Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-01-10 Health & Public SafetyHEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY The June 1, 2010 meeting of the Health and Public Safety Committee of the South Bend Common Council was called to order by its Chairperson Council Member Karen L. White at 5:00 p.m. in the Informal Meeting Room, 4th Floor County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana Persons in attendance included: Committee Members: Henry Davis, Tim Rouse, Karen White, Citizen Member Valerie Schey Other Council Members Present: None Others Present: Ken Leszcz, Steve McDaniel, Greg Zelinski, Barbara Dials, Rodney Dias, Larry Cimparone, Gary Gilot, Howard Buchannon, Fred Rodriguez, Karl Littrell, Toy Villa, David White, Robert Reese, George Reese, Patrick McGuire Agenda: Kennedy Park CSO Project -Traffic Access Concerns Chairperson White opened the meeting by stating the purpose of the hearing was to assure the safety of the public living in the Kennedy Park CSO area. Councilmembers had recently received complaints that access to their homes had been cut-off by the CSO construction project. Henry Davis, the District Councilmember, said the hearing was intended to be non-contentious; but to assure citizen safety. Mr. Davis said the area of concern was from Bendix to Olive/Bonds to Westmoor. Calls from folks in this area alerted Mr. Davis to the claim that police, fire, and ambulance access was not possible. Mr. Davis who visited the area to investigate these claims said they were true. He attributed the cause to inadequate planning and communication. Councilmember Tim Rouse having heard and seen the same supported Mr. Davis underlining the validity of citizen concerns. Chairperson White asked Gary Gilot, Director of Public Works to respond. Gary said in the CSO project as in all projects public safety is a top priority. He then outlined the pre-planning process under taken with the contractor. A 3 phase construction process was adopted to minimize citizen inconvenience in that this CSO project was to be a year long. As the construction progressed, public works would send a-mail alerts to all on the notification list indicating any street closure or access restrictions. He allowed that prompted by these concerns, his department initiated a supplemental notification process. Therein he described an electronic color-coded map for the city's website and all city departments. It would indicate for all to see any traffic or access restrictions. Citizen Member Valerie Schey asked Fire Chief Buchanon is and how access restrictions are disseminated with the department. The chief said the practice was to verbally relate restrictions at shift changes. He agreed to web-site updates would be valuable to both police and fire. Chairperson White asked if it was common practice to totally close off an area. Gary along with City Engineer Carol Littrell said islands without access were not created. In this case, alley access was used to fill a temporary need. Carl admitted communication with I & M could have been better as their trucks responding to a service pole emergency had blocked alley access. Councilmember Henry Davis questioned the adequacy of the planning process from the time spent putting an access plan together, the effort to monitor its implementation and the level of concern afforded to resident's inconvenience. Councilmember Davis asked if any effort was made to notify neighbors of the plans. He felt they should not be left in the dark, even if notification required knocking on doors. Ultimately he felt whatever the planning and communication efforts were, they were inadequate. Larry Cimparone, the public works field inspector assigned to help plan and monitor projects disagreed. He said the contractor gave 7-day notice to residents using hang tags on houses. Councilmember Henry Davis wondered if 10-day notice was the standard for liability concerns. At this point Chairperson White wanted to allow citizen input. However, Valerie Schey, the citizen member at the table raised her hand for recognition and proceeded to try to ask a question. Chairperson White did not recognize her, stopped her question, wanting to proceed to citizen input. Valerie persisted, Councilmember Rouse said the committee was governed by Robert's Rules and she was out of order not being recognized by the Chairperson. Apparently annoyed, Valerie asked Mr. Rouse if he disrespected her or had a problem with all women. Valerie claimed she felt this disrespect from Mr. Rouse repeatedly in the past. Councilmember Rouse insisted Robert's Rules prevail. Chairperson White intervened insisting mutual respect and courtesy in public forums had always and should continue to be maintained. Chairperson White then moved to the citizen portion. Steve McDaniel of 2509 Prast complained of a blocked alley.'';David White of 2514 Prast had a litany of complaints from lack of common sense in planning to lack of concern for residents opinions. Ken Leszcz of 2529 Prast also had a list of issues from condition of the alleys to lack of nearby parking. Robert Reese of 2506 Prast said a 118' section of asphalt in front of his and 3 other homes is in bad repair as well as having buried curbs. Turning back to the Council, Chairperson White said she takes responding to citizens concerns adequately very seriously. She would press the city for a response. Councilmember Rouse raised the possibility of communicating through neighborhood organizations to improve awareness. Valerie Schey now allowed to ask a question, wondered if there were public hearings before major projects. Gary Gilot responded saying there were 3 hearings 2 at Kennedy School and 1 at the library. Councilmember Henry Davis said the 2"d meeting must have been a "ghost meeting." Gary said he could supply sign-in sheets. Hearing Gary say the project would last most of the year, Henry suggested the overall plan needed revision to take citizen's concerns into account. Councilmember Rouse felt curb work was not uniform from area to area, especially in CSO areas. Gary Gilot said this was not true. The ability of the City to do work was dependent upon the dollars available. White new curbs and driveway approaches everywhere would be nice, it was not cost effective. He added that trying to respond to neighborhood concerns had already added $500,000 to the project. Gary suggested Henry ask the Mayor for an appropriation to resurrect the 50/50 cost share plan. Summing up Chairperson White asked the City administration to make and maintain contact with the residents to get their input. The newspaper and Internet were not enough. Chastising Valerie she said disrespect was not tolerated. Her comments to Tim Rouse were inappropriate. There being no further business to come before the Committee at this time, Chairperson White adjourned the meeting at 6:08 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Karen L. White, Chairperson Health and Public Safety Committee