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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> He went on, And obviously, we continue to try to recruit and strengthen the force, or our
<br /> department, I don't like the word force, with strong officer candidates. We want the best of the
<br /> best. And we specifically want the best of the best and here,in our community. We have an event
<br /> coming up, it's at the fire station. It's Saturday. We'd love to have some Council Members there.
<br /> As a matter of fact, I saw, I don't remember who it was,but it was an invitation given out, I believe
<br /> it was somebody from the Mayor's Office, to some of our high school athletes to help participate
<br /> and show people what the physical agility test is. So, we have people that apply to the department,
<br /> then we give them a date when this agility test is. On our website,we have videos showing exactly
<br /> what it entails, the vertical jump, the push-ups, the sit-ups, and the two (2)runs that are involved,
<br /> what the times are,what the expectations are. Not only do we have that,but we're hopefully going
<br /> to have many of our officers there and maybe some high school athletes that will be able to do this
<br /> as well to show them what it looks like. We tend to lose a lot of people who apply and say they
<br /> want to do it, and then when it comes time for the physical agility, they don't show up. So, we're
<br /> working on that. So, any help from anyone, we're getting pushes out now through all of our social
<br /> media, through all of the contacts we have, personal contacts with through the Mayor's Office.
<br /> We'd love to see Council. We'd love to see anybody. As a matter of fact, I think one (1) of the
<br /> neighborhood associations, Pam, actually put something out near the IUSB area. So, she pushed
<br /> that out through her neighborhood network as well. So, if we can get everybody and their
<br /> neighborhood network to do that and you all are the most influential we have in South Bend to
<br /> help push that out, too, that would be phenomenal. We'd love to have like five hundred (500)
<br /> people there.
<br /> Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston asked, What is time and location?
<br /> Chief Ruszkowski replied, It's at the Fire Training Center on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00
<br /> a.m.
<br /> Committee Chair White stated, I know we're going to have some questions, and I wanted to get
<br /> through all the departments, and then we'll hopefully have some time for some questions. But I
<br /> have asked the Council Members to write the questions, and I do have some as well. Those
<br /> questions will also be posted on our website, and any community individuals who will have
<br /> questions, they can submit those as well.
<br /> Committeemember Sharon L. McBride and Williams-Preston left the meeting at 6:03 p.m.
<br /> Tracy Skibins, Director of Code Enforcement for the City of South Bend with offices located on
<br /> the 13th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I'm going to cover the Code Enforcement piece
<br /> and let Jen Gobel cover the Animal Care and Control piece because I don't think I could adequately
<br /> highlight all the amazing things her staff does.As Laura mentioned earlier,we launched the Rental
<br /> Safety Verification Program in April of this year. So,from April 15t through July 1st,our inspectors
<br /> have been busy, busy, busy. They've completed approximately two hundred and fifty-eight (258)
<br /> inspections from April 15t to July 1St.We are primarily dealing with known problem houses, so the
<br /> inspections are a bit time consuming, to say the least. However, the information and the feedback
<br /> that we get from the tenants has absolutely been amazing. Great feedback from the tenants, and
<br /> not horrible feedback from the landlords, believe it or not, overall. I think it's because we've done
<br /> a pretty good job and we're continuing to try to improve the process of letting the landlords know
<br /> what is expected of them. So,we try to send out the information in advance, so the landlords know
<br /> what it is that the inspectors will be looking at, so they can improve any issues that might exist
<br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building;227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 i p 574 235.92211f574.235.9173I 111)574.235.5567;www.southbendin.gov
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