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<br /> q CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> to help the City by providing these funds so that those funds can be used in the future to remediate
<br /> some of these issues. So far this year, we've recovered almost a half a million dollars. Actually, a
<br /> little over half a million dollars. As well this year, we have not paid any settlements as of today.
<br /> Now that said, we currently have seventeen (17)pending suits in which the City is the defendant.
<br /> We always seek to resolve these matters before they go to court. So,this is settlements(referencing
<br /> a slide in a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office). This means these are cases
<br /> that are currently going. We haven't settled any of those. I just want to make sure that's clear. We'll
<br /> seek to resolve the seventeen (17) pending cases throughout the remainder of this year and into
<br /> 2020. As always, we seek to do this in a fiscally responsible manner. We do that with every case.
<br /> Our team has referred over 2,100 accounts to our collection's agency, including a large project of
<br /> unreferred, unpaid judgements that was left over from the previous Administration. This meant
<br /> over $800,000 in uncollected judgements have now been referred. To date, we have collected
<br /> $239,913.
<br /> She continued, Our claims strategy, which would be the next bullet point (referencing a slide in
<br /> the presentation),is that we pay what we owe. We treat each claim the same. So,we look at it with
<br /> an eye toward being very fiscally responsible with other people's money. So, we try to take our
<br /> time with these, and make sure that we are paying what we owe if we owe something. To date,
<br /> we've paid $32,000 in claims, and we've recovered $55,000 in subrogation. APRAs have been
<br /> unusually high. We don't know why. Maybe it has something to do with what's happening in our
<br /> community and in our nation, but as of today, we have 1,871 APRAs. To give you a little bit of
<br /> perspective, last year, which also was a record year, at this point, we had 1,625 APRAs. So, that
<br /> is a fifteen percent(15%) increase. We also have joined the National Opioid Litigation, and we're
<br /> part of a nationwide lawsuit against distributors and manufacturers of opioids. We felt that this
<br /> was important for our community to join this lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors who
<br /> have failed to monitor or report suspicious orders and disseminated false information to our
<br /> community. We are seeking damages and recovery of funds that we hope then to provide to the
<br /> City to address future recovery efforts.
<br /> She went on, We have our goals for the remainder of the year. 2019 has been a very challenging
<br /> and exciting year, but we remain committed to equitable and just resolutions of all matters, which
<br /> includes our goal of obtaining record of decision in the Beck's Lake matter. We continue to work
<br /> with the EPA,and we are trying to obtain a record of decision. If we did receive a record of decision
<br /> in the matter before the end of the year,the case would still likely be open,and not closed until the
<br /> following year.But that is our goal. I should pause here and remind everybody that the EPA,online
<br /> and publicly,has repeatedly said that they find the park to be safe, and they've not found anything
<br /> that made it unsafe for people to go to that park. So, I just want to reiterate that.We plan to continue
<br /> resolving our pending claims and litigation in a fiscally responsible manner. Our Claims
<br /> Administrator is conducting planned claims avoidance trainings throughout the remainder of the
<br /> year to aid in this effort. We are also looking ahead at a plan for attorney representation for next
<br /> year for the Board of Public Safety,Diversity and Inclusion,Human Rights Commission,and Area
<br /> Planning Commission. You'll notice in our budget presentation that we are going to be asking for
<br /> an additional attorney to make sure that we are representing the City government well in all
<br /> aspects. Until then, we are looking for more APRAs, and we'll continue to address those as they
<br /> come in. Thank you.
<br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building'227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601;p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 I TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
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