HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-08-18 Personnel and Finance (#2) PEI'PCE
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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK
PERSONNEL & FINANCE AUGUST 8, 2018 5:00 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Karen White, John Voorde
Committee Members Absent: Regina Williams-Preston, Gavin Ferlic
Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Oliver Davis, Sharon L. McBride, Jo M.
Broden (late), Tim Scott (late)
Other Council Absent: None
Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Gabriel Murei
Presenters: Stephanie Steele, Jen Hockenhull, Steve Cox, Gerard Ellis,
Ray Schultz, Steve Dalton
Agenda: Legal Department
Fire Department
PSAP Update
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 our second(2nd)budget
hearing. The departments we will be hearing from are the Legal Department,the Fire Department
and then we will have an update on PSAP. We ask that after each department presentation, the
Committee and Council Members will have an opportunity to ask questions and then we will go
to the next presentation and then questions after, as well. I will do my best to ensure we have time
for the public to ask questions as well. She then gave the floor to the presenters.
Legal Department
Stephanie Steele, Corporation Counsel for the City of South Bend with offices on the 121'floor of
the County-City Building, stated, Thank you for this opportunity ton ht. We are very excited to
share our budget this year. We are looking forward to being able to accomplish all of our goals
this year. The Legal Department provides legal representation for the City's mayor, departments,
commissions and agencies with dedicated, professionally skilled staff, efficiently and cost-
effectively, in furtherance of the City's strategic goals as well as preserving the City's legal and
ethical integrity. In addition to the City's mission and core values, our department approaches
every person and every matter with integrity, competency,professionalism and civility. The Legal
Department, I am very proud to say, is composed of diverse and talented attorneys and staff
INTEGRITY1 SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY
JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRADO JOSEPH R MOLNAR
CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECFOR OF OPERATIONS DEFUZY/DIREcrOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK
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members. We have an environment in which equality toward gender, race and age are indicative
toward a strong commitment to the City's core values of inclusion and excellence.
She continued, We have reached many of our goals last year for 2018 because of your help and
support of the budget. We accomplished our goals under teamwork by fostering a spirit of
collegiate and helpful behavior, energizing the workplace and supporting a culture of respect and
trust. We also were able to accomplish several of the goals regarding professional development.
Thanks to the 2018 budget,the department was able to send six(6)attorneys to the 2018 Municipal
Lawyer Seminar. This is an opportunity for our lawyers to collaborate, meet and network with
other municipal lawyers across the State. This is the first(1St)time during this Administration that
six (6) attorneys were able to attend this conference and we found it to be very helpful. We were
also able to recruit and onboard three (3) highly qualified and experienced attorneys through our
salary budget. We were able to reward our talented staff through mid-year reviews and upcoming
end-of-year reviews which gives the staff something to look forward to. We have implemented a
system of cross-training and collaborating that makes us as attorneys more valuable to each other
as well as the City. We have invested in the cost of annual attorney registration dues for all
attorneys. That is a valuable benefit as the attorneys previously were paying that on their own and
we are now providing that to our attorneys. We are committed to being a helpful and cohesive
team and we keep an eye toward the development of each attorney increasing their value to the
City. We thank you for your support in that.
She went on, The Legal Department works toward increasing transparency which is of the utmost
importance to our office as well as to the City Administration. One (1) of the most prioritized and
valued services identified by Priority Based Budgeting is the access to public records services we
provide in the Legal Department. We maintain and process by which we review each request and
respond to each one (1) fairly and in accordance with the State Law. 14,359 APRA requests have
been received and processed by this Administration since 2012. We have had no violations. That
is quite the accomplishment. This ,year, already, we have processed 1,723 APRA requests, as of
the first(11t) of this month.
She continued, The Legal Department's accomplishments include successfully resolving eight (8)
lawsuits in this ye alone. We have had a seventy percent(70%) decrease in pending litigation in
the course of one(1)year.We have maintained a positive,proactive,and friendly risk-management
strategy that is increasingly hands-on. Defense of lawsuits and resolving claims are just two (2)
examples of the daily services we provide. We've been trying to handle more matters in-house.
That gives our attorneys some experience and also helps to reduce cost. For example, one (1) of
the cases we handled in-house was the lawsuit of Kerr v. The City of South Bend. We were
successful with that case and we defended that in-house.
She went on, As of today, there were one hundred and fifty-three (153) total claims received in
2018. The amount demanded of us was $5.4 million. The number of claims we resolved in 2018
are thirty-four (34). We have denied eighty-three (83). We paid $85,685 in claims. Our approach
to claims is we pay what we owe. We have a system of conducting thorough investigations and
comparing market rates for each claim so we make sure we pay things we owe but we handle them
in an equitable manner so that we are not over or under paying.
She continued, Another one (1) of the Legal Departments daily services includes the efficient
management of established collections procedures and record keeping. The system in place is
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continuing to yield benefits to the City. We are trending, in 2018,to be on par with past years. We
rely on the departments we work with to provide accurate and detailed records so that we can
collect those fees. They send their past due amounts to us and we do refer them to an outside
collections agency. We do use primarily one (1) firm and that is Krisor and Associates and we are
able to collect quite a bit of money owed to the City. The 2018 numbers are $254,438 collected as
of the first(1S)of this month. Of that amount, $77,406 is for property damage. $79,223 is for EMS
and $50,528 is for Code Enforcement.
She went on, Here (referencing a slide in the presentation which is available in the City Clerk's
Office)we have a slide on the City's Subrogation Claims.The City's Subrogation practice recovers
money from at fault parties for damage to its property and generates revenue for the General Fund.
We are on track, currently,to exceed lasts numbers. As of today, $75,690 of net recovery to
the City has come without legal or collection fees.
She continued, Our department collaborates with the Council and all of the different departments
in the City. We are very proud of that and we take very seriously our contributions to helping the
other departments and agencies obtain their goals and accomplish the things they want to
accomplish. This ye , just to list a few, we were able to help finish Lexipol, an Interlocal
Agreement between the Prosecutor's Office and the South Bend Police Department, the
implementation of Body Cameras,Virtual Academy,CarFax,helping draft the Sexual Harassment
Training Ordinance as well as the Responsible Bidding Practices and Submission Requirements
Ordinance. We are also very proud of the Disparity Study.
She went on, In 2018, this (referencing the presentation)just lists a few of the agreements and
changes we made. Of the agreements,we helped the departments work the Potawatomi Zoological
Society Lease and Management Agreement, the agreement to sell the College Football Hall of
Fame, and we revised the Century Center's contract with SMG management as well as improving
the hearing process for South Bend Animal Care and Control by implementing a Hearing Officer.
She continued,There are a few changes you will notice in our budget. As you heard,we are trying
to move to a system of paid interns. The Legal Department currently does not have paid interns.
We work with the law schools to try and have education credit instead of paid. That will still be a
goal but during the summer, the schools don't allow for the students to have credits so we are
finding we are competing with a lot of firms and other agencies for competent law students as
interns. They are graduate-level students and so what we've had and the procedure we took to
arrive at this number is our intern coordinator, Aladean, contacted different agencies and also
looked at the historical record for what we have provided in previous Administrations. She arrived
at the $30,000 number and that is for four (4) full-time legal interns. You will also see a 1,080%
increase in our insurance allocation which will cause our budget to grow. We have an increase
request for the salary budget due to an administrative change and that has to do with how the
salaries were split between departments. It will look like a large increase for that position but will
later be reimbursed for the allocation. Our subscriptions budget increased slightly and that is due
to year over year contract increases. Those contracts are up for renegotiation in 2019.
She went on,Again,we have really appreciated your help and support for the 2018 budget and we
are grateful for this opportunity to amplify our value to the City in 2019. Our staff remains our top
priority in the Legal Department as well as serving our City. We will continue to serve the mission
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of being a great employer with great employees by investing in our diverse and competent team.
Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions.
Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members.
Committeemember John Voorde stated, In that collaboration area,we were told a long time ago, I
think, there was a new animal control ordinance in the works that had come from Code
Enforcement. The last time I inquired about it they said it was up in Legal. That was a long time
ago actually. Do you have any update on that?
Ms. Steele replied, Great question. So when we initially had been questioned about the Animal
Control Ordinance,you'll remember that was when our new Shelter Manager was onboarding. We
had some passage of time, you are right. We have been going through the article piece by piece
but it is with the Department of Code Enforcement as they are working on it. What we do under
the ordinance is we have those sections of the Code we are proposing to change,they are submitted
to the Animal Care and Control Commission,which would then make recommendations to you as
a Council. It is my understanding that we are planning on giving the first (Ist) three (3) articles to
the Commission at the next meeting. We would share that with the Council through Bob. It is
coming and we want to make sure it is done correctly.
Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, Thank you for your report, I appreciate knowing that. A
couple of things. Area Plan,with the proposed changes to Area Plan moving to the City Planning,
would that also change the legality? What are some preliminary thoughts regarding that and in
terms of getting together to set up that structure. I know like with TRANSPO, the City Council
appoints four (4), two (2) Democrats and two (2) Republicans, and then the mayor then appoints
three (3),probably two (2) one (1). And so we need to look at that kind of a legal structure. If we
are going to have just a seven (7) member board, similar to TRANSPO but there are two (2)
Mishawaka ones but for the City of South Bend we have four(4),but for us to have that structure,
legally, are there any stipulations the State has we need to know about?
Ms. Steele replied, Those are all really great questions. As you know, what we have now is still in
the works and being discussed. We are still working on a lot of the details. So it's possible that we
would have a different attorney assigned to that but right now we don't have many of the details
as the plan is not ironed out. But when we do we will.
Councilmember Davis interrupted,I don't mean the same attorney it's just the facts,well,probably
wouldn't be good to have the same attorney in case there was a conflict or challenge that somebody
would have to deal with but something like that. But those are some kind of things. With the
numbers you gave, seventeen(17)twenty-three(2 3)in terms of APRA requests and you also gave
2,540 plus for collected, did you find both of those numbers being more or less than last year?
What are your thoughts and reflections on them?Final thing,you said six(6)attorneys went to the
conference and you said it was very helpful,tell us how.
Ms. Steele replied, Ok, great.
Councilmember Davis stated, Ok, I'm good.
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Ms. Steele stated, I will try to take those one (1) at a time. The APRA requests, as you will see,
we are on par this ye to be higher than we were last ye . They seem to be going up and is now,
definitely, a full time job.
Councilmember Davis interjected, Wow, so that was the full number for all of last year?
Ms. Steele replied, Yes.
Councilmember Davis followed up, So where we are now is basically almost where we completely
were in 2016 for the entire year.
Ms. Steele replied, It is close. We are at 1,723 for this
Councilmember Davis asked, How would you interpret that? Is that more people questioning the
government? Is that more attorneys? Is it more people getting involved?
Ms. Steele replied, Well, that would require some speculation but I think we have developed a
process that is very open and friendly. We have our forms for how to make requests online. We
have made the process really easy and our mayor has been very open about wanting to share
information. I take it as a sign that our community knows we are happy to share the information
that is available and there is an easy process to do so.
Councilmember Davis exclaimed, Cool.
Ms. Steele followed up, You also asked about, was it subrogation?
Councilmember Davis stated, It was the seventeen(17) twenty-three (23) up and down. You said
that was that one (1) so that was two fifty-four (254) collected. Where are we with that from last
year?
Ms. Steele replied, So, last ye ,this bar graph(referencing a slide in the presentation)has a lot of
information on it and I will break it down. 2017 is this kind of teal color. So we are here for this
gar and last year we ended the year here. We are on track to be where we were last•vear,too. This
ygar, we are at$254,438 already and last year we were almost$500,000.
Councilmember Davis followed up, Gotcha. And the last part for the conferences, could you
explain how that helps you all?
Ms. Steele replied, Yes, I'd be happy to. So at that conference.
Councilmember Davis interrupted, Where is that located? Sorry.
Ms. Steele replied,It was in Muncie, Indiana. At that conference there are municipal lawyers from
all over the State. There are case law updates about things happening in cities and different
important highlights. There are also tips on how to address matters that come before the cities. It
is also a great opportunity for our attorneys to meet attorneys working in other cities who then
become a resource to help learn how they handle matters.It was Thursday and Friday morning and
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we spent the whole time learning about municipal law. It was very helpful. We had some breakout
groups to address matters such as bonds and other such matters that are unique to cities.
Councilmember Davis stated, Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm done.
Councilmember Jake Teshka stated,Thank you for your presentation. I have a couple of questions.
I know you touched on the increase in insurance as being part of the overall budget increase. I
don't know, unless I missed it,the cause of that. What is the cause of that increase?
Ms. Steele replied, We have a few different factors regarding insurance. So this we had
worker's comp claim. That number will be following us for three (3) years I am told, but that is a
small portion of it. The other portion is that we have noticed that the amount budgeted for the
ili account Fund#226 was not as high as would be prudent for a safe net for the City. B
liability g p safety tY Y
ty
statute there is a limit for one (1) claim and that limit is $700,000. The Controller's Office noticed
this trend and, with a stroke of optimism, said we are not spending all that money that is in there,
let's reallocate it. You can understand why. She then handed out a copy of the statute to the Council
Members which is available in the City Clerk's Office.
Jen Hockenhull, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices on the 12th floor of the
County-City Building, stated, While Stephanie is passing that out, I will follow out really quick.
So the Liability Fund, Fund #226, you will see more detail on that on September 5th, 2018 when
Admin and Finance has their presentation. Not only is the liability portion handled in there but it
is also worker comp and safety and risk that we handle in our office. It is one (1) of the few funds
that is kind of split between the departments. That fund is for the whole City.
Councilmember Teshka followed up,Another reason why it would help to have the whole budget
is to see the big picture. If, at some point, we could get all the information together,that would be
great.
Ms. Steele replied, So then, in collaboration,the Controller's Office has worked on getting the bid
numbers in that account back up to where they should be in order to provide the City with a prudent
safety net. With one(1)claim,the limit being$700,000,we need to make sure there is an adequate
safety net in the event of an unfortunate tragedy.
Councilmember Teshka followed up, That leads into my other question and it has to do with the
trend of litigation against the City.How does the City accomplish a seventy percent(70%)decrease
in pending litigation? Obviously 2013 was an outlier but, even taking that out, we see this trend.
Ms. Steele replied, I am happy to answer that question. I am really proud of my team and I think
this serves as an example of why. Our liability expenditures are going down,for the most part. I'm
proud of our departments. They are getting smarter, wiser, learning from mistakes and they are
better training their employees and working more closely with our Legal Department. So our
liability is going down even though some claims are going up. Collections are also going up. So
we are being more efficient, effective, we are training more, and are overall just smarter. In
response directly to the seventy percent (70%) decrease, what we've done is go through and
evaluate what are pending claims and cases that have been there for years that are costing the City
money that could be resolved. We have taken a very precise and surgical approach to figure out
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what is able to be gotten rid of to save the City time and money. We have done an outstanding job
this ye by getting rid of eight(8) suits in one (1) year.
Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked,The collections by an outside agency,what is that total dollar
amount in terms of that contract? How is that negotiated? Is it on an annual basis or is it a five (5)
year contract?
Ms. Steele replied, So we actually work with the firm on a contingency basis. So we evaluate each
year how it is going. They do receive a portion of what is collected but they are able to devote all
of their time and resources to collections. That saves the City a lot of time and resources from
having to do that in-house. They have paralegals, staff and attorneys whose only job is to collect
on these. We work on a contingency basis and we are still able to recover quite a significant
amount.
Councilmember Broden followed up, So are we kicking out hardest to recover items to them? So
there is nothing or very little done at the in-house level?
Ms. Steele replied, That's not quite what I meant. I apologize if I made you think that. So, the
departments are all working to collect these funds on their end. They then send them to the Legal
Department if they are unable to recover. We evaluate then, and make sure all the paperwork is
correct. If it is low-hanging fruit, we try to get them but if it is going to require concerted effort,
we then outsource those to make sure our attorneys in-house can focus on the day-to-day functions.
Councilmember Broden followed up, So no consideration,or,on an annual basis you look at those
numbers in terms of what we are paying out, and there is no way to bring that in-house?
Ms. Steele replied, So, we could bring that in-house but, as I said,they have two (2) attorneys that
are devoted to this as well as several paralegals and assistants. So to bring that in-house to pay for
itself,we would need a few more attorneys. This is the most cost-effective way as they just do this.
Councilmember Broden interjected, So it's their level of expertise? Ok. And then, with regard to
the interns, give me a feel for what the goals and objectives are for that part of your budget. How
do you utilize them and why four(4) and not two (2), why not one (1)?
Ms. Steele replied, As you may know, we have eight (8) attorneys and we share interns. Interns
help us with things like quick turnaround on research, if there are matters that could be saving the
attorney time and,thereby,the City money. We do take first(ls)shot at those things but they make
it so that the attorneys devoted to the departments can devote even more of their attention to their
department so we can be proactive. Much of this year has been spent trying to be proactive. By
having interns, we are able to take care of tasks that don't necessarily need legal expertise. That
makes it so that the City attorneys can focus more on the departments.
Councilmember Broden stated, Thank you. And with regard to your page nine (9), department
goals and objectives, you reference in that, `...implement new vendor and project management
structures for larger environmental matters.' Could you explain what that means?
Ms. Steele replied,One(1)of the things we had done this year was try to figure out how to decrease
costs on our large environmental cases. We tried to bring a consultant in-house, kind of, for lack
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of a better term. One (1) person we had been dealing with heavily had retired from his firm and
started his own company. We have been working to decrease our costs for such projects such as
Beck's Lake by working through him as opposed to some larger company that, then, we have all
these other costs. That is one (1) example but we are looking for other ways where we can reduce
cost. Maybe that means changing some of the companies we work with. We want to make sure
our quality of work remains at or above where it has been,but if we can change the cost,that would
be great.
Councilmember Broden followed up, Thank you. It seems you have your pulse on everything. I
mean in terms of the research and the right level of expertise for the task at hand. I think that is
certainly something that, myself, I think it's a great thing that you are tracking that and being
strategic. Thank you.
Committee Chair White stated,I have two (2) questions. The first(1S) is about the percentage and
the amount of outside counsel that Legal uses as well as with the other departments. The other
question is about the taking out of that split position. What would be the overall increase in your
budget?
Ms. Steele replied, I would be happy to get that information for you. Moreover, according to what
is reflected on the sheet, it would be a ten percent (10%) increase but then there is a revenue that
comes in. It looks like it would be, maybe a two percent (2%) increase? I have to check on that to
make sure I'm giving you the right information. I could be wrong on that and would like to double
check for you.
Fire Department
Steve Cox, Fire Chief for the City of South Bend with offices located at 1222 S. Michigan Street,
stated, I have with me today the Chief of Services, Todd Skwarcan, our Operations Chief, Mike,
Damiano, our Fiscal Officer, Danny Cocanower, and our Pension Secretary, Captain Gerard Ellis.
What I would like to be able to do, if the Council is ok with it, would be to start with the Pension
Fund, Fund #701. I will quickly go over our mission statements. So, the South Bend Fire
Department's mission statement was created through a strategic planning session with members
of the Department back in 2014. `The South Bend Fire Department exists to provide our
community with the highest quality emergency services, protecting life and property through
education, response and dynamic outreach.' The vision statement was also created by the same
group. It reads, `A shared vision of the South Bend Fire Department to create an environment of
operational excellence. This will be achieved through innovative training and participative
decision making throughout the organization. We will foster a reputation of setting standards of
professionalism guided by principles of trust, integrity, honesty, loyalty and respect for all. Being
accountable to each other and those we serve. This vision will guide us as we strive to provide
exceptional service and education to our customers.'
He continued, Those of you Council Members who were here when we went through this process
will remember us having brought this whole strategic plan to the Council. That was acknowledged
via resolution of the Council. I think that was 2015 when we did that. We anticipate, in 2020, to
go back with an additional group of firefighters to look at that strategic plan and look at ways of
modifying or addressing the different needs of the Department. As we mentioned, when we were
before Council,our goal was not to have a strategic plan that just sits on the countertop somewhere
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in a book and then we dust it off occasionally. We actively work with that strategic plan by
checking off boxes with those tactical items of which we want to accomplish. We continue to work
on that as time goes by.
Gerard Ellis,Captain for the South Bend Fire Department with offices located at 1222 S.Michigan
Street, stated, I serve as the Pension Secretary for the Fire Fighters Pension Board. Since we do
have a few new Council Members, I will give a brief history. We have basically three (3) funds
within the Fire Fighter's Pension Fund. The 1977 fund members, such as myself and the rest of
the Fire Fighters in the room, we are a State obligation. So once we retire, our payments come
from the State.I want to focus on the other two(2)funds which is the thirty-seven(37)fund,which
I will refer to as the old fund and the pink section there in the middle (referencing a slide of a
presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) are converters. These are people who
converted from the 1937 to the seventy-seven(77)fund but their fiscal obligation still comes from
the City. Currently, there are one hundred and forty-nine (149) retired Fire Fighters, widows and
dependents in those two (2) funds. So, once a month when they receive their pension check,
between those two (2) funds,there are just under one hundred and fifty(15 0)pensioners.
He continued,The way the revenue comes in for those two(2)funds is called pension relief.Twice
a year, there is a payment that comes from the State of Indiana and it is based off projections of
payments from the previous year. So, this ye, we are looking at a pension relief payment of
around$4.6 million. They have a system of how they calculate that. It is based on what we paid in
the previous year and then they take into consideration if there are any DROP payments,which is
a program option for retirees where, once they leave, they can freeze their pay at a certain rate. It
also takes into consideration a death benefit that is paid to the retiree,widow or dependent. So they
combine that and that facilitates the revenue for this year.
He went on, The expenses in the fund have been fixed for quite a few years. There is the Pension
Secretary pay and then some other minor line-items such as postage and things like that. If you
look at the chart(referencing a slide in the presentation)and look at each fund,it shows the average
age for each retiree,widow and dependents, as well as the number of years they were in to receive
the pension benefit. As I mentioned, there are one hundred and forty-nine (149) currently on the
pension payroll.
Committee Chair White asked, Do we have any Fire Fighters who opted for the early DROP
Program?
Captain Ellis replied, Currently, on active duty, we have two (2) active members that, once they
retire, one (1) will be in the thirty-seven (37) fund and one (1) will be in the convertee fund, but
only one (1) member is DROP eligible. And that amount, whatever that DROP option would be,
would be reimbursable the following year by the State. But there are only two (2) left.
Councilmember Teshka asked, Could you explain the DROP Program?
Captain Ellis replied, So the DROP was started back in 2007. So for example, I am age fifty-two
(52) and I have twenty (20) years on the job, next ye , and I want to sign up for a three (3) year
DROP, so next ye I would sign and it locks my pension base,in 2019,and then in three(3)years,
the State would pay me a DROP estimate. Currently, for my pay rate, it would be around $90,000
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to $100,000. So when I retire in three (3) years, I would receive that DROP payment but then my
starting pension pay would be locked in at 2019.
Councilmember Teshka followed up, So what makes somebody DROP eligible?
Captain Ellis replied,You have to be minimum aged fifty-two (52)with a minimum of twenty(20)
years of service.
Councilmember Teshka followed up, Oh, so that was a hypothetical but those are the actual
numbers. Thank for explaining that. I've heard of it before but I wanted it to be clarified.
Captain Ellis followed up, It is a great tool because then we can plan when individuals will leave
in the future.
Chief Cox stated, I would be remiss not to point this out with this particular graph. If everybody
looks at the blue bars, the ones all the way to the right are the widows. The purple ones, the ones
to the right are the widows and then the green ones,the ones to the right are also the widows. They
are all outliving their spouses. Also, what is interesting about this particular graph is that the Fire
Fighters in the thrity-seven (37) fund who have basically all pretty much retired and fought fires
in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's, all the way up to the 90's, have a longer life expectancy that
today's Fire Fighters. I want to point that out because, to me, that is counter intuitive. In the 40's
and through the 90's,Fire Fighters didn't have access to the protective equipment that we use now
including air packs and other types of gear to safeguard Fire Fighters. A lot of the research that is
coming out right now shows that is a result of all the contaminants Fire Fighters run into in the
burning building. A lot of those are being absorbed through the skin and there is really no way to
combat that, other than fully encapsulating the Fire Fighter and that really wouldn't work out
because of the heat stroke. The reason I bring that up is because I have another slide here that talks
about the challenges and I want to talk about cancer in the fire service. That has impacted our
department greatly. I just wanted to make that point while we are still on this slide.
He continued, This (referencing a slide in the presentation) is an overall budget summary for our
department. It talks about the main funds we have. Obviously there is the General Fund. The main
cost hit deals with personnel and service which are the personnel wages and benefits. Currently
we have one hundred and seventy-seven (177) Fire Fighters and three (3) civilian employees that
are paid out of that fund. Fund#249 is the Public Safety LOIT Fund. We currently have thirty-five
(35) Fire Fighters that are paid out of that fund. The #249 Fund is specifically paying the wages
and benefits for Fire Fighters and Police Officers and I don't believe there is anything else being
paid out of that. Each year we get a reimbursement from the State and,based on how much money
is in the fund, we are able to come up with an idea of how many Fire Fighters and Police Officers
we are able to pay based on the revenue had.
He went on, The #287 Fund is a capital fund. It pretty much speaks for itself although I will say
we don't have a sustainable funding source for that particular fund right now. In 2015, what we
did was create Fund #287. Most of the Council Members that were here previously would
remember the#288 Fund was what we utilized for the capital fund at that time and we used EMS
revenues in order to buy capital purchases such as equipment,vehicles or buildings. It was turned
into an Enterprise Fund back in 2015, and what was done then was the #287 Fund was created to
fund capital projects. At the time, money had been identified through Medicaid where municipal
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ambulance services were being given additional appropriations based off the cost of delivering
service,run volume,and other factors that formulated that reimbursement funding. Over the course
of time, since 2015, because when we originally started this, we had some significant
reimbursements from Medicaid, millions of dollars, that looked like we might be able to
proactively fund that Fund using those Medicaid payments.
He continued, Unfortunately, with the way things are going with Medicaid and the Federal
Government's reimbursement schemes, it has been explained to us that each year, the funding for
that program has decreased and we have seen those dollars going down every year. We've been
told that by 2020 or 2021, we may not see much of anything with those reimbursements again.
I've mentioned to Council numerous times in the past that, when we accept Medicaid assignment
from patients, we basically have to write off any additional cost beyond what they reimburse us.
Typically,the Federal Government will only reimburse us pennies on the dollar. If we have a$500
ambulance bill that goes out to Medicaid, typically we might see seventy dollars ($70) and are, in
essence, writing the rest of it off. That is what this program was put in place for was to help make
up some of that loss. Having said that, we are not one hundred percent (100%) sure what will be
happening with the Federal Government as things move forward and with regards to the Medicaid
reimbursement. We are actively attempting to get whatever we possibly can to get out of these
programs. We continue to file for those Medicaid reimbursements but, unfortunately, they are
typically two (2) years behind in reimbursement. So with this being 2018, we don't expect to get
2017 or 2018's money for another couple of years. We are looking, this year, at possibly finally
getting 2016's money. There have been a couple different versions of the program. We have been
in front of the Council asking for a lump sum payment to pay out to the State ahead of us getting
the check which then the State reimburses us for. The first (P) time we did it, it felt shady quite
frankly. It has been paid out each time,though, so we are pretty confident the State will not short-
change us.
He went on,The#288 Fund was then created as an Enterprise Fund to help fund our EMS service.
A lot of things go into that Fund. All of our insurance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements
that we receive for patient transports in our ambulance service, we budgeted this year for about
$2.7 million in reimbursements gained through that.
Councilmember Oliver Davis left the meeting at 5:52 p.m.
Chief Cox continued,Approximately$1.7 million is money we receive from the County to be able
to provide ambulance service for the unincorporated portions of the County. The County
reimburses us for fifteen(15) FTEs associated with that program. That money comes into#288 as
well. We also have an Interlocal Agreement with Notre Dame. We provide ambulance service for
the athletic events and the other events that happen out on campus. Through the contract of the
Interlocal agreement we have with the University, they reimburse us at a set rate based off of
vehicle maintenance, fuel costs, salaries and benefits for the Fire Fighters that go out to provide
those services for all of those events. Typically we will work on that agreement for anywhere
between a three (3) or four(4)year, and I think we've even had a five(5) year agreement with the
University. We base those increases of reimbursement rates off of contractual obligations we have.
He continued, In #288 currently, we actually have forty-seven (47) Fire Fighters, including our
Chief of EMS and four and a half(4.5) civilian positions. We have one (1) part-timer and those
four and a half (4.5) civilian positions are EMS billers. Stephanie was talking earlier about
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collections and everything. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the work of the billers. Our
billers take pride in handling, very professionally, a really complicated billing process. They deal
with CMS, Insurance Agencies and companies in order for us to get that reimbursement. They go
through a lot to make sure they maximize those reimbursements. Typically by the time it actually
gets to the Legal Department, we've already worked with all the parties well in advance for quite
some time. We even allow payment plans as we know that some folks are on fixed incomes. So
there are forty-seven(47) Fire Fighters and four and a half(4.5) civilians in that fund that are paid
out.
He went on, We want to give you guys a pie chart (referencing a slide in the presentation) that
shows salaries and benefits. Those take up a vast majority of our overall budget. We also have
supplies and, as you can see, we are attempting to make sure our operational budget stays as flat
as it possibly can be. Having said that, under services there is a bit of a high increase. That is
because our allocations have gone up significantly this ye and so that is a large portion of what
you are seeing in that increase. Also on Capital, you see an increase because of the Station Nine
(9) Bond we floated in order for us to be able to build the new Station Nine (9). That was an
increase in capital that we will begin payment on in 2019.
He continued, I also want to point this (referencing a slide in the presentation) out. The year to
year comparison shows the different areas in which we pay. The vast majority of the cost of the
Fire Department is wrapped up in salaries and benefits.Those increases over the four(4)year span
reflect those changes in the CBA with the Fire Fighter's Local Union that is negotiated through
contract. This Year I believe it was a two point two percent(2.2%)pay raise plus a couple of other
fringe benefit pays added into those raises. As you can see in supplies, our total costs are very
similar to actually that of 2016. With Service and Capital & Debt, as I just mentioned, the new
Station Nine(9)Bond was moved up a little bit and allocations and insurance went up significantly.
He went on, Overall staffing changes that we have requested this ye include two (2) positions
for the community Paramedicine Program. That program is something we just began to pilot this
year. We presented it to the mayor and he liked the idea of it.Basically it is addressing the frequent
users of our EMS system. Typically speaking, those are folks that have fewer resources, they are
elderly folks that have difficulty navigating the system, or somebody that just doesn't know how
to sign up for Medicare or Medicaid. So what we attempt to do with these community paramedics
is, we've got one (1) right now and she just started seeing patients last month. She identifies folks
that are frequent users of our system and she addresses these issues by going to their home and
sees what she can possibly do to minimize the impact on our system. If there is an easy fix, she
looks to do that. We modeled this program off of programs that are currently being utilized in
Austin, Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Tuscan, Raleigh, Minneapolis, and they have all had
tremendous success. We anticipate,after just seeing patients over the course of a month and a half,
the one (1) Fire Fighter doing this already has a full patient load and probably is over-burdened at
this point. We talked to the folks in Arlington, Texas and they've been doing the program for
couple of years now, and they actually limit the number of patients to twenty (20)per community
paramedic. Otherwise, the individuals become overwhelmed. We are requesting to make this a
permanent program and, starting in 2019, there would be two (2) additional Fire Fighters that are
already paramedics with our department.
He continued, The cost associated with that is approximately $200,000. That would be the cost of
the two(2)experienced paramedics running that program.That is salaries,benefits,and everything
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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
else that goes along with running that program. Having said that, the replacement Fire Fighters
who would be replacing them on shift will be brand new Fire Fighters who would come in at the
Fire Fighter Third(3`d)Class level and they would be paid,roughly with salaries and benefits about
$150,000 and they would be on shift, frankly more frequently, because they would have less PTO
time. Those are all considerations. The second (2"d) thing I would like to point out on this is we
would like to change a couple of titles for three (3) individuals in our department that are long-
time employees with the department that are civilian employees very close to the top of their salary
range. It is very difficult for us to be able to empower them to take on additional projects and other
things because they are almost maxed out of their job title's salary range.The changes will increase
the range. They are not necessarily going to start earning the top of their range but it would create
more room within the range. Additionally, we have in the budget a two percent(2%) increase for
the other four(4) civilian employees. The total cost of those changes, even if those individuals go
directly to the max end of their range, is $15,000.
Council Attorney Bob Palmer left the meeting at 6:02 p.m.
Chief Cox went on, Staffing wise, I also thought it was important for us to point something out.
Last,year,for the 2018 budget,the Council allowed us to add six(6)additional Fire Fighters. What
we were trying to do was address the overtime costs which were very heavy. I know several
Council Members had seen the Tribune article last ye that talked about the Fire and Police
Departments overtime costs. What we had done was an analysis that looked at the amount of
overtime paid out versus hiring folks in to offset some of that. So we added those Fire Fighters and
we swore them in on February which bumped our numbers up to two hundred forty-nine
(249) but we had two (2) individuals in the DROP Program already, plus we had two (2)
unexpected retirements in January 2018 that automatically just dropped us right back down to our
previous max level. Then we had multiple people leave in April 2018, four (4) of which were
DROP eligible. They all took the DROP and we had anticipated that but then we lost a couple
more after April 2018 that we hadn't anticipated. The challenge we've had is while we swore in
six (6) additional individuals, we have only been able to reduce overtime by about three hundred
and fifty (350) hours for 2018. Having said that, I would also like to point out that had we not put
those six(6)individuals on the department,we would have had to pay out tremendous amounts of
overtime.
He continued,As Captain Ellis mentioned a little bit ago,we anticipate two(2)individuals leaving
in the DROP Program next ye ax so what we are trying to do is make sure we are anticipating as
many folks as we can ahead of time to be able to identify how many folks we need to be able to
put on. We had one (1) gentleman leave on June 2"d, 2018 that we did not know would leave prior
to starting our recruit academy that is graduating this Friday. We are graduating seven(7) recruits
on Friday and we are already going to be down one(1)overall within the department. Some years
we've had only one(1) or two (2)people to replace. This year the number may actually be around
fourteen(14) and we had only anticipated five (5). That definitely set us back.
He went on, I would like to now quickly go through some of these accomplishments we have here
(referencing a slide in the presentation). We completed construction on new Station Four(4). We
began construction on new Station Nine (9). We anticipate that building to be complete next year
around May 2019. This ye we have graduated two (2) regional recruit academies from our Fire
Training Center. The first(ls)one (1)had some La Porte and Michigan City Fire Recruits and the
one (1) we are graduating on this Friday at 9:00 a.m. at the Training Center, which all are invited
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to, will include eight (8) Fire Fighter recruits from Michigan City and we have seven (7) of our
own graduating as well. Our department is working on trying to further diversify our department.
This ,year, alone, our department will have sworn on seventeen (17) new recruits. Of those
seventeen (17), five (5) are minority, four (4) are female and four (4) are veterans. Those are the
demographic groups we have been targeting to bring into our department. Only one percent (1%)
of the general population of the United States are veterans. Seventeen percent (17%) of our entire
department are veterans. We have forty-three (43) veterans out of two hundred fifty-six (256)
individuals. A couple of these recruits checked a couple boxes and were maybe a minority and a
veteran, were a female and a minority or a female and a veteran. In fact this year we swore on our
first (lst) female minority member of our department as well. We continue working on that with
our recruitment process. We are in the process of creating an applicant list for the next two (2)
years and for that group,twenty-six percent(26%) of those individuals are minority or female and
ten percent (10%) of them, on that list, are veterans as well. We are making some strides.
He continued, We are completing the Fire Grounds Survival program for the entire department. It
is a program through the IAFF to make sure that Fire Fighters can self-rescue if they are caught in
a building or in an obstruction in a building on fire. Our Smoke Alarm Installation Program has
led to over 1,500 smoke alarm installs since April in targeted neighborhoods. We have worked on
our SB Stat Program with the Mayor's Office to target very specific neighborhoods that were in
need. The other thing we have done is, since the fire fatality that happened about a month ago, we
targeted the area specifically surrounding that tragic situation. We knocked on doors and
advertised ahead of time. We installed two hundred and seventy-eight (278) smoke alarms in that
first (1S) canvas around that particular area. There were only thirty-six (36) houses out of two
hundred and nine (209) houses that actually had a working smoke alarm in their home. So if you
can imagine, the amount of impact that will have later on down the road, those neighbors had the
awareness of a tragic circumstance happening around their home. We had some family members
that waited for us to get there because they were so worried about it. It was a big deal and the Red
Cross has been a great partner with us in programing and by providing alarms and volunteers.
He went on, We also have created the South Bend Fire Department Community Paramedicine
Program. As I mentioned before we started seeing patients in July. We purchased a new aerial
ladder truck which is set for delivery later this ye . We have continued the dual credit high school
program that we have in conjunction with Ivy Tech and the South Bend School Corporation. We
have fifteen(15)new students enrolled for the new fall class. When we started this program many
years ago, I mentioned to the Council at that time that this is a long-term recruitment tool for us.
We want to bring more local kids into the Fire Service, especially our department, and give them
good quality jobs with pensions and benefits and everything else. On top of that, knowing the
South Bend School Corporation has a significant amount of minority students, we really targeted
that area. I'm happy to share with the Council that in our new applicant group, we actually have a
couple kids that have graduated our program and are now in the application process. That is
refreshing for us to know we are having some sort of an impact.
He continued, On top of that, we have also received funding from the Assistance of Fire Fighters
Grant Program, which is a Federal Grant Program, and it has allowed us to pay eighty percent
(80%) of wages and benefits for three (3) Fire Fighters for a three (3) year period. Additionally,
we were just given an AMG Grant and it was just announced three (3) weeks ago, in which we
received some funding to be able to install exhaust removal systems from our garages in a few of
our stations.
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He went on, Some of the goals and challenges include, of course, the completion of constructing
Fire Station Nine (9). We want to continue the positive trends of our recruitment committee. I put
Fire Fighter Cancer Prevention down because our department has had to put a really significant
focus on this particular issue. We have several members of our department that have cancer. Some
are in remission and some have active diseases that are really taking a toll. It is tragic. At our
department we have hired a company to do an assessment of all of our stations and come up with
ways in which we might be able to prevent or reduce risk of cancer causing agents within the fire
stations. We have a turnout gear cleaning policy, we've made other policy changes that include
wearing a full SCVA while we are doing overhaul in a building. Intuitively, that has not always
happened within the fire service and that is a nation-wide problem. We have gone out of our way
to make sure that decontamination equipment is on scene for our Fire Fighters to do gross
decontamination on the scene and then a more full decontamination once they get back to the
station. Also exercising and living a healthier lifestyle. We had noticed several Fire Fighters
getting skin cancer or lesions. So at our training center,there is sun screen outside the building so
that way they can use it. We have training programs for the individuals on our department. We are
actively training our personnel to be sure they are taking active strides in reducing those risks.
He continued,We have also created a Fire Fighter peer support group. That helps us combat PTSD
within the Fire Service. We have had a couple of individuals over the last few years go off on
disability, unfortunately, for PTSD-related issues due to different types of calls and experiences
they have had. We've been doing this in conjunction with some outside partnerships as well as
with the Police Department. We look forward to getting that up and running and having some
success with that program over the course of the next twelve (12) to eighteen (18) months.
Obviously we have budget challenges we look forward to in 2020. We are commencing
community risk reduction activities to reduce injury and death. That never goes away and that is
something we work on every single day. Every person in our department has the responsibility to
make sure they are working on prevention. That includes our smoke alarm program, trauma
prevention programs,the community paramedicine opportunities I previously mentioned,we have
some other things we are also doing. We have a partnership with Memorial Hospital to install car
seats at multiple stations. Several of our Fire Fighters are actually car seat technicians and we
work,through a grant program with Memorial Hospital to safely install car seats for children.
He went on, I mentioned our long-term capital funding issue and that is tied to the expected
decrease in Medicaid reimbursements that may or may not come in the future. One (1) last thing
to mention about challenges, it is a real challenge replacing Fire Fighters who retire who haven't
enrolled in the DROP Program with new Fire Fighters. And with all of the great news about job
creation and fewer unemployed people in the County, that means that we are struggling to find
those employees. We are fighting with other employers for those quality applicants.As more good
jobs are created, it becomes more difficult to track those folks in our department. We do have a
recruitment committee and, as I mentioned before, they actively participate in recruiting quality
applicants to our department. I couldn't help but notice former Council Member Davis Jr. is in the
room. He would remember when we were initially talking about putting this committee together,
the department was not hiring individuals below the age of twenty-one(21). We actually changed
that policy and we take applications from individuals all the way down to eighteen (18). We have
actually had a multitude of individuals that otherwise would have gone to the trades, the military,
to college, but they saw this as an opportunity to start a career right out of high school. That has
been a benefit. I mentioned we just hired our first(1St) minority female onto our department, and
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she was eighteen (18) when she actually filled out the application. We might not have been able
to hire her had we been following our previous process.
He continued, I have a couple of pictures here (referencing the presentation). This is Fire Station
Nine (9). I believe I took this picture a few weeks ago and it has moved further along. Please stop
by and have a look at the building. This is Fire Station Four (4) and there is a specific reason I
added this particular picture in here. You can see the solar panels on top of the building. Both of
these stations are LEAD Certified buildings. We have been told by the engineers that these solar
panels will be able to offset seven to ten percent (7% - 10%) of the cost of the electricity we use
in the building, so over the long term, that will pay for itself. We have been working with the
Office of Sustainability to look at other opportunities we may have on our other buildings to be
able to further this type of program. Therese Dorau has been wonderful to work with in regards to
that.
He went on, The last thing I would like to share with Council is about our Indiana River Rescue
School. This we have completed six (6) river rescue school programs. Two (2) of those
classes were dedicated programs for the Chicago Fire Department and the New York Fire
Department. I can't stress enough how well thought-of this program is,nationally. The New York
Fire Department sends their people to South Bend, Indiana to be trained by South Bend Fire
Fighters. That speaks volumes. We actually train the best of the best, here. We have a resource
that almost nobody else has, it being the East Race. We create a class three (3)rapids there and as
you can see in that one (1) picture, we stick a car in the East Race and we are able to commence
the training. A lot of those individuals you see on the news and in pictures have been trained here
and are affecting rescues elsewhere. We also hosted the International Association of Water Rescue
Professionals Annual Conference. For four (4) years running, now, that has been held in South
Bend. I believe they had the biggest attendance that they have ever had this ye . They also had a
National Guard helicopter over in Howard Park and are looking to expand it to have an air
component to it next year. That has been a wonderful partnership with different agencies both
nationally and even internationally. We've had people from Europe, Canada, and even Australia
attend that conference.
Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions and comments from Committee and Council
Members.
Committeemember Voorde stated, It sounds like that Paramedicine Program is what REAL
Services does. How is it different?
Chief Cox replied, REAL Services provides more of the ancillary services in providing things to
folks and maybe getting them around to different places. Our Community Paramedic actually
provides some amount of medical care along with providing services or linking people to those
services. Our program is a little more comprehensive than what REAL Services provides. There
is a gap there and we aim to fill it.
Councilmember Teshka stated,First(1St) of all,thank you Chief Cox,for what you do for our City
on a daily basis. You had mentioned,and we will hear this over and over again throughout the next
few months,but,preparing for 2020. I think,for me,I just wanted to ask the question,what exactly
is the department doing to prepare for 2020? I think as a Council and people that live in this
community,if there are any hits to our budget,I think the last place we want to see it hit is in public
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safety. With that being said, we have to be smart with our resources, but what exactly does your
preparation look like?
Chief Cox replied, I would agree with you and, also being a City resident, it is important to me
and my family, as well. What I will tell you is we are looking at all of the different funds that are
associated with what we are responsible for as well as the different programs. Obviously if we
come to a point where there are limited resources,we are going to have to prioritize those particular
programs and look at cuts across the board, however that may be decided by Council and the
Mayor's Office. In a way we have already begun that process using the Priority Based Budgeting
with Jen Hockenhull and her staff. We have identified different priority programs we have within
our department and we already know what those look like in terms of cost. So clearly, as you just
mentioned,the last place I want to see it hit is public safety but there are realities to budget issues.
When it comes down to it, further down the road we will get to understanding a little more what
that looks like. We have been prioritizing our programs within our department.
Committeemember Broden asked,What is the sweet spot for your overtime budget?Where do you
want to be and how do you get there?I'm sure zero(0)is an easy answer but it can't be that,right?
Chief Cox replied, The challenge we have that the Police Department also has is that we have
minimum staffing issues. So in other words if I have someone that calls in sick in the morning,we
don't want them to work,right? So the problem is you can't just shut down a truck and expect that
services aren't diminished. So we need to backfill those positions. So, in regards to what you just
mentioned, I think it's unrealistic for us to think we could be at zero (0). Having said that, I think
the sweet spot is whatever the City choses is going to be the sweet spot. Because we can hire
multiple people to try and offset that overtime cost, but I would tell you we thought we would be
close to that sweet spot with the six (6) additional last year but things happen. We also had a
couple of disability retirements that happened that we couldn't have expected. So I hate responding
like this and I'm not trying to avoid that question but we have to figure out where we want to be
and then just do that.
Committeemember Broden followed up, With regard to the Paramedicine Pilot going to full
implementation, what is the sense of the metrics or the decisive factors that are prompting the full
boar on this?
Chief Cox replied, I can just tell you, anecdotally, we identified high-risk patients by having our
Fire Fighters use different types of metrics such as frequent calls to different types of ailments
those individuals may have,are they homeless,do they have services,etc...There was then created
three (3) categories of individuals based off of our frequent users data. I can tell you that all of the
people in the high risk group have called for an ambulance, a minimum of ten(10)times over the
last twelve (12) months. Our heaviest user had called for an ambulance seventy (70) times over
the course of the last year and a half. These individuals, clearly, have underlying issues. We took
ten (10) individuals from the high priority group and started making house calls to see what kind
of impact could be made. Then we looked at several in the low priority group,just for the simple
fact that they, if they are not attended to, they become high-priority. The low priority folks are
low-hanging fruit and we want to be able to get in there and see what it is they need.Anecdotally,
several of the individuals identified in the high priority group that have already been seen have
since then not called for an ambulance. The State has programs and we are actually looking for
partnerships with this program as we build it out. Other places have actually partnered with
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hospitals. We talked to the State EMS Medical Director and the State is right now looking at
creating a reimbursement scheme for community paramedicine, specifically. So we are on the
ground floor right now but as that becomes something, there is a possibility the entire program
might be paid for just from that.
Committeemember Broden i nterjected And a follow up q uestion if I might, thanks in your
tracking within the client engagement, what does that look like for medical, social work case
management and other services?
Chief Cox replied, We are tracking all of those things.
p g g
Committeemember Broden stated, My last question, I think, is about the 2019 goals and
challenges. I don't see anything in here, well I won't say any, but what are you doing with the
opioid crisis in terms of training, services, collaboration or other things?
Chief Cox replied, We met with folks at Oaklawn today to partner with them for potential
programming. If I could take a step back, I would say that the Fire Department is not the place to
solve this. In fact if somebody has called us, they are at the end of this thing. What we are
attempting to do is work with other partner organizations within the County where we can maybe
distribute Narcan, actually get training out and make sure other folks are understanding what is
going on. Ultimately,treatment is what needs to happen and that is frankly outside the purview of
the Fire Department. We are trying to work with the other agencies and we have been an active
participant with the Indiana Health Center. They have a physician's health alliance that help
manage different parts of this crisis. We understand what is going on.
Committeemember Broden interjected, So it's too early, at this point,to see anything within your
budget to reflect that activity? I guess overall you are emergency services but, yet.
Chief Cox replied, Here's the funny thing about the budget in regards to this, we have been
handling opioid overdoses for decades. This is what we do.None of that has changed for us at all.
In fact,if anything,it has become a little cheaper for us because there are now some State programs
that give us free Narcan. But aside from that, other than some increased opioid overdoses, we
continue doing the same job that we have always done. So in regards to the budget, I would argue
that has probably has been a minimal impact in regard to the opioid crisis.
Councilmember Sharon L. McBride stated, I would like to thank you for your clarification on the
opioid crisis. That is a good point because it is a relevant topic in our community. I like the
paramedicine concept and thank you so much for your service.
Councilmember Tim Scott stated, The Police Department put together a program for part-time.
Maybe that is an idea to float? Would that work for you guys, with possibly retired Fire Fighters,
that could help out?
Chief Cox replied, That is something we would need to negotiate with our Union and other
collaborators. Frankly, when a Fire Fighter gets to the age of retirement, often times they are
retiring because of the strenuous activity associated with the job. That is certainly something we
could investigate.
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Committeemember Broden stated,I think this was a conversation earlier but first(1St)to commend
you, your after-event outreach is really getting these smoke alarms into houses when it is fresh in
everyone's mind. I'm sure there is a benefit for the Fire Fighters because it is proactive, right?
Have we looked at the overlay of homeowners and renters? I'm getting at the responsibility of
landlords.
Chief Cox replied, I appreciate you asking that question. On our end of things, I can tell you that
in the past we used to avoid rental homes just for the simple fact that the Ordinance does say they
have to provide a smoke alarm. The reality of the situation is we are not an enforcement agency
and we are not able to go into a residence to enforce that. We probably have more fires in rentals
than we do in homes that are owned by a homeowner. Frankly, our goal was to reduce the risk of
injury and death. In our view, it was that if you can install an alarm because someone calls you
and tells you yes,why wouldn't you do that?Morally and ethically, if they were to have a fire two
(2) days later and there was a tragedy, we would be having a completely different conversation.
Committee Chair White asked, On your total budget, you've listed the increase in Services, and
you mentioned it in terms of the allocation, can you give a little more detail to what those
allocations are?
Chief Cox replied, So this (referencing a slide in the presentation) is a good indication of what
those allocations look like now. In 2016 the Fire Department had a total allocation of roughly
$400,000. This year, and it has incrementally gone up the past four (4) years, we are looking at
$2.2 million. That includes insurance, IT,Admin and Finance, and I believe we have an allocation
that goes to Central Stores and Central Services. All of that is piled into one (1) and that is our
allocations.
Committee Chair White followed up, That is a major increase. Could you give us a breakdown
looking at the $4.1 million?
Chief Cox replied, Yes ma'am, I can do that.
PSAP Update
Ray Schultz,Executive Director of PSAP with offices located at 58266 Downey Avenue, stated, I
brought some staff members with me and, as I understand it, you folks are kind of looking for an
explanation for your contribution and allocation to PSAP, correct?
Committee Chair White replied, That is a concern but there are some other issues as well.
Councilmember Scott stated, There was a little bit of miscommunication. We were trying to set
for our IT Department to come speak on PSAP as well, on Monday. We have a lot going on at that
meeting and will have to go through the agenda to understand what all will go on the agenda. Our
IT will come before Council this next Monday to speak to the operational side of it so we don't
have to go completely into it all toni t if we just want to go into the financial side of it.
Committee Chair White stated, I say we do as much as we possibly can. I don't know if there are
some questions and concerns with regard to the increase in the financial side of the conversation.
I also know that there has been some concern since the most recent South Bend Tribune article
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND , OFFICE OF THE CLERK
and their statistical analysis. We will more than likely ask you to come back. Committeemember
Voorde will chair the remainder of the meeting for me as I have to leave.
Committee Chair White left the meeting at 6:41 p.m.
Mr. Schultz stated,The budget increase is kind of set up over three (3)areas. One (1)of the things
we looked for this year was to have a realistic budget of what it actually costs to run PSAP. The
first (lst) one (1) is about health insurance. We are a part of the County's Health Insurance. That
made up about $360,000 of the increase. The second (2nd) part is, similar to what Chief Cox was
talking about, overtime and getting a realistic number with overtime. We have been deficit
spending in overtime since the inception of dispatch. We are trying to find the sweet spot of where
we should actually be. One (1) of the things that has not been done over time is, we are
contractually obligated to provide some benefits that were never budgeted for and was just taken
out of overtime. So right off the bat, we had$266,000 of our$385,000 taken out. So we never had
an actual number there and this is us breaking those numbers down. It is now its own separate line-
item. Then we are trying to find an accurate number to what it actually costs to staff the center and
come up with that overtime number. Other places have folks built in so that if someone takes a
vacation day, they don't have to pay overtime. PSAP doesn't have that. We are contractually
obligated to allow three (3) dispatchers off of all three (3) shifts, so I could have nine (9) people
on vacation any day. On two (2) of my shifts I don't have any extra folks, so, if someone takes a
vacation or sick day, I have to pay overtime. I've asked for more folks to offset this. That is the
third (3rd) part of this. I would like some new folks to offset that. We have had conversations at
the operations level, the Executive Board level and they said the budget is going to be capped.
They said to find some folks within and they aren't advising to hire anyone new but if you can,
you can.
Committeemember Broden interjected, I'm sorry, I have to stop you right there. Can you go over
that again? What kind of directive was that?
Mr. Schultz replied, They capped our budget and said, if you can, hire some new folks and spread
the money out. If you can hire new folks, you can, but your budget is capped.
Councilmember Scott stated, I was at the Executive Session when they presented their budget and
think what will go a long way, Ray, is if this Council would have a copy of that budget.
Mr. Schultz replied, Before this meeting, we handed out hard copies of that (available in the City
Clerk's Office).
Councilmember Scott followed up, Oh, is this the revised one (1)?
Mr. Schultz replied, Yes, it is.
Councilmember Scott followed up, They decided to cap it at the dollar amount you see here
(referencing the budget document). They are here to rework the budget. I can understand the
confusion.
Mr. Schultz stated, So those are the three (3) fashions of our budget. The insurance we can't really
do anything about,we broke some stuff down on the overtime and tried to come up with a realistic
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overtime number and then finally, hire some new staff to offset those contractual obligations and
minimize the use of overtime.
Councilmember Scott stated, Part of this was looking at page two (2) (referencing the budget
document) and looking at the increases between the County, South Bend and Mishawaka. What
we would be looking at, within our budget, does this come out of the Police budget?
Steve Dalton,Financial Advisor for PSAP with offices located at 58266 Downey Avenue,replied,
You are paying it out of one (1) of your income tax budgets, either EDIT or COIT. It was a lump
sum. It was $2.5 million this ye and is projected to be $3 million next year.
Councilmember Scott stated, Steve, you had some creative ways of other ways to pay for PSAP.
Could you go over those?
Mr. Dalton replied, Four (4) years ago, this Interlocal Agreement was signed and it spelled out a
rather complex formula for determining who pays what. That$3 million comes from that formula.
Nobody likes it, everyone thinks it is unfair but everyone is equally unhappy with it. Moreover,
they may also be equally as unhappy with all the other options that are available. I've presented
various options to the controllers and nobody likes any of them. I proposed at one(1)meeting that,
perhaps, PSAP needs to be self-funded and maybe it needs to have its own funding source. My
proposal is that we reorganize next year, not this year, the current income tax rate of one point
seven percent (1.7%) has slivers for other funds and accounts, I proposed that we create, within
that same stack, a PSAP dedicated income tax that would go to the PSAP and they would have to
live within that. We can talk about that more next year because any restructuring of the Interlocal
is going to be monumental. I guess the other option is that we keep going at the rate we are going
with nobody liking the model.
Committeemember Voorde asked, Is anyone else doing that around the State?
Mr. Dalton replied, The State statute actually allows and, in some cases encourages, setting up a
separate income tax with PSAP. I'm suggesting it would be more difficult to get votes to increase
the income tax than to reorganize the existing stack of income taxes.
Councilmember Scott stated, I know the County is not happy with the current agreement and how
that is divvied up. The main thing I am concerned about is the performance and service. I think it
is getting better but there is a long way to go. Last time you were here you talked a little bit about
the training and the cross training of personnel that you have. We just graduated six (6) folks.
Those six (6) took about six (6) months and five (5) of those six (6) are now completely cross
trained throughout the board. About eighty-seven percent (87%) of the folks we have are cross-
trained to fill every seat in the room. We put in a lot of time,energy and money into cross-training
and it is paying its dividends now.
Councilmember Scott stated, And my plan with the IT meeting is to talk about our role on the IT
side with the CAD System and GIS, and those issues.
Councilmember Broden then stated, So we have this huge personnel challenge but at the same
time I see the problems with the CAD systems. Can someone square that for me?
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Mr. Schultz replied, We are having some issues with our CAD vendor. We are now fourteen (14)
months past the Go Live stage and we are having issues that have been happening since the very
first (1St) day. Our process is not getting any better and our vendor is not performing to our
expectations.
Councilmember Broden followed up, So is that lack of performance consistent?Do we have a poor
contract with performance metrics and after-sale accountability?
Mr. Schultz replied, Can we hold that conversation until after the REP is done? The only reason I
say that is because there are some issues with the vendor for sure in the contract. The purpose of
the RFP is to hold the vendor's feet to the fire and they have to provide what they said they could
provide in the RFP. We are going through the RFP and indicating what they said they could do,
cross referencing with the contract and what they said they would do, and then testing to see what
they are actually doing. We want them to know we are serious and that they need to provide the
service they said they would provide in the RFP.
Councilmember Broden followed, What is the start date for the contract?
Mr. Schultz replied, 2015. Our last maintenance payment under the current contract would be July
1St, 2019. So we would be under contract with that company until July 1St, 2020. It has been a
struggle. I met with the CAD Vendor immediately coming on, initially on an interim basis, and
their contention was that our staff just wasn't well-trained. I have fought to show that it is, in fact,
the limitations of the software. Our GIS Department, between the County and the City of South
Bend, have had countless hours expended to fix and build the system to our CAD vendor's
specifications and it is still not getting any better. We are doing it the way that they said we should
do it,and it is still not getting better. That is the stuff we can talk about later. It is very complicated
and we are doing our due diligence to be sure we are covered on our end and doing our best we
could possibly do.
Councilmember Scott stated,That is exactly what I want to talk about. We put full-time employees
on our nickel to do this.I've implemented two(2)full ERP systems at large companies.They don't
always go well. This was picked out and pushed through by the first(1St)Director but at that time,
everybody on the Boards approved it. Ownership is with everybody. This conversation will
continue on Monday.
Mr. Schultz stated, The number before you is making no change to the CAD vendor. If we do
change CAD vendors, that number would go down. In 2019, we would not have a maintenance
payment. You would see it go down but then go back up,possibly, in 2020 and 2021. There would
be a couple of years with additional increase but not significant.
Councilmember Scott asked, What is the penalty to breach contract?
Mr. Schultz replied, Our Attorney has assured us that we could breach contract free of charge. We
actually owe them money but are withholding payment until we get more service. $411,000.
With no further business, Committeemember Voorde adjourned the Personnel and Finance
Committee meeting at 6:57 p.m.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Respec fully Submitted,
Karen White, Committee Chair
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