12-13-04 Community & Economic Development

Home Browse Search

. _ • The Community and Economic Development Committee of the South Bend Common Council Minutes from Meeting of December 13,2004 The December 13, 2004 meeting of the Common Council's Community and Economic Development Committee was called to order by its Chairperson,Council Member Roland Kelly,at 3:50 p.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room. Persons in attendance included Council Members Coleman,Dieter,Kelly,Pfeifer,Puzzello, Varner and White; Community Development Planner George Adler; Economic Development Planner Andy Laurent;Economic Development Executive Director Sharon Kendall;Board of Works Director,Gary Gilot;Bureau of Water Works Director,John Stancati;Crowe Chizek Representatives Jim Fulton, and Dean Uminski; Gladys Kopala, and Aladean M. DeRose substituting for Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand. A quorum of the Committee existed with'members present Coleman, Kelly, and Kuspa. Absent was Committee Member Kirsits. A. Bill No. 85-04 - Ordinance to Appropriate $40,100.00 for Environmental Investigation at 700 South Franklin Street. Presenting this Ordinance was Economic Development Planner Andy Laurent who advised the Board that the title to this Ordinance as originally filed is incorrect. No real estate exists at the listed address of 700 South Franklin Street. A substitute Ordinance was filed with the correct address in its title,i.e., 700 South Lafayette Street,South Bend,Indiana. Mr.Laurent requested that the Council accept the substitute version and table public hearing on this Ordinance to January 10, 2005 in order to publish the correct title. Member Coleman made the motion that the full Council accept the substitute version of Bill 85-04 and table discussion on the Bill until the Council's meeting of January 10, 2005. The motion passed unanimously. B. Compliance with Statement of Benefit Form CF-1 - Crowe Chizek A representative from Crowe Chizek was asked to be present at this Committee meeting to explain why Crowe Chizek had not complied with the employment goals stated in its Form CF-1 as part of its tax abatement application. Mr. Jim Fulton and Mr. Dean Uminski, appeared as representatives of Crowe Chizek. They stated that Crowe's CF-1 commitment promised 150 new jobs over a period of seven years, and the company is still working on that commitment. They also pointed out that the capital investment goal had been met, and had even been exceeded, but that unexpected factors in the economy had reduced the staff requirements. These included the Y2K emergency which caused a reduction in the IT Department and the Sarbain-Oxion Bill which eliminated some of the consulting work that Crowe Chizek had been performing. Under Sarbain- Oxion, consulting firms cannot also provide financial counseling services for the same client. The Crowe Chizek representatives stated that the future looks better. Firm-wide, the total