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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-23-18 Health and Public Safety ��p1JTH,& U rd 1865. OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH N. FONvLER, CITY CLERK HEALTH &PUBLIC SAFETY APRIL 23, 2018 3:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: John Voorde, Karen White, Oliver Davis Committee Members Absent: Jo M. Broden Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Dr. David Varner, Gavin Ferlic, Regina Williams-Preston, Sharon L. McBride (late) Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Bianca Tirado, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer Presenters: Aladean DeRose, Linda Mauller,Nick Molchan Agenda: Bill No. 18-17-Approving Extension of Human Rights Interlocal Agreement between City and St. Joseph County St. Joseph County Health Department Update Vice Committee Chair John Voorde called to order the Health and Public Safety Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m. He introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 18-17- Approving Extension of Human Rights Interlocal Agreement between City and St. Joseph County Aladean DeRose, Assistant City Attorney with offices on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I'm here on behalf of Lonnie Douglas, the Director of the South Bend Human Rights Commission who will be presenting the Ordinance this evening. We are here because on Valentine's Day of 2017, the County Council adopted a Human Right's Ordinance similar to that of South Bend's. At the time it had adopted the Ordinance, it did not have the authority to have South Bend investigate cases that came from the County. Those were to be investigated by either the Civil Rights Commission or the EEOC. Later in the fall of 2017, both you and the County Council entered into an Interlocal Agreement by which the City Human Rights Commission agreed to investigate cases for the County that arose out of the County's Human Right's Ordinance. Since that time, the Commission has been reviewing these cases and we have, I think, on file approximately thirteen (13) such cases that were received between November 2017 and April 2018. Those are thirteen (13) cases that would not have come through but for the Interlocal Agreement. However, we are still in the early stages so we haven't been able to tell if this trend is INTEGRITY1 SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BLANcn L.TYRADo JOSEPH R MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRwmR OF OPERATIONS DEP[Trr(DIRECrOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 f 574.235.9173 1 www.southbendin.gov ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK a continuing one (1) or if it is unusual. We are asking for the Interlocal Agreement, which otherwise ends May 1 St, 2018, to be extended to December 31St, 2018 so that we can continue to take the cases and see what is happening. It has increased the Commissions load positively. Vice Committee Chair Voorde opened the floor to questions from the Committee and Council Members. Committeemember Karen White stated, I recall during the budget process we were talking about the agreement in which our Human Right's Commission would start investigating cases for the County. At that time, I highly encouraged our Commission not to eliminate a position they wanted to eliminate. I noticed under item two (2), compensation, which says at this time the St. Joseph County Human Right's Ordinance has no compensation. I would think that as we continue to see an uptick in cases, this is an indication that we may need to rethink the need for additional staff. That conversation needs to start early on as the County looks at their budget and as we need to do the same. Ms. DeRose replied, I think that is very wise and that was contemplated in the crafting of this bill. Councilmember Sharon L. McBride arrived at the meeting at 3:34 p.m. Ms. DeRose stated, The entire budgeting of this is contemplated and right now we don't have enough cases to justify any specific funding. She then provided a handout (available in the City Clerk's Office) that highlighted the breakdown of case numbers. She continued, We had 2,600 inquires between October 2017 and April 2018. And those are phone calls from people that think they may have claims. Of those, 2,515 were from South Bend, eighty-eight (88) were from Mishawaka and thirty-one (3 1)were from St. Joseph County. Of those inquiries, one hundred and twenty-eight(128)resulted in charges taken by the Commission.Of those one hundred and twenty- eight(128), fifty-seven(57)were kept in the commission. Of that,forty-six(46)were employment related, seven (7) were housing related, two (2) were public accommodation and two (2) were education related. That is typical of the South Bend break down. We have fewer cases in housing. We frankly think housing is the most covert area of discrimination and that is the area we are trying to increase services and education in. Committeemember White stated, It is good we have this data as we begin to prepare for the upcoming budget. I think it puts the efforts in a different light. Committeemember Oliver Davis asked, What more do we, as a Council,need to add as housing is becoming a key issue? Is there anything major we need to consider? Ms. DeRose replied, No, we are just asking to extend the Interlocal Agreement until the end of December 2018 and that is what the bill entails. Committeemember Davis stated, Ok, I'm at peace. Councilmember Tim Scott stated,As these numbers come out, we need to look at Mishawaka and the County being a part of the budget process. I'm glad we've led the way and we continue to do so but it is time for everyone to pay their fair share. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building',227W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 I TM 574.235.5567)www.southbendin.gov I 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Dr. David Varner stated, I read and it says that of the fifty-seven (57) charges taken to the investigator, twenty (20) of the parties fought for more than one (1) protected class discrimination. So, does this mean there were a total of thirty-five (35)parties? Ms. DeRose replied, I don't know. That is a good question. Lonnie will be here this evening and he may be able to answer that for you. Councilmember Regina Williams-Preston asked,If there is a complaint for housing discrimination or some discrimination with regard to something the City of South Bend is doing, can the South Bend Human Right's Commission investigate that?And if they can't, where do people go? Ms. DeRose replied, I think it would be perceived by the person who is being investigated that there is a conflict. If the individual asks the case is sent somewhere else, it is, and that would be to the Civil Rights Commission or the EEOC.Most of the time we encourage that because there could be that perception it wouldn't be treated fairly. We offer that as a recommendation to transfer that. Vice Committee Chair Voorde then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the legislation. Will Smith, 728 Whitehall Drive, stated,I would like to speak in support of this. With the gathered information apparently a lot of what was contested was housing. I know Sacramento, currently, is taking suit against Wells Fargo for discriminating practices and maybe our City could look into doing the same. Ms. DeRose replied, The City looked into that earlier and there is a level of proof that is required before one could even file such a suit. That level of investigation has not been done but it is something we are looking at because housing is a priority and is hard to get after. Vice Committee Chair then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motion. Committeemember Davis made a motion to send Bill No. 18-17 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of three (3) ayes. St. Joseph County Health Department Update Linda Mauller, Environmental Director for the St. Joseph County Health Department with offices on the 8ffi floor of the County-City Building, stated, I have several handouts for you. She provided four(4) handouts that are available in the City Clerk's Office. She continued, Councilmember Jo M. Broden contacted me and came to my office. We discussed many of these things and I will be telling you the same information. The first document relates to public and property nuisances. There are many things that people want us to investigate. There are things that are definitely not in the purview of the State Department of Health or the local Health Department. Things like poison ivy, drainage, accumulated junk, storm water retention ponds, rental disputes and other things are not within our purview or the State Department of Health. Health nuisances are described at the bottom and it says `A person shall not institute,permit, or maintain any conditions that may transmit, generate or promote disease.' That is the prime focus of what we do when EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld'1 South Bend.Indiana 46601 j p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK someone calls in a complaint. It has to be to that standard. The public nuisances and property nuisances are things that are not under our purview. On the second page it discusses dwellings unfit for human habitation. And, by law, a dwelling is unfit for habitation when it is dangerous or detrimental to life or health for one(1)of repair,defects in drainage,plumbing,lighting,ventilation or construction infected with contagious disease or has upon its premises an unsanitary condition that is likely to cause sickness among dwelling occupants. Those are the conditions for dwellings unfit. The next page is Indiana Code sixteen-forty-one-twenty(16-40-20). It is Health, Sanitation, Safety, and Dwellings Unfit. Again, it talks about one (1) of repair, defects, infectious diseases and the existence of unsanitary conditions. This is the Code where that comes from. The Power of Local Inspectors of Buildings is highlighted as well. Inspectors of buildings in the City or town may exercise all powers granted the Inspector in the following and that is a City or town ordinance dealing with housing, and as this Chapter applies to Board of Health,they can exercise all of those powers. Ms. Mauller continued, On the second page I want to point out that if there is an issue that we believe to be unfit, we can order a vacation of the dwelling within no less than five (5) days and no more than fifteen (15). Those are our limitations. We do have to give people time but we can also extend that time with good reason. If someone is working on it and they are trying to accomplish the repairs, we can revoke the order completely. Now, let's talk about bed bugs. With the elimination of DDT, bed bugs have resurged. They used to use that for cockroaches and that worked very well and it also hit bed bugs. We can't use that anymore. They are found across the globe. They are not known to spread disease. A bed bug bite affects each person differently. Some people barely see anything and others get very large red welts and can have serious allergic reactions.They are not considered dangerous,however,several bites with a severe allergic reaction may require an individual to seek medical attention. The reason bed bugs are such a problem is the way they live their lives. They inject an anesthetic, an anti-coagulant that prevents a person from realizing they are being bitten. They come out at night and their peak activity is around 4 a.m. to 5 a.m. You are asleep and you don't know you are being bitten. It could also be fourteen(14)days before you have any type of welt so you don't even know for sure where you got bitten. If you aren't checking hotel rooms, I would. Ms. Mauller went on, Mold was another topic I was asked to address. The handout about mold is from the Center for Disease Control(CDC)website. There is always some mold around. Mold can look like many different things.It has many colors and odors.If you have mold,you should remove it. If it is growing in your home,clean it up and fix the moisture problem. Sometimes that moisture problem might be from someone who takes half hour showers. Mold can come from a leak in the roof or plumbing, or even through the things you do in your home as part of your ordinary living process. What our standard has been in the Department is if you can have a physician that will state any health effect coming from mold in the home, that is what we would take on because we could prove a health effect through that physician. The CDC on the back page does not recommend mold testing.No matter what type of mold is present, it needs to be removed. Ms.Mauller continued,What we do when we have a site is we go out and perform an investigation. If it has met the standard of a level we can order they abate a situation. They are given a time frame. Sometimes it is reasonable and it depends on what the issue is. If they have a whole backyard and garage of garbage, it will take a lot of work to fix that. We might tell them within two (2) weeks we will come back out to see some sort of improvement. If it is some other type of issue and is near being uninhabitable, that standard really is case by case. We look at it and we EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK may issue a shorter amount of time. A second letter has pending legal action if they don't respond. If they don't respond to that,and many times they do and we receive improvement in that situation, we then issue a final notice with impending legal action. We do issue notices to vacate and follow through with whatever. Each case is individual and we never know which route it will follow. Our process is triggered by complaint. Those complaints come through our trained receptionists. Many of them are obvious and it goes right into the computer and into our database. She introduced her Administrator,Nick Molchan, who was in attendance at the meeting. Vice Committee Chair Voorde then opened the floor to Committee and Council Members for questions or comments. Councilmember Scott stated, I requested a meeting with the Health Department for this Council because there are many things that have issues within the City. I think this information would be good and is excellent.I think it helps educate Council but there are many things needed to be talked about. The timeline given wasn't actually enough. The Washington/Colfax Apartments, and that is 618 and 620 W. Washington, 622, 624 and 628 Colfax, when was the last time you inspected those properties? Ms. Mauller replied, I don't have those addresses memorized, sir. Councilmember Scott followed up, That's alright. We will follow up with questions and would like an answer back on that. Also, is it a violation for ten (10) people to use one (1) eighty (80) gallon hot water heater that only gets to eighty-nine (89) degrees? Would that be a Health Department issue? Ms. Mauller replied,No, not to my knowledge. Nick Molchan, Administrator of the St. Joseph County Health Department with offices on the 8th floor of the County-City Building, replied, That would be Building Code. There is nothing in Health Code that gives any requirement for water heaters and what temperature it has to get to. Councilmember Scott stated, Really? So if there are roaches everywhere? Ms. Mauller replied, Well, now,that would be under our purview. Councilmember Scott stated, It has been everywhere in the news and I want to know when someone is going out there to inspect that. There are ten (10) people living there living off of one (1)hot water heater. I would figure that is plumbing and Building Code,but I want to know about the Health end of it. We will be talking more. Councilmember Williams-Preston asked, In line with that, in general, are you working at all with Code Enforcement? Do you work in concert with Code Enforcement? Ms. Mauller replied, Kind of, but not really. There is some back and forth and some notification. But the Inspectors of Buildings have a lot of power also.That is all right there.Building Inspectors. Councilmember Scott asked, So what do I have to do to complain that I would like you guys to go out and inspect that? Is it just me telling you right now? EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 I TTD 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov 5 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Mauller replied, Typically it comes in but I would be happy to take that compliant right now. Mr. Molchan stated, I would also like to add that, according to the change in the State Code this y�ar, the person affected by the complaint is the person having to file the complaint because that is the person that can give us the right to do the inspection. Committeemember White asked, How many Inspectors do you have? And are there certain areas they are responsible for? Ms. Mauller replied, We have, within the Environmental Division, twelve (12) individuals counting myself. There are two (2) staff individuals as well in the form of Staff Assistant, Administrative Assistant and an Assistant Director. That is eight (8) Environmental Health Specialists for twelve (12) program areas. For the most part, there is one (1) individual that is assigned to handle complaints. Although, we are breaking that up into someone else. That is something we are looking at. Committeemember White followed up,Do you have statistics to show from, say,2017,how many complaints and investigations there have been? Ms.Mauller replied,We have a number of complaints and we do keep the nature of the complaints. Within those numbers are septic, water and all of that. Committeemember White stated, I think that would be good information. We are very concerned about what is happening at the Colfax Apartments. If we could have that information, that would be very helpful. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated, I didn't know about the law changing but when you have the issue of this nature, and you receive the complaint and you go out,who do you serve the order to? Does it go to the owner, the landlord or tenants? What this devolves into is the landlord passing on this payment to the tenants and,if neither are held responsible,you have an unsolvable problem. Ms. Mauller replied, It depends on what it is. I will go to either the owner or the landlord. Certain items may go to the tenant if it is a condition within a lease or contract. I have actually seen leases that say the tenant is responsible for pest control and other things. It depends on what the lease says the tenant is responsible for. With no further business, Vice Committee Chair Voorde adjourned the Health and Public Safety Committee meeting at 4:01 p.m. Respect Submitted, Jo orde,Vice Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455County-City Building 227W.Jefferson BvldI South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221lf574.235.9173ITM574.235.5567Iwww.southbendin.gov 6