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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> Council Members. In addition, it will be part of the permanent record of the City of South Bend
<br /> as it relates to these two (2) committees. So, what is said here tonight,just like things from one
<br /> hundred(100)years ago,can be found and will be found in the public record going forward. Don't
<br /> let that scare you, though. In terms of organization, as I said, we are two (2) committees of the
<br /> Council. Each Committee has four(4) members each. We meet in an advisory capacity to the full
<br /> Council to look at and study issues and then make recommendations to the full Council. So, the
<br /> benefit of this joint committee meeting is that the four(4)members who are present here and others
<br /> may join us during the course of this two (2) hour meeting, will have the ability to share tonight's
<br /> information, converse and kind of strategize as far as going forward with actual policy.
<br /> She continued, I would like to introduce my fellow Council Members. Councilmember Jake
<br /> Teshka is representative of the fifth (5th) district. Then, we have Councilmember At-Large John
<br /> Voorde and Councilmember At-Large Karen White. So, eleven (11) committees, two (2) tonight
<br /> are here gathering in the benefit of the information we exchange being available in audio. One(1)
<br /> of the things I would like to point out, too, is you've all probably seen my children and my boys,
<br /> I have three (3), one (1) of the programs is EPSN, and there is a really cute kind of thing they do
<br /> it's called Your Only Job. I don't know how many people have seen those little segments and
<br /> maybe I'm in the minority. I catch that as my boys watch it, but we have two (2) really specific
<br /> jobs as elected officials in the City of South Bend. One (1) is to be informed and then write and
<br /> vote on ordinances. Ordinances are just a fancy word for our local laws, ok? The second(2nd)part
<br /> of our only job is to approve the budget. A budget is just a declaration of how we are going to
<br /> spend the collective money that city government acquires by way of taxes and other fees, etcetera.
<br /> So, those are the two (2)really important things we do.
<br /> She went on, Tonight, in the context of this meeting, I do want to indicate that Councilmember
<br /> Karen White has been,at least during my tenure on that Council and I'm sure it predates my tenure,
<br /> which has only been three(3)years and I'm in my fourth(4th)year now,she has been instrumental
<br /> in chairing the Council's Personnel and Finance Committee. That is where we get down to the nuts
<br /> and bolts about reviewing the Mayor's priorities, our department's priorities, and then a final
<br /> budget approval on how we will, again, spend our collective dollars. So, while there are two (2)
<br /> committees represented here tonight formally, as a side effect is Councilmember White who is
<br /> currently the chair of that committee and we kind of have a three (3)-for bonus. I just wanted to
<br /> point that out.
<br /> She continued,Then, a couple other things. I just want to check overall,how many people,in terms
<br /> of tonight's meeting and kind of where we are going, many of you have been long in preparation
<br /> for tonight's meeting, how many of you have heard of the One Book, One Michiana project or
<br /> have participated in it? (members in the audience raised their hands) She went on, Alright, I'm
<br /> going to use that as an analogy to talk about tonight and where we hope to go. One Book, One
<br /> Michiana is a program though the St. Joseph County Public Library. It is coming up April 1st
<br /> through April 30th. It is a way for all of us, collectively as a community to get invited in one (1)
<br /> source, one(1) book as kind of a basic and shared piece of information. From that information,to
<br /> read that book,how many people know this year's chosen book or even have it in hand? (members
<br /> in the audience raised their hands) She continued, Alright. That shared book, this year, is the
<br /> Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it sounds exciting, it is a way for us to come to a collective
<br /> understanding, right? We read it, we get an understanding of it and there are several events that
<br /> take place over the course of this one(1)month. Then what can happen is we can discuss the book,
<br /> question the book, challenge some things learned from the book or we can affirm some things or
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