04-25-16 Health and Public Safety

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Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked if there are other points of the year besides this yearly review where the various departments do inspections. Councilmember John Voorde responded that it is normally a complaint driven process. No one from the public spoke in favor or opposition to Bill 16 -44 City Clerk Kareemah Fowler stated that the Clerk's Office will follow up on these questions before the full Council meeting. Councilmember Karen White made a motion to send Bill 16 -44 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation, contingent upon the two (2) questions being addressed. Councilmember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of four (4) ayes. Bill No. 16 -46 — Off Leash Dog Park Special Committee Proposal Councilmember Oliver Davis, offices on the 4th Floor of the County -City Building, served as the presenter and petitioner of this bill. He stated the Co- Sponsors for this bill are Dr. David Varner, Regina Williams- Preston and Karen White. Throughout the past few years the issue of dog parks has really taken off in South Bend and now the public is really looking for multiple dog parks to serve all the City's general areas. For a perspective, Indianapolis has eight (8) dog parks and Evansville has two (2) and Fort Wayne has multiple dog parks. It is important to look at the various types of dog parks South Bend could have, potentially one for smaller dogs and one for large dogs, things of that nature. Two of the big challenges are first that the City does not have dogs that bite in the parks and also in terms of the waste that dogs produce. Working with both the Parks Department and Animal Control there are ways to address both of those challenges successfully and that has been shown in other cities. If you clear up those two (2) problems most complaints will go away. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated he is interested in forming more of these committees and commissions on specific issues and this bill calls for the creation of a nine (9) member advisory committee on this issue. The month of May is Pet Month and it would be a good time to get this Committee kicked off and then get recommendations in the middle of the summer. Chairperson John Voorde asked Aaron Perri to come and speak about this bill before going to councilmembers questions. Aaron Perri, Director of South Bend Parks, expressed his support for this idea and for Councilmember Oliver Davis for bringing it up. It is very timely because tonight the Parks Board is going to vote on South Bend's first ever dog park, we are going to be leasing land from developer David Mathews for one (1) dollar a year. In exchange the department is maintaining the lot just like it was a normal park. In the coming weeks various toys and benches will be added and its official name is the Niles Avenue Dog Park. There will also be an area to separate large and small dogs as well as a whole host of rules as well to follow. This was something the