07-31-00 Council Meeting minutes

Home Browse Search

SPECIAL MEETING JULY 31, 2000 our citizens. To enact a very invasive ordinance would serve to drive businesses away. Mr. Greg Jones, 53384 Olive Road, South Bend, Indiana, representative of the Indiana Plan, informed the Council that they spent five (5) years to come up with this ordinance and one thing that disappointed him about this Committee is that they never debated the ordinance. He noted that he was looking forward to debate the ordinance line by line. He further noted that the ordinance was well thought out and not anti - business. Ms. Dawn Jones, 602 Cushing Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she does work in the community and has gone to school to increase her skill level. She further stated that it is difficult to concentrate in school and your grades are not going to be good when you have to worry and decide what bills have to be paid. There are so many issues that are not be considered when you talk about a living wage and she asked that the Council consider the living wage. Ms. Dawn Chapla, 518 Eckman, South Bend, Indiana, advised that she is the chairperson of FEMA and has contact with many working class individuals. A liveable wage for a nurses aid or orderly is fourteen thousand eight hundred dollars ($14,800.00). She noted that the poverty level for a family of three (3) in the state of Indiana is fourteen thousand dollars ($14,000.00) to fourteen thousand five hundred sixty dollars ($14,560.00). One (1) in every five (5) working families in this community live in poverty. Ms. Chapla stated that she wants her tax dollars to support this but she doesn't want to support companies that don't pay the living wage. Mr. Brian Bogaert, 11189 Harrison Road, South Bend, Indiana, indicated that he served on the Committee and was disappointed. He cited statistics from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. He noted that some things cannot be controlled but we can control how we can fairly take care of the workers, the taxpayers and businesses moving into our community. He asked that the Council take a look at this and do it in a way that everyone can benefit and the City can grow as a community. Ms. Rosalyn Hampton, 813 South Michigan Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that the ten dollars ($10.00) an hour has to be earned and it takes time. She stated that last year she was making a little over five dollars ($5.00) an hour and this year she is making thirteen dollars ($13.00) per hour because she changed jobs. But that thirteen dollars ($13.00) did not come magically and she still is not reaping the benefits of it yet because she has not worked on the job long enough. She stated that the City does need a living wage. Mr. Roger Voelker, 1713 Franklin Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that companies that receive a public subsidy owe something back to the public. In the least, it means that they share with their employees some of the wealth the labor of those employees creates. He noted that he assumed that there would be a fair amount of negotiation and had hopes to look at each item of the ordinance. He stated he simply does not believe that looking at any living wage would scare off any companies and the problem is not going away. Mayor Luecke thanked the Council for the opportunity tonight to present this information. As a point of clarification he stated that there currently are twenty -eight (28) City employees out of one thousand (1,000) full time employees that earn less than ten dollars ($10.00) an hour and they are in entry level positions. Further, the City has directed its economic development activities to attract and maintain good paying jobs in this community and it is looking forward to bringing investment to the community. No one denies the difficulties of poverty and the effects it has on individuals and on the community but how does the City reduce poverty in this community. Other cities have adopted living wage ordinances. However, a review of those ordinances indicates that they are much more focused in their content than what was presented to the City. He stated that he is not persuaded that a living wage will have the positive benefits that have been suggested. Just as training will not solve the poverty issues in the community by itself nor will a living wage ordinance solve the poverty issues in this community by itself. The City needs to take direct action toward things that can enhance actions that are already being taken to attract and maintain good jobs in this community. Also, the City needs to do a better job of tracking tax abatements and the impacts that they have in addition to working toward creation of a career center to help provide opportunities