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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> and that's very useful when a dog is lost or stolen or brought into the shelter. It can increase the <br /> turnaround time if the dog has a microchip. So instead of reducing the microchip by seventeen <br /> percent(17%), I'm hoping that that area could be raised because I think there's a good cost benefit. <br /> And so, I just wanted to put that in there and see if perhaps we could go back to having chip and <br /> tag programs. Thank you. <br /> Jorden Giger, 602 South Edison Street, stated, I have a number of questions, about five (5) <br /> questions. But my first (1St) question regards illegal dumping and demolitions. So, I believe the <br /> director had mentioned that she needed more money than what might be projected for demolitions. <br /> And she specifically cited the Drewry's site on Elwood and Portage.Now I do know that the owner <br /> of the Drewry's Brewery complained many times about illegal dumping on his property. And so, <br /> I was curious as to how much money will be allocated towards this program, which I think you <br /> raised Ms. Karen White. And also, how are these allegations of illegal dumping reported and <br /> investigated? So, you cited that case as one (1) where you said it would be $1.4 million dollars to <br /> perhaps address the demolition issue. But to my understanding, that was for cleanup, and that was <br /> according to the owner, due to the fact that there was illegal dumping on the property. So,the City, <br /> the Council itself had allocated $400,000 to address that. But when they went out and did the <br /> bidding,you got the lowest bid for$1.3 or$1.4 million. So,it's not so much that you need increased <br /> money for demolitions, it's that there might be an illegal dumping issue. And so, we need to look <br /> at how to address the issue of illegal dumping, which might then allow for the City to save money <br /> in terms of spending for remediation or for demolitions. So, I just, I didn't quite understand that, <br /> and I hope you could speak to that issue a little bit. <br /> He went on,And also,hopefully I can ask these other questions, sorry.You talked a little bit about <br /> the Love Your Block program. I think that's a very underfunded program and Code Enforcement's <br /> been,obviously,touting how great and successful that program has been. But to my understanding, <br /> they only allocated about maybe $50,000 going forward, and that was through a grant. So, if the <br /> Department of Code Enforcement is going to use that program as something that it says is a <br /> success,like how much money are they putting towards that? Because I don't think there's enough <br /> money that actually goes towards doing those small home repairs which would prevent <br /> homeowners, particularly on the west side, from having to pay out more money as conditions of <br /> their housing worsens. And my main question is on the matter of civil penalties.There's been much <br /> reporting in the national news about targeting of residents on the west side. Can the department <br /> speak to the percentage of civil penalties issued on the west side of South Bend? Perhaps they <br /> could display those figures by zip code or census tract. There have been many reports about <br /> perhaps predatory targeting of residents who are poor or of low income or restricted by social <br /> security. We've had issues of repairing homes. I'm hoping maybe the department can talk a little <br /> bit about how it's worked to address those issues. <br /> Marilyn Gachaw, 2514 West Kenwood Avenue, stated, I just have a quick question. If there's a <br /> way that you could possibly speed up the problems that we have when we are addressing vacant <br /> properties in my neighborhood. Every spring, of course, the vacant lot gets cut initially because <br /> we make calls.And the grass is already twelve(12)inches high. And they'll tell us,well we'll write <br /> to the people and we get no response. Well that's because the people are deceased. And we know <br /> that. And we go through that every year. Is there a way that they could document properties based <br /> on ownership if they know or could be told that someone is deceased that owns the property? <br /> Because eventually they'll come out and cut it. Eventually the neighbors will step up and cut it. <br /> But we shouldn't have to go through that every year when we know that someone has died. There <br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT <br /> • 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov <br /> 17 <br />