and the same Professional
Services. So before you tonight, we are going to talk more about the big picture, the Funds we
handle specifically that a lot of the departments touch on. So if I'm missing anything as we go
through this and you would like to know something specifically about Administration and Finance
that I am not covering,please stop me and let me know.
She continued, So tonight we'll be talking about Administration and Finance including Safety and
• Risk, which has its own stand-alone Fund. Central Services has a stand-alone Fund as well. This
is the second (2"1) year that Central Services is included with Administration and Finance, not
Public Works. We are still working through that but I think it has been a really great partnership.
Then also, Human Capital and Inclusion which includes Human Resources, Human Rights and
Diversity and Inclusion. The reason we are all here together today is because as we are working
through our new ERP system, or accounting system,we still all sit in the same Fund. We are all in
the General Fund in the Division of Administration and Finance because that is where, originally,
it was set up. Once we get a new ERP system and it is easier to splice things out to set things apart,
you'll see Human Resources and Diversity and Inclusion have their own stand-alone budgets. But
for the purpose of tonight and the 2019 budget, we are all in one (1) bucket. I think we've done a
very good job in the detail of breaking down all these items so you can individually see what is
Administration and Finance, what is Human Resources and what is Diversity and Inclusion, but
again, if you have any questions,please let us know.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
She went on, So as far as the Department of Administration and Finance goes, our Department
vision is that we are here to provide excellent, timely and cost-effective customer service to all
departments within the City,to the Common Council and to interested residents. We achieve this
goal by hiring and retaining highly qualified and motivated individuals.We encourage professional
development at all levels of the organization. We maintain high standards for service and reporting
and we provide regular opportunities for communication and collaboration within departments,
our own department, with Council and our residents. This is very small on the screen(referencing
a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office), I apologize, so please refer to your
handouts for this section here. The major Funds that Administration and Finance oversee are the
County-Option Income Taxes and our Economic Development Income Tax Funds. We don't
actually typically spend the money out of here but we do manage it and make sure we are
consolidating and making sure we are not overspending the Funds and those kinds of things. We
kind of orchestrate and bring all that together.
She continued, So for COIT and EDIT this year,we were able to get very good estimates from the
DLGF. They have moved these targets around a little bit on us over the past couple of weeks but
I think we have very solid estimates going forward. For COIT, they are stating that we have about
an eleven percent(11%)increase over last year which is great news for 2019.That is not something
we are banking on going forward, so,when we come before you on September 24th,2018 with our
overview of the entire budget and we show you our fiscal curb analysis where we take what we
will spend in 2019 but this is what 2020 and 2021 look like, we are only going to estimate a two
percent (2%) increase in these income taxes. They are the most volatile. As soon as the economy
takes a hit, these are the ones that take a hit so we always want to be very conservative when we
estimate these increases.
She went on, So within COIT this year, you're going to see $130,000 again for the Goodwill
Strategic Outreach Unit Program, or, GVI. There was an article done that Mayor Pete gave an
interview for, this is the second (2nd) year of a three (3) year program. There are $120,000
earmarked for the 2019 Election Administration expense. Please note that this is what the County
charges us. This has nothing to do with anyone's campaign. I want to be very clear about that. This
is simply for the County to run the actual elections in 2019. This was the estimate the County gave
us.We have$100,000 earmarked for permanent supportive housing,$200,000 earmarked for Light
Up South Bend which Eric talked about earlier in this process, and about $1.9 million for
community and neighborhood engagement and improvements. That includes the City Cemetery
updates and James Mueller will talk more about that in the Community Investment discussion next
week. We have $500,000 set aside to continue with the demolitions of vacant and abandoned
properties. We set aside about $150,000 for County-City Building office remodels. Our facility
continues to age and we are hoping this$150,000 makes it through the budget process. Our offices
are in bad shape and we are hoping to use this to fix and update the offices.
She continued, Also within COIT we fund the operations for Motor Vehicle Highway including
the curb and sidewalk program, emergency medical services to supplement that program and also
for some Parks and Recreation. We continue to see very strong cash reserve levels through 2019
in this Fund. We will have further projections on that but they remain strong through 2019 in that
Fund. For Economic Development Income Tax, we are receiving an eight point three five percent
(8.35%) increase in revenues. Our requested expenditures in this Fund include funding for the
operations of the Department of Community Investment, Animal Care and Control and Code
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Enforcement as well as Zoo and Parks bond payments of roughly $702,000. We realized, today,
that number is a little bit high so that will probably go down a bit before it comes to you for final
approval. You will also see that when we come to talk to you about the Zoo bond in a few weeks.
About $3 million is set aside for PSAP, or, the 911 Center. You'll see it all in the very detailed
budget information. There is a deduction for about$200,000 and I just wanted to quickly state that
is because the County deducts from our EDIT payments to make the debt service payments for
PSAP. So we are just trying to be consistent with the way we show it. So$3 million is what it costs
to run the PSAP Center and that is why you'll see it at about$2.8 million in the detail. Then there
is about$2.1 million set aside for neighborhood engagement projects, which again, will be talked
about in the DCI presentation. With all these items included as we project out in the coming years,
we still have very strong cash reserves in this particular fund until 2022. When we look at our
Funds,we look at them as General Plus Funds. You might hear us talk about it in that respect. Our
General Plus Funds include COIT, EDIT, Public Safety LOIT as well as the General Fund. We
look at those as one (1) big group. If one (1) Fund appears to be suffering a bit, we can transfer
money between those four (4) Funds because all of that money is able to be spent on any legal
purpose.
She went on, The Liability Insurance Fund was touched on a little bit by Stephanie Steele and the
Legal Department presentation. We oversee the entirety of the Fund. This is the first (1St) year in
several years that we are fully charging all of the departments one hundred percent (100%) of the
burden of that Fund. This is one (1) of those Funds where we always budget high with the hope
that we will spend way less than what we budget for. That gives us the flexibility to continue to
work and to continue to meet the needs of the City. When folks say our allocations increased, this
is what they are talking about because several of the departments were kind of given a break on
this as a way to balance the budget but this year, all of the burden is being allocated. This budget
consists of Safety and Risk Management which includes personnel and training costs for the City.
It includes our self-insured liability, so funding any claims against the City as well as personnel to
manage those claims. Business insurance includes our business premiums as well as claims for
catastrophic events. For instance if there is a hole in the roof at one (1) of our facilities and it is a
smaller department that can't quite fund a whole new roof to be replaced but it still needs fixing,
we go ahead and help them with that if insurance proceeds won't kick in. Also, worker's
compensation. We fund the Worker's Compensation Fund.
She continued, I believe earlier in August 2018, I sent out an email that really walked through all
of the allocations line by line so I won't go into talking about that again but know if you have any
questions,I am happy to answer them. We are showing a small deficit spend in this Fund for 2019.
However, we have adequate reserves based on best practices and also all of our incurred but not
reported claims. Those are things we have incurred but we haven't yet paid,we do have acceptable
levels of reserves in that Fund. Our goal is to eventually get to a$5 million balance in that Fund
because our Legal Department really feels is a good and strong balance in that Fund. We are
working toward that and are not there yet. Should something catastrophic happen, we do have the
Rainy Day Fund which I will talk about in just a minute.
She went on, We also have our self-funded Employee Benefits Fund, which is Fund #711. That
takes care of all the health insurance as well as life insurance. Anything related directly to our
employees, we fund through Fund #711. Based on our reports from our third (3rd) party
administrators, it costs about$16,900 per employee to fund our health insurance program we have
through the City. We have always charged what our health insurance company has stated and that
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
has actually allowed us to have very strong cash reserves in our Fund. So that, along with the fact
that we have our Health and Wellness Clinic, has done great things for the City. I think our
employees are healthier and I can't speak for everyone but I think it is doing a great job. With the
use of the Clinic and the continual monitoring of that and looking at different programs and
wellness ideas, we've actually come out ahead every year in that Fund. Last year alone I think we
ended the year with$3 million as about what we charged all of our departments. So with that,this
year, we are going to tap into that a little bit and eat down some of our reserves because we have
so much. We don't want stock pile funds for ever and ever and never use them. So part of what we
are doing this year is spending down that Fund just a little bit knowing our cash reserves stay very
strong in that Fund through 2023. We will also be holding our Employee Contribution Study with
no increase for 2019,which is a bonus. I think typically that has increased about two percent(2%),
so nothing huge, and we still have a great and affordable program. It is one (1) of the most
affordable in the area when we look at all of the plans that our insurance provider handles. We are
very competitive and very low with a really great plan. That is really good news for our employees.
In 2020 we do expect plan redesigns. That doesn't mean that our contributions are going to double
or anything like that, we are just working very closely with our insurance company to redefine
what the plan is and how that looks. HR will talk more about that.
She continued, So, within our Fund #711, not only are we including the actual cost of health
insurance but also the harassment awareness training that Council has requested. We have that
budgeted for. Wellness programs including O'Brien Fitness Center and other City fitness centers,
employees can be members there, we pay back Parks for their memberships at the different
facilities. And also TRANSPO bus passes. If an employee needs a way to work, we will go ahead
and fund a pass for them. Then our General Fund, again, our Administration and Finance budget
is within the General Fund. We will have a much larger conversation about this on September 20,
2018 and likely before then as well but just so you know, the General Fund is projecting a one
percent (1%) increase in property tax revenue. I think that is very conservative but it depends on
who you talk to. We are going to go ahead and stick with the one percent (1%) revenue and we
will have reports to share with you soon but know that is where we stand on our General Fund
revenue.
She went on, So those were our major ones. Those are the really large dollar amounts you will see
on your overview in your packets. We do look at other Funds that we have our fingers in and we
make sure we are managing those very closely.The Rainy Day Fund I just spoke of,we have about
$10 million in cash reserves as of July 2018 in that Fund. It is very, very strong. It had been asked
when the last time was that we touched that Fund. I researched that and 2008 was the last time we
dipped into that Fund. I believe what had happened was that the County was delayed in giving us
our property tax receipts, so we actually took out and put back the same amount of money in the
same year. So I am not aware of the last time we took money out and didn't replenish it. It is there
for an emergency and we hope to never use it. It is one (1) of those things that the bond rating
agency always goes back to. We have such strong cash reserves in our Rainy Day Fund and we
hope to keep it that way.
She continued, Councilmember Scott, you were just asking about Fund #217. Here you go. We
also manage the Gift, Donation and Bequest Fund. You can donate to it, yes. There is no cash
reserve requirement for that because it is donations coming in and then we spend them. Sometimes
it is in the same year and sometimes it is the following year. The Lost Recovery Fund #227 is
actually a Fund we manage but Water Works spends the money. Revenues are derived from
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
environmental actions from previous years. There is not a lot of money coming in and we've had
a reserve in that Fund for a while. This year Water Works is going to spend some of that. There is
more detail in your packet. We have the Cumulative Capital Development Fund and that is
property tax funded. It is used to pay for Police Vehicle Capital leases. I think that was briefly
mentioned in the Police Department Budget presentation last week. We are getting fifteen (15)
new hybrid vehicles that are budgeted for in 2019 but we lease them and pay for them over five
(5) years. Then the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund actually has an expected decrease in
property tax revenue in 2019. That is cigarette tax that goes into that Fund. We did call the
Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to ask them why they were projecting
decreases in the revenues and they said that they are just collecting less revenue which means they
are selling less cigarettes which is a good thing although it sounds like perhaps vaping has taken
its place so I did ask if they would start taxing the vaping stuff and they weren't quite sure on that.
As of right now that Fund is expected to decrease and in 2019 we are expected to spend some of
those funds on the My SB Parks & Trails Program.
She went on, We also manage the Unemployment Compensation Fund. We've had quite hefty
reserves in that Fund over the years. Our unemployment claims continue to be very low so we
don't actually charge departments for that right now. We are self-funded so if someone claims
unemployment against us, we pay it out. We don't pay into a Fund at the State level like most
employers do. Since we are a municipality,we don't have to do that.We are using the cash reserves
in that Fund for 2019. We expect we maybe need to start charging departments again in 2020 so
they are factoring that into their budgets but as of right now, it has got very healthy cash reserves.
The Parental Leave Fund #714 is a new benefit established in 2018. Many employees have taken
advantage of this Fund and Kyra Clark will talk about that shortly when she talks about Human
Resources. It is funded through a departmental allocation of a quarter percent (0.25%) for full-
time wages. The cash reserves need to be evaluated. It is a new Fund and we are still trying to hit
that sweet spot. We aren't sure who is and isn't going to use it so we just continue to monitor that.
She continued,We also have Debt Funds that we manage.I am going to breeze through these since
we have an entire hour to talk about debt next week so I won't belabor this too much here. We
oversee the Debt Service Payments for the Parks Bond. The Hall of Fame has gone away and that
levy has now been transferred up to that Parks Bond. We've got the TIF, Park Bond,Debt Service
reserve and the Parks Bond Debt Service reserve. All that is basically just a savings account for
that final debt payment that happens at the very end of the bond. There is also the Professional
Sports Development Fund,the final payment will be made in 2019 and that relates to the Coveleski
Stadium.This is a great example of the debt service reserve because we've got$525,000 that you'll
see as a transfer into that Fund and that is that debt service reserve that was set aside many years
ago when that bond was originally taken out and now we are going to use that to go ahead and pay
off the bond in 2019.
She went on, We have an Equipment and Leasing Fund #750. That is basically like a trust fund.
We take out a capital lease for all of the department's budgets for their capital needs within their
Fund. So you've got your trucks, cars and everything you can imagine people need and then are
budgeted for. We then go out, request a lease from a bank, those funds, if they're not held by the
bank, go into this fund so that they are segregated from everything else. We can see everything
that is paid out of them. This is more of just an in and an out. The proceeds come in from the bank
and they go out to the various vendors we are buying the equipment from. It allows us to very
easily manage that whole process. You will also see the Building Corp Fund which is included in
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND 1 OFFICE OF THE CLERK
your packet. This allows us to segregate bond payments for bonds issued through the South Bend
Building Corp which include the Police and Fire Bonds from 2012,Public Works bonds from 2010
and then the EMS Fire Bond of 2013. So again, for those not aware, we have a debt meeting set
aside for September 11th, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. We will talk for about an hour and we will have
Herschel Frierson and Nathan Flynn from Crowe as well so that we are all talking the same
language. Hopefully we will get a lot out of that meeting.
She continued, I have not been looking at notes and I've neglected to actually introduce my staff.
I'm sorry, I meant to do that at the very beginning. She then proceeded to introduce members of
her staff that were in the audience. She stated, You can see from our organizational chart
(referencing a slide in the presentation), which again I'm sorry it is very small up on the screen,
we have kind of five (5) wings to what we do. We have the Director of Budget and Accounting,
that is Ken Glowacki, and he oversees our fiscal officers. We have the Director of Treasury who
oversees accounts payable and payroll. We have the Director of Purchasing who is working on the
consolidated Purchasing Division. That is a work in progress but is going very well. We then have
a Chief Administration Officer who oversees Central Services, Equipment Services, Radio and
Facilities Management. And then there is a Director of Safety and Risk who oversees the worker's
compensation program and any safety and risk training. The only person we are requesting within
the finance wing is a part-time Accounts Payable Clerk. We are implementing a new finance
system starting this year through, probably, 2020. As we are working on that, we are requesting
we add a part-time Accounts Payable Clerk to fill the needs of any reporting and then also help
backfill Accounts Payable as we work to get our new system up and running. That will be about a
fifteen dollar an hour ($15/hr) cap on that position.
She went on, Our 2018 accomplishments in Administration and Finance, I feel that as long as our
department is paying people and vendors on time, giving the Council and residents reports that are
easy to understand, getting our budget passed with collaboration with the Council and other
departments, and getting through our audit with minimal findings and having a successful and
clean audit report that we will have accomplished what we really need to accomplish in our
department. However, we have done a couple other things in 2018. With the help of Council, we
participated in two (2) resident budget workshops ahead of the 2019 budget. I'll be honest, it is
probably one (1) of the most fun things we do because we don't get to get out into the community
too often so that is definitely an accomplishment for us. We continue to receive all three(3)awards
through the Government Finance Officers Association. We are the only municipality in Indiana to
receive all three (3). We reaffirmed the City's double-A (AA) bond rating in March 2018. We
continue to effectively manage the worker's compensation claims. At the request of Council, we
got to do the grants report this year which I really appreciated the opportunity to do and present it
to you. We also request feedback so we can continue refining that report to be sure it is meaningful
and is giving you all the information.
She continued,As we look to 2019, our goals and challenges really are just to help all departments
maintain their budgets and work creatively to get ahead of the 2020 fiscal curb. I think we are
doing a great job working collectively and I think that is going very well. I would like to continue
participating in the budget workshops. We want to continue training and developing the team. I
think training is very important in all levels of the organization so we would like to continue doing
that. We want to continue our high level of transparency through monthly and annual reporting. I
would like to make sure we better understand the finance staff that reports to our fiscal officers.
We have about nine (9) fiscal officers. Some of them do and some don't have staff underneath
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them so we are just trying to better understand what all of them do and see if we need to roll them
up into our department or just leave them where they are. We want to maintain our double-a(AA)
bond rating and increase our safety training. I was excited to see that Code Enforcement brought
that up.And like I said a moment ago,we are implementing our new Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) system, or our accounting software, in 2019. That is going to be a huge lift not only for us
but for any of our departments that touch the system. That will be a big lift for all of us.
Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members.
Councilmember Davis asked, In the August 29,2018 City budget overview you sent out to us,was
it a typo that said our deficit is $77,237,436? When it said the grand total showed surplus or a
deficit?
Ms. Hockenhull replied, That is not a typo. A lot of that is due to us receiving the bond funds in
2018 and now we are spending them in 2019. So looking at that cash reserve report and also
looking at the individual Funds will give you a clearer picture. I sometimes cringe giving out these
summary reports because they don't always mean what they look like they mean.
Councilmember Davis interjected,Because when you look at this it looks like we owe$77 million.
Ms. Hockenhull replied, But a lot of it is, say, we got a $25 million bond at the end of 2017. So
that showed up in revenue in 2017 but when you get to 2018 that revenue won't show up but the
expenses will show up in 2018. It is not a typo but it is very explainable.
Councilmember Davis followed up, It's very explainable? So when I try to explain this or try to
explain this, is there any way to what you just did and what you said for you to break that down?
And then when you look at bonds, what is your vision and opinion of when we have too many
bonds? Could that affect our credit rating and make other issues? Could you plan on giving us
some dialogue on that next week?
Ms. Hockenhull replied, Yes, absolutely. That is most of what we are going to talk about next
week.
Committee Chair White asked, When you look at how much money has been identified for vacant
and abandoned homes, at what point do we consider us having addressed all the homes and have
spent enough money? Could you give me a sense of how much has been allocated, spent, and how
many homes have been demolished or renovated?And what is the percentage that is still left?
Ms. Hockenhull confirmed, I will follow up with you on those numbers.
Councilmember Jake Teshka left the meeting at 6:18 p.m.
Ms.Hockenhull stated,Central Services became a division of Administration and Finance in 2018.
This (referencing a slide in the presentation) is their budget here. We've got some numbers upon
the screen that you can hopefully see. Their budget is roughly$9.6 million. Within that it includes
about$4.5 million of utilities for the entire City Government as a whole. That is managed through
Central Services because it then allows us to put an administrative fee to our departments for
looking at the utilities and making sure we are managing them. That allows us to fund our Facility
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Management group. Matt always requests Council Members to visit Central Services. They have
a really neat operation and a lot of great mechanics on staff. Stop by and say hi. Central Services
are made up with a couple different divisions within their division. They have Equipment Services
which consists about 1,000 things on wheels which I always find very interesting. It keeps them
very busy. They have the Radio Shop, Building Maintenance and Facilities Management
Divisions. Facilities Management is a little bit new this year. One (1) of our Sustainability Office
individuals went over and took over the entirety of Facilities Management as kind of a centralized
unit within the City to make sure we understood, as a central activity, the buildings we own, the
conditions of the building and the square footage. We all know our own individual areas but having
a holistic view of the buildings the City owns is going to be very important to us going forward.
Adam Parsons is the individual that took over and started that role this year and he is really focused
on making sure we have a better handle on what we have. We also have Central Purchasing and
Stores as well as Print Shop.
She continued,There is a surplus if you look here(referencing a slide in the presentation) of about
$137,000 but that is used for long-term maintenance of the actual building that Central Services is
in as well as any equipment maintenance. They have very large equipment over there to maintain
our fleet so that is what the surplus is used for. They also show$9.8 million of revenue and that is
not only from internal customers but they have external customers that are all 501(c)(3)
organizations or other municipalities. There are a few salary change requests you'll see when we
talk further on this on September 19th,2018 but,very quickly,we have an increase in salary request
for our Director of Equipment Services from $61,000 to $75,000. This is something that our
Human Resources Department and Diversity and Inclusion have really looked at closely. We have
worked with them to get a better gage of what this position should be paid and they do feel this is
an acceptable range based on the fact this position oversees a roughly $3.4 million budget, about
thirty(30) individuals and oversees the maintenance of our entire fleet. You will see that come up
in our conversations on September 17th, 2018. We would like to eliminate a Radio Technician
position and replace it with a lower-paid Radio Installer position. There is just different work to
be done today than there was twenty(20) years ago. Then also along the same lines of our request
for a part-time Accounting Clerk, the Central Services Division is also going to be very heavily
involved in the new ERP System with the fleet management side of things. Every time a car would
come in for service, that information gets plugged into our NaviLine System. So the work orders
go in there, the billing goes in there and that kind of thing. Central Services is also going to be
very involved in the change to our system so we are asking for a part-time Administrative Assistant
to help the office continue moving forward throughout that time.
She went on, They have had many accomplishments in 2018. I will not read them all to you but I
would like to highlight a few. A very interesting fact is they actually purchase, inventory and
dispense about 880,000 gallons of gas per year. Our Radio Services added new customers in 2018
which includes St. Joseph County, TRANSPO, the Morris and Notre Dame Fire. Our Purchasing
Department has worked on issuing P-cards, or Procurement Cards as they are called. It allows us
to do business more quickly and also allows us to get a rebate back to the City. They installed four
(4)new CNG fueling stations at Riverside Drive and now have eighteen(18) CNG fueling stations
that they use for things like the trash trucks we have.
She continued, Central Services has many goals for 2019 including attracting new outside
customers for equipment services as well as the Radio Shop. They would like to continue to green
the City's fleet with hybrid and CNG-powered vehicles. They do a really great job of working with
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departments to understand their needs. They would like to install a larger CNG compressor at
Riverside to handle the increased capacity and use of methane. They want to create City-wide
contracts for facilities. As we look at facilities as a whole, we are coming up with consolidated
vendors we use. They are looking to expand the automated vehicle locator capabilities. They also
look to partner with Diversity and Inclusion to expand the inclusive purchasing practices including
revised City purchasing policy in 2019. That will likely come around the same time the Disparity
Study is complete. They also want to maximize the rebate program with JP Morgan Chase.
Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members.
Councilmember Davis asked, Do you have a list of all the new positions that will be on one (1)
sheet of paper?
Ms. Hockenhull replied, We will have that on September 19th, 2018. We will have a full
presentation that will give each position and the rationale. You're going to love it.
Councilmember Davis replied, Thank you.
Committeemember Voorde stated, The Police Department seems to be going to hybrids instead of
CNG. Why is that?
Ms. Hockenhull replied, I can't speak for them but I think they were finding problems with the
after-market installation of the CNG kits so it seems like it makes a little more sense to use hybrid
vehicles where there is not a lot of extra maintenance. I think there were a lot of things that went
into the decision to switch.
Councilmember Oliver Davis left the meeting at 6:26 p.m.
Human Capital and Inclusion
Kyra Clark, Director of Human Resources for the City of South Bend with offices located on the
12th floor of the County-City Building, stated, In Human Resources, our goal is to be a great
employer for great employees. This week, I was really excited because we got an email notifying
us that we've been nominated as the Best Place to Work in Michiana. We hope you all vote. We're
excited that other people are recognizing the things we are doing to be a great employer. Getting
to the nuts and bolts of the budget for Human Resources, we are not asking for any additional
positions or any changes to the salary ordinance. This year we do feel we've done a lot of really
great things including the staff climate survey. That was the second (2nd) year doing that. We
implemented the Parental Leave Program and there have been twenty-eight (28) participants so
far. That is continually growing and we have gotten fantastic feedback from the folks who have
been able to benefit from that program. We have implemented Employee Benefit Concierge
service which has been really positive to help employees navigate benefits. My Choice is trying to
provide an alternative to new hires instead of participating in the ten (10) year vesting pension
program by having a shorter vesting period. Jen also touched on this but we are really proud of the
employee clinic. The savings to the City has been at least $500,000 since it opened in 2016 and I
think it is pretty safe to assume that much of the management of Fund #711 can be attributed to
the opening of the Clinic.
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She continued, Next year, we are looking to focus on the full implementation of the new Human
Resource information system.This is KRONOS.We are working to try and implement that shortly
and are trying to expand that usage in 2019. We are also working to implement a harassment
training program for employees in response to the bill you all had passed earlier this year. I think
we have a really great vendor through ClearLaw. It has a fantastic online training program and
we'll be able to hit all of the people important to Council including seasonal folks. One (1) of our
major goals for next year is to try and make sure we are being thoughtful about employee benefits.
We've been really lucky to have a pretty healthy balance in Fund#711 but we know, and I think
it is pretty well-known, that employee health care costs continue to rise. We are going to take a
look at what options we have to continue being a great employer for great employees by providing
competitive benefits while also being thoughtful to be sure those benefits are sustainably funded.
This year, there won't be any increase to the employee in their portion of the premiums. We are
exploring opportunities to help build employee engagement and culture by offering some potential
paid-time for volunteer activities and team-building activities as well.
Christina Brooks, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the City of South Bend with offices located
on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, Good evening, Council. I will first(1st) start
with the Human Rights Commission. The purpose of the Human Rights Commission is to study
and act upon the problems which involve relationships between members of different ethnic
groups, sexes, sexual orientation or gender identity, nationality, disability and families with
children. The South Bend Human Rights Commission's authority lies in enforcing employment,
fair housing, public accommodations and education. Their goal is to ensure equal employment
opportunity for all individuals and to provide legal recourse in the areas of discrimination. The
Human Rights Commission provides keys to unlock the doors of discrimination. I'll begin with
some of the accomplishments of 2018.
She continued, We hosted, this year, the Indiana Consortium of State and Local Human Rights
Agencies and the annual Fair Housing Training. We provided, and will be providing, education
and outreach at various events throughout St. Joseph County. We attended the EEOC National
Training Conference and will be attending the HUD National Training Conference in Washington,
D.C. next week. We successfully maintained federal contracts with EEOC, HUD and Community
Investment. We requested an upward modification for EEOC funds due to the increase in case
closures. Our Executive Director Lonnie Douglas was reappointed to the EEOC FEPA Chair
Committee.
She went on, The goals and challenges for 2019 remain that we will continue the policy that all
cases filed and retained for our investigation must be completed within one hundred and eighty
(180)days or less.We continue to see grants and other forms of revenue to supplement the General
Fund budget. We will maintain federal contracts with EEOC, HUD and Community Investment
as well as provide opportunities for staff to attend training by EEOC and HUD. Challenges due to
the increase in case load has created a need to fill a part-time Administrative Assistant position for
employment. She then introduced Human Right Commission staff in attendance at the meeting.
She continued, Where the numbers are concerned, since the Human Rights Commission took on
the County,we haven't established a baseline yet because we haven't been in the process for a full
year. But just based on looking at the numbers from November 2017 to present, we have seen an
increase in the number of cases coming from St. Joseph County. We've broken those numbers
down. The total number of charges taken and investigated by the South Bend Human Rights
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Commission office has been one hundred and fifteen(115). A total of forty-one(41)of those came
from the County. Two (2) are from the County, thirty-six (36) are from Mishawaka, two (2) are
from Granger and one (1) from North Liberty. So because of that increase in case load, we are
requesting an addition of a part-time Administrative Assistant. We would like to move the cost of
one(1) Investigator from the General Fund to the Grant Fund#258. You'll see(referencing a slide
of the presentation) that the box in green is the proposed added staff and this is the proposed
organizational chart.
Councilmember Scott asked, Why are you moving that position to the Grant Fund? Will that
always be there?
Ms. Brooks replied, Right now we have a significant amount of funds that have accumulated over
the last couple of years. We wanted to take advantage of that and make sure we are spending that
down a little bit. I think there is an opportunity for us to keep it there for a little while.
Ms. Brooks stated, We started the Diversity and Inclusion Plan back in 2016. It was a three (3)
year plan so I thought it appropriate to provide an update on that plan. There were three (3) areas
of focus, five (5) goals and sixty-three (63) action items. To date, fifty-five (55) of those action
items have been implemented and are ongoing. Eighty-seven percent (87%) of the plan is living.
We are in our second (2"d) year of the Plan. These (referencing a slide in the presentation) are the
three (3) areas of focus. The first (1st) is workplace, then workforce and community. The goal
within the area of workplace to was cultivate and sustain an inclusive work environment.
Workforce was to recruit, hire, develop and retain the highest quality of candidates from all
segments of society. Then in community there were three (3) goals and they were to expand
opportunities for representative population outreach and engagement, to advance and sustain a
more inclusive community attractive to international, national and local residents and then finally
to cultivate and sustain an inclusive City service and procurement environment.
She continued, I want to take you through each one (1) of those areas and look at each one (1) of
the priority areas. Priority one (1) in the area of workplace was to establish baseline metrics in
leadership, culture, voice, staff development and rewards. Out of the action items proposed, four
(4) of them have been implemented and are ongoing. That was to monitor the progress of
workplace environment survey. As Kyra had said, we completed the second (2"d) year of the
climate survey for workplace and we've seen an increase in cultivating the engagement there. The
collaborative staff performance evaluation and career path development was rolled out with the
Police Department. They were our pilot program and they are now into their second (2"(I)
evaluation period and we are rolling out the new forms for the rest of the City departments this
year. Actually within the next couple of weeks we will be conducting supervisor training and staff
training for departments. Then, as part of the survey, we are receiving feedback on policy
development, procedural changes, program initiatives and then of course the development of
employee resource groups. We currently have four (4) with a fifth (5th) one (1) scheduled to go
online in fiscal year 2019.
She went on, The second (2"d) priority under workplace was to establish and provide ongoing
diversity and inclusion experiential learning, education,training, and workshops for all City staff.
Of the seven(7)action items proposed, seven(7) actions have been implemented and are ongoing.
We've completed and offer diversity and inclusion in municipal government workshops for
leadership and department staff. Part of that training includes recognizing micro-aggressions and
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supporting micro-affirmations in the workplace, reducing unconscious bias in the hiring process,
City-wide diversity dialogues which occur once a month with different topics. There are
opportunities to participate in and attend cultural activities City-wide. We want to connect our staff
with things that are happening in our community. We have an inclusion lens toolkit that was a part
of the diversity and inclusion training for all staff with practical ways of implementing D and I in
policy, outreach and a multitude of other things and then, of course, the development of the
employee resource groups.
She continued, The third (3rd) priority in workplace was to establish diversity and inclusion
rewards for City groups, individuals and community groups. Out of the three (3) action items
proposed,the three(3)action items have been implemented and are ongoing. So there was research
done for existing awards for diverse populations and individuals, identifying community
organizations that promote, support and advocate for underrepresented groups and initiatives, and
then developing a nomination process and requirements for awards. The fourth(4th)priority under
workplace was to infuse diversity and inclusion language and City-wide expectations into all
strategic plans,policies,processes,procedures and programs.Of the two(2)action items proposed,
two (2) action items have been implemented and are ongoing. So our departments have reviewed
and in some cases have revised their internal policies to reflect inclusive language and intent. Our
departments are displaying the required Federal and State employment posters in common spaces.
She went on, Area two (2)is workforce. This is recruit,hire, develop and retain the highest quality
candidates from all segments of society. So that priority was also establishing baselines. There
were ten(10) action items proposed and ten(10) action items are implemented an ongoing. When
we came in, there may have been some data integrity issues. We had to provide a staff survey to
make sure that we have the correct demographic information for staff. That was completed. We've
also implemented departmental diversity and inclusion scorecards so that each department can
develop their own goals in all three (3) areas of workplace, workforce and community. We assist
them in achieving the goals the first (1st) year. Since it was our first (1st) time out, we were just
getting our feet wet. The second(2nd)year we have upped the ante and we are requiring a little bit
from each one(1)of the departments.Then we also want to look at hiring trends and turnover rates
in departments. We're establishing succession plans for the departments and identifying diverse
high-talent prospects within City work units. We are also trying to track effective recruitment types
for open positions. We have been using Linkedln and we've also made use of Indeed which brings
our job board onto a national base. We are trying to see which ones are more effective and make
sure we are using those to track talent. We are also looking at developing some new tools for
retention efforts to make sure we are keeping our great talent.
She continued,The second(2nd)priority is to establish policy and procedures that support inclusive
talent, identification, recruitment, hiring process, talent development and retention. I won't go
through all of these but eleven (11) action items were proposed and ten (10) were implemented
and are ongoing. We are in the process of not only doing some of these programs internally but
are also now looking at how we might be able to implement these programs with local agencies
externally. The inclusive talent recruitment model is being replicated in external format where we
share talent prospects with other agencies, organizations and corporations throughout the
community.And I've already talked about the staff performance evaluation system and career path
development which is a core competency based model. So instead of just focusing on skills, we
are looking at competencies that are transferrable to several different departments across campus.
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She went on,Area three(3)is community.Priority one(1)was,again,establishing baseline metrics
for that. Six (6) action items were proposed and five (5) action items have been implemented and
they include increasing positive engagement opportunities for public safety personnel by
neighborhood as well as efforts from Community Investment to collaborate with South Bend
neighborhoods on revitalization. We just developed a survey so that we'll be able to track the
diversity of the Boards and Commissions appointees. We are also working with our South Bend
Community Schools and Successful Pathways, making sure we are connecting education
opportunities and learning environments to people in the community. And then there is work out
of the Community Investment office for transportation to provide connectivity between home,
work and leisure.
She continued, The next priority area is to advance and sustain a more inclusive community that
is attractive to international,national and local residents. Four(4) action items were proposed and
four(4) have been implemented and are ongoing. Just a highlight of those is our partnership with
the South Bend Civic Theatre to make sure we have representative cultural live plays in town. If
anyone attended In The Heights or Top Dog Under Dog this past season, those are two (2) plays
we collaborated with them on. We hope to ensure that going forward, the plays that come here to
the City of South Bend are representative of our community.
She went on, Then finally, in the area of community, there is the priority to cultivate and sustain
an inclusive City service and procurement environment. Ten(10) action items were proposed and
six(6)have been implemented and are ongoing. This really is a collaboration with our Department
of Purchasing. There has been a tremendous amount of support from Admin and Finance as well
as Innovation. It has been a really big group effort in revamping our municipal purchasing policies
and also the support of Council Members and the Diversity Utilization Board and I will go into a
little more detail when I get into the accomplishments area. Then we are in the final one (1), four
(4) action items were proposed and four (4) were implemented and ongoing in establishing and
providing doing business with the City and starting South Bend workshops. So we are in the
process of, again, collaborating with Community Investment to make sure that we are working
with a local business incubator and the new business center that will open in the coming weeks
across from the Charles Martin Center. They will offer classes and curriculum to not only new
businesses but existing businesses to make sure they are sustainable and that they are adding to
our local economy.
Committee Chair White requested Ms. Brooks to summarize the remaining slide to ensure there to
be enough time for members of the public wishing to speak on the presentations given at this
meeting.
Ms. Brooks stated, We are requesting one (1) additional FTE to the Office of Diversity and
Inclusion to help handle all of the newly created,initiated and implemented programs to make sure
we are staying on top of it. We want to make sure we have enough resources to be in full
compliance with our diversity purchasing,the Disparity Study,and what those outcomes there may
be. You'll see on the screen,the two (2)positions highlighted in green are what we are requesting.
One (1) is the full-time position for Diversity and Inclusion and the other green is the part-time
Administrative Assistant for Human Rights.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak.
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Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, stated,Just a brief thing on the Animal Care and Control, I keep
pushing for chip and tag. If the dog has a microchip and a ten(10) digit phone number, they don't
even have to go to a shelter because a good Samaritan will often just return the dog by calling the
number. I think that would reduce some intake and I think there would be some cost savings if
they push chip and tag.They did one(1)and I had suggested four(4).In the Diversity and Inclusion
presentation,what I notice is increasingly, every single time, age is missing from it. As you know,
I'm on the local AARP Board locally. People over fifty (50) it takes five (5) to eight (8) months
longer to get a job when they are displaced. I want to see the percentages and numbers included in
those. Age always seems to be left off that formula for the City. I know Jo Broden had requested
job descriptions and title changes, I'm hoping that has been addressed because I think that is
helpful. I noticed that signing bonuses have started showing up of$5,000 in the Mayor's Office. I
just wonder how that policy started popping up and why there is a need for signing bonuses. Then
I am going to refer back to something Dr. Varner said in the last budget cycle which I thought was
really important, but he had pointed out that someone making $35,000, two percent (2%) is a lot
smaller than someone making $100,000. He had suggested it to be scaled. So, for example, the
person making$35,000 would get their two percent(2%)but someone over a certain amount would
only get one hundred dollars ($100) or five hundred dollars ($500) instead of a full two percent
(2%).That was something Dr.Varner brought up.I didn't know if the Council continued to discuss
that. Those are my issues and I thank you.
Bill Dunn, 1620 Southwood Avenue, stated, I have three (3) questions. One (1) is for Jen. When I
look at the DLGF list of the bonds and leases we have to report to them,there is a category called
Circuit Breaker Exempt, Yes or No. What does that mean? What does it mean if a bond is not
circuit breaker exempt? Second (2nd) question is,when you get the bond rating, do they give us a
written report of what it is we are doing right or wrong, exactly, to get that rating? Can copies of
that be made available to us so we can understand that?Last but not least, do we have any process
in the City for when we make an investment, we do a small ROI assessment in order to say here
are the savings? From the public's standpoint, we are still knowing the revenues are going to be
cut on us and we are struggling to figure out how to make our expenses live within that, and it
seems like these savings are talked about, but then they go away and there is no concrete number
that we are saving.
Sharon Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, stated, Just a couple things. As we all know,the elephant in the
room, there is going to be a lawsuit filed against the City for a recent accident or incident. What
department or how is that covered? And on this last presentation it says four (4) action items and
four (4) implemented and ongoing. Is there any way to get a list of what these actions were and
what they're going to cover? Thanks.
Jim Bognar, 807 West Washington Street, stated, These are question for the City Controller but I
would first (1st) like to thank her for her very interesting and creative presentation this evening.
First(1St),what is the department's relationship with Gateway?Secondly,who has authorized login
privileges with Gateway? Who has reporting authorization with Gateway? And is there anyone
outside of City employment that has any reporting authorization?
Committee Chair White ensured all questions have been recording and directed to the proper
departments and officials and will be answered at a later time.
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With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee
meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen White, Committee Chair
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