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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-01-18 Personnel and Finance (Budget Overview) SOUT13 8E U ✓d' X x 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL &FINANCE AUGUST 1, 2018 5:00 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, John Voorde, Regina Williams-Preston(late) Committee Members Absent: Gavin Ferlic Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Tim Scott, Jo M. Broden, Sharon L. McBride, Oliver Davis (late) Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin, Gabriel Murei,David Boling, Elivet Navarro Presenters: Mayor Pete Buttigieg Agenda: 2018 Budget Overview Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 5:00 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and stated, Today is the first(1s)hearing in preparation for our City's 2019 Budget. The first (1st) meeting which will begin very shortly will consist of hearing from our mayor who will speak to the overview of the entire City-wide budget. After that,we will hear from the Mayor's Office,the City Clerk's Office and the Common Council. I do ask the Committee and Council Members to allow for the full presentation to be given before asking questions. I also ask all involved in this process to be mindful of the time as I would like to have time for members of the public to ask questions as well. The budget process is a very important time for the City. It is at this time that we begin to look at our priorities and values and attempt to craft a budget that reflects those things. She then gave the floor to Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston arrived at the meeting at 5:02 p.m. 2018 Budizet Overview Mayor Pete Buttigieg,Mayor of the City of South Bend with offices on the 14d'floor of the County- City Building, stated, I want to thank Councilmember White and the other Council Members for everything you have done to make sure we have such a strong budget process. Thank you, in advance for all the work we are about to embark on. It feels it happens earlier every year and the reality is that budget season comes, ready or not, and I am really looking forward to the next ten (10)to twelve (12) weeks to get a budget that will serve the community well and that will help us meet our mission. We are doing this initial kick-off a little earlier than usual for mutual scheduling reasons so, I will speak as much as possible to our goals and the big picture. When it comes to specific numbers, those will come before you in the department-by-department presentations that INTEGRITY1 SERVICE1 ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA I..TYRADO JOSEPH R MOLNAR CHIEF DEPuTY/DIKECl'OR OF OPERATIONS DEPuTY/DIRECFoR 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 i •CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK will follow. We are making sure to do the internal work to ensure that what we bring before you is really crisp and is ready by the time it comes to this chamber. Some of these are still a bit of a moving target as we find the budget proposal going into this fall. He continued,I want to acknowledge and appreciate the opportunities we have had to draw resident feedback,both informally and formally.There have been Mayor's Night Out events,neighborhood meetings and also the joint Council/Administration/Resident Budget meeting. The overall context of the budget begins with the fiscal environment. Indiana has rightly earned a reputation as a place that has a low tax environment. The other side of that coin is that it leaves us in the local government having to be extremely efficient and judicious about the use of the resources we get because there is no question or opportunity to casually or lightly find more revenue. We really have to work within the constraints we have been given. That is even truer as we look to the next couple of years because of the provision for property tax caps that doesn't kick in for our County until 2020. We've been calling it the fiscal curb, not wanting to call it a cliff, but it is definitely something we have been talking about in this chamber for at least two (2) years now. We will see continued attention to that in 2019 as this is the last, but one (1), budget to prepare for that. You could say it is the last budget we have to work with before that dip in revenue takes effect. However,this ye ,we have seen that assessed value growing and property taxes increasing so we do have a three point eight percent (3.8%) increase from 2017. We are not budgeting quite like that and are budgeting more conservatively, but we are hoping to see some kind of increase in 2019 as well. Councilmember Oliver Davis arrived at the meeting at 5:06 p.m. He went on,The economy is growing and the population is growing. Obviously there is an increase in a gathering sense of momentum in the community and there is a great level of civic energy. We also have unusually healthy finances, especially for a City our size and an economy like ours. We are proud of that and are going to work hard to maintain it. Unemployment remains low and is in the condition that most economists would consider full employment.However,we know that there are still a lot of people who are left out of this economy. The major initiatives we have spent the most time and energy on as an Administration in cooperation with the Council continue to develop. Quality of Place investments are being made across the City,My SB Parks &Trails is getting into full-swing now and we are paying more attention to inclusive economic growth as well as neighborhood efforts through Diversity, Human Capital and Inclusion. He continued, You will often hear me talk about the values of the City and I think it is always worth revisiting these at the onset of the budget season too. Any time we are making the case to add or subtract, we should do it with regard to the values that animate our Administration. The first (1st) one (1) is Excellence and that is because it takes resources to deliver excellent services. For us,that means being the best in the State,having a plan to get there, or being in the top twenty- five percent(25%)in the Country on everything we do. The next is Accountability which includes transparency but it's not only transparency,it is making sure that people have confidence that their government is serving them and using their resources well. Innovation is the next one (1) and that is one (1) in which we have made a lot of investments. Innovation is not the same thing as Technology but is often required to do things more efficiently and effectively. We invest in the types of technological resources that are required. Inclusion is a central value for us and is something we have identified more resources for over time. We work to make sure both the make- up of our Administration and the character of our work with our interactions in the private sector EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov 2 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK reflect the diverse community that we serve. Empowerment means that everything we do leads to an internal culture where City employees are empowered to bring ideas forth and serve the public in ways that they believe is best. We also want to empower residents which, as our mission statement reflects, is the reason we believe we have City government in the first (1st)place. He went on, I want to take a moment to recap some of what we looked at in 2018 such as the priorities stated by the Common Council as well as the work that is underway thanks to the willingness of the Council to fund some of these efforts. That includes the home repair pilot that has just been launched and that is about a new approach to use what we know are very limited resources but finding how to use them for the greatest possible impact. I know Council Members have been discussing this frequently. Councilmember Williams-Preston was in a recent press conference that discussed this and she is pressing us to make sure we make the absolute most impact with the dollars we get. Light Up South Bend was an initiative championed by Council President Scott and Councilmember White. We believe our neighborhoods will be not just more pleasant but safer. The status of that has plans for about seventy (70) lights to be replaced, enhanced or added and we are currently working in districts three (3) and six (6). We are also paying attention to lighting through the lamp post pilot program.New this year we are using solar lamp posts. They are much less expensive to install because you don't have to run the wire up to the house and, with improved technology,they are actually just as good as or even better than the traditional type of light. We are rewiring historic lights on Riverside. There is a bid coming up for the lights on the bridge on Angela. As a winter City with rather long nights in the winter time,the way our lighting works really reflects how our City looks and feels to residents. And of course,we came before the Council wanting to be responsive to the Council's stated interest in enhanced Code Enforcement and compliance. We received approval for the rental inspection program. We have been underway hiring additional inspectors authorized by the Council and are preparing to approach the Council with a program that will create a basis for those inspections to take place for residential rentals. In addition, I want to mention we brought Code Enforcement onto the 311 service because we want to make sure we are addressing that well. We believe that is helping us more efficiently by having a front desk, if you will, for the department. He continued, Quality of Life in neighborhoods is always a top theme for which Council asks of the Administration to deliver on. That is part of what has motivated our work on what we call phase two (2) of the Vacant and Abandoned Housing. We are now looking at things like legal assistance to help residents obtain vacant lots on lots that have been cleared out. We have the Lincoln Way West Historic Homes tax abatement that the Council recently authorized to help with vacant lots. And we do have to continue some level of demolitions, but nothing like the bulge we had going into the early part of this Administration. We are looking at still about twenty-four(24) demolitions for 2018. The best thing we can do about vacant houses is prevent them from being vacant in the first (Is� place. Fagade grants have been very popular with the small business community. We are trying to make sure we address our corridors. We started on the West Side and we are now looking at opportunities on Mishawaka Avenue,Miami Street and possibly other areas, too. He went on, Infrastructure on corridors was a big theme from Council. In practice, we have been investing in devices that enhance the safety of rail way crossings which help extend the quiet zones in the City. We are, I think,days away from construction on the Lincoln Way West/Charles Martin Street Scape Project. We think it will really enhance the neighborhood. We are getting rid of some asphalt that doesn't need to be there and are replacing it with a more attractive and environmentally EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W.Jefferson Bvld j South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 l f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 1www.southbendin.gov 3 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK friendly surface. That also benefits us on the back end with the CSO issues as we deal with storm water and drains there. Funding on energy savings contracts has helped us not only improve our carbon profile but also deliver taxpayer savings. We are going to get a report back soon on the evaluations of Four Winds Field,the Morris,the Palais,the softball complex and some other parks and trails. And, sidewalks. We are always hearing from Council sidewalks, sidewalks, sidewalks. We are now implementing the safe routes to school program. For this year, we are about sixty percent (60%) complete and that is represented in over 8,000 feet of sidewalk and 5,000 feet of curb. Right now it is the area around Monroe and Studebaker and we plan to add a lot of curb ramps there too. He continued, Drainage, I think, is something that has always been an issue. But with the unusual weather patterns we are experiencing, it seems like we get all our rain at once every few weeks and it has made it that much more important to be on top of that. We put $203,805 into drainage issues to-date and have plans, thanks to the budget authorized in 2018, to do another half million dollars of improvements. There has been a lot of public interest in what we have been doing with traffic calming. With Safe Streets Academy, we were awarded resources to help us do some demonstrations and we are really learning by doing before we put concrete into the ground. We have learned a lot through these pilot demonstrations that unfold around the City. When it comes to public safety,there is a lot of interest in traffic patrols, GVI, and we had a very challenging year last.mar when it came to shootings and homicides. This year we are tentatively encouraged by a summer that has gone better but we are always watching those issues very closely. We do think the funding for the GVI team has made a difference,especially when it comes to dealing with these cycles of retribution that often happen when people don't turn to law enforcement to help resolve issues that can lead to violence. We will continue to work on bike patrols, athletic league programs and anything else we can do to really shore up community policing. Of course another big thing on safety that the Council supported and that we will be doing this fall is lead testing. The long- term vision is to make sure that every child in South Bend is tested. We will start in a target area where we think that kids are most vulnerable, this fall, and we are on track to do that to shore up our local public health infrastructure. He went on,There are three(3)main categories of where we have used the lead funding authorized last year. Testing is one (1), as I just mentioned. Another one (1) is repair. We know most of this lead exposure is not coming from water but from homes, mostly paint, and we know that lead- based paint hazards are something we are going to continue working on. Not only are we doing our own work but we will be participating in grants. I believe,just literally yesterday, we clicked send on a major HUD grant that we hope will bring major resources to the City. We hope to learn more about this in November 2018 as far as whether that grant was looked on favorably. We don't know how much competition there is for it but we put in a strong application.We will also continue prioritizing lead remediation. In parks and recreation, obviously the big story is the ongoing My SB Parks & Trails Plan, commonly known as the Parks Bond. That is made possible by coupling City funds with regional cities grants and some private resources,and we have a number of projects going on including the Charles Black Center improvements. I believe that is supposed to be completed by September 2018 and we are getting close to that. It will be a fantastic resource for the neighborhood. We are also still underway on the City Cemetery and Councilmember Davis has asked us to make sure we are doing everything we can to enhance that area. I know a lot of Council Members have been interested in and have been following that. To that end, with the Cemetery Trust Fund we have been able to get headstone repair underway and we hope to make entryway improvements soon. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.5567 lwww.southbendin.gov 4 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK He continued,A more diverse workforce is something that all of us view as our responsibility. We have been able to work in new ways, thanks to the leadership of our Diversity and Inclusion Officer.It is also one(1)of the more robust internship programs.If you ever have a chance to meet the interns who work on Diversity and Inclusion,they are some really talented young people who have helped us gather data and refine our plans. Parental leave was also something we asked Council to invest in. That is part of how we attempt to be an excellent employer and that builds on the work we did on the minimum wage in previous budgets. So far we have had over twenty (20) employees take advantage of that. I don't think I can go so far as to say we have been motivating people to have kids or if this is just something people are taking advantage of, but it is clearly making a big difference for those families. We also tweaked the pension plan. The My Choice Plan offers more flexibility. It is an optional thing but it helps employees opt into a plan that in some cases makes more financial sense for both us, the employers, and the employees. The new website that was unveiled a few days ago attempts to focus more on the user experience to get the most used information up front. It is also way more mobile friendly than the last website. We are proud to offer that. He went on, The City, with support from the Council, authorized a major investment of$700,000 toward permanent supportive housing on the site of the old Oliver School. I would say that has been a success. Going down there and talking to these residents has made it very clear that some of these people would otherwise be under a bridge. There have also been challenges there. We are talking about some of the hardest to serve people in the entire County and there is no pretending that is not a factor. This is clearly something that if it weren't there, our community would be worse off. Back on the theme of diversity and inclusion, in order to do anything on the purchasing side with strong legal footing, we first (1St) have to have a disparity study that is professionally done. That will let us know how we compare to market availability. That is underway and is slated for delivery in the second(2"d)quarter of next year.Again,we appreciate the opportunity to deliver on that priority through the 2018 budget. He continued, So that is the budget we are working with this year. I would now like to talk about how we are preparing for next year. I first (1St) want to repeat some of what we have heard from the Council (referencing the presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office). If there is one (1) theme of the Council that lines up very nicely with what we are feeling on the Administration side, it is the focus on neighborhoods. At the end of the day, every South Bend resident understands their relationship to the City first(1St) and foremost through the conditions of their neighborhood. We want to make sure we have a strong quality of life and having equitable investment in the different neighborhoods around the City is key.What does that mean,in practice? Investment toward dealing with lead, making sure we are adequately resourcing Code Enforcement,lighting as we mentioned before,there is interest in ShotSpotter,making sure public safety and traffic patrols are adequately resourced primarily through the Police Department and making sure Community Investment doesn't just go to the places that are already drawing the most investment. We want to address the areas that have been perhaps left out of the economic growth that we have experienced as a City and as a region. Curbs and sidewalks, I promise you we hear you on that issue and we are working on it. It is not just about the resources that go into it but the resources that get us the most outcomes.This is always going to be a public-private mix. Sidewalks are technically the responsibility of the private property owner but we also know that not everyone has the resources to deal with that. If we have the right well-designed City incentives, we unlock 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 f574.235.9173 ITTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 5 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK so much value. We hear that loud and clear and are working to present a budget that will meet that priority. He went on, We are focused on creating jobs for residents across the City. Again, drainage is more on our mind recently but that is not a short-term challenge. We are gathering resources for that. Infrastructure throughout the City, in particular the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) issues are going to loom large as we approach the EPA to try and get a better deal on the plan our City is legally committed to deliver on to improve our compliance with the Clean Water Act. We also want to make sure we reflect diversity and inclusion both in way of how our workforce looks and operates as well as how we plan for the future in engaging the private sector. He continued, I also want to point out our public engagement opportunities. I want to flag some of the things we hear our residents saying. Again, they are not that different from what we hear the Council Members saying. They want us to pay attention to sidewalks, alleys,neighborhood parks especially restroom facilities across our many parks,lighting and street lights,neighborhood traffic calming, drainage and making sure Code Enforcement is tuned up in the areas that need it most. We are also operating, now, under the Priority Based Budgeting effort. That was a big exercise that culminated a year ago in the arrival of these priorities with input from the Administration,the Council and members of the public and I would like to recap the six (6) community priorities that came through. Those priorities include making sure we have a safe community for everyone, ensuring we have a strong and inclusive economy,investing in thriving public spaces,ensuring we have vibrant and welcoming neighborhoods, supporting robust and well-planned infrastructure with timely investments and making sure that all of our residents are empowered with education, mobility and technology to help them thrive. He went on, So what are we going to see in 2019 that is new? Again, a few of these things are a bit of a moving target as we go back and forth with department leadership to make sure we have the best possible budget to bring before the Council. We are going to work on lead including, we hope, being able to do a lot more things with the HUD grant. Also, Council recently authorized our support for the AmeriCorps grant program that we won.A lot of that is about improving homes and a lot of that, in turn, will make sure homes are safer when it comes to lead. We also have the Community Para-medicine Program. It is operating, really, as a one (1) person pilot. The initial indication is that it is very successful. You will hear more about this from the Fire Department but a single trip in an ambulance is incredibly costly. Most people will experience that between zero (0) and one (1) times in their lives. We have some residents who will experience that more than twenty (20) times in a year. If we can address whatever issue leads to that 911 call on the front end, it very quickly pays off. We are looking at how to sustain and develop it. I would also like to mention that we are hoping some of our community partners step up because there are a lot of hospital costs that are avoided through this program and we don't want the taxpayer to be alone in supporting the investment on the front end. If we get it right, obviously this isn't just about dollars and cents, it means a healthier community, too. He continued, We are one (1) of the few communities without a storm water utility. We believe that is going to start catching up to us especially with some of the rainfall challenges we have had. You will see us proposing a storm water utility fee. This is something that will be relatively low compared to our neighbors but we think having it at zero(0)is probably not sustainable if we want to meet the expectations laid out by the community and by the Council when it comes to drainage projects going into the future. There is no such thing as a drainage project that will allow us to EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 6 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK sustain a 1000 year rain fall event without having any problems, but we do know there are things that we can do, and that we are doing right now, to enhance drainage around our neighborhoods and streets. We also plan to propose further funds for housing repair as we go into 2019 as you know how much of a difference that makes around our neighborhoods. He went on, In terms of the organizational chart, there is less change than you are probably used to seeing in recent years but there is one (1) that is significant. That is about planning. We think the City would best be served with a City Plan Commission as opposed to the traditional model with the Area Plan Commission. We are really trying to bring our land-related planning and development-related functions under one (1) roof. You have the Building Department, which is where that's traditionally housed, and the Department of Community Investment, which is where we envision these functions coming from in the future. You will see more details about this. We believe this is well-worth the cost as it allows us to have a measure of strategic control as a City Administration. Another thing you will see is GIS. The County and the City have come to terms on an agreement that we bring GIS Personnel into the City. The intention for this is to be fiscally neutral, the County is to cover the cost of these positions and this is proved to be especially important for things like making sure PSAP is able to operate correctly. GIS stands for Graphical Information Systems and that is where a lot of our information about addresses and properties lives. Having it fragmented across the City and County hasn't made a lot of sense for us. We think the community will be better served bringing it in house but, again, we are asking the County to compensate us for taking that work off of the County. He continued, We are in the final stages of personnel suggestions. There are few things we are trying to stay on top of and that includes project management overall as we take on new efforts. We are happily attracting more outside philanthropic funding to pay for things we care about in the City. We are engaging the community to make sure they are empowered by everything we do. We also want to be sure we are planning zoning processes that serve the City well. Engineering and inspection is another area of interest. When we have these large investments like the $40 million in our parks and public spaces,we realized that sometimes having the engineering work in house is a savings compared to just allowing that line-item in the budget to always go to the outside private sector. Sometimes it makes sense to have professional outside work but this is a cost- efficiency approach. We talked about staff for the Para-medicine Program and GIS already. We have some developments at the Police Department. For example, analyzing social media has actually become a really important part of how the Police Department does their job. We want to make sure we are adequately staffed for that. We are looking at models for doing concrete paving in-house. Again, it is that question of inside or outside and we are always asking that question. We want to make sure we are on top of maintaining and sustaining all of the capital investment we are making in parks as well as supporting the new and existing programs. He went on, So if we try to break this into the categories that Priority Based Budgeting created, we tried to map those (referencing the presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) onto what the Council has asked as well. Again, this is more of a preview and the Department Heads will share this in considerably greater detail but, for example, when we hear the Council call for us to fund public safety, traffic patrol, ShotSpotter, the health and lead issues and the growth of Light Up South Bend, you see that among other things like the way the Police Department funds our sworn officers as well as the pursuit of grant funding. Same on the Fire Department side where safety really depends on our ability to adequately fund our Department. We hope to be fusing Federal dollars with Local dollars in programing through AmeriCorps. The EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building I227W.Jefferson BvldI South Bend,Indiana 466011p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173ITM574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 7 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK rental unit inspection, Light Up South Bend and, I believe alongside the Police Department presentation you will hear from the PSAP staff. We do have concerns about the increased cost associated with that but we also think we are seeing a lot more confidence in management practices with PSAP than we had even one (1)year ago. He continued, Council has pressed us on job creation and diversity in the workforce. What you will see is workforce development and small business development, fagade improvements and housing finance gap assistance. We know there are a lot of people in the community who are fully capable of purchasing and improving houses but still can't get access to credit sometimes. We think the City might be able to help step into that and Community Investment will go into more detail about that when they present. We are considering other unique approaches like micro- lending as we think it might help build a more diverse small business base in our community. When it comes to public spaces, again, My SB Parks & Trails is going to be, by far, the biggest thing you will hear about but you will also see us making requests to allow us to continue our work on the City Cemetery. We are also funding the Zoo Bond. There are some big picture long-term capital questions about the Zoo and some of their ambitious and exciting visions but there are some things we can help get underway right away. He went on, Council has asked, and again, we think this aligns well with the idea of vibrant and welcoming neighborhoods, about quality of life. So you will see funding for new housing construction, traffic calming, vacant and abandoned houses and supporting those neighborhood plans with TIF investment that aligns well with those plans. We have heard a lot about Bendix. It will come in the budget and it will not be a small item. Even though it is both Federal and Local, if you've driven on it, you'll note the conditions on that stretch of drive are in pretty bad shape. I am identifying this outside of the routine paving program because this is a large project. We already talked about the quiet zones, curbs and sidewalks and we are not approaching Council right now for increased rates but we are putting the rate increases that happened in the past to work when it comes to water and waste water. But, as I mentioned, we are also going to be raising the subject of the storm water utility fee. He continued, The Fire Department High School Dual-Credit Program is off to a great start. We have already accepted one(1)graduate into this Department and have two(2)former students who are in the recruiting process now. It is a fine example of how some of these partnerships with our education system can make the City Administration more effective and, we think, benefit the community. You're going to also see more development of our fiber-optic capacity and free Wi- Fi that, we believe, makes downtown a more digitally inclusive place. There has been a lot of usage. In data terms, three point two (3.2) terabytes have been used of our downtown Wi-Fi and that shows there is a lot of demand.Not to get too much into the weeds on the technology side but the ERP is kind of the technology heart of the City. You probably have heard various City employees cursing a program called NaviLine. We are migrating from NaviLine and it is quite literally the software equivalent to a heart transplant. That is underway and when we are done it will allow us to do some terrific things when it comes to recording financial data. It also helps with workflow management. He went on, I want to mention workforce transportation too because this is actually getting some national attention. Bloomberg Philanthropies selected South Bend as one (1) of the handful of cities it is investing in. The idea here is to work with area employers to create a fund for them to support rideshare services for their employees to get to work who would otherwise be unable, 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 574.235.91731TTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 8 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK given some of the limitations of our existing transit infrastructure. It is showing a lot of promise if it goes as well as we think and we think it will lead to a much bigger grant to really prove the model could be run City-wide. When it comes to being a great employer, you're going to see a proposal to fund TRANSPO bus passes. We want to practice what we preach in terms of our support for transit and we know there are some City employees who would benefit from that option. We work to continue supporting diverse and inclusive hiring. Employee recognition and parental leave will continue.Workplace harassment is an issue we want to address on the front end through training, not on the back end through litigation, and I know the Council has recently addressed that. In addition to making our City a better place to work,it is an investment that I think is going to pay off. South Bend Academy is creating all kinds of new training among our personnel and I want to mention our Health and Wellness Center has been a great success. We are going to maintain that and we think it has saved us a couple of critical care incidents. There is at least one (1) City employee who believes it saved their life by detecting something that could have been disastrous had it not been caught. He continued, Credit cards, we really want to get to where, in any part of the City, they can use a credit card. We are not there yet and it is time, so, you will see us investing in software and management that makes that possible. I also want to mention the issue of paid interns. The bulk of the City's internships are paid but not all so we are trying to harmonize that including funding to make sure Mayor's Office interns can be paid. Otherwise, it tends to reinforce inequality. Not everybody can work for free just so they can get access to the prestige and the educational benefits of working in a place like the Mayor's Office. As we work toward making sure that all of the City internships over time are funded, we want to make sure that in 2019 the Mayor's Office is practicing what I preach. There is one (1) exception which is sometimes individuals can't get course credit for college if you are being paid, and we don't want to deny people that opportunity and we also have some people who have outside funding through a University or a Foundation. But if you don't have one (1) of those benefits going for you, we want to make sure the City is funding you so that people from any income background have a shot at that wonderful career enhancing opportunity and internship with our office. He went on, I already mentioned the ERP system so I won't repeat that. We are making sure we stay on top of risk. It has been really encouraging to see the liabilities and pay-outs from our Legal Department inching down over the years. Of course that requires some pro-active work on the front end from our Legal Department but we are also really proud of our record on APRA. We are, on average,turning those around in less than forty-eight(48)hours. I can tell you there are a lot of cities in Indiana that say we will get to it when we get to it. It is routine to wait weeks for some of these cities. We are committed to making sure residents, journalists or anybody who needs information can get it quickly. We are working to keep that average. We are also continuing to use the 311 data we get. We have now received over half a million calls and we are using that data to drive better decisions. As always, we will not put a budget in front of you that does not balance. We have to balance the General Fund and then keep everything in a sustainable pattern when it comes to the General Plus Fund with Public Safety, LOIT, EDIT and COIT added in there. He continued, We are going to try and get an update on the fiscal curb because this is an estimate that may have changed a little bit recently, but, based on the most recent data we have, we are bracing for a $2.41 million property tax reduction. That hits the General Fund, Civil City and Parks. This (referencing the presentation) is what we are up against. As you can see, it is not as devastating as some of the reductions that happened after 2008 and 2009 but we have to keep EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W.Jefferson Bvld 1 South Bend,Indiana 46601 j p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 9 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK maintaining a very high degree of fiscal discipline. I would say, and maybe I'll close with this,but it would serve us well to think in two (2) year terms right now. As we look at his budget, I think we should be asking ourselves about this ye and next year and whether it adds together. We are pressing our departments to think that way as well. By 2021 we hope to have tightened our belts in the right way and if we find our projections had been conservative, we will see that we are in good shape to expand some of the things that we always wanted to do but just couldn't. But for 2019 and 2020,we really want to make sure we are being selective in what we do. That is why we are doing these organizational tweaks. Any time a position opens up, beginning New Year's Day of 2019, we are going to look really hard at whether we can bring somebody back in or not. So a freeze may be a little strong of a word, but we are not going to fill a position just because we always did. We are going to double check whether it makes sense and whether there is another way to cover that work. We will continue to search for outside funding. There is a presentation coming later to update the Council on some of the great support we have been getting from outside philanthropies and Foundations. We have to keep driving those opportunities. He went on, To conclude, we are making sure we are staying ahead of what is happening financially. We are going to make sure that we balance the budget appropriately. There are some places where we will spend down some reserves when the reserve cash balance is substantially higher than the target. You actually don't want to sit on too much cash. Sometimes the State Board of Accounts looks on that skeptically but we do want to maintain healthy reserves that are at the target. That is the key to the Double A (AA) bond rating that you hear me so often boasting about on behalf of the City. It is so rare for a City of our size and make up in Indiana to have a Double A(AA)bond rating. The reason we have it is we have been able to spend in a way that keeps those cash reserves healthy. We look forward to working with the Council on this budget of upwards of $380 million. We will begin tom to present in further detail. Committee Chair White encouraged the Committee and Council Members to go through the information and submit their questions to the Clerk's Office. With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meetin g at 5:42 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, All" ,-(a Karen White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173(TTD574.235.5567]www.southbendin.gov 10